Firstly, it is not RS, it is vRS. Most people originally thought it was RS, and Skoda maintains that it was always vRS. The reason for this was that Ford would get upset as they have a line of Sports cars here in Europe named RS (the latest being the Focus RS).
Now, to the cars themselves. Yes I like them very much. And next year, it is very likely I will buy the Fabia vRS. Both are excellent cars, but the Fabia is an incredible car for the money. Let me explain why....
It is the second car in its class (behind its closely related cousin, the Ibiza Sport TDI) and one of only two cars in its class (hot hatchback) to be powered by a Turbodiesel engine. This gives the Fabia relatively modest performance on paper, but on the road, it is EXTREMELY potent and powerful. The engine is a 1.9 Turbo Diesel employing the Pumpe Duse system developed by Volkswagon, and an engine that first saw use in the VW Golf GT TDI. It produces 130 bhp, which although is not amazing for its class, it is a reasonable output for a car of its size. However, there are far more impressive statistics than this. For starters, this little hatchback develops an ENORMOUS 310 Nm of Torque at 1,900 rpm.
To give an idea of just how much torque this is, it is more than a Porsche Boxster S, if I remember correctly (this from a car barely 1/3 of the price). This gives the Skoda the ability to accelerate VERY hard in almost any gear at any speed. Few cars are able to live with the Fabia vRS in most circumstances, especially up hills, where its enormous torque makes light work of those. In gear acceleration is startling for its class, accelerating from 50 - 75 mph in 6th gear in around 13 seconds, whilst barely ticking over!!
With it being a Turbodiesel, it has some disadvantages over an equivalent petrol model. It can only rev to around 5,000 rpm, which compared to a petrol hot hatch, which can normally rev to about 7,000 rpm, gives it a slight disadvantage on long straights. From a standstill, Skoda claims 0-62 mph in 9.6 seconds, which does not sound good, but in reality, it has already achieved 8.5 seconds 0-62 in magazine roadtests, which hardly qualifies it as being a slouch. Its on the move where it is most impressive, knocking up a top speed of 130 mph, and sprinting from 30-70 mph in 7 seconds. It will show most cars in its class a clean pair of heals on the move.
However, being a Turbodiesel, it has one MAJOR advantage over its rivals. Especially here in the UK where fuel is expensive, and that is - ECONOMY. This car can easily do 50 miles per gallon even when driven hard, where its rivals will be left doing around 20 miles per gallon driven hard. This means it costs less than HALF to run this car than just about any rival. Its also cheaper to insure, and less likely to get stolen. Finally, its also in the region of between 20 and 50% cheaper than just about all the cars it competes with.
This car is a genuine bargain, as is the other car, the Octavia vRS.
The Octavia is a bigger version of the Fabia, with more space. It features a normal petrol engine, and is thirsty on fuel. However, it is still a very entertaining car to drive. It uses the same engine as the Audi TT, a 180 bhp 1.8 liter Turbo 20 valve petrol engine. And for a car of its size and power, its pretty quick too. 0-62 in 7.9 seconds, and 30-70 in 6.9 seconds. Top speed is around 140+ mph. Its a bit of a bargain too, being about 50% cheaper than many of its competitors. However, it is not quite the bargain that the Fabia is.
So thanks for giving me something to type about in my last hour at work, you have hit on two of my favourite cars there, one of which I am very likely to be owning this time next year.
Fabia vRS
Octavia vRS
