Skoda Fabia vRS 1.9 TDI PD Review

Overall Rating

Fun, easy to drive, fast, good fuel economy, understated.

Only real bad point I can say is that you have to get a service every 10,000 miles, although the services are cheap enough.

I have had 2 Fabia vRS's now, a 2003 model when it first came out and now a 2007 special edition. I can say the performance, it is without doubt excellent. The reason why the Fabia vRs got such a bad write up when it came out in 2003 was basically it was still fashionable to poke fun at Skoda and the concept of putting a diesel into a hot hatch was too much for most people to understand; however a lot has changed since then and most manufactures now offer a "hot" diesel car and like it or not Skoda cars are quite easily one of the best for the money.

This is reflected in the re-sale values as a Skoda vRS is worth more than the equivalent Seat Ibiza. I have driven allsorts of cars, right from Peugeot 205 GTi's to BMW 330i and the Skoda vRS will out accelerate a BMW 330i maybe not quite as quick 0-62 but that is meaningless, 30-70 and 50 -70 it will leave the BMW for dead and to be fair the Skoda will out handle a Mini Cooper S.

The best thing really about the Skoda Fabia vRS is quite easily the fuel economy; you can thrash it all day long and still return anywhere between 45-50mpg; even more on a longer run.

Anyone who tells you that fuel economy isn't an issue is either talking out of their hat or doesn't pay for fuel. I would have to say that for performance, economy, everyday use and practicality you will have to go a long way to beat the Fabia vRS.

Members' Comments onefunkster's Review

• degbert on 16th Aug 2007

  I'm a little surprised to hear that, if I've read this right, a 1.9 TD Skoda has better torque than a 3 litre straight-six petrol BMW. If that's true I think Skoda should be running a massive ad campaign to target sporty drivers who've wasted over 30 grand on a beemer that's going to get done by a Skoda Diesel.
  
  It's a bold claim and I wonder if anyone has the manufacturers stats that back it up? It would be useful to get the facts absolutely straight on this.
  
  That said, there's no doubt that the new TD engines from VW are excellent (as indeed, slightly ironically, is the 2.0 diesel engine from BMW; fair's fair).

• TheFonz on 21st Aug 2007

  Regarding the Torque figures the Beemer 330i has 221 lbs/ft and the vRS has 229 lbs/ft.