robby

After reading on here and on other websites about the Fabia VRS i got the impression these were good little cars.
I test drove a 04 plate today and was so impressed i traded in my celica VVTi for it

The VRS is a nippy car and reading on Briskoda a chip for about £400 will give it 190bhp and over 320lb/ft torque while running at 50+mpg
Ok the Fabia isn't the prettyist of cars and there aren't many aftermarket tart-up bits (interior chrome, etc) but i expect the aftermarket accessory suppliers will catch on

So thanks for those of you who have posted in the past on these cars (unless mine is a dodgy 1 then i hate you all )

Andy M3

Glad you like it

Dave Duncan

Yes, totally agree.
I'm still running a UK classic turbo wagon, bought new late 1998, now done 52,000 but we update wife's car fairly regularly and last Sept. took delivery of a new vRS to replace a Yaris T-Sport.
The vRS is so good to drive( as long as you're not a back road flying merchant) that I'm seriously considering trading in the Scooby for a 2nd. one!

As has been mentioned before on this forum, it tends to be an enthusiasts choice with similar type modding options as the Scoob and the Briskoda website is run along the same style/lines as the Scoobynet forums.

I believe there are plenty ex-Scooby owners now running vRS's either out of choice or necessity( fuel costs) and I am surprised other manufacturers have not yet expanded their ranges to include a "hot oil burner" although compact alternatives are available from Seat and in fact BMW( but at a considerably higher cost).

Provided space requirements are not critical, I would advise--try a test drive--likely to surprise you, especially the rush of low down torque that is missing from any turbo petrol engined car no matter their bhp advantage.
The high gearing(6 speeder) also provides economical and quiet high speed cruising compared to most Scoobies fitted with aftermarket decatted exhaust systems.

Dave.

robby

Basic interior, bland looks but the drive was what sold it - 5 days till i pick it up

Ben WRX Bug-Eye

I don’t like them. Mate has one. Very bland interior and I don’t like the way it looks. Handles okay but could never class it as sporty. It’s a one trick pony in that it is fast over a certain speed band in a straight line, but please don’t anybody start claiming it’s an Impreza beater. Definitely not what I would call a ‘cool’ car to own either. If you trade in your Scooby for a vRS you will be disappointed. It’s cheap in many ways, which has its benefits, but if your particularly worried about mpg and don’t care about 4wd then what where you ever doing in a Scooby in the first place?

oxscooby

iTrader: (1)

Ive had my vrs since christmas and i loved it for the first 3- 4 months. Luckily i kept my scooby aswell but it has sat in the garage as i was gonna sell it. Glad i didnt now as I just cant get excited about driving the vrs, i miss my scoob!! The missus has now got the vrs (which has an AMD one click, 170bhp,295 ft/lb) and Ive got the scoob. I must admit though the vrs is a great little car but doesnt excite like a scooby.

Ben WRX Bug-Eye

If your the type of driver who only puts his foot down on the motorway / big A-roads when already doing 50mph+ then you may think the vRS is a nice alternative for what you get. If however you really enjoy your driving (not talking about getting from A to B) and appreciate that the Impreza is a totally different animal in terms of the what it can offer - think carefully...

STEVECHAPS

OK, we had a 1998 Saxo VTR & a 2003 STi (With TSL333) which have been swapped for a VRS (standard for now) & a Noble.
Last week we did 1000 miles in the Fabia on holiday 4 up with luggage for 1/2 of that & returned 55.8mpg overall (with 58-59 on the trip there & back!). I would class the Fab as 'Mildly entertaining' but as an overall package it's brilliant for the money.
Trouble was, on return, jumped into the Nobbly one (which started 1st time btw) & returned single figures hooning around

Josh_PoloGTi

See my Fabia vRS microsite @ http://www.fabiavrs.co.uk

/shameless plug

robby

Just had a look at your site Josh - impressed with the Fabia, mines silver and i asked for a quote to have the handles/ rub strips colour coding before i pick it up - did the rub strips just peel off? and holes from clips behind? - might be better that the painted option

btw - seen your posts on briskoda and i also had a chipped mk4 golf so saw you on the mk1vs site (no i'm not stalking you )

do you have any close up pics of the tailgate and sides as the boot badge idea looks good ( i posted about debadge or rebadge on briskoda)? - if you could please email them to - robby@ntlworld.com

Cheers

Josh_PoloGTi

Hi Robby

Cheers for your comments.

The rubbing strips just peel off with judicious use of a hair dryer and some patience.

There's nothing behind them apart from some sticky tape, so some Autoglym Intensive Tar Remover is all that's needed to get any leftovers off!

