RE: Skoda Fabia vRS
Discussion
size13 said:
I sat in a vRS - hated the interior (all my own opinion of course)
I'm looking at having it retrimmed in leather. I expect it'll be a dealer option within a year - not a practical colour. Couple of other things I'm planning on tinkering with as well, but on the whole, I love it.rude girl said:
I sat in a vRS - hated the interior (all my own opinion of course)
Why on earth would a Cherry Pearl Griff 500 owner need a Fab for? The Avensis is the workhorse?
rude girl said:
I sat in a vRS - hated the interior (all my own opinion of course)
Get a remap
Companys like Jabbasport can give you 185+ bhp and 300 lbft + of torque for about £450 quid! My friends Ibiza has been done and its great to see the look of surprise on other drivers faces at the performance! I find the suspension and brakes on my Ibiza arent quite up to the power of the engine. Hence I've upgraded my brakes and the cars going in for an eibach suspension kit. How do you find the Fabias handling..?
dinkel - because the Avensis is a company car and goes back to the lease company next Monday. And it's 60 miles each way to work - not the sort of mileage I want to pile on the Griff.
llamekcuf - the chip is already under consideration
Not my first priority though - as you guessed, the handling is a little wallowy (well, quite wallowy actually!). Stiffer springs are only £130 a set though, so I'll probably start with that. You can get full adjustable aftermarket suspension but since I've got the griff to play with, I think that might be a bit overkill. You're right too, if I chip it, it'll definitely need a brake upgrade.
All in all, it's a quick car that's fun to drive and eats motorway miles up at 60 to the gallon. That's over a third more than I got out of the Avensis. Less £ on fuel going to work = more fuel on playing with the Griff at the weekend Oh, and it can really embarrass some cars out there that cost 3 times as much 
llamekcuf - the chip is already under consideration
Not my first priority though - as you guessed, the handling is a little wallowy (well, quite wallowy actually!). Stiffer springs are only £130 a set though, so I'll probably start with that. You can get full adjustable aftermarket suspension but since I've got the griff to play with, I think that might be a bit overkill. You're right too, if I chip it, it'll definitely need a brake upgrade. All in all, it's a quick car that's fun to drive and eats motorway miles up at 60 to the gallon. That's over a third more than I got out of the Avensis. Less £ on fuel going to work = more fuel on playing with the Griff at the weekend
Oh, and it can really embarrass some cars out there that cost 3 times as much rude girl said:
( . . . ) Oh, and it can really embarrass some cars out there that cost 3 times as much
As happened in TopGear: Mini for lunch . . .
Nice in black.
www.waitnews.com/skoda_fabia_vrs_test_drive.htm
Power comes from a 130 bhp 1.9 litre TDI diesel engine and not only will this provide a top speed of 127 mph, it will return 55.4 mpg on the Combined Cycle, and if you are gentle with the car you can certainly get around 67 mpg.
We assume that those who persist in living in the past would be amazed to learn that Skoda sales in Europe in the opening period of this year beat the likes of Honda and Alfa Romeo and virtually match those of Volvo and Mazda.
I hope Alfa and Honda come up with a sensible priced answer. Compared today they cost too much . . .
Have fun with the Fab rude girl!
I thought the Top Gear thing was a bit silly really. All they succeeded in proving was that the top spec Fabia is faster in a straight line than the middle of the range Mini, but that the Mini comfortably pulls it all back on the brakes and in the corners.
All that really seemed to say was that the Mini was the better drivers car, but needed a bit more power. And oh yes, they do one with more power don't they, so that's all right then...
I'm not slating the Fabia by any means - it looks a smashing car, especially for the money, but it didn't seem to be a very sensible head-to-head. If it could have done the same thing against the Cooper S then I would have been impressed!
To me the test was like comparing sporting saloons and saying the Impreza is better than the BMW 3 series because the top spec Impreza Turbo is quicker than (say) a BMW 320. Meanwhile the M3 is excluded from the test on the grounds that it costs too much money!
All that really seemed to say was that the Mini was the better drivers car, but needed a bit more power. And oh yes, they do one with more power don't they, so that's all right then...
I'm not slating the Fabia by any means - it looks a smashing car, especially for the money, but it didn't seem to be a very sensible head-to-head. If it could have done the same thing against the Cooper S then I would have been impressed!
To me the test was like comparing sporting saloons and saying the Impreza is better than the BMW 3 series because the top spec Impreza Turbo is quicker than (say) a BMW 320. Meanwhile the M3 is excluded from the test on the grounds that it costs too much money!
BlackStuff said:
I thought the Top Gear thing was a bit silly really. All they succeeded in proving was that the top spec Fabia is faster in a straight line than the middle of the range Mini, but that the Mini comfortably pulls it all back on the brakes and in the corners.
No, they proved that a diesel hot hatch is now a viable match for a petrol hot hatch. They also proved that a good-spec car from the Czech marque comfortably trumps a similar priced car from the German marque that badly needs a trip to the options list!
The Mini may have pulled it back in the corners, but it wasn't enough to allow it to triumph was it?
dinkel said:
vRS 1.9TDI PD Hatch @ £11990
Mini Cooper @ £12100
And what else is there to match performance, boot and legroom?
consumption costs !?!? in a country like this where VAT is most of your fuel costs, pennies saved via the diesel option is a good option in my books. All IMHO of course
icamm said:
I think Skoda was a top marque pre-war until the factory was took over to build tanks for the war etc.
Yes and then after the war they were in the Soviet block so .......
At the risk of repetition.......
When VW were taking a look at Skoda they bought a car and ripped it apart. Of course in many respects it was a crummy little vehicle, but the quality of the base engineering !!!!!!
The engine went on a test bed and ultimately VW tried to blow it up. They tried everything known, and took it way beyond the point they knew one of their own engines would have gone to the great scrapyard in the sky. All they managed to do to the Czech engine was create a chip off one of the piston skirts, and of course it still ran.
[Victor Kiam mode]
Liked it so much, bought the company!
[/Victor Kiam mode]
Off topic I can relate a similar tale about the aquisition of a Czech engineering manufacturer. The equipment was out of this world, like immaculate. But the organisational structure.
True conversation
Q:- "So what is your customer base?"
A:- "Customers??? errr we don't have customers we just make this stuff and trucks come from somewhere to collect it every so often"
Witchfinder said:
Revised version of same Fabia chassis, bigger wheels, Brembo brakes, new suspension and arbs, more power.
More money and more trips to the dealer to get it fixed
But you get more kit.
You can get the 'equivalent' for £10,453.56
Seat Ibiza 1.9 Tdi PD FR 130 3 dr £12,299.53
Seat Ibiza 1.9 Tdi PD Cupra 160 3 dr £14,641.31
Skoda_Rob said:
And what else is there to match performance, boot and legroom?
Daihatsu YRV Turbo 130bhp?
Maybe a bit smaller, but is at least £1k cheaper on list...
Rob.
Read please: same boot and legroom?
And, most important, it looks odd. They should really ban that vehicle . . .
edc said:
edc said:
Revised version of same Fabia chassis, bigger wheels, Brembo brakes, new suspension and arbs, more power.
More money and more trips to the dealer to get it fixed
But you get more kit.
You can get the 'equivalent' for £10,453.56
Seat Ibiza 1.9 Tdi PD FR 130 3 dr £12,299.53
Seat Ibiza 1.9 Tdi PD Cupra 160 3 dr £14,641.31
Read: that's more money.
Cmon guys: stick to the 12k and try to match. It's bloody difficult!
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