Fabia VRS (mk1) Yay or Nay

I haven't looked at prices really but aren't these serious overpriced because people think they are some sort of rocket ship? When really all there is a Fabia with a 1999 1.9TDi unrefined golf engine in?

I am all up for buying a Seat or a Skoda as a cheaper way of getting a VAG engine but the mk1 Fabia VRS is quite expensive. It is such a shame that the mk2 Fabia looks so dreadful!
 
Yup the mk2 is even more ugly than the mk1, and thats really going some ;)

Shame really because you could get em brand spanking for just over £13k recently which has got to be good value if you are in the market for a warm hatch.
 
I took my auntie's VRS out for a blast a few years ago because I'd heard loads of hype. I'm not a diesel fan really so wasn't expecting to like it, and I didn't - not because it was a diesel, but it just felt quite high-sided and unrewarding to push hard. Not for me really.
 
Rich said:
I have had one since 2004. To sum up, they are decent all rounders. Comfortable, economical, quick enough for what they are, cheap to tax and service/run. Good on the motorway too for a small car.

Done 74,000 miles in mine and its been nice. Looking for something else though.
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I've had mine since 2004 - been a great owning experience. Can only recommend. The criticism here is a bit of a strawman argument, it's a small diesel hatchback, that's what it should be compared to not a typical hot hatch. Typical hot hatches won't get anything like 60mpg. I'm only looking sell mine now to buy a van.
 
clv101 said:
The criticism here is a bit of a strawman argument,
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This is not SC, nobody cares for strawmen or fallacies.

it's a small diesel hatchback, that's what it should be compared to not a typical hot hatch.
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But it has got itself a reputation as some sort of hot hatch - a repuation which has led to the price on the used market reflecting that of a hot hatch not of a small diesel hatchback.
 
I've never driven a Fabia vRS but I'm almost certain the reputation stems purely from the diesel power delivery making it seem faster than it is, just like the 535d.
 
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PMKeates said:
I've never driven a Fabia vRS but I'm almost certain the reputation stems purely from the diesel power delivery making it seem faster than it is, just like the 535d.
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This. The turbocharged power delivery feels pretty immense, but it's not really. 0-62 for the Ibiza TDi 100 is 10.8 sec, my mate's Celica is 8.x and yet he always says (more like complains) that the Ibiza feels faster.

The Fabia vRS is directly equivalent to the Ibiza FR, not the Cupra - that's why the Cupra is a much higher insurance group (30bhp more, and the "Cupra" badget). I think the Ibiza FR is two groups higher (20) in the new system than the vRS (18) but it won't make much difference.

I'm 21 with 3yrs NCB/licence and it's only £400 for me fully comp.

Edit: Anyone any idea why the Fabia never came with the 1.8T engine?
 
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Because it's not based off the Golf platform. The Octavia is - and hence that got the vRS with the 1.8T from the equivalent Golf GTI.
 
Cristian said:
I'm 22 with 1 NCB/4 years license and it's £700 for the FR and nearly 2k for the cupra TDI. that's as much as a LCR!:(
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Tried SwiftCover? The only problem you'll run into is if you want to add modifications which change the power output you can't use them. They do allow alloy wheels and stereo equipment up to £1k each though.
 
Still got a soft spot for mine even though the Mrs drives it 90% of the time. Feels plenty fun in a straight line, wallowy around corners, decent fuel economy.

The diesel rattle is all relative, it doesn't bother me in the slightest but it makes Fox rock back and forth in the corner.
 
My dad has a remapped one which used to belong to my uncle who is a sales representative and he did 27,000 miles in the first year in it and then sold it to my dad. Never had a problem with it, it only needed a new windscreen outside of normal maintainance. Then my dad bought it off my uncle and has had it since, again only one problem outside of normal maintainance which was the turbo becomming clogged up with soot. At first we thought it was turbo failure but he had the turbo taken off and cleaned and it's back to normal.

My dad said he's never owned a car for so long and doesn't plan on selling it any time soon, infact he only plans on selling it to me when I can afford to make the change from my current car. He says it does everything he wants from a car and he's hardly lost any money on it because he bought it for less than half of what it was worth (obviously not everyone gets this chance) when my uncle sold it to him so he's more than happy with it.
 
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