Downsizing from an Accord within the next six months- £14k max (would be financed, will look at cash buys for less also)

VRS looks fun and reliable but won’t take a towbar as not approved- estate is overkill space wise 90% of the time so a hatback ideally I reckon. Other options (preferably 12/13 plate for warranty, although happy with something between that and my 2004 Honda)

Newer Civic is horrible looking, not so keen on the Mazda 3, like the DS3/4 but not sure on French cars after relatively trouble free Jap cars.

Octavia hatchback?

Polo GTI? Ibiza whatever-it’s-called?

Rachel (with a Skoda VRS)

Fabia with the tsi petrol engine or non-vrs diesel?

Why won’t the Vrs take a tow bar?

another Fabia? I assume that some of them can tow.

If you don’t need it for towing, just for a bike rack, go for the fabia

Fabia VRS has quite a deep plastic ‘diffuser’ that would need cutting to install a towbar. That’s the only reason Skoda simply didn’t bother to have it tested for towbar compatibility.

You would have to cut the diffuser to install the towbar.

Rachel

I have a Monte Carlo which has a very similar diffuser at the back and I run a towbar.

The vRS diffuser is slightly different but not massively.

I have a Thule towbar with a swan neck and they did have to cut the bumper a little, but if the towbar wasn’t there I don’t think you’d notice it.

Normally has a Thule bike rack on it but I do use it for towing.

You could always get a Monte Carlo and a remap- mine’s a 1.6 diesel and I am tempted to get it mapped to about 140bhp making it more powerful than the old vRS and keep my manual gearbox, all for a lot more mpg. No places I spoke to had any worries about fitting a towbar to it.

Yes, if it’s for a bike rack you can get a bike rack mounting that’s not a towbar, from Thule.

I’d recommend an Octavia VRS.

Regards, Duffer – Octavia VRS owner.

Munrobiker – seems a lot of effort to avoid one of the very best bits of the VRS – the utterly amazing DSG gearbox.

Rachel

They are quite different beasts in that respect.

I still don’t see why you can’t get a towbar fitted to the vRS and can to the Monte Carlo.

Because they have to be type-approved to be legal. Had all manner of discussions getting one fitted to our old E Class due to wheels it ran. Merc technical support eventually confirmed it could run one.

I’d just trim the defuser & fit a tow bar

You can’t, if it’s not approved, that’s the point.

If you were to do a search on Witter’s website you can find out what vehicles are type approved and go from there.

You can fit a towbar, you just can’t tow with it

Doesn’t it say on the VIN plate whether or not the car has been homologated for approval to tow, and the capacity if it has..? I’ve heard of towbar fitters refusing to fit them to cars that aren’t.

It definitely does not say it on the VIN.

I’ve just bought a Fabia and had a towbar fitted, the fitter made a point of asking if it was a VRs. It’s a heavy fine for them to fit a non-approved towbar setup now (car or towbar not type-approved). It’s also an MOT failure for the towbar to be structurally unsound or faulty electrics on type-approved setups. If you’re getting a car that has type-approval it’s best to get the vehicle-specific wiring that hooks up to the CAMBUS wiring as the old piggy-back system will most likely fail any standard test.

A3 Sportback takes a towbar without any of the above issues.