Fabia vrs for commute.. Choice of 2!

Mr Jack said:
Cracking car, the VRS. Ignore Fox - haters gonna hate.

Not quite sure why you're looking at such long trips to look at these cars, though. Fabia VRS's aren't that uncommon.

If you can put up with the Yellow, you're likely to be better to buy Yellow. Yellow VRS's command lower prices than the other colour choices.
Click to expand...

To be fair though fox has hit the nail on the head, similar priced octavia or toledo or the OCUK favorite the mondeo will be a much better car for the commute its as simple as that.

a lot of people don't like Fox's posting style me included because he tells it how it is, whether its what you want to hear or not, but he's pretty much always right.

NathWraith said:
I never understood the VRS loving. It is just a 1.9 Derv in a Fabia right?
Click to expand...

A well sorted one with hybrid turbo etc will see 250-300bhp. Its not a particularly big car so in fairness would be pretty quick although you'd be forever going up the gears, 5000rpm redline is what put me of one as a replacement for my Golf.
 
The fabia vrs is very overpriced.
Have a look at a ibiza sport if you don't need 4 doors, same platform/car but looks a bit nicer and it seems cheaper.

Or do the sensible thing and look at a toledos/leon/bora. You can get something with much better value for money.

I still think they are nice cars - the diesel torxxx will make the effortlessly accelerate in gear as they are quite light. But they are definitely not worth the money people ask for them.
 
Last edited:
I just sold my last of these, is the remapped one with a replacement clutch? Pretty sure that will be near the limit for the stock one. He should have replaced the air intake as well if he mapped it, pretty common to use the pd 150 intake instead. Have both had their rear doors re-sealed? If not they will almost definitely need doing and if there's been a lot of leaking in the rear left door then it potentially can destroy the wiring loom that goes underneath that footwell.

I enjoyed mine for its cheap/fun motoring, the engine is pretty strong, parts were cheap, did fairly decent mpg, maintenance was pretty easy and Skoda garages were good to deal with. For a first car I really liked it, fast enough to enjoy but not kill myself and low insurance group / overheads that were manageable during my first professional role made for a nice balance.
 
How long is this commute?

If it's town driving you're going to be better off with a naturally aspirated petrol as short trips in town will just destroy the turbo and clutch. If it's motorway then you really want something bigger and more refined, think at least Focus sized if not all the way up to a Mondeo.

I used to shout the praises of the Fabia vRS, but really they don't make much sense at the end of the day.
 
Trollollol

The Fabia VRs was actually a good litle car 8ish years ago but the competition has moved on in leaps and bounds from all marques since then.

The scene tax and 'ah the memories' tax it holds is laughable hence the rather high used price when compared to the alternatives of that era.

Pick one of the alternatives like the ibiza sport and save yourself some £££

£4K will get you much newer and nicer cars esp if you consider petrol.
 
What I don't understand is you have an s2000 as a fun car which you fully intend on keeping for when you want to have fun so why are you looking at a luke warm hatch as your boring daily driver? Do it properly get a boring Mondeo/Focus/Vectra to pile the miles on and enjoy your weekend fun in the s2000, be honest the VRs is going to feel tame in comparison anyway so why waste the cash and endure the discomfort?
 
To be fair the VRS is still a good car now. I paid 2.5k for one the other week for my wife to commute 50 miles a day in. She would not be seen dead in a *enter mundane barge here*

Still looks a nice little sporty hatch and with cruise its good for daily commute. 60mpg is not bad either!

I did have to replace a seat bolster, discs + pads and service the one I bought though.
 
Spunkey said:
So buying the £4200 VRS will pay you back in about 18 months - and that's assuming no unexpected bills come up and you don't mod it.

Spending £4k to save £50 a week is a false economy IMO. £1k would be more like it.
Click to expand...

I only need the car until xmas and hoped something like this would hold the majority of its value until then
 
Cristian said:
The fabia vrs is very overpriced.
Have a look at a ibiza sport if you don't need 4 doors, same platform/car but looks a bit nicer and it seems cheaper.

Or do the sensible thing and look at a toledos/leon/bora. You can get something with much better value for money.

I still think they are nice cars - the diesel torxxx will make the effortlessly accelerate in gear as they are quite light. But they are definitely not worth the money people ask for them.
Click to expand...

Been looking at the ibiza sport actually just now. Seems quite nice interior. Im guessing the 1.9 tdi fr is practically same as the skoda?

Any opinions as to which handles better?
 
Nathan said:
To be fair the VRS is still a good car now. I paid 2.5k for one the other week for my wife to commute 50 miles a day in. She would not be seen dead in a *enter mundane barge here*

Still looks a nice little sporty hatch and with cruise its good for daily commute. 60mpg is not bad either!

I did have to replace a seat bolster, discs + pads and service the one I bought though.
Click to expand...
Does it actually get 60mpg though? I've been driving like a grandad recently in my Ibiza and I'm only seeing 55 tops... I usually get 50 when I'm driving at pace.

Ninjedit:
al4x said:
Been looking at the ibiza sport actually just now. Seems quite nice interior. Im guessing the 1.9 tdi fr is practically same as the skoda?

