Fabia vRS - My 3 years with the fuel of satan!
Discussion
Been lurking for ages so thought i'd do a quick write up on my Fabia as its about to hit 130,000! Not big these days but i'm proud!
I started off 5 years ago driving this beast..
It was an awesome car, 75 horses right at the top of the rev range, great chassis and very chuckable. However, it was too small and sluggish so had to go. I then went mad and bought a boring dull MK2 Ford Focus 1.6 LX, which was so dull I never took a picture of it. It struggled to do 40MPG and only felt slightly quicker than the Clio.
However I sold it on 6 months later, didn't loose any money and bought this! The best car i've ever owned....;)
Its a 2003 Fabia vRS in lovely 'Black Magic' and runs on that good old tractor fuel, diesel.
|http://thumbsnap.com/3UEoHbyX[/url]
Power: It has the 1.9 tdi 130hp engine, but the previous owner kindly had it remapped!! So its got around 170hp and more importantly 290 ib/ft of torque, which means its a lot quicker than most people think it is! 60mph comes up in 7.2 seconds (could probably go quicker but I value my clutch) and, on a German autobahn trip, hit 135 and had more left in it. The mid range punch is addictive, 20-50 is quicker than a supercharged elise and 50-70 is quicker than a 260hp 330i.
Handling: Grips well but not good really, steering is pretty vague and the suspension could be slightly stiffer. I would fit coilovers to it but I don't have the money at the moment (just finished Uni). Rear ARB's are a great mod too but money has also got in the way of that too so it tends to roll quite a bit, queue picture of it leaning on a track day....
Economy: One of the best bits! 40 mpg minimum really, even when hooning and will sit at 75mph whilst getting 60+mpg, perfect for me as I spend a lot of time on the motorway! It is amazing on the motorway too, engine revs at 1900rpm at 70 so very quite. May fit cruise control soon to make it even better!
Reliability: Lets just say I bought it at the wrong time, 95,000 miles. New clutch, gearbox, another clutch, flywheel (which destroyed the old clutch), cambelt, lots of suspension components. The main block will go on for many more miles apparantely, but the bits around it (mainly drivetrain) are a bit dodgy past 100k.
But despite this its been a joy to own over the 35,000 i've done in it and I would definitely recommend! Love driving it and embarrassing many 'sports cars' and german barges. However I really have the itch to get something else now, want to try the joys of RWD and have a revvy N/A petrol again! So i'm tempted by a nice BMW e46 330i at sometime soon! Thanks for reading[url]
I started off 5 years ago driving this beast..
It was an awesome car, 75 horses right at the top of the rev range, great chassis and very chuckable. However, it was too small and sluggish so had to go. I then went mad and bought a boring dull MK2 Ford Focus 1.6 LX, which was so dull I never took a picture of it. It struggled to do 40MPG and only felt slightly quicker than the Clio.
However I sold it on 6 months later, didn't loose any money and bought this! The best car i've ever owned....;)
Its a 2003 Fabia vRS in lovely 'Black Magic' and runs on that good old tractor fuel, diesel.
|http://thumbsnap.com/3UEoHbyX[/url]Power: It has the 1.9 tdi 130hp engine, but the previous owner kindly had it remapped!! So its got around 170hp and more importantly 290 ib/ft of torque, which means its a lot quicker than most people think it is! 60mph comes up in 7.2 seconds (could probably go quicker but I value my clutch) and, on a German autobahn trip, hit 135 and had more left in it. The mid range punch is addictive, 20-50 is quicker than a supercharged elise and 50-70 is quicker than a 260hp 330i.
Handling: Grips well but not good really, steering is pretty vague and the suspension could be slightly stiffer. I would fit coilovers to it but I don't have the money at the moment (just finished Uni). Rear ARB's are a great mod too but money has also got in the way of that too so it tends to roll quite a bit, queue picture of it leaning on a track day....
Economy: One of the best bits! 40 mpg minimum really, even when hooning and will sit at 75mph whilst getting 60+mpg, perfect for me as I spend a lot of time on the motorway! It is amazing on the motorway too, engine revs at 1900rpm at 70 so very quite. May fit cruise control soon to make it even better!
Reliability: Lets just say I bought it at the wrong time, 95,000 miles. New clutch, gearbox, another clutch, flywheel (which destroyed the old clutch), cambelt, lots of suspension components. The main block will go on for many more miles apparantely, but the bits around it (mainly drivetrain) are a bit dodgy past 100k.
But despite this its been a joy to own over the 35,000 i've done in it and I would definitely recommend! Love driving it and embarrassing many 'sports cars' and german barges. However I really have the itch to get something else now, want to try the joys of RWD and have a revvy N/A petrol again! So i'm tempted by a nice BMW e46 330i at sometime soon! Thanks for reading[url]
OP, you know it makes sense to get rid of that diseasal addiction!
I had a 320td Compact for 3 years then a 123d for over 6 years (pretty quick as diesels go) until last year I saw the light and got a Z4 Coupe!
That is when I realised I should have test driven a 325ti and/or a 130i - I would never have bought either diesel!
Good luck with your search!
I had a 320td Compact for 3 years then a 123d for over 6 years (pretty quick as diesels go) until last year I saw the light and got a Z4 Coupe!
That is when I realised I should have test driven a 325ti and/or a 130i - I would never have bought either diesel!
Good luck with your search!
Mr Tidy said:
OP, you know it makes sense to get rid of that diseasal addiction!
I had a 320td Compact for 3 years then a 123d for over 6 years (pretty quick as diesels go) until last year I saw the light and got a Z4 Coupe!
That is when I realised I should have test driven a 325ti and/or a 130i - I would never have bought either diesel!
Good luck with your search!
Haha good to hear you loved going back to petrol! Well I'm hoping to get rid soon, got coolant loss issues with it now so i'll try and fix it, if not, straight 6 hear I come I had a 320td Compact for 3 years then a 123d for over 6 years (pretty quick as diesels go) until last year I saw the light and got a Z4 Coupe!
That is when I realised I should have test driven a 325ti and/or a 130i - I would never have bought either diesel!
Good luck with your search!
lukefreeman said:
Love these cars.
If you have £4k to drop, you can have a reliable 270bhp/400lbs.
The standard car is a good little car and the usual low cost mods can help greatly. I think they are a fantastic compromise of performance and fuel economy and not a bad place to sit!If you have £4k to drop, you can have a reliable 270bhp/400lbs.
But.....
I'd have to question someone spending 4k on engine mods on it?
AntiLagGC8 said:
lukefreeman said:
Love these cars.
If you have £4k to drop, you can have a reliable 270bhp/400lbs.
The standard car is a good little car and the usual low cost mods can help greatly. I think they are a fantastic compromise of performance and fuel economy and not a bad place to sit!If you have £4k to drop, you can have a reliable 270bhp/400lbs.
But.....
I'd have to question someone spending 4k on engine mods on it?
willmagrath said:
AntiLagGC8 said:
lukefreeman said:
Love these cars.
If you have £4k to drop, you can have a reliable 270bhp/400lbs.
The standard car is a good little car and the usual low cost mods can help greatly. I think they are a fantastic compromise of performance and fuel economy and not a bad place to sit!If you have £4k to drop, you can have a reliable 270bhp/400lbs.
But.....
I'd have to question someone spending 4k on engine mods on it?
Still you are right!
willmagrath said:
AntiLagGC8 said:
lukefreeman said:
Love these cars.
If you have £4k to drop, you can have a reliable 270bhp/400lbs.
The standard car is a good little car and the usual low cost mods can help greatly. I think they are a fantastic compromise of performance and fuel economy and not a bad place to sit!If you have £4k to drop, you can have a reliable 270bhp/400lbs.
But.....
I'd have to question someone spending 4k on engine mods on it?
The handling experts follow, along with the brake guys, and shortly you have a completely different vehicle. Joe public can't see the value, usually only fellow enthusiasts can.
AntiLagGC8 said:
One of my cars is heavily modded so I understand and I've definitely had/got the modding bug with the car although Fabia is less than ideal for heavy modding.
Still you are right!
I would have never thought 'AntiLagGC8' has the modding bug haha. Yeah its a great car for cheap modifying, but if you want 220hp+ you really need to spend the monies. I know someone who has got 375hp out of his fabia!!Still you are right!
willmagrath said:
AntiLagGC8 said:
One of my cars is heavily modded so I understand and I've definitely had/got the modding bug with the car although Fabia is less than ideal for heavy modding.
Still you are right!
I would have never thought 'AntiLagGC8' has the modding bug haha. Yeah its a great car for cheap modifying, but if you want 220hp+ you really need to spend the monies. I know someone who has got 375hp out of his fabia!!Still you are right!
Still I'd imagine 270bhp/400lb-ft would make traction interesting in the car never mind 375bhp!
dannyDC2 said:
Nice! Always fancied one.
Bit odd that it went wobbly at 100k. My A4 PD130 is on 203k and its had nothing but service bits! Down to the remap I guess.
Yeah was strange really, neglect from the previous owner I think, the clutch/fly is standard really, so is the cambelt but the gearbox isnt. These bits are now done so should be fine for a while! Should hit 130k tomorrow Bit odd that it went wobbly at 100k. My A4 PD130 is on 203k and its had nothing but service bits! Down to the remap I guess.
But yeah I'd still definitely recommend it! Have loved it!
I think the oft quoted figure is 20-40 in second!
Great little cars. I had one for about 5 years, no major issues apart from the rear door water ingress annoyance - but that was only up to about 70k and standard. Felt quicker than it was, nose heavy but held on in the bends with a bit of roll.
Great little cars. I had one for about 5 years, no major issues apart from the rear door water ingress annoyance - but that was only up to about 70k and standard. Felt quicker than it was, nose heavy but held on in the bends with a bit of roll.
willmagrath said:
got coolant loss issues with it now so i'll try and fix it, if not, straight 6 hear I come
I had this problem with my old vRS just after I bought it, turned out to be the radiator. Apparently they rust in the corners and this leads to the coolant leaking out. Skoda garage said it's a known problem. Nippy shopping car, had one a few years back. For some reason they've got a (undeserved) reputation for giant-slaying, but it's more about the massive slug of low down torque that makes them feel and seem quicker than they actually are.
Not a bad car, I sold mine as it bored me and was a horrible place to sit
Not a bad car, I sold mine as it bored me and was a horrible place to sit
philmots said:
willmagrath said:
The mid range punch is addictive, 20-50 is quicker than a supercharged elise and 50-70 is quicker than a 260hp 330i.
What gear was the Elise in, Reverse?Was the 330i in 4th or 5th?
The torque is useful but ultimately it's no quicker than any other 175hp car.
willmagrath said:
philmots said:
willmagrath said:
The mid range punch is addictive, 20-50 is quicker than a supercharged elise and 50-70 is quicker than a 260hp 330i.
What gear was the Elise in, Reverse?Was the 330i in 4th or 5th?
The torque is useful but ultimately it's no quicker than any other 175hp car.
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