Fabia vRS vs. Mondeo 2.0LX.

[Tom_vRS]

My favourite bit of twisty road is about 4 miles long, varying tightness corners, no straights of any length, but nice sweeping bends - for about a mile its gentle, off camber left-right-left = very fast. Its an elevated road and you can see for miles, it really is great. However, it is indeed very rural - and in Fenland that means VERY bumpy - VERY.

However I often time myself, resetting the trip at one end, and reading my average speed at the other.

Driving pretty smoothly with mum in the car is normally around 47mph give or take.

Driving pretty hard with the standard map - 63mph

Driving pretty hard with the remap - a one off of 70mph.

My friend has an Ibiza FR, and his driving skills are limited - he was dead chuffed with his 60mph!

Well, at the moment I have an 05 plate 2.0 Mondeo that I've swapped my Furby with a friend for.

The Mondeo - I really really wanted to hate it - but its actually a VERY good car indeed. Its got everything you could want, digital a/c, cruise (great to use btw - much simpler than the VAG system - the buttons on the wheel are a joy.) leccy windows, remote locking, great cd player, heated screens front and back etc etc.

Its a 2.0 143bhp model - its quite torquey pulling cleanly from 1500rpm, its nice and smooth, and pulls really well to the 7000rpm red line. Its dead comfy soaking up the bumps making for a pretty cosetting ride. Turn in doenst feel special - but its not supposed to be a sporty car. Its handling is very neutral, just a whiff of understeer - but the grip is really very good, giving a standard vRS a good run for its money.

However, on my favourite twisties - I managed a 69mph without feeling "on the edge" like I would be in the vRS to achieve such a speed.

Head to head off the line, the vRS (remapped remember) gives it a good spanking, and cornering again, the vRS is the clear winner - so why such a good speed on the twisties?

The bumps! There are some seriously bumpy bits - especially on the heavy braking bits - with the vRS you have to lose a lot of speed before the bumpy bits, the car bounces up and down like a yoyo, bottoms out occasionally and feels really quite unsettled with the abs going off like a good on, and the feeling of becoming airborne is not a good one with ditches on both sides of the road. The result is this really drops down the average despite the massive power benefit, superior braking and handling.

The Mondeo however just laps the bumps up - entry speeds to a couple of corners is much higher as a result, hence the good average speed.

Well - its the straw that broke the camels back. Whilst I've never been overtaken on the section of road - knowing a boggo 2.0 Mondeo can keep with me has really hacked me off - so the car is on its return to standard (maybe it will be quicker on OEM springs?) and it will be replaced with the GTI MK2 Golf for a daily driver (loads of fun, if ultimately not that quick), and a Corrado VR6 for a fun, classic kind of weekend car play thing.

I'm not knocking the vRS - I love mine to bits - with Eibachs, ARB, big brakes and a remap it really is a super, excellent brilliant car! The ARB gives it a bit of character, makes it more fun - but ultimately it has no soul. I think me and a Corrado will be very happy together in that respect.

[HellFire]

I owned a 2.0 Zetec Petrol then a 2.0 Zetec S TDCi, the 1st had 16" rims, the latter 18" & lowered suspension. The petrol was exactly as described above, an excellent all round package. The Zetec S however was something else, although the diesel engine & brakes meant the car was slower and lacked brake bite/feel it was ultimately a lot quicker round most corners than my vRS (remapped also with Eibach's, Udders, Strut Brace etc). It really was excellent. My vRS however is more "fun" than the Mondeo and it brings a smile to my face everytime I drive it, the Mondeo simply didn't, I found that I was driving it a lot faster than my capabilities just to get that "thrill" which can be had in the vRS and more reasonable speeds.

My boss has a 2.2 ST TDCi at work, although my vRS drives by it without too much stress on the straights, he can quickly close up on the corners as it's chassis is so capable, it has upper/lower front/back struts on as standard (all Mondeo's do iirc) and i'm not sure what day to day cars could actually match it's precise handling on the bends and remapped it would be a formidable foe with lots of kit as standard and very safe & looks great!

[Goochie]

Just wait until Chris sees this thread

[TaviaRS]

I think he has but he said something about "going to get some tissues before I read it"

[Tom_vRS]

[mitch]

FORD (Fix Or Repair Daily)

[TaviaRS]

Bit of a misconception I think. Proportionatly I'd say they were as reliable as anything else. You may hear of more being "broken" but there are more of them on the road than most things.

[walkie]

Originally Posted by mitch

FORD (Fix Or Repair Daily)

SKODA (Shi.te Krappy Overated Dire Automobile)

[Tom_vRS]

Unreliable - I doubt it.

And as for build quality, everything is smooth and nice to touch, some nice silver buttons, soft touch plastics. Its a nicer place to be than the MK1 Octavia, and on a par with the Mk2 without a doubt.

Its a seriously under-rated car.

(Ok, its just a boggo family car, but I like it!)

[Goochie]

We run 3 of them as company owned vehicles here and they are regularly abuses with lots of heavy gear in the back and thrashed every day.

I drove one recently that has over 100k miles on the clock and it has none of the little rattles and creaks that our Octavia has at 99k miles. It is only just 3 years old and sailed through it's MOT. It had just one issue with lumpy acceleration a while ago which, was fixed with an ECU flash. That is the only problem, it is still on original wheel bearings and suspension bushes etc - more than can be said for our Octavia.