Any opinions as to which handles better?
Click to expand...
The 1.9 FR is pretty much exactly the same. You might as well just get the Sport though, the FR seems to have one of these popularity taxes on it (although this may be because the Sport effectively became the FR when it was discontinued in 2004). I don't know about the vRS's handling but I do know in generally that Skodas have the waftiest suspension and SEAT the hardest throughout VW's range, with the Polo equivalent being a sort-of middle ground.

Final edit:
Watch out for ones which are approaching 60k / 8yrs old, if you do go and look at one check the service history to see if it's had its belts and pump service - otherwise that'll cost you a fair penny (mine was ~£440 for a full service + these, I managed to get it knocked off the asking price of the car though).
 
Last edited:
As a Fabia VRS owner (mk2 1.4 TSi to be fair) and someone who nearly bought a Mk1 in late 2003 I'll post in here and try and be unbiased.

The MK1 Fabia VRS is an ok car. It isn't fantastic, it isn't totally awful. It, in my opinion, shouldn't command a huge price premium, other than a premium over other Fabia's of the same age due to its 'standing' in the range. In short, I think that 4k is a LOT for a nearly 10 year old car with nearly 100k on the clock.

It handles ok, but felt quite hard and high to me, below the handling you'd get in a Fiesta or a Focus... I drove an Ibiza PD130 Sport at the same time but couldn't tell huge amounts between them. The Seat felt a bit more youthful, but that was down to interior design. I ended up buying a 2003 Focus TDCi 115 Zetec instead of the Fabia.

I'll comment on the MPG. You won't get 60mpg tootling to the shops. On a long commute, when the engine is warmed up, if you have cruise control on, its on the motorway, and your doing 60 ish you might do. You'll end up in the high 40's, low 50's depending on variation on those factors, significantly lower if your doing 70-80-90 etc.

I personally think 4k is a lot of money for what you are getting, and I recently spent out on a well specced 2011 Fabia VRS Estate. I got destroyed for doing it, but it was one of the only cars we found that met our needs. Would I buy it again? Almost certainly. Would I have got less stick if I'd spent the same money on a year older Octavia VRS? probably.

Fox is right that for a commuting car the Toledo would be a good option. Both that and the Bora (to a lesser extent) offer a good value for money car. It would probably be better suited to your needs, but I don't feel you have given us much to go on for suggesting another car.

How many miles is your commute? you might find that a Petrol will cost less and get you a newer/better condition car and not work out much if indeed at all more expensive. On a long run I can get mid 50's on my Fabia VRS, and thats a 180 BHP Petrol ! Granted its a newer engine design, but you'd be surprised what Petrols will manage.

Regarding the Remap, that will hit your fuel economy if you 'use' the remap. You hear varying things about how far you can push a PD130 engine. Someone in my office claims to have just over 200 bhp, but he has a hybrid turbo, different exhaust, different intake, and some 'custom' remap. I don't doubt it must be quite a reasonable drive now for straight line oompf, but he had to get a different cluch fitted to cope with the loltorqs. Personally I'd get a standard car.
 
I would probably be driving 160 miles a day a couple of days a week on mainly dual carrige ways, probably about 65ish steady. I would like to get a 130-180 hp diesel really, just because of the value they hold at higher miles.

Only really looked at cars with that engine, not on purpose, its just the reviews always come back to that as the economy and bhp is there. I did see an ibiza at a garage with 20k for 3500

Like i said, my s2k gets exactly what the book says, these longer commutes will wreck my s2k milage, (currently 54k) and its this reason as much as to save momey on fuel im looking for a car.

Ive always liked nice handling over high speed
 
al4x said:
I would probably be driving 160 miles a day a couple of days a week on mainly dual carrige ways, probably about 65ish steady. I would like to get a 130-180 hp diesel really, just because of the value they hold at higher miles.

Only really looked at cars with that engine, not on purpose, its just the reviews always come back to that as the economy and bhp is there. I did see an ibiza at a garage with 20k for 3500

Like i said, my s2k gets exactly what the book says, these longer commutes will wreck my s2k milage, (currently 54k) and its this reason as much as to save momey on fuel im looking for a car.

Ive always liked nice handling over high speed
Click to expand...

You are going to do 160 miles a day and are spending less than £4k on a car. Therefore residual value doesnt matter - its already getting close to worthless comparatively speaking. You wont lose more than a grand or two over your ownership period.

With 160 miles of dual carriageway a day a Fabia really is a poor choice. You'd be better off with something a bit larger and better value from the VAG stable. Same engine, infact many of the same components, but nicer inside, more refined and just generally a better place to be for 160 miles a day.

The Seat Toledo is the obvious value for money winner but look also at something like a Bora. Heck at the bonkers money these little Fabia's command I doubt a Passat would cost you any more.
 
Love my fabia vRs mk1. Sold a Clio sport 172 to buy it as needed a car with 4 doors.

It's got a shark map and it's pretty nifty I must say

Went to London and averaged 59mpg (computer display)
 
Maccy said:
Part of me still really wants a new shape Fabia vRS in green...
Click to expand...
I only found out the other day, that whilst having the engines from the current model of Polo/Ibiza, the mk2 Fabia is actually based on the previous platform.

Not that it's a big thing (VW's soon-to-be-released platform is supposed to be game changing, at least for them, though) but I just thought it was a bit weird since I always assumed they were synchronized.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom