Despite Skoda‘s revival as an excellent quality value-for-money brand, BusinessCar was a little disappointed with its fastest Fabia, the vRS.
The interior doesn’t stand out against its standard version – only the seats and a small badge on the steering wheel hint that it’s the performance vRS model – and the car doesn’t cope well with power through the front wheels. As an auto (using the excellent DSG gearbox), the plentiful wheel spin is less easy to manage unless you use the paddles.
But there’s plenty of space, and being a Skoda, it is good value – the equivalent Seat Ibiza, the Cupra, which is just 0.1secs faster and shares the same 148g/km emissions figure, costs £17,020 compared with the vRS’s £15,520. The hot model has 17in alloys, tinted windows, a revised rear bumper and, depending on the main colour, the roof and wheels are available in black, white or silver. There’s also a vRS estate for an extra £795.
The hot hatch arena is a tough place to compete, containing rivals like the Mini Cooper S, VW Polo GTI and Ford Fiesta S1600. However, while the Fabia vRS is far from the best, it’s cheaper than its segment sisters and offers more standard equipment.
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