The Škoda Fabia vRS Is the Definitive Diesel Hot Hatch 

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The Skodas of that era were great value. Personally I like the plain interior, could do without the seats though. The whole range make excellent used buys. VW have done a fantastic job with Skoda giving the more budget conscious buyer a really good range of models. Good one Ed.

Miss my little Fabia vRS that I owned between 2007 and 2009, nearly had a chance to buy it back last year. Cracking review but did you know the compartment down under the head lights was designed for a can of juice and is air conditioned as well there, is a wee lever you pull and it cools the compartment down, the 1.9 tdi engine is one of the best vag engines going.

Had an Octavia as a company car but was given the Fabia VRS as a loan one day during a service... had a Golf GTi behind me heading round the A406 in London, after passing a speed camera at exactly 50mph, I downshifted and floored it. In the rear view mirror I could see the guy behind mouth "But it's a Skoda" as I left him standing.

Owned just about every hot hatch known to man at one point or another,Clios,Hondas,Renaults etc etc and my current Mk1 Fabia VRS is my fav out of the lot..!

Well done on reaching 8k. Your one of them people who you could listen to all night! Your videos are very informative.

I had one of these a few years ago with 200k miles, it was mapped with an exhaust etc. I absolutely loved it, it never ever missed a beat and was great on fuel too.

The model in the video is an >2005 facelift model, it has the clear „C“ design in the taillights. It had the same engine as the Seat Ibiza FR or the VW Polo 9N GT. The pre facelift had the „better“ ASZ engine, the faclift the BLT engine.

I had a Felicia, What a brilliant car it was too, 54hp 1.3 ohv but really didnt feel underpowered. Was all factory original and very very skoda.

Thanks again for another video. I love seeing all of these cars I used to read about that were not sold in North America. Looking forward to more. Stay safe!

Great review covered pretty much everything easy to watch hope Your Chanel takes off in the future! Reviews of everyday cars is what people want!

Nice vid dude, i love my vrs, great fun. Keep up the good work bro

Amazing attention to detail.. especially around the interior layouts, aesthetics, buttons and in general, how one ‘interacts’ with a vehicle. I notice you have a great audience engagement - testament to your research, preparation and presentation style 👏🏼 I’m sure your channel will grow very large. Can I ask, how many hours does it take you to plan/record/edit a typically video? Thanks!

Great video Ed. Well done mate. 8K and rising. The BBC will soon want you on Top gear. ;) Take care. Steve.

Nice job, Ed. Well done.... Mike

The Fabia VRS had a short shift gear change as standard. Many people praise the gearchange

Absolutely fantastic cars. My favourite car is the mk1 Fabia but these are something else. One arrived at my local small Skoda garage and grabbed the key to have a look. Great seats very nice driving position !

I had two of these and always regret changing to a newer petrol Skoda, fabulous car , wish I could go back.

Well done, Ed. As always well researched and very well presented analysis of the car. Another we did not get here in Canada. We did get the earlier rear engined Skoda, and they were a handful to drive.

I was very pleased when this video came up in my subscriptions. Always been fascinated by these. Always wondered why it took so long for a manufacturer to launch a diesel hot(ish) hatch. I personally prefer the immediate low down torque of a turbo diesel engine, compared to a high revving petrol engine hot hatch as a daily driver. Another great video. Thank you.

I rented the Fabia auto when I was visiting the Czech Republic in 2004 and the aereo dynamic of the Fabia is smooth running which brought my attention as a car fan enthusiast. Its a simple, yet, fun car to ride in!!

Another car I've not been aware of so your usual very informative commentary is greatly appreciated 👍 I've seen a lot of Fabias but didn't know about the sporty diesal. A refrigerator glove box! Why hasn't my new Fiesta got one of those! Clean lines on the outside so not dated but a shame about all of the cheap plastic on the inside. Great review Ed.

Great colour - love the seats too. I think these are a bit anonymous, but it seems they are a bit of a hidden surprise!

The car is wearing very well considering the mileage. Testament to the quality build perhaps.

Until now I have never heard of Skoda let alone a diesel hot hatch.... Looks like a fun drive. One of my most fun "off the wall" cars is still my VW THING, wish I had it back. Thanks for posting......

I see Volkswagen written all over this vehicle, as well as others in the Volkswagen group. Love the colour! And the interior, WOW! Of course, no Škoda for the US. And opening and closing the door sounds like a Volkswagen! Brilliant video Ed!

