[Closed] Bikes in/on a Fabia VRS

bikes will go in with a wheel off but it is tight. I have a fabia and a tow bar rack but I dont think that the vrs can have a tow bar fitted.

A mate had a 1st gen Fabia vRS, and I think roof-mounted is about your only option. I have some roofbars (genuine skoda) sitting in my garage, if you're interested. Mail in profile.

I asked the same thing about a tow bar a few years back when I was going to get a VRS. It can be done, despite a lot of stuff on the net saying otherwise. Have a look on briskoda for more info as I can't remember the specifics of how to make it work. Think it may require a very slight cutting of the bottom of the bumper.

Tow bar can be done but of course isnt legal so pretty much invalidates any insurance you have.

I have a vrs and just opted roof bars and thule 591's best bet really as towbar was ruled out, ruled out a hatch mounted option due to the spoiler and got sick of ruining the white seats.

Only really see a 5mpg drop when having too bikes on the roof, I can live with that.

I drove my Octavia VRS to meet a bloke in a Fabia VRS, to buy a bike off him that I'd found on here! 🙂

He didn't seem to have any probs, and it was a 700c wheeled bike in the back with the seats down.

Looks like it will be roof bars then.

VRS owners, how do you like it? Any comments?

Whoa! Don't go for the roof bars just yet!

The GF has just bought a Saris Bones 2 rack for her VRS.

It mounts high enough to not interfere with the rear spoiler and seems to handle two bikes quite well.

I haven't bought the car yet!

I have a Saris Bones, but always find putting racks on each time is hassle.

It seemed to be easy enough.

There were three arms that moved and you could mark which positions they went to. It was just a case of then mounting on the car.

It was the first time that I had seen a Saris rack and it seemed to be easier than other racks that I've encountered.

damitamit - Member
Looks like it will be roof bars then.

VRS owners, how do you like it? Any comments?

I've got an Ibiza 130TDi Sport, which is effectively the same car. They later branded it the FR and gave it a sportier look to separate it from the bog standard models.
I looked at the Ibiza & the Fabia. The Fabia held it's value better so for a similar age car with similar mileage, there was about a £1k premium. The equipment levels are about the same I think, but the build quality of the Fabia is better I think (more solid dashboard). The big thing that put me off was the stupid white panels in the seats of the Fabia that would have looked muddy brown after no time at all.

With regards to the car - I think it is close enough to the Fabia to broadly comment. I am very pleased with mine. I had a wheel bearing replaced at 38k miles (weird) and an intercooler pipe came off (turns out it had the wrong clip fitted). Apart from that it's been fine. I've had it 4 yrs and done 114k miles in it. The front brake discs/pads weren't changed until 119k miles!! Front tyres last about 25k miles, but if you go for proper soft tyres they will get eaten.
It's a quick enough car for most circumstances, and the torque comes in very handy for quick overtaking. I get >55mpg out of mine. Was a bit sceptical about getting a Seat, but it's a really good car. I keep looking to replace it with an estate, but can't justify it while it's running so well. Insurance group 7 is nice (considering the performance) and tax comes in at £120.
If you want to make it quicker - a Custom Code or P-Torque remap will see you nearer 170bhp & 250lb/ft of torque. You can go higher, but start to get into clutch issues and heat soak as the side mounted intercooler gets overwhelmed.
The front brakes from the previous gen Audi TT can be fitted fairly easily for about £300 and apparently improve the stopping power significantly.

The bloke I bought the car off threw in the roof bars, as they were specific to the car and no good to him once he'd sold the car. They are a good choice. They clamp very tightly & the front one has a small pin that locates in a hole in the roofline. I've never had an issue with mine damaging the roof or moving at all.

I didn't go for a rear mounted 'hanging' type carrier as the top straps seemed to load too much on the spoilers of the Ibiza.

A friend has a Saris Bones and it wouldn't take my 2010 Stumpjumper or his Heckler, as it seems to be designed more for 'traditional' frame shapes. They probably would have gone on eventually, but we gave up. A Kona Coiler went on, but that took ages to get a suitable position for it.

A mate had a previous gen. Vrs, two bikes in boot with wheels off easily, much more so than the two bikes with wheels off in the boot of my Tigra.
He still has a boot tidy somewhere that keep the muck off everything......hatchbag i think it was called.

I could get two people and two bikes in a 205GTi, so a Fabia should be no problem.

We've got roofbars on the wife's Fabia vRS: makes sense as the Fabia has those mounts under removable plastic covers. Means the roofbars don't make any contact with the paintwork whatsoever, unlike a lot of cars where the rubber pad sits on the roof and clip around the doorframe. Hers live on the car permanently as they're used on a daily basis to/from the station, so a towbar rack wouldn't have been appropriate.

You can just about make out the contact points in this photo: there's 2 contacts at each corner:

[img] [/img]

Re the towbar and legality issue: I previously owned an Ibiza Cupra which wasn't rated for towing, but I fitted a detachable towbar (made by Bosal I believe) for towbar rack purposes only. Insurance company was OK with it too. Not sure on legality of towbars on the vRS but I've seen loads with towbars so I assume it's OK.

ah a photo! just what I was after...

Hmmm, will speak to the insurance co about the towbar. There seems to be mixed feelings on BriSkoda.net

I've been looking on there too regarding getting a detachable towbar on my Octavia - it all seems a little grey, especially as the gent in the police weighbridge horror story was towing.