Finally Ordered it!

[JohnnyBoy]

Ordered myself a Black Ibiza FR TDI yesterday from Willoughby Nottingham. :thumbup:
Took the FR for a nice long blast first, I thought the ride was noticably harder than Sport model I tested before though but I'm sure I will get used to it, the steering felt sharper (I am no expert though, I have a numb '95 Corolla) and it had only done 600 miles anyway so I am guessing the whole car is still a bit tight, the Saleswoman never told me to be gentle with it though!!
I got a nice discount off the car and they even gave me £1k for my current motor thought it would be about £500!.
They will be getting it in next week so I will pick it up some time the week after. :roflmao:

Couple of questions: Are the standard speakers any good? Or is it the standard stereo thats a bit rubbish? It all sounds a bit muffled to me, and is it worth getting the strut brace for the FR?

Cheers :cheers:

:D

[ANRO]

Strut Brace : Some same it transforms the handling and others say it does nothing....I have never tried fitting one but have to say I am curious to try it out.

[cpufreak]

Replace the headunit with something halfway decent, and the standard speakers aren't /too/ bad.
I've Pioneer DEH7500MP in mine, and for now am living with standard speakers.

I would recommend the strut brace.

At the end of the day its only £60, so if you don't notice an improvement, its not the end of the world.

[RobHardyUK]

strut brace on the tdi would prob make a bigger difference due to the higher mass of the tdi unit, than what it would on the petrol. even if you don't notice owt difference, least it looks good!!!

[Tom B]

I think the standard ICE is tosh. Mine's all been replaced and it sounds 1000 times better now!

Good luck with the FR :)

[JohnnyBoy]

Thanks for the advice, I think I might as well get a strut brace then!


I think the standard ICE is tosh. Mine's all been replaced and it sounds 1000 times better now!
Good luck with the FR :)

What exactly have you done?

Thanks.

[Ant FR Turbo]

i got my 20v turbo FR yesterday, i was pretty pleased witht he stereo, but to be honest i keep leaving it turned off to listen to the turbo spooling up and the surprisingle deep and snorty standard exhaust!.

I did manage to nick the map lights off of the my company car golf , and i also put the damped grab handles from the golf in,

I am gonna upgrade the headunit with a sony TFT display one, my mate only wants £200 for it and it does look nice.

I honestly don't think you should worry about the strut brace, the handling i spot on, if anything it is a little too hard and bounes about a bit on bumpy roads, strut brace will simply magnify it, plus your insurance company will probably bump up the premiums if they kno you have one as strut braces do make front accidents more expensive as they can sometimes intensify the forces in one area, wait till you get the car and have driven it for a week or so till you start banging different bits on, just cos everytime i dirve mine it gets better. it has 238 miles on it now and will be tucked up in the garage till i come back from Le Mans, i will then enquire about the forge 007 dump valve and the dyna twist airfilter, then staight over to impossible performance to sort out an upsolute chip. 210bhp sounds tres cool.

[cpufreak]

i got my 20v turbo FR yesterday, i was pretty pleased witht he stereo, but to be honest i keep leaving it turned off to listen to the turbo spooling up and the surprisingle deep and snorty standard exhaust!.

I did manage to nick the map lights off of the my company car golf , and i also put the damped grab handles from the golf in,

I am gonna upgrade the headunit with a sony TFT display one, my mate only wants £200 for it and it does look nice.

I honestly don't think you should worry about the strut brace, the handling i spot on, if anything it is a little too hard and bounes about a bit on bumpy roads, strut brace will simply magnify it, plus your insurance company will probably bump up the premiums if they kno you have one as strut braces do make front accidents more expensive as they can sometimes intensify the forces in one area, wait till you get the car and have driven it for a week or so till you start banging different bits on, just cos everytime i dirve mine it gets better. it has 238 miles on it now and will be tucked up in the garage till i come back from Le Mans, i will then enquire about the forge 007 dump valve and the dyna twist airfilter, then staight over to impossible performance to sort out an upsolute chip. 210bhp sounds tres cool.


Strut brace will not amplify the bouncing about. It will tighten up the front end, so improve turn into corners, reduce understeer.

The reason the car bounces, is the same reason the Sport as standard bounces...hard springs with insufficient damping for uk roads.
Some people are happy to live with the bouncing/crashing, others like me end up changing suspension :)

Glad you're enjoying your car :)

[Lorelei]

cpufreak: if I remember correctly you have the seatsport suspension, right? is it worth the price? keeping the warranty of my new platinum TDi FR intact is my priority, and don't mind a premium to do this. already convinced to get the strut brace, as you say 60 quid isn't much at all.....

I've done about 650 miles in mine now, and it's begining to feel smoother, the engine especially. I'm really liking driving this car! It might be nice to stop the bouncing around, but it drives well as it is!

[cpufreak]

I have seatsport suspension yes.

Where do you live?

If its within 100 miles of london, I'm happy to wander over and demonstrate.

I like it, its reasonably priced for what it is, and as you say doesn't fsck up the warranty.

[Lorelei]

I live in liverpool, unfortunately, and while my geography is bad- I don't think it's within 100 miles of london!

How much improvement do you reckon you got over the standard TDi-sport suspension? I wonder how it'll compare to the FR's stiffer setup.

I like the avatar, taken from badgerbadgerbadger.com, by any chance?

[JohnnyBoy]

I Picked mi Beetha up last Wednesday - what a great car!!
The ride and handling are much better than the one I took for a test drive its all a lot smoother, the stereo is nowhere near as bad as it was in the test car either I am still going to replace it but there's no rush. I've already done 700 miles and it seems to get faster and smoother everytime I take it out.

It look great too, people keep looking at it as I drive past!

Only annoying things are that when in neutral the gearstick vibrates and makes a wierd noise (prolly down to diesel vibrations) and there are some wierd rattles that appear and go away again and the headlamps filled up with condensation as soon as it rained.

All in all its fantastic. :thumbup: Just hope it stays that way.

[Lorelei]

Cool! Someone else with a TDI FR! :clap:

I've done around 1500 miles in mine now, and it drives like a different car! The engine's much smoother, and the power sterring doesn't feel as flyaway now. That just might be me getting used to it though.

[muddyboots]

Only annoying things are that when in neutral the gearstick vibrates and makes a wierd noise (prolly down to diesel vibrations) and there are some wierd rattles that appear and go away again and the headlamps filled up with condensation as soon as it rained.

All standard features :) execpt that the rattles won't always go away...
My gearstick vibrates loudly on startup, and whilst accelerating in 4th. If it vibrates when you startup, just nudge it slightly and it should stop - it's habit now for me !