Ive currently got 56 plate on 173k it sounds a bit like a tank but as you said it pulls like a train. As with mostly all its been remappped too, everyone goes on about leaky doors but my only gripe is the electrics, passenger window switch is dead and the central locking on that side has issues too, with another slight problem with the rear drivers side door not closing fully sometimes. But this is why we all love cars right!

My Passat had the 1.9TDI SE 130bhp 4motion B5.5 2003. I loved it so much I kept the car for 5+years.

Funnily enough I recognised the reg plate and this is the Fabia ive been looking to buy😂 Kinda like the yellow and would be a good upgrade from my Fabia sport. Great video btw!

Haven't watched this video yet, but the title certainly caught my attention. I am sure this is very interesting.

Had a golf GTTDI so basilcy the same engine as this but in a golf mk4. It had 352,000 miles on it Was rempped to 180bhp stage 1 And it was rapid and reliable

Bought a 18 month old vrs in 2005, the most expensive used car I bought. Had a 1.2 htp fabia before the vrs and it was brilliant. Picked up the car on the Saturday , Sunday afternoon checking under the bonnet I noticed a strange liquid in the coolant and white cream under the oil cap, head gasket had gone. In 5 weeks off owning it I had it for 5 days with something else going wrong with it. Main dealer in Bradford offered to swap the car for a 12 month old fabia elegance estate 1.9 TDI, I loved it, kept it for 9 years with nothing major going wrong.

Sold my 56 plate a couple of weeks ago, good fun and cheap to run.

When VW South Africa decided to revamp their locally built CitiGolf models in 2004 - which themselves were just lightly facelifted models of the original VW Golf Mk1 platform - they simply updated the mid-1980s interior by shoehorning in the dashboard & steering wheel from this version of the Skoda Fabia. Eventually, shortly before production of the CitiGolf ended in 2009 in South Africa, VWSA finally also added a driver's side air-bag to it as well. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkswagen_Citi_Golf

Great review 😁👍

In 2007, I bought a Fiat Grande Punto Sporting 1.9 JTD. Like that Fabia - 1.9 Turbodiesel, same Power. It was amazing. Was a mistake selling it later.

how do you know so much about cars .. your videos are so good .

I've looked at these for a while, and finally, was able to buy one. I believe its completely standard, just under 160k on it and it feels tight and solid still. I'm quite taken by it already, having owned the bigger Golfs and A4s with the 130 bhp engine the Fabia feels noticeably more nimble, although the 0-60 times and top ends are similar. I really like them, I think they've aged well. I had another hot diesel hatch, in the Citroen C2 VTS diesel prior to this, which is supposedly quicker to 60. It was on much less miles, and rattled, shook, clunked and succumbed to rust. Terminally. I have no such concerns over the Fabia, it is a basic but very well done car.

Great video... i like the skoda vRS and the colour, dont know if they made a 3 door tho ?? as i think it would look really nice.. Look forward to the next video ❤️❤️

A great video shame you couldn't do a road test. I love everything Rover and Skoda not that you could tell I'm a Skoda fan from my profile pic haha. One of the best cars I've ever owned was Rover 820 Vitesse lux sportback still miss it today :-(

I owned a 2006 fabia vrs for over 8 years, unfortunately bad for rust and leaking doors. A few well chosen mods makes them great fun, I now own a 2004 Octavia 1.8t 4x4.

The 'tray' to the right of the steering wheel is a fridgerated can holder.

"keep fit windows" :-D that's what I'm calling them from now on

I owned one. It was absolutely brilliant apart from the leaky rear doors that allow ingress and steaming up in the winter. 😂

ThnK you for this video, I have learned a lot. I’ve never owned a Skoda, which is saying something as it’s one of only a handful of European brand of car that I have NOT owned. I rented a basic modern Skoda once for a day and hated it and I kind of judged the brand based on that experience, which is very unfair really. I like this model though, and the colour is very appealing to me.. perhaps I will look out for one as a fun car.

I have two older skodas a daily favorit and Felicia fun ! Great cars everything works and both still in daily use 20 years on. Maybe review a classic Skoda ?

I think the little Skoda suits you Ed.

Interesting and much ignored segment. I considered one of these in 2004. In the end I went for a better equipped yet massively under advertised Nissan Almera 2.2 DCI SXE. Came with everything apart from leather and cruise at 2/3rds cost of Golf. Looked great in facelift 3dr metallic grey. A real sleeper vs the 2.0 petrol rep cars of the time. I kept it for 8 years and 120k miles.

