Martyn

After waiting almost 3 years for a new vRS since the new model Fabia came out, the new Skoda Fabia vRS was released last week. Being into my cars and particularly Skoda’s since I already own the old Fabia vRS, I asked my local dealer to phone me the moment it was in. Today came the phone call, the test drive was booked and I made my way down to the dealer.

First visual impressions of the car were good. Skoda has looked at what old vRS owners wanted and applied most of their ideas to this new model. For example the white cloth seats that looked nice clean but were hard to keep that way are now gone replaced with black sporty seats. Not Recaro’s but very comfortable and supportive which is perfect for fast flowing bends. The 288mm brake setup on the old car didn’t inspire confidence. It was the first thing I changed and upgraded them to the 312mm setup found on the Octavia vRS. It now it comes as standard and the wheels are now also 17” Black painted door mirrors were a nice touch too.





This new car comes with colour options for the roof and the wheels. The colour options for the roof are black or white and wheels come in silver, white, black or dark chrome. Another option that people wanted was an option of a petrol engine and they’ve got one. It’s a 1.4 TSI which has a supercharger for below 2400RPM and a turbo for the rest thus eliminating turbo lag. It has 180bhp, does 0-60 in 7.3 seconds and tops out at 140mph. This engine uses VAG’s brand new 7spd DSG gearbox.





I met with the salesman who got the keys and he drove up the road just so he could show me how the gearbox worked. The gearbox works just like and other automatic box but with added paddle shift and a sport mode. This mode holds onto gears for longer between changes. This is great when driving fast but tiresome at slow speeds as it revs a bit more before the change.





The car to drive is foolproof. You stick it into D or S and let the car do everything for you. Great if you are feeling lazy. But when you want to drive it yourself and have some fun just blip the down pedal a few times and the car goes off like a rocket. I very quickly got up to naughty speeds. It’s a proper Jekyll and Hyde car. Handling feels far more nimble than the old vRS, probably due to it not having a heavy diesel lump at the front.

At first I was doubtful about DSG but it’s brilliant. The gear changes are seamless and because there’s no time lost between changes the 7.3 seconds 0-60 time is realistic. I can also believe the 140mph top speed claim. It also has a new diff called XDS which is used throughout the VAG range including the Mk6 Golf GTI. This helps to reduce torque steer and helps to effectively put the power down.


What’s Good

• · Jekyll and Hyde car - Nice relaxing to drive as an auto but when the time is right and there’s a nice stretch of road ahead the car goes off like a rocket.

• · The DSG box - Perfect gear changes, very smooth and foolproof to use.

• · Practical - Has 5 doors, good size boot and there’s an estate version.

• · Good choice of colour options.

• · Sporty looking car and is definitely a hot hatch.

What’s Not

• · Some now complain there’s no diesel vRS but there is a 2.0TDI 143BHP coming soon for the Fabia.

• · Purists would want a manual box but in the real world the DSG box is better as it changes gear perfectly every single time. Also means standing starts are quicker too.

• · Some have doubts over a 1.4 engine being used for twin charging but just look at F1 cars of old. They were 1.5 turbo and were pushing out 600bhp. This engine has been designed from the ground up to deal with charging.

• · Tuning options may be limited to what the gearbox can take.

• · Cost - About £16000 with options but several dealers are offering to knock off VAT or offer 0% APR if you can find half the value of the car as a deposit. It’s also cheaper than the Audi A1, Polo GTI and Ibiza Cupra on which it’s based.

So to sum up the Fabia vRS is a very fun car to drive, practical, good looking, fast, easy to drive fast and should be reliable thanks to it’s VAG heritage. Should be economical because it’s a 1.4 but hot hatches are more about fun than economy.