I had a drive last night in my mate's new company motor, a nice shiny black 56 reg Skoda Fabia vRS, and was impressed. A lot.
If you want a small, economical car that's a bit of a laugh, do not buy anything without test driving one of these. The combination of the 130PS VAG PD engine and the tiny Fabia bodyshell works brilliantly. I have never driven another car whose engine just flings it so effortlessly up the road whatever gear it is in. It's really nicely put together as well with good quality interior plastics, and lovely sports seats.
Performance, particularly in the higher gears just had me laughing out loud. 4th is particularly amusing, taking you from 30 mph to illegal speeds in one great big wallop of torque. I can't remember the last time a £12k car actually made me smile, never mind laugh. Performance feels on a par with the Alfa 156 2.4 JTD M-Jet I drove a year or two ago, which is claimed to hit 60 in 8 seconds, not the 9.3 Skoda claim for the vRS. One of the manufacturers is miles out, and if my butt-o-meter is even half accurate, I suspect it's not Alfa Romeo.
Steering is typical VAG overassisted numbness, but the handling is taut and precise with a firm ride and good body control that never seems to overstep the mark into discomfort or crashiness. Build quality looks flawless with decent quality plastics and nice even panel gaps. For the money, it's an amazing car.
If someone had told me 10 years ago that I would be excited over a Skoda diesel, I would never have believed them. It's the only affordable car I've tried recently that has been truly memorable.
I want one!
Cheers
DP
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>If you want a small, economical car that's a bit of a laugh, do not buy anything without test driving one of these
And the Seat Ibiza 130 - it's been out a bit longer so it can be had for less, and is cheaper to insure!
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Steering is typical VAG overassisted numbness,
If it's got the same electric power steering as the Polo, then it can be probably be made to feel heavier (ie numb and heavy!). My daughter Ibiza's steering is stupidly light, but she's happy with it.
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I very nearly bought one. It's a brilliant little car make no mistake - genuinely good to drive, and stupidly economical, despite having a very quick turn of speed to satisfy most folk.
However, it's got its limitations. The interior is good but by no means 'high quality'. The plastics are a step down from its VW stablemates, and the standard black and light grey seats look tacky and mark easily. The spec is good but not generous, and the engine is a little way behind the times, being very noisy and having a narrow power band.
You will still have a very warm glow inside when you see what the mpg is though - over 50mpg is easily obtainable. It steers safely but i wouldn't say it's a performance car handling-wise - better than most supermini runabouts though. It looks great in black if you can keep it clean and it retains an amazing percentage of its original purchase price.
In the end I went for a used BMW 330D :-)
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Well put everyone - I agree with just about all that has been written here. Now hold your breath and wait for the torrent of ill-informed anti-diesel invective from some of our less enlightened brethren.
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Agreed Alan. Let's be more positive and lobby Skoda to produce an estate version of the vRS when the new model appears next year - as they have done with the Octavia.
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Thanks for the comments.
I really didn't think the powerband was narrow. It does more at the bottom end of the rev range than any other diesel I've tried, and there's useable pull from 1200, with the real muscle starting from just 1500 (peak torque is at 1900 RPM). This example is still well awake at 3,500 RPM as well. I didn't cane it too much, as it's only got a few hundred miles on it. Virtually no turbo lag either.
A bit noisy, but quieter and far smoother than my brother-in-law's 2002 Passat TDI 130 6spd. I don't know if that's due to engine revisions or 68k of wear on the Passat.
Obviously, the 330d is a better car, but sporting a third extra capacity, and nearly 3x the new price, depending on spec, it really should be.
The Fabia's interior plastics don't look any different to the ones VW use in the Polo to me. OK, it doesn't have the gorgeous violet panel lighting and the air-con controls look cheap and cheerful next to VW's Climatronic, but in this example, build quality was faultless. Crisp shutlines, not a hint of a squeak or rattle, all trim nicely fitted.
Cheers
DP
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I had one for 6 months, one of the most annoying cars I've owned. It went well but the rattles, knocks and other failures were a nightmare. I think I had about 2 months where I didn't speak to the dealer and the other 4 we were speaking almost weekly. I have a 1.2 12v now and it doesn't have a single rattle. I think the vRS suffers from being too stiff (hence rattles, knocks) and it doesn't handle too well for it either!
My car was an '05 plate with 5K on the clock when I got it and I got shot with 14K on the clock.
Personally I wouldn't have another... plenty of info on Briskoda.net (look under the Fabia section and note the number of vRS owners with issues....)
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Well, it appears I did well to trust my butt-o-meter rather than claimed figures:
From Autocar: "Skoda claims a 0-62 time of 9.6sec, but we managed consistent times of 8.2sec and one incredible, but genuine, non-wind-assisted run of 7.2sec").
Sorry to hear of your problems. I am surprised you bought another Fabia after that little lot. My mate's got it made as it's a company vehicle, and therefore SEP if it goes wrong.
Cheers
DP
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I was torn between this and a Golf Tdi Sport earlier this year. The vRS is great fun to drive and it will have you smiling all the way to the diesel pump...
But...
It's an old model now and I was looking for something to keep for the duration of a four year lease.
The plastics inside were old and blocky, and not as well fitted as in the Golf (says she, who has just pulled her gear lever top off).
There were a lot of rattles and squeaks, even on a test drive, and serious road noise on the one I tested.
The seats were nasty and the leather option ridiculously expensive.
Couldn't fault the customer service though, much better than I've had from VW.
If it was my own money, I'd have had a Skoda in black, definitely. Because someone else was paying and I had to keep it a while, the better specced Golf just swung it. And the end to that story is....I'm already bored of the Golf!
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