2003 Skoda Fabia vRS from UK and Ireland - Comments

Slight creaking noise from rear wheels when reversing quickly.

Seats are slightly grubby.

Wheels are in need of a refurbish.

Stone chips on the bonnet and front bumper.

Some slits in the vents have stopped moving with the rest.

I bought this car after having a go in my friends, which I loved.

I'll start with the inside. Although this is the sports model, apart from the seats, there's very little difference from any other model. It has a leather steering wheel, and sports seat, in the most unpractical colour, white. This means they are hard to clean, or rather keep clean. However, they do hold you in very well, and on longer journeys, are comfortable.

The standard CD player is the bottom spec one in VW/Audi cars, and is a bit cheap, but does the job. A simple adapter mean any CD player is easy to fit. The speakers seem to be fairly good compared to my past cars, and for the average driver would be fine.

Space is pretty good, I'm over 6ft, and can almost sit behind myself, which wasn't possible in my Megane. Also, the extra rear doors are a bonus. The boot is a decent size too.

Looks-wise, this was one of my main attractions. It's a 10 year old design, and still looks good today. The larger bumpers and wheels over the rest of the models, mean only those in the know, know what it is. It has 16" alloys, and a small rear spoiler, all very subtle and smart. People don't expect it to move quite as quickly as it does.

Performance is one of the big ones with this type of car. Now I would class this car as a warm hatch. It's not quick enough to keep with the newer hot hatches (Corsa VXR etc), but is quick enough to outpace your average Saxo VTR, and isn't too far behind the VTS/ Fiesta ST. Handling is good, with little body roll, but not in the same class as the Fiesta, being heaver. When you get to 2k rpm, the torque kicks in, and pushes me back. It's quicker 0-60 than paper figures say.

Having said all this, there is some untapped potential in the PD130; a simple remap can release another 40-50bhp, making those STs and VTSs much less trouble, particularly when up to speed, when traction is less of an issue, and the torque can be used better.

Another thing to point out, is while on a steady run, 55mpg is within reach, and even when in full race driver mode, 35mpg is easy to get.

Insurance is good; I'm 19, a bus driver, with 3 points and no NCB and I'm only paying £1600. There are very few as quick and as cheap to run.

All in all, it's an under-estimated quick little car, and wipes the smile from many a chev or merc driver's face daily, while costing pennies to run.

The Fabia vRs is a great car, and will be a cult car in years to come. Agree with your comments.

I found tyre roar to be a headachey issue on certain road surfaces and found the suspension too hard, otherwise could not fault it apart from the light seat edges getting dirty quickly.

Mine was chipped up to 150bhp-quite noticeable difference in pick up as much more eager at lower revs, and gave better fuel economy too. Downside was the car when chipped then was always covered with an oily film on the back end, which was unsightly.

Apparently the ideal chip is 180bhp, but you can go further.

All in all, a very good car which does not shout "boy racer" and can surprise many hot hatches-especially with the chip.

Enjoy!

Thanks for the comment. I have a friend with a 2006 model. Had a full custom re-map, 178bhp. Could have had more, but he wanted a smooth power curve, plus he is still running OEM clutch.

Road noise seems to be helped majorly by differant types of tyre`s.

He probably won't be running the oem clutch or flywheel assembly for much longer then.

Lol.

'He probably won't be running the oem clutch or flywheel assembly for much longer then.

Lol.'

Why? As long as he doesn't boot it below 2000 revs it should last as long as a clutch on an unremapped vrs.

Even then I can't see it lasting too long, I run a chipping firm and the amount of pending cases we have for modern diesels is staggering!

We warn people but they never listen, one example was a bloke in a new 335i bmw, no slouch as standard, he wanted it chipped.

I advised against it but yet he persisted, so we did the work for him, and sure enough there was an irate caller on the phone with a broken bmw. lol, it was bye bye gearbox in a matter of 2 weeks!

Of course, every car is different but the owner of any chipped diesel should remember a normally 70%+ increase in torque on most decent engines, not good for transmission at any part, its your choice though.

Original writer again, he has been running it for a year now, OEM clutch, and its slipped once in that time. As someone has already said, drive round in high gears booting it, and it will chew the clutch, however, driven using the revs a little more will help make it last.

Thanks

matt.