written by efunkster on 09/08/2007
Good Points
Fun, easy to drive, fast, good fuel economy, understated.
Bad Points
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.
General Comments
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.
As rated by our community of reviewers
Degbert's Response to 303503_efunkster's Review
Written on: 16/08/2007
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.
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<br/>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.
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<br/>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's Response to 303503_efunkster's Review
Written on: 21/08/2007
Regarding the Torque figures the Beemer 330i has 221 lbs/ft and the vRS has 229 lbs/ft.