The Skoda Fabia VRS is Skoda's attempt at making a "Hot Hatch" And it seems to be a very good attempt indeed. Although Skoda have taken a completely different route at entering the "Hot Hatch" market by equiping their Fabia VRS with a DIESEL ENGINE! It does work very well. They were brave enough to take the gamble and it has definately paid off!
EXTERIOR STYLING
Rather than going for an all-out lairy looking brute, Skoda have kept the styling subtle yet sporty, they have fitted the vRS with a Unique Front bumper which is bigger and slightly more aggressive than the bumpers from the rest of range and have fitted front
fog lights. They have also fitted a unique rear bumper which adds a hint of aggretion to the styling and a well styled oval cut-out in the bumper in which sits a stainless still oval tail-pipe. The
finishing touch to the exterior bodywork is a well styled and fitted rear spoiler. The car also comes with Subtle yet Sporty
16-inch alloy wheels, Behind the wheels sits some nice Green
brake calipers which complete the exterior styling.
INTERIOR
The majority of the dash-board remains the same as other models in the Skoda Fabia range, However dont let that put you off as Skoda have made some changes to set apart the vRS from the rest of the Fabia range. There are touches of Aluminium on the dials, There is a
CD-Player as standard, A sporty leather
steering wheel, Unique vRS Gearknob and Sporty steel pedals. Now onto the party piece of the interior styling, The White and Black Cloth
Sports Seats which also have the vRS logo embroidered on the front and rear seats. The only down-side to these seats is they can stain quite easily however they also clean fairly easily too so it isnt a big problem. The seats really hold you tight and secure under "Brisk"
driving. They are also incredibly comfy for long journeys.
PERFORMANCE
The vRS brings to the fight a modest 130BHP, however as some people may know, Diesels are about Torque, not HorsePower. The vRS boasts 220lb/ft of Torque which helps to propel the car from 0-60Mph in just over 8 seconds and onto around 130Mph. But the real party piece of the
Fabia vRS's Performance is its Mid-Range Grunt which makes over-taking incredibly easy and simple, Just prod the throttle and before you know it you have already overtaken and are far ahead. The Turbo spools ups and delivers the 220lb/ft of torque at 2000RPM and keeps pulling strong all the way upto its
Peak power RPM of 4000RPM, Although the car will rev to 5000RPM, it is useless in doing so as the power and torque drop-off after 4000RPM and therefore the car no longer accelerates at the same pace, in order to get the best in performance from the Diesel engine you need to keep the revs between 2000RPM and 4000RPM, once you have mastered this and get used to the power delivery you will deffinatly reap the rewards! The strong surge of torque pulls you back into the well designed sports seats and you will be out-pacing many more expensive
cars and watching the horrified looks on their faces as they realise they have been beaten by a Skoda! :-)
HANDLING
The vRS comes slightly lower than the rest of the Fabia models to help give it a sporty stance, The suspension is also stiffer and tuned too. Under normal driving conditons the suspension setup is incredibly comfy and the car just glides over bumps and changes of road surfaces. Although when under Brisk driving conditions the car holds on well and provides decent responsiveness, it is a little on the "soft" side and could do with being stiffer to help support the heavy diesel engine. All things considered though, Overall i would rate the handling as Good for comfort and Average for brisk driving.
BRAKES
The vRS comes with large 288mm front brakes and the callipers are Green Allround. The responsiveness of the brakes are decent and hauls the car to a stop very compitently.
PRACTICALITY
The Fabis vRS is only available as a
5-Door and as such allows it to be practical for family use, You can fit 4 Adults in the car quite comfortably. The boot is of average size for a car of this size. The vRS is also equipped with many storage compartments and cubby holes to allow you to store whatever you might have hanging around in your pockets.
ECONOMY
Due to being diesel, you would expect the economy to be very good, You will not be dissapointed. You can Achieve an Average MPG of 60MPG when driving sensibly, however, under normal driving conditions you should expect anywhere between 48-58MPG. Which is incredibly good and keeps fuel stops to a minimum. Where as in an Equivelant Performance
petrol car you may be making 3 Fuel stops in a week, You will only need to make 1 or even None in the Fabia vRS.
RELIABILITY
Back in the old days, Skoda were reknowned as being unreliable cars, however now that the
Volkswagen Audi Group (VAG) have taken Skoda under their Wing. Skoda's build quality and reliability are now 2nd to none! they are incredibly solidly built and will withstand the test of time.
EQUIPMENT
The Fabia vRS comes very well equiped as standard. it comes with Alloy wheels, Air Conditioning,
CD Player, Sports Seats, Sports trim and Bodywork. Switchable Traction Control, ABS and and Onboard
Computer.
CONCLUSION
Overall the
Skoda Fabia vRS is a very compitent and capable allrounder and will bring a smile to anyones face. The fact that its understated is a big selling point to many people as they like to remain "under the
radar" yet still have a car which looks good and has Very good performance so it can give them a thrill when the mood takes them. There simply is no other way for the same amount of money to find a car which looks as good, is as practical, is as reliable, is as economical, is as comfortable or packs the same sort of performance as the Skoda Fabia vRS. The Skoda Fabia vRS can definately be summed up as a "Jack Of All Trades" I rate this car as 4 out of
5 stars!
