this weeks autoexpress fabia vrs report

[shorty]

Final 12 month long term report on their fabia vrs in this weeks autoexpress. Good review though they've had some niggly trim issues - one where the front of the heater control fell off! Not heard of that one before.
Its the one that was superchipped last year and they mentioned that other owners had been chipped upto 190bhp and 410nm by a company in Peterborough called 'Javasport'..... oops

[lozgti]

Sounds good.Get my copy today.

I thought they went to superchips though?

Edit.Read before I post! sorry

[Neily03]

I'll get this tonight too!

[chowy]

Here's the link to it

http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/long_te...fabia_vrs.html

[SteVRs]

Must....not.....click.....must.....wait.....for... ..magazine

[Verr_Err_Ess!]

Sorry, Bud. I don't agree with the comments about Skoda needing to catch up with VW in terms of trim quality etc. My m8 (mkiv Mike) rates mine as "much more solid feeling" than the Polo courtesy car he drove when his Golf Tdi was in for a service. And he was referring to the quality feel of the plastics and solidity of shutting the door.

[The Jimmy]

Also see that they experienced the common problem of Xenons being set too low on delivery.

[BeezerDiesel]

I don't agree with the quality comments either. I've owned a mk4 Golf until very recently, my Dad has a late model Bora, I've also had in the last couple of years a Leon Cupra and an Ibiza TDI 130. The Fabia's quality is no better or worse than any of these cars on the whole, and when you take price in comparison it knocks the 'family' opposition into the shade. My Fabia is far from perfect, but it's no worse than any other VAG car I've been in the last few years. I'll also add that we get a lot of hire vehicles in at work, all nearly new. and the VAG ones don't seem to very in quality very much. Some of the textures vary in feel, but that's getting less marked as each new model appears IMO.

[WW_VRS]

Definitely - the trim of the aircon falling off is a new one to me too, maybe someone actually hit it or something. The plastic trim thing in the passenger door comes out easily, after two attempts close after delivery it's not moved in 30k miles on varying road surfaces

Shame they got JabbaSport wrong, would have been a nice advert to them.

Not quite sure why they felt it was loosing it's edge or something, I reckon it's more of a 'so used to it' thing. Still quite happy with mine, although I'm getting tons of work done on it soon it is a fine car for what I use it for daily

[MikeW]

They say that their care feels "tired" after 16,000 miles, wonder what they mean by that? Mine's done 11,000 now, will it feel "tired" in only a few months time?

[sixdegrees]

Originally Posted by Verr_Err_Ess!

Sorry, Bud. I don't agree with the comments about Skoda needing to catch up with VW in terms of trim quality etc. My m8 (mkiv Mike) rates mine as "much more solid feeling" than the Polo courtesy car he drove when his Golf Tdi was in for a service. And he was referring to the quality feel of the plastics and solidity of shutting the door.

Have to agree, I've had 2 Polos and 1 MKV Golf as courtsey cars, and all were crap, poor quality, and although my vRS has a few trim issues thats down to useage (prev owner) and nothing that new trim won't fix, where as the courtsey cars were new and shody to start with.

Skoda build quality might not be up there with Audi but its on par with VW and SEAT!!

[Organist]

I should think that after 500 miles in the company of Auto Express, any car would feel "tired". I know I do, and that's just reading the rubbish they write every week!
I bet the poor 'superchipped' fabia has been thrashed by all and sundry from arseholes to breakfast time!

And, after all that, You know they haven't really got anything to say detrimental to a car when all they can whinge about is "niggly trim issues" and the headlights being set too low on delivery. I mean, for God's Sake!

[lozgti]

Still down as worth nearly £10k after a year.Excellent

[Organist]

Yes, I noticed from the back pages of 'Test Drive' magazine that the Fabia Vrs is worth 51% after 3 years.

Now, that's not at all bad and I can't think of many cars which fair so well in this regard!

[DangerMouse]

The tatty trim also disappointed, and proved that despite Skoda's progress, it still lags some way behind parent firm Volkswagen in this area.

What a load of rubbish. Certainly my Octy 2 had fantastic trim, much nicer looking and feeling than many more expensive brands and though the furby doesn't have quite the same feel, it isn't bad at all... Certainly not something to complain about.

[katieclogg]

Well my vrs has done 21000 and most certainly does not feel tired. Having always had golfs or polos previously i would disagree about the trim levels, the skodas are as good as the vws. In fact I test drove both the polo sport and the skoda vrs on the same day and believe me there was really no comparison the skoda felt much more of a car. My husband was certain I would chose the vw over the skoda so it was quite a shock to him when I told him that even if the skoda had been the more expensive car I would have bought it. It has certainly lived up to all my expectations, and I get 55 mpg out of it on my normal run to work (which is 25 miles) and when I have to travel longer distances on motorways I get 63 mpg and thats travelling at speeds of 80 plus.

[AngryNortherner]

So they think it's still worth 10K after 1 year and 16000 miles... Good luck. The trade in price I was quoted was a lot less than £10k and for a 10 month old car and there seem to an awful lot of 54/05 plate cars with a little over 10k on the clock sitting on dealers forecourts and the classified ads without moving.

I would agree with the tired comments, mine has developed a number of irritating rattles and squeaks which the dealer couldn't fix, although I was reassured that I shouldn't complain as mine isn't the worse one he's heard. Given that 8k of the miles I've done have been sat on Motorways I'm a little surprised that it rattles so much

Anyway the ratting/squeaking torture will soon be over as I'm trading it in for a new Civic i-CTDi, which is quicker and more fuel efficient!

[carefree]

Originally Posted by Verr_Err_Ess!

Sorry, Bud. I don't agree with the comments about Skoda needing to catch up with VW in terms of trim quality etc. My m8 (mkiv Mike) rates mine as "much more solid feeling" than the Polo courtesy car he drove when his Golf Tdi was in for a service. And he was referring to the quality feel of the plastics and solidity of shutting the door.

I too disagree re trim. Had the mk3 and mk4 Golf and they were both inferior to the Fabia trim wise. Have to say, and this is only through my experience, that VW's reputation in build quality is a myth. It MAY have been good (the old Jetta I had was superb) but the last few years has seen a decline in quality. Can't comment on the new model golf though.

The review was a tad harsh. Summing up one said not ideal for long trips. Well, I am 6'2 and often take my Furb on long trips and its fantastic, so there AND and the minus points included too much smoke under acceleration THATS BECAUSE YOU HAD IT CHIPPED, DONT BLAME THE CAR FOR THAT

All in all not a great article and tad unfair.

[ScoobyChris]

£212 for a 10k service?!

Chris

[WW_VRS]

Sounds about right - I paid 185 for mine & was pretty annoyed about it - this time around for the 30k I will find a cheaper place for it, as I refuse to pay that kinda money again.

I am still absolutely convinced it should have been much lower than that GRR.

The 212 quid inc VAT etc may have included a courtesy car + insurance for it I suppose, hard to be sure .

[ScoobyChris]

Originally Posted by WW_VRS

The 212 quid inc VAT etc may have included a courtesy car + insurance for it I suppose, hard to be sure .

150 quid max It's an oil and filter change and an inspection!!!

Chris

[rallysnapper]

How can one believe everything that is is written in Auto Express. I bet if Skoda had very large and long running advertisments in this mag it would be the best car since slice bread.

[DRJ]

Originally Posted by WW_VRS

The 212 quid inc VAT etc may have included a courtesy car + insurance for it I suppose, hard to be sure .

I paid £160 for the 10k "yearly" service including free courtesy car and insurance - 20k getting very close now...