Just looking at the stats of the vehicle make you think it's a warm hatch. I mean how many of us would right home about a 130bhp Petrol?? IE: Standard 2.0 Focus? Nobody...

But put it in diesel guise, with the unsung ability for cheap BHP gains, with a smart and subtle bodykit and sum nice wheels and you're onto a winner.

I've gotta go with warm hatch tho. If u class this lil' thing as a hot hatch WTF are Astra VXRs?? Super Hot Hatches? There's a few people around here with Astra VXRs, Focus STs, and Civic Type-Rs and they all smoke me good a proper. What they've got are Hot Hatches, we've got a warm hatch me thinks.

Coupled to that this thing body rolls like nothing I've ever driven before! I have no confidence with the vehicle going into corners,not like when I drove my 306... Any suggestions on improving the handling that doesn't mean a 100mm drop on back-breaking coil-overs?

my brother has a 1.8 focus zetec with ford supplied eibach springs, 4-1 manifold/decat/SS exhaust and some 17's all of which cost about £700 in mods and its one of the nicest cars i have ever driven, handles very well and goes quite well too(swmbo has a 2.0 125bhp/188Nm/9.5 0-60 and weighs 1340Kg vectra that gets left easily) so given that the focus as standard was 113bhp/160Nm/9.9 0-60 and weighs 1125Kg(and we don't know what it is now) its a brilliant car i'd say, handles nicer than either my octavia (which is poly bushed and on KW coil overs, got upper and lower strut braces) or my mazda(standard other than lowering springs).

Just looking at the stats of the vehicle make you think it's a warm hatch. I mean how many of us would right home about a 130bhp Petrol?? IE: Standard 2.0 Focus? Nobody...

But put it in diesel guise, with the unsung ability for cheap BHP gains, with a smart and subtle bodykit and sum nice wheels and you're onto a winner.

I've gotta go with warm hatch tho. If u class this lil' thing as a hot hatch WTF are Astra VXRs?? Super Hot Hatches? There's a few people around here with Astra VXRs, Focus STs, and Civic Type-Rs and they all smoke me good a proper. What they've got are Hot Hatches, we've got a warm hatch me thinks.

Coupled to that this thing body rolls like nothing I've ever driven before! I have no confidence with the vehicle going into corners,not like when I drove my 306... Any suggestions on improving the handling that doesn't mean a 100mm drop on back-breaking coil-overs?

get an anti roll bar (jabba or whiteline) and a seat strut

youll be amazed!

It is a 'hot hatch'... But can be made hotter:)

It already is. It's quicker than an original Golf GTI, which is the benchmark for me.

It already is. It's quicker than an original Golf GTI, which is the benchmark for me.

thats no really a valid bench mark considering how old it is, in order for a car to be classed as hot it has to be better/faster/better handling than the average of the other sports varients and when compared to the proper sporty versions of the other cars it simply doesn't compare as standard and nearly manages when heavily modified against standard hot hatches.

Call it chicken salad if you want to - it's small, fast, handles nicely and it does actually have a hatch-back.....

yours might do now but thats not completely true of a standard car though is it Bas?

thats no really a valid bench mark considering how old it is.

Heh!

I must be older than you .

IMO Warm Hatch = 100-150bhp, Hot Hatch = 150bhp+

Good suspension and non-standard body styling are also essential for both warm and hot hatches.

IMO Warm Hatch = 100-150bhp, Hot Hatch = 150bhp+

Good suspension and non-standard body styling are also essential for both warm and hot hatches.

But it's not just about the BHP - it's the huge torque available between 2 - 3 k revs that make it hot IMO.

A quote from an Autoexpress long term test.

"...Perhaps most impressive is the sixth-gear 50-70mph time of 7.5 seconds - the Porsche 911 Carrera S is only 0.4 seconds faster."

Personally I think to talk about BHP and lb/ft as a measure of ‘Hot Hatchiness’ is to miss the point. Hot Hatches were hugely faster than their stable mates, had engines that were often unique to only a couple of Models (at least at first) and created a real stir. Cars like the Fabia don’t do this. They have a bog standard diesel and are not the little terriers that the Golf Gti and 205 Gti were. That is not to say the Fabia isn’t a great little car, or that it isn’t as fast as the Progenitors, but it really isn’t a Hot Hatch, at least not in the way it was originally meant. They are a new breed to my sensibilities.

Perhaps it’s an age thing, but I can see a link with the Clio and Hot Hatchness.

