Skoda axes Fabia vRS
Poor sales mean the vRS won't be replaced, but will it be missed?
Okay, calling the Fabia vRS a rally-influenced road car may be stretching it a bit with just 180hp, but it did provide a tangible link between Skoda's road cars and a successful rally campaign. The Fabia S2000 took the IRC Manufacturers' title for Skoda in three consecutive years from 2010-2012, in which time Juho Hanninen took a Drivers' championship also.
However, the car will be pulled with Skoda citing poor sales. But given the supermini hot hatch class has witnessed a resurgence in 2013 with the Fiesta ST, Clio 200 and 208 GTI triumvirate, surely now is the time to start planning a rival? There will inevitably be another Polo GTI and Ibiza Cupra, but then perhaps that's part of the problem as well as the solution; the cars are currently too similar and Skoda has lost out.
At present, they all use 180hp 1.4-litre twincharged engines and seven-speed DSG 'boxes. They aren't totally identical but, at £16,915, the Fabia is £1,660 less than the Ibiza and a hefty £2,020 less than the Polo.
And if that isn't enough of a bargain, how about a 63-plated car for £14,000? The entry point for current-shape vRS Fabias is around £9K, as demonstrated by this 10-plate Rallye Green car.
Moreover, no discussion of fast Fabias would be complete without mentioning the first generation, diesel-only car. Unique in a market of Mini Coopers and Ford SportKas, it attracted quite a following thanks to its subtle looks, huge torque and easily tweaked engine. This 2006 silver vRS looks great at £4K.
The new one though just looked wrong (imho) - didn't appear to be one thing or another and without a USP like the original being a diesel I think it lost it's market
The Octavia vRS is still going strong (current daily driver) but wondering if they might get bitten again given the price of the new one...
Since they made it a 1.4 and gave it an Auto only gearbox, sales fell through the floor.
Just goes to show that not everyone wants a Auto gearbox !!!
should have kept it unique like the original, a wolf in sheeps clothing
How are sales of the Polo/Ibiza - are the poor sales purely the badge, or related to the DSG-TSI combination (liability)?
I think the new one looks bloody awful, so gawdy, available in some vomit-inducing colour combinations and it doesn't do 'subtle' any more. Black wheels look chavvy and most seem to have them, white roof screems Cooper (despite other manufacturers' following suit) and the overall proportions of the car let it down too - it's like a small MPV rather than a 'hot hatch'.
How are sales of the Polo/Ibiza - are the poor sales purely the badge, or related to the DSG-TSI combination (liability)?
I remember hearing about oil consumption issues with the 1.4 twincharged engine, something the Polo GTi and Ibiza FR also suffered from. That and the auto/semi-auto only options can't have helped its chances.
Look how many Monte-Carlo spec ones have been sold, it can't be a styling issue. Surely Skoda's answer is to sell the VRS with the 2.0 140hp diesel as in the Ibiza.
My other half has a Fabia 1.9 TDI Sport, would like a VRS but not keen on the auto box and always feel buying a petrol Skoda would be financial suicide as far as resale is concerned.
Gets places quickly, subtle looks, 40+ mpg when you're good and sillily large boot for a small car, there's a lot going for it.
The oil consumption's been an issue but mine's been fixed now. Think they missed a trick not selling it with a manual too; if they could have knocked £1500 off the (regularly discounted)£16k-ish list price it started on we'd have seen an awful lot of them about.
On paper, the 1.4tsi and dsg combo should have been good. I think a lot of people would have been put off by gambling on getting a car without the oil consumption issues.
I'm sure it was a decent and capable car. It just couldn't have been more bland if it tried.
Although, after slating it. I'm fairly sure that a large chunk of this cars bland-ness was because of the constraints made by VAG.
Just a bit of a shame really.
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