I have a mk1 fabia with the 1.4 16v petrol engine (100hp) and it still feels pretty nippy

I knew that you would review this car because I saw it in the Volkswagen Golf R32 video and it was in the background and I know they are quirky cars

Did anyone mention the subtly bulged wheel arches? Nice....... Had a remapped 54 plate one, was an amazing sleeper car, effortless speed and 50 plus mpg 👍

I had a polo of this era on which this Skoda is based….inside its very familiar. Like those Skodas it was almost impossible to break….and the build quality was rock like….tho this wasn’t good for acceleration or cornering (my one was a 1.4TDi). Newer polos - from 2009 onwards - (i also had one of them) was way way more dynamic, night and day which was great for driving….but it wasn’t built as well. More things went wrong with the newer car than the older car.

Brilliant cars

Had one of these between 2004 and 2006 and it was a great car. It was my third Fabia. Originally the colours for the vRS were yellow, red, black or silver (only the red was non-metallic) with a blue coming along towards the end of the build. Green was a MK2 colour. Not long after it was launched they adjusted the gearing to shorten the gears slightly as sixth was too long. I traded mine in against a Golf with a detuned version of the engine and one VW dealer told me the Fabia was better than the equivalent Polo TDI as Skoda had adjusted the suspension while VW hadn't and it was too soft. The steering wheel certainly looked similar to what you'd find in an Audi A3 at the time.

VW group cars did put the 12 volt socket in the middle. Skodas, volkswagens, audis and seats. Not sure about Lamboghinis, Bentlys and Bugattis though

Skoda's may have improved since being baought by VW but many of us oldies remember the 105. A rear engine box on wheels which was cheap to buy and difficult to resell. Even though these Skoda's from the 1970's and 19080's didn't have a good reputation with the buying public the 105 Coupe was a nice looking car, on the outside, and worth trying to look at one, if you can find one.

I bought one brand new in 2006, remapped it, so fast, replaced it a year later with Corsa vxr very disappointed with vxr.

Liked that Ed. Good review. Owner needs to get the tube of toothpaste out and give those headlights a good scrub ! Used have to do ones on my old Passat every year! Also ... if the window is wound down while you close the door, most cars will sound tinny and rattly - guessing that’s why the back door sounded more solid. Look forward to... more videos.. coming soon ( you been listening to Harry ?? 😆🤣)

Miss mine! Underrated little cars just be sure to buy an unmolested one!

When I saw mention of Škoda, I thought for a moment you might have got your hands on an Estelle. (sigh)

wat about the pas system can't wash mine without power steering goin

Would love a video on the Peugeot 309

Owned one for a while, alas the previous owner had not looked after it. Had all manner of issues with the intercooler (rubber seal around the intake had worn through the metal intercooler with vibration over time) the electrics (front power windows didn't work) the turbocharger (exploded on a motorway, not uncommon for the 1.9 tdi apparently) and the air conditioning (leaking air con condenser) A massive shame as I could see there was a cracking little car in there. In the end it was just too much trouble to justify keeping. Despite it's intercooler/breathing issues and belching black smoke due to incomplete combustion, it still averaged well over 50mpg.

these have quite a following ,wont be easy finding an unmolested one though, 180k on those engines isnt high, just breaking in lolol

Have to say I quite like the look of the first gen fabia, didn't go out of its way to be cool or different, just quietly well proportioned, I use the word understated rather than anonymous, and if you do that well that's surely enough from what was a fairly cheap car. The 2nd gen which I owned I never did like. Just looked bulbous.

Wasn't the Polo GTI a petrol

Great Vid Ed...just a shame there are still low brow morons that sat Skoda are sh1t innit .. Iv had various models over the years and they have been great

No test drive 🤣

I continue to be jealous of the cool cars we DON'T get in the US 😑 Also, someone needs a haircut 😁

I got to be honest I hate how Skodas look especially from the 2000-2010 era

No mention of brakes, suspension, how it drives ? No road test ?

ASR = Anti Slip Regulation. From the German 'Antriebsschlupfregelung'. Basically stops the wheels slipping under acceleration.

Wow 180,000 miles just shows you how well those cars were made no test drive ? We were all waiting

Not the most capable😂😂 under a grand and there about 230 break😂 go like bastard trains😂

180k! That’s barely run in. A lot of negativity to the vrs in this video 😂 step in mine and see how a Fabia is supposed to run. Make ya scream like a little girl 😂