I put it with the Vauxhall Signum - both annonymous capable cars.

[TaviaRS]

After reading the replies to date, I think Chris'll need more tissues

[WW_VRS]

He's probably getting himself a boot-full of them by now

Suppose Chris will need another tissue now but I drove a Mondeo and they're not bad at all. Dunno about underrated, I have a feeling the biggest turnoff for buying a particular brand of car would be experience(s) with dealerships.

Also liked the Mazda 6 series though, which is probably the same chassis, and it drove well too

[TaviaRS]

Originally Posted by WW_VRS

I have a feeling the biggest turnoff for buying a particular brand of car would be experience(s) with dealerships.

Based on my expeiences with several Skoda dealers, I guess that would rule out Skoda too

[vindaloo]

Compliance and suspension travel are both areas where the Furby comes off second best to a lot of cars... The 45 profile tyres don't help either.

Hope you find the Corrado a good drive.

J.

[WW_VRS]

@TaviaRS - I know what you mean. That said with a VAG group car you can always go to SEAT, VW, Audi dealerships as well, so you have a better chance to find a good one somewhere nearish I suppose. Ended up at a VW dealership for my 40k service for exactly that (+ price) reason

[mitch]

I have had a Octavia VRS Mk I for three years now and never had a minutes trouble with it other than a new indicator flasher unit that was replaced promptly under warranty. I have excelent service from My local dealer, which by the way is D M Kieth in Bradford.

I cannot say the same for Ford. Over the years my wife has had a number of Fords, all of which have let her down at one time or another.

Perhaps my view is a bit blinkered with regards to there current quality, but when ever I'm looking for a new car the Ford dealers is the first one I drive straight past without giving it a second thought.

By the way I'm picking up my new Octavia VRS MkII on Friday. Can't wait!!

[bengie]

Originally Posted by mitch

I have had a Octavia VRS Mk I for three years now and never had a minutes trouble with it other than a new indicator flasher unit that was replaced promptly under warranty. I have excelent service from My local dealer, which by the way is D M Kieth in Bradford.

I cannot say the same for Ford. Over the years my wife has had a number of Fords, all of which have let her down at one time or another.

Perhaps my view is a bit blinkered with regards to there current quality, but when ever I'm looking for a new car the Ford dealers is the first one I drive straight past without giving it a second thought.

By the way I'm picking up my new Octavia VRS MkII on Friday. Can't wait!!

on the other hand i have had a fiesta, focus, granada and sierra all of which have worked perfectly fine and been more than reliable where as my skoda has probably been the most unreliable car by far and i owned a bloody metro!!

my skoda dealer is crap too, the ford place is only a bit better though.

[Neo_VR]

Wonder what the Crocus ST is like incomparison to the Mundano ST

[Tom_vRS]

Hmmm - anyone car to comment about suspension and bumpy roads?

[mitch]

Originally Posted by Tom_vRS

Hmmm - anyone car to comment about suspension and bumpy roads?

You got me there Tom. The VRs is horrendous on bumpy roads. A bit like a bucking bronco.

[ric04vrs]

Originally Posted by WW_VRS

Also liked the Mazda 6 series though, which is probably the same chassis, and it drove well too

MAZDA 6 uses bits of the Mondeo floorpan iirc but the suspension is a totally different set up , and a lot more complicated (expensive ) when it goes wrong although on the plus side it doesn't generally go wrong

[ric04vrs]

Originally Posted by Goochie

it is still on original wheel bearings and suspension bushes etc - more than can be said for our Octavia.

if the mondeos are over 3 years old i'm suprised that the rear subframe bushes haven't needed replacing especially as you say the have been hammered with all sorts of stuff in the back , common fault this , you get knocking noises from the rear

[oskah]

Mazda 6 has a double wishbone set up at the front and a multi link set up at the back (similar to the ford focus) It alegedly handles better than the mondeo but the ride is a bit stiffer and not as comfy on the motorway.. If I was not such a tight wad I would have got the 2.3 petrol but I am so I got the diesel but its still a belting car just not as much poke as the vrs

[WW_VRS]

The one I drove (this is quite a while back now though) was a petrol, can't even remember the engine size but if they do 2 liter that was probably it.

Didn't seem to mind bumps & going round bends hard. Ditto with the Ford in fairness

The Fabia is a bit of a tricky one - if you have a smoothish road it will go round bends really nicely, but if it's bumpy you've really got to ease off the loud-pedal.

It wouldn't surprise me if those who've 'lost it' did so as a result of a bumpy road when using the grip to get round the bend. Bump = grip goes down for a fraction = bad stuff happens.

That said generally a Mondeo-sized car ought to handle better over bumps anyway, unlike a smaller car like the Fabia. SWMBO has a Kia Picanto which is about the size of a cardboard box and it handles 'well' for what it is, in that it has fairly forgiving suspension and it will soak up some bumps. If you put sports suspension on that kinda car it would bump all over the place during cornering (PS I know it has no grip, won't go etc etc, it's merely an example )

[Neo_VR]

Its simple really... Mundano has independant suspension all round + SUBSTANTIALLY wider footprint which equals a lower centre of gravity. (purists said the 309gti handled better than the 205gti for this very reason)

and with mundano being a bigger car, theres more space to get some decent travel in the suspension...

so to sum up: its mainly down to the size of the car.. theres no small car that will be as comfortable as a big car.. and handle pretty well too