The little wagon that can
New Zealanders no longer buy little station wagons. The new Skoda Fabia provides a great reminder of the values we’re now missing out on,
The new extended version of the Skoda Fabia has come too late to the compact estate wagon party. Everyone’s now gone home with a compact pseudo-SUV as their new vehicle partner instead.
The likeable Czech enters a market segment that is now so bereft of worthy rivals that there’s only a semi-obsolete Toyota Corolla load-lugger left for company. The latter is a wheezy 1.5, bare-boned stripper available with either a manual or hyperactive CVT gearbox that fleet managers possibly love and their drivers probably hate.
The new Fabia is a state-of-theart direct-injection turbo hooked up to an efficient seven-speed twin-clutch transmission, mounted upon some of the stickiest tyres in the Bridgestone inventory.
Oh, and it’s also two grand cheaper than the Toyota at $26,990. So if you’re one of the enlightened few who still desire an affordable new wagon that costs less than $30k, take your pick.
I’d be really surprised if the buyer’s cheque didn’t go the Czech car’s way, because the elongated Fabia is indecently good value, drives as good as any other mainstream Euro five-door with a torsion beam rear end, and offers plenty of haulage space for a car so compact.
The latter comes courtesy of the extra 265mm of length that Skoda added to the rear of the Fabia, all of which is devoted to increasing loadable acreage. For the spending of a further $2000 above the $24,990 price of the Fabia hatchback, you get a healthy 505 litres of stowage with the rear seat erect, and 1370 litres with it folded down.
And while the latter configuration doesn’t result in a completely flat-floored load bay, there are handy storage bins behind the wheel arches for small fiddly items, and plenty of hooks to help keep things secure.
For a further $10k, Skoda’s Octavia wagon will give a bit of extra room, but it’s not all that much more, and the sheetmetal-for-the-money ratio is therefore higher with the largest version of the Fabia.
So the car has plenty of appeal to those of a practical mindset, offering more room than all the compact pseudo-SUVs available at this price point, and as a Volkswagen wearing a Czech disguise, it’s a decent drive as well.
A turbo and a twin-clutch is always a recipe for driving pleasure, even at this price point. So where the Toyota protests then finally accedes to any request for acceleration, the Skