Jonto

Basically........

A friend at work is looking at buying one of the above cars but is unsure what to buy. He's looking a buying soon and he's driven both of them so that is not an issue.

The Fabia is £2k cheaper to buy and will be cheaper to insure and run, even though diesel is 5p a litre more at the moment.

I think the Fabia due to it having a sort of cult following, well kitted out and will probably be easier to sell on.......and also it can be revo'd.

What do you reckon ?

p.s the salesman at seat was a pratt and the skoda guy was alright, but wanted to tie a finance deal.

dtriggs

Just been looking at the same choice and I think the Fabia wins hands down. Leon is quite old now and I felt it was a touch dated. Also I didnt need the extra space the Leon had. Fabia prices are holding up really well too and tuning can be done very easily. (Skoda man told me their diagnostics dont show remaps).

john banks

I vastly prefer the 1.8T to the PD130 motor, far wider power band as the PD is nothing, everything, nothing, and this is accentuated even more with tuning, the 1.8T with shorter gearing hardly ever has any lag and then has a beautifully linear power delivery (some call it boring, I think it is nice to keep the front wheels pointing in the right direction to be able to meter out the torque and prefer the throttle response). Plus the Fabia weighs about the same as the Leon, and the latter IMHO looks very good in black. You can of course tune the 1.8T as well

This isn't anti-Skoda BTW, wife has a Skoda on order.

Reffro

Don't forget Leon is almost at the end of its current cycle and is due for replacement soon. Fabia is going to be going for another 3 yrs having just had a minor facelift. Having driven both in anger I preferred the Fabia, but then I like cars that will average 55mpg and do 0-60mph in 7.6secs.......

Goochie

Have you considered an Octavia VRS ?

New or used ?

logiclee

Two very different cars, the Fabia is a Seat Ibiza rival and the Leon is on the same platform as the old Octavia.

I do like the Leon but if he can live with the smaller car I would go for the Fabia and with the money saved spend a few hundred quid on a 180+bhp 300+lbft remap.

Cheers
Lee

Iwan

For me there was no choice and i ordered the Fabia, hopefully getting it on monday.

Stuart J

Fabia + remap = 190 bhp

Skodas tend to be screwed together better than Seats so less rattles. weve done 100,000 miles in 2 Octavias in the last 22 months & have had hardly any problems, the 4x4 has done 2 Cannonballs & was ragged silly & nothing broke, we finished 19th & 16th respectivly (the first year the Scoob broke 1/2 way!) OK its not std but what I am trying to say is that Skodas are virtually un breakable.

The 4x4 might go for a fabia later this year, I just cant believe how good they are, Ive been on the track with a few & they are suprisingly quick, remember Either Top Gear or 5th gear testing one against a mini & it whipped it !

Have a poke around on www.briskoda.net if you want more backgroud on the Skodas

dtriggs

Not that it's a massive difference but my brochures show over 100 kg difference in weight which is considerable. To be honest I didnt feel the Fabia was as on / off as the Seat Leon Cupra PD150 I drove. Obviously it runs out of revs quickly but it handles really well and was great fun - I will get one later this year.

Fyg I also considered the Ibiza and although it has just been facelifted I thought it felt old and didnt like it one bit. The rear was really uncomfortable for passengers too.

john banks

1307kg Leon 20VT (180), 1315kg Fabia vRS. Where do you get >100kg?

JDM

Impreza was faster.

john banks

The 140 has more low down torque than the PD150, but still felt flat to me, it was quite easy to be below 1750 RPM because the gearing was long. It felt like an Impreza engine turned down, and that is not a compliment! Most (UK) Imprezas are amongst the worst in terms of power band. Volvo, Saab, VAG, Mistubishi all make equally powerful engines of similar size that are far better in this respect IMHO.

Stock PD150 makes peak torque at 1900 RPM and peak power at 4000 RPM. Stock 1.8T (180) makes peak torque at 1900 and peak power at 5500 RPM. The remapped power plots I've seen for TDis look worse than stock in terms of shape.

Whilst not being anti-Skoda, I'm not excessively anti-diesel either, but people quote meaningless torque figures that tell you nothing about the inherently narrow power band compared with a nice LPT. The torque figure is meaningless without knowing the spread, the red line and the gearing. It is the latter two that ruin the diesels for me. The cogniscenti think that "torque wins races" and buy diesels as performance vehicles. I would say torque sells diesels to the misinformed Look at the number of diesels that get to the ton in less than 20 seconds....

Diesel is still an economy choice, not a performance choice.

Come on, flame me you Furby vRS lovers 9.6 seconds to 62 officially.... 310Nm of torque would be great if it did it at 8000 RPM...

Reffro

Autocar's long term test car did 0-60mph in 8.2 secs consistently, and in one run did and I'm correcting myself from earlier a 7.2sec 0-60mph.......

john banks

But the heavier Octavia vRS was 6.7 with the 1.8T.

Maybe both were chipped by Skoda, maybe not?

Long live petrol

All are nice cars I just feel argumentative

JDM

Diesel are an economy choice and for the long distance travellers.

alcazar

iTrader: (2)

How about a new Ibiza Cupra PD160?? I'd love one.

Alcazar

logiclee

The price is too steep though. You could mod a vRS Fabia to 230bhp, do the brakes and suspension and still have a couple of grand in the bank.

Lee

Cupramax

Leon + remap = 220bhp

And your point is....????

Jamesemt

The Leons look gorgeous...

we've got a fabia vRS and can't fault it...

jon77

I have an Ibiza Cupra 160 (remapped),I got it for £14700. There is no way you could mod the Fabia to 230bhp without spending a LOT of money (bigger injecters, hybrid turbo, uprated clutch etc). On top of that you would need to buy 312mm brakes, better suspension, and a front mounted intercooler, all of which the Ibiza has. The Fabia can be remapped to around 180-185bhp, the Ibiza 200-205bhp.

Mossman

But bought a Fabia VRs a year ago. 22,000 miles later, I love it. Could do with stiffer suspension, but boy does it go! (Standard and not remapped). Really am VERY pleased with it and currently returning 54mpg

Cheers!

Mossman

logiclee

£400 for re-map and £1000 for Nitrous will give 230bhp from Revo or JBS. My local Skoda dealer has one. Same car has coil overs, Octavia brakes, 17" alloys, window tints, and replacement exhaust and all was done for under £15k.




Good price you got on the Ibiza though.

Cheers
Lee

Petem95

Skoda has to win hands down, look at the future resale values of the two, and factor in the vastly better MPG (with it being diesel), and its hard to recommend to Seat.

Seats always look a bit odd too IMO. Ive never really liked any of them, whereas I love the chunky and modern looks of the Fabia, especially the vRS. Interior is really nice too, like a mini Audi, with all VW switchgear.

jon77

How long do you think the standard engine, clutch, gearbox etc is going to last with that much power and God knows how much torque? The stronger (internals) 150/160pd turbo cant really take much more than 200-205bhp safely. Having 230bhp is one thing, being able to enjoy that much power without something going pop is another.

john banks

Yet a 1.8T and transmission running similar power will go on for years. Your new Octavia vRS could be had for under £14k, £400 remap and your coilovers, and you have a setup that will rival the nitrous Fabia for just a few hundred more (although I would buy it used given the end of line model) with nicer power delivery and proven reliability. Nice torque multiplier a gearbox is For the same capacity (but with a weight penalty) the best diesels with single turbos have a slight advantage as an overall package compared with the best normally aspirated petrols IMHO (high revving VVT specials like M3,GT3, VTEC aside), mainly because of the torque with similar power and slightly higher weight. Give the petrol engine the benefit of a turbo and it goes onto another dimension entirely though. The diesel is propped up with a turbo to make it acceptable for a nice shopping car, and for that sort of car it is quite a good choice. The petrol is good to start with and with a suitably sized turbo makes it hilarious.

logiclee

John,

I don't think anyone is debating which makes the best performance car as that wasn't the question.

As for which car makes the best sense to buy? Price to buy, residuals, economy, insurance and size also feature on most peoples priority list.

Cheers
Lee

DemonDave

iTrader: (13)

1.8T Cupra ... had one in platinum grey ... had as much fun in it as I did in the scoob ....


Dave.

vader

get you mate to have a look at this ad

http://bbs.scoobynet.co.uk/showthread.php?t=393030

you wont find a better one for cheaper

Very nice cars, big tuning potential, well built and look great

JRS

we have (the mrs) a vrs fabia (i agree with petem 95 its a mini audi) there is only 1 thing i could fault an that his the colour of the seats (NOT SEAT LOL)
PALE GREY! a bit naughty when you have young kids, but otherwise cant fault hit .

hades

Again, a bit of horses for courses, I would suggest - e.g. isn't the Seat bigger than the Skoda? I always rated the Seat on value for money, would want a slightly bigger car than the Skoda and personally the higher fuel bills wouldn't worry me too much. Add that to my (possibly irrational) preference for petrol cars - particularly w.r.t. power delivery and noise, that would be my choice. If you want cheaper to run (I assume), more suitable for the Mrs, better for city car use etc, I imagine the fabia would win.