Not sure I've got any closeups of the tailgate... Just imagine the vRS badge in the middle and no other badges in sight! It looks good

logiclee

I found the opposite in reality. With todays roads, congestion and speed camera's I couldn't really enjoy the scoob except for a few trackdays a year. Modern TDi's, especially tweaked ones, give that kick but not at licence loosing speed. Still get that acceleration surge out of bends and for overtaking but without breaking the speed limits all the time. With the money saved I can enjoy other interests as well as buying a track day toy.

Cheers
Lee

Josh_PoloGTi

BTW, my Fabia does 40-70 in around 5 seconds...

Isn't that the same time Subaru quote for a UK Spec STI?

(not trying to brag or boast... just saying)

logiclee

Yeh but that's in gear time I think.

Use the gearbox and the Fabia vRS won't see the STi for dust.

The Fabia vRS is very flexible and can certainly provide plenty of urge for most UK road situations but it's not in the same league as proper performance cars.
The Fabia vRS weighs about the same as a Classic Scoob and has 130bhp against 225, 280 or more bhp it's not in the same territory.

I don't think anyone is suggesting it is though, what it does do is put a smile on your face at far lower speeds while costing sod all to run.

Cheers
Lee

Josh_PoloGTi

Ahh, maybe I got it wrong... I could have sworn on the Subaru UK website it said 5 seconds 40-70 (through the gears)... But I can't find that info anywhere now. After googling for it, it might be more like 5 seconds in 5th... I'm not sure now!

Mine has 185bhp and 288lbft and weighs something like 1300kg iirc.

It does 0-60 in 7 seconds (nothing special) and 40-70 (in 3rd) in 5 seconds (in 3rd).

I've got H&R Coilovers and Toyo T1-R's, so it's fairly good round corners in the dry... Get it on a slipery road though, and it'll be miles behind anything half decent with AWD.

It's not in the same league as an Impreza, but for what it is (a 12.5 grand, new car with 185bhp (the 12.5k includes a remap!)) I think it's got to be the bargain of the century!!

robby

most important thing today is you can park a VRS without returning to find the rear spoiler/ fogs/ etc still intact
I've had both a classic and bugeye scoob and it got to the stage where i just used them to get to work and back or other a-b places which had secure parking due to fear of having bits pinched or some jelous sods keying it, etc

Josh - have you got the Jabba or Revo remap?

HellFire18

Mine is Jabba'd to 195 bhp and 323 lb/ft of torque.

Not starting an arguement but a 2001 STANDARD (unfair arguement I know ) bugeye Impreza against me (WRX not STi) really doesnt pull a bean on me to 100 mph. My car is also quicker than my brothers Clio 172 on the 1/4 mile at Elvington. Obviously corners are a different story but my brothers car still doesnt pull more than 1-2 lenghts on me. Obviously an Impreza is in a different league here and in the wet there really is no contest. But straight line performance i'll give one a run for it's money.

Once again here are my figures:

0 - 60 (Secs) : 6.63
0 - 100 (Secs) : 17.08
60 - 100 (Secs) : 10.45
Quarter Mile (Secs) : 15.04
Terminal Speed (MPH) : 93.81
Drag Strip Quarter Mile (Secs) : 14.84
Drag Strip Terminal Speed (MPH) : 95.45

logiclee

Yep, not pulling your car down mate. I have an Octavia and a Fabia.

I also had a drive in Rainworth Motors old Fabia demonstrator. 230bhp from Revo remap and NOS, coilovers, big brake conversion, full stainless exhaust and a few other bits.

The great thing about the Fabia vRS is it's cheap to buy, run and insure and it's very cheap and easy to get good increases in performance.

To be honest you can use all the power in the first two gears in the scoob but after that you are looking at points. Was one of the reasons I swapped, anyone who thinks you can't have fun in modern TDi's hasn't driven one.

Cheers
Lee

logiclee

Not suprising, the Bugeye WRX is the slowest Impreza Turbo available. It has basically the same engine as the outgoing classic but is far heavier.
It was slated on here and by the Jurno's so Subaru revamped the car quickly, drive a classic or the new blobeye and the difference between them and the bugeye is easily noticable.
From memory I think the bugeye is nearly 4 seconds slower to 100mph than the classic.

Cheers
Lee

Ben WRX Bug-Eye

The bug-eye is certainly not 4 seconds slower to 100 than a standard UK classic. The difference is 150kg giving 156bhp per ton versus 174bhp per ton. You will notice a performance difference between pre-2000 and post-2000 cars due to this. Let's not start the whole bug-eye versus classic debate as it's been done to death on here and those who know what they are talking about will agree its a marginal issue out on the road.

The 03 Impreza's had a revamped front end and tweaked ECU - taking power to 221bhp - but they weighed the same! What was changed was the low down tourque which made the car easier to drive faster - but not actually signifiantly faster when both are being driven properly.

So what if your modified Skoda can keep up with an Impreza in a straight line from 10 to 100mph? As standard it certainly wouldn't. Try sticking behind any Impreza with exhaust, filter and remap (270bhp, 270lbs/ft) - think you'll find it pulls away fairly easily! Should really be comparing like with like!

I think they are good cars for what they are - just not my cup of tea. If I was looking for that type of car, it would have been top of my list. What annoys me a bit though is people buying them and then thinking they have got themselves some sort of Impreza beater - simply isn't the case.

HellFire18

That explains it

The Trooper 1815

iTrader: (31)

Don't forget that Seat have the same engine in the Ibiza FR TDi. Looks better than a Skoda and also comes as a three door hatch!

Skoda TDi VRs £12227
Seat FR Ibiza TDi £12950

You'll get a disount with Seat too!!! Skoda is much more difficult.

Fabioso

I must admit i'm kind of irritated by Ben with the Bug Eye's comments.........

I've owned both cars and whilst I appreciate the fact the Fabia's handling isn't comparable, I don't think you are giving a fair assessment of the situation. For a start the Fabia really will do 50+ mpg now may be to you that makes no difference but to alot of people who want the thrills but can't afford the spills that is a BIG DEAL. You stated "So what if the fabia will keep up with a Scoob from 10 - 100 mph" well the so what is this.......

• it costs almost half to buy new
• it gives u double the fuel economy
• a significantly reduced Insurance premium.

I don't think anyone here is trying to suggest its an Impreza beater on speed alone but what it sure is, is an Impreza beater on thrills and price/running costs....

I love Scoobs but I am no longer prepared to accept the incredible cost of running one and I want something thats going to give me a smile without the pain of the costs............the answer is the Fabia vRS.

Ben WRX Bug-Eye

Fair enough

missyc

Couldn't agree with you more...

The amount of miles I do, and the amount of money in my purse I went for a Fabia at the end of last year too. I'm totally surprised at the power it has and I've still not pushed it to it's limits yet!

I miss AWD on the twisties, no doubt... but I'm developing a nack for handling the bends differently

If circumstances changed, I'd have an STi for the weekends and hols

But for now the remapped Fabia is just fine, fast and good fun

mattvortex

as the owner of my98 uk turbo, i recently had the chance to drive my brothers mk5 golf gt tdi140. i drove the car for over 100 miles on all types of road. this car has slightly better on-paper performance than a fabia vrs but it was just dull to drive. everything from the dull diesel engine note to the narrow power band. even my brother admits its a boring car to own and drive and he got it solely for economy. so its better on fuel? so what, give me a 20mpg characterful ,fun impreza instead any day of the week. clarkson was right-diesels are for poor/tight people and farmers!

missyc

well not all of us are loaded, and some of us have other responsibilities in life eating at the purse/wallet/bank acc

So give us a break - we deserve a bit of fun too

I miss my scoob as I said, and still drive a mate's WRX, but without a doubt the Fabia vRS is certainly not boring

Dai-Tec

I think some of you guys are getting the wrong end of the stick here though, the Fabia isn't really directly comparable to the Impreza but what you get is one of the best cars for the money. For £12k you get a spanking new car with good fuel economy, cheap insurance and decent poke.

wide

I test drove a vrs the other day and was blown away by it. I suppose as I always had VW before scoobs it was like going back to a familiar setting. The only thing was I found the dealer a bit rude and there was no budging on the price with no deals to be done. I would have had to finance it , so I went for a scoob I owned outright. Mind you if you dont go to the twisties every day, it is a car that will please the average driver. And I have since worked out that with the scoob I own, the petrol I put in , the road tax and the insurance, it would have worked out about a grand over a year cheaper to have bought the vrs on finance and subsequent running cost. Food for thought!

logiclee

Depends hom many miles you do.

20mpg, high insurance and expensive 6 monthly servicing was managable when I was doing 10k miles a year.

Go upto 30k miles a year and the running costs of the Scoob far outweigh any fun you maybe able to have when your not on the motorway, in congested traffic or looking out for speed cameras.
What modern TDi's do is get the cost down to something approaching sensible as well as providing decent performance and some fun when required.

Cheers
Lee