But it's not just about the BHP - it's the huge torque available between 2 - 3 k revs that make it hot IMO.

A quote from an Autoexpress long term test.

"...Perhaps most impressive is the sixth-gear 50-70mph time of 7.5 seconds - the Porsche 911 Carrera S is only 0.4 seconds faster."

a high torque range of 1000rpm isnt much and doesnt get you that far which makes a standard vrs a bit of a one trick pony. It's all about sustaining a high level of torque over a wider range of revs.

A remapped vrs gives you huge torque from 2k all the way to 4k+

At 4k, my map is still turning over 220lb/ft which is where a standard one peaks. at 4k rpm a standard furby's torque measurement is proably around 160-180lb/ft

Therefore standard = warm, remapped = hot

a high torque range of 1000rpm isnt much and doesnt get you that far which makes a standard vrs a bit of a one trick pony. It's all about sustaining a high level of torque over a wider range of revs.

A remapped vrs gives you huge torque from 2k all the way to 4k+

At 4k, my map is still turning over 220lb/ft which is where a standard one peaks. at 4k rpm a standard furby's torque measurement is proably around 160-180lb/ft

Therefore standard = warm, remapped = hot

mine pulls peak boost from 2000rpm all the way o 5000rpm,it really pulls like a train,but it can catch you out as it tails off fast after that:rofl:

i dont think my car has ever seen 5k rpm.

the red bit on that particular dial i've been told is to be avoided

out of interest, where does the limiter actually kick in? i'm not really up for finding out myself. plus, is it a soft limiter or a hard limiter?

about 4800ish on a standard one

mine pulls peak boost from 2000rpm all the way o 5000rpm,it really pulls like a train,but it can catch you out as it tails off fast after that:rofl:

Tails off at 5k? Mine stops....on the limiter.

Personally I think to talk about BHP and lb/ft as a measure of ‘Hot Hatchiness’ is to miss the point. Hot Hatches were hugely faster than their stable mates, had engines that were often unique to only a couple of Models (at least at first) and created a real stir. Cars like the Fabia don’t do this. They have a bog standard diesel and are not the little terriers that the Golf Gti and 205 Gti were. That is not to say the Fabia isn’t a great little car, or that it isn’t as fast as the Progenitors, but it really isn’t a Hot Hatch, at least not in the way it was originally meant. They are a new breed to my sensibilities.

Perhaps it’s an age thing, but I can see a link with the Clio and Hot Hatchness.

Im going to dare to disagree....

It's a small hatch - and tuned - it's fast - thus hot IMHO

Im going to dare to disagree....

It's a small hatch - and tuned - it's fast - thus hot IMHO

I don’t think I disagree with you Dave, but in standard trim it isn’t really ‘hot’ and what I was getting at was the term ‘Hot Hatch’ doesn’t really apply to modern cars very much. I had a Toledo 130 TDi with sport suspension so I got a slight taste of what a Fabia Vrs is like. Nice car, but not ‘Hot Hatch’ to me. Your car and several others on here are really rapid and ‘Hot’, but I think Pocket Rockets is more apt, personally. It’s only the title that I disagree with you about, as I think the Thread title can't be readily applied to a hatch and just because a car can do say 130,ph, it becomes automatically a Hot Hatch.

Like I have said, nice cars Vrs's and some are truly faaaast! As I have found out;)

Tails off at 5k? Mine stops....on the limiter.

all in good time,all in good time,when my fmic comes and the new turbo goes on,then it will just pull,and you were right,i semi stripped the car on friday,its staying stripped:D

The Fabia VRS i would class as a hot hatch as standard.

IMO

It already is. It's quicker than an original Golf GTI, which is the benchmark for me.

Not in standard guise its not! Glider nearly proved it to me some time ago on the way home from a RR session when he put out 112bhp and at the time I put out somewhere in the region of 185.

all in good time,all in good time,when my fmic comes and the new turbo goes on,then it will just pull,and you were right,i semi stripped the car on friday,its staying stripped:D

If you take the back seats (All of them) and spare out it shaves about 60kg off and it makes a helluva lot of difference round a track

If you take the back seats (All of them) and spare out it shaves about 60kg off and it makes a helluva lot of difference round a track

But then re add the weight of your FMIC and pipework

But then re add the weight of your FMIC and pipework

Ok, your still about 45kg down on the orignal weight.

But then re add the weight of your FMIC and pipework

Then you run light wheels, take out the rest of trim, seatbelts, all plastics, in fact everything bar the dash and two lightwieght chairs