Ok, so last Wednesday I nearly sobbed as I saw some geezer drive off in my cherished modified UK300 Impreza. I was devastated, as id been slowly getting the car how I wanted over the past year.

That same day I later went and picked up my brand new BM Fabia vRS, and below are my initial thoughts, with the Impreza being used for purposes of comparison.

For comparison, Ive used a template that a friend of mine used to compare several cars he has owned and is quite thorough (Thanks Stormy!)

Price

UK300 32 months Old

Excellent write up - glad you like it.

Andrew

Coming from Scoob to TDi like yourself I felt exactly the same about the powerband.

You will find that you adjust your driving style to suite so you will be exiting bends and starting an overtake with 1800rpm on the tacho rather than 3000rpm.

Once the engine has loosened up you will find it revs on towards 4000rpm. A 2200rpm powerband doesn't sound much but together with the taller gearing it gives a decent speed band.

A decent tuning box or remap will extend the power band as well as upping the peak power and torque figures as well.

Cheers

Lee

Glad you like your Furby VRS, keep us informed!

Enjoyed that write up.

good write up.

Not get the 312's, eibachs and a remap on order

Nice write up. As said, when its run in, it will rev all the way to 4000 + without tailing off too much even as high as 4500 rpm. Remaps and other tweaks help with that a bit more. Handling is not bad for what is essentially a heavy nosed diesel supermini, plenty of grip as you say, but its a long way short of even other cars in its class and nowhere near as good as the scoob and never will be, ever. As long as you dont mind the diesel characteristics and the fact its handling will never be as good as you've experienced before, you should get on just fine with the Furby vRS. And if you decide that it just feels fast, then a remap or tuning box is the way to go not only will it feel even faster, but it will be very quick, matching, if not beating, any other standard hot hatch supermini IMO.

The scoob has massive grip round bends which the Furby won't (ever) match. My ex-boss has a scoob and the diesel lump in the Furby does weigh in very heavily.

I've nearly done 15k now, pretty much standard except for the intake & air filter from an engine perspective.

With a recent 'pull' by the police that cost me 3 points, but could have cost me a ban, I am reconsidering my 'top' speed on the roads and my fuel economy has drastically improved

Thats the thing, for me you can still have fun in a diesel while keeping to the speed limits. I've missed that about mine. In the Golf you can either go slow or fast, little in between, and to go anything other than fast is pretty boring really, and even then you have to work at it...

Still, at least you're in a car that's behaving itself again Paul

Yeah at least it works now It is a fun car, but it really has to be driven with intent!

Interesting comparison. Two things: 1. When you fit your Eibachs don't overlook to shorten the bump stops. 2. Short of a remap, you will open up the breathing above 4K by fitting the Ibiza 160 air intake and an o/s/f wheel arch vent to improve air flow through the intertcooler. Do a seach if you want more details, there's tons of info...

Thanks guys, Ive be getting some help from a certain Skoda tech with my car, so I know things will be done right

Thanks guys, Ive be getting some help from a certain Skoda tech with my car, so I know things will be done right

:P

good write up, nice to see you seeing things obvjectively as two different beasts! as far as the running in goes, it makes a difference, I reccon mine has just about run in (12,000 miles) and it improved throughout that time! hope you enjoy it......

Good write up.

That is really starting to make me wet, thinking about collecting mine in 2 weeks.

I got rid of my Evo 7 for exactly the same reason. Too much gas money.

Cheers

Lee

hang tight Lee - you'll be enjoying a fun drive and marvelling at fuel economy before you know it

Ben, another little cheapish mod to consider if you're going down the Eibach / suspension route is a front top strut brace. You can get a Seatsport one for an Ibiza from any Seat dealer and it bolts straight on the top suspension turrets (remember mine).

I have found that between that and a suspension tweak (eibach springs and koni dampers on mine) the steering is just infinately more precise and you almost forget how heavy the front end is :P

indeed Xav, i'll look into that

I could be suffering from alzheimers but I'm sure scooby chris said that the strut brace didnt make that much difference in his opinion - thats what he said when he took it off... maybe he could chime in

I've got the strut & it made the steering more precise for sure, cant afford the other mods unfortunately :(

Popular mods also include a 312mm set of brakes on the front, to give more confidence & stopping power

already got the 312s on their way

lost out on buying eibachs from MikeF so looking for alternative source.

I'd recommend doing the dampers as well, I can imagine this would make more difference to handling than the springs...

I didn't have the brace on mine for sometime, what with getting it painted etc. I waited until I put the Eibachs on.

I also drive SWMBO's car which did have the brace fitted, (from the day it was delivered tbh) and I can assure you there is a noticable difference. It's well worth the money.

Must remember that th epoint of this car is to save money though - so I can help family and pay off debts quicker.

So I'll go a certain way, but not as far as I perhaps otherwise might...