The 1.9-litre, four-cylinder diesel in the vRS produced 130bhp, way off the 174bhp in the Fabia 130. However, the engine, as we hinted, was all about its torque, which at 310Nm, is 60Nm more than the 130 develops.
The two cars’ engines have a very different character, so while the Mk2 Fabia vRS switched to ‘twin-charged’ (turbo and supercharged) petrol power, you can see why the 130 hasn’t been bestowed with the vRS name.
I said in my first report that I was hoping the Fabia 130 would be more than the sum of its parts and that’s exactly what the original Fabia vRS is. The diesel engine sounds like a van on idle – lumpy and unrefined – and the suspension, while a little lower and stiffer than on the regular model, has an ordinary MacPherson front and torsion-beam rear.
Yet the car is an absolute hoot to drive. Despite its age, I found the vRS genuinely eager on a B-road, with part of its appeal based on its pronounced body roll (that you can just about keep in check) along with accessible surges of old-school torque steer bringing a big, stupid grin to my face.
The example we’re driving is completely as it left the showroom, whereas most versions of the Mk1 Fabia vRS in the UK now pump out black smoke from their chromed exhausts thanks to some fairly extensive and easy-to-achieve remaps. We actually did this to our own Fabia vRS back in 2005 and upped its output to 160bhp and 383Nm of torque.
