20th Aug 2008, 06:32
I have a Fabia vRS, and as much as I hate to say it, the ctr is quite a bit faster. Mid-range 30-80 it might be close, but above and below it's far faster.
Even a remapped vRS can't compete with a CTR. Without going hybrid the vRS is really gonna struggle.
3rd Sep 2008, 16:24
I have driven a CTR, and frankly I was disappointed, I was disappointed with the way you have to have roid-rage to drive it quickly, I was disappointed the way you have to stop at the petrol station every 200 miles to buy fuel, I was disappointed that I couldn't see out the windows because they mist up like the love scene in Titanic, I was disappointed that the speakers are as soothing as a clock radio, and I was also disappointed that if you want to tune it to make it a bit more drivable, you'll have to sell your fluorescent Type-R hoody an obligatory Type-R baseball cap.
The Fabia is one of the many cars in the VW-Audi (VAG), thus it is far more refined than this cheap Japanese hatch. The interior noise levels make the cheapness obvious to name but one of many.
The thing I love most about the Fabia vRS is that it really gets up the noses of CTR drivers, they hate the fact that it is almost comparable with their beloved rage rockets that they have to pay double for the privilege!
Sadly, I'm not just talking fuel, road tax too!
Just trade in the CTR for a vRS, then you can drive it from A to B rather than only on Sundays or on your birthday.
4th Sep 2008, 06:19
If you think the vRS has much of a chance against a CTR, I suggest you have a look on some of the threads about it on briskoda.net. Even owners with around 200bhp admit to not being able to genuinely compete with them.
4th Sep 2008, 11:04
Who couldn't afford to run a Type R on a daily basis? They get mid 30's mpg and are very reliable, with cheaper parts than a VAG which are way over priced especially for the quality. Tax is going up but that's true of a lot of cars, and to be honest even if it goes upto £400 it's still going to be an affordable ride. It's not like running an Impreza or something else with silly servicing costs...
4th Sep 2008, 16:37
"By the by, CTR's aren't actually much quicker, they just feel like it because they're essentially an economy tuned 2.0 until the V-Tec changes the timing. This sudden change gives you a sudden thunk of Torque and Power making it feel fast."
The very same thing could be said (more accurately infact) about driving a diesel where the kick of the turbo and huge torque give the impression of speed. In the Fabia's case it's got a more gradual power curve, but at the end of the day its still there.
When people argue the Type R is harder to drive and more effort, I find it is actually more difficult to find the best time for a gear change in a diesel where the tail off is not noticeable enough to realise you changed too early or not soon enough. The Type R can be driven fast by almost anyone, where it is simply a case of going to the red line in each gear for optimum acceleration, and changing down is never a chin scratcher either.
5th Sep 2008, 06:13
In fairness Honda never pretended the Type R would be quiet, it is stripped out, no wheel arch liners and other things to save weight. It's meant to be noisy that's the idea. Anyone who buys one expecting it to be limo quiet will be very disappointed. You just can't compare these cars. They're chalk and cheese.
6th Sep 2008, 11:33
As a Civic Type R owner I must say that for years I didn't like Skoda Fabias. But on my way to work each day there is a bog standard Skoda Fabia TDI that I meet on a regular basis. I look up the performance figures and the Fabia TDI is supposed to be 100bhp. No matter how hard I try I get over taken by this guy every day, worst of all its 'Y' reg and the engine is knackered as it chucks out a load of black smoke!
It steadily pulls away on the straights and corners like a grey hound. If this is how well a knackered 100bhp Fabia goes, then surely the vRS is even faster? I have DOUBLE the bhps and the garage tells me my car is fully run in and going as well as it should.
Torque is what I need, so I'm trading it in for a VW Polo GT TDI (has the same engine as the VRS) on Monday! It looks nicer than the Fabia and is much faster than my old car.
7th Sep 2008, 12:28
It sounds like you are Civic Type R driver who doesn't use VTEC, as a 100bhp Fabia would get mullered. If there's a lot of black smoke, it's possible it's been tampered with and given more fueling, but even so, the CTR should kill it. A guy on briskoda.net has a 260bhp Fabia vRS, and that struggles to get runs of 0-60 in 7 seconds flat or under, and he admits it's not quite on par performance wise with a standard CTR.
It really doesn't handle that well either, but if this story makes you feel better about downgrading to a Polo, then that's up to you.
8th Sep 2008, 06:00
The Y reg Fabia kicking out black smoke won't be knackered, that's what my vRS does, contrary too many others I quite like caking the car behind in diesel fumes as I pull away from them. I also suspect that the '100bhp' you keep meeting will be highly modified. The highest bhp Fabia I know off started out as a 1.4tdi 100bhp... it now has 255-260bhp!
22nd Feb 2009, 06:04
LOL, if you think with a puny 175bhp that you're gonna MULLER a Type R, I'm afraid you're very wrong. You can have all the torque in the world, but without the horsepower to go with it it means nothing. Sure you will get great acceleration and be able to pull a caravan up a hill without much effort, but as soon as the Civic comes onto cam he will reel you in and pass you.
Far too many diesel owners on this site that think just because they have torque they can beat everything. My friend has a Seat Leon FR diesel with 170bhp and loads of torque, but even he will admit that by the time you hit 3rd gear, any Type R will cruise past after catching up, after the initial turbo and torque surge from the turbo diesel.
19th Aug 2008, 11:26
How can you say it's not much faster?
Figures on paper don't mean a lot in day to day driving, and a couple of milliseconds here and there means very little, but the Civic will hit 60 3 whole seconds faster than the Fabia, and around 14-15 seconds faster to 100, and that's quite a big difference!
God knows why people keep comparing the Fabia to a Civic Type R as they aren't anywhere near on performance, as the Fabia struggles to even qualify for a warm hatch, let alone anything more.
I'm guessing the this person has either never driven a Honda vtec or is a very poor driver as it's very easy to keep the vtec engine in the power band, as you just need to know what gear to be in at what speed, which isn't really rocket science! And you'll find quite a bit more happens than it just making more noise when on vtec, as it really does pick up pace on the cam change, and in the wet my old dc2 Integra would actually get wheel spin as you hit 5800rpm, so it does more than just feel like you're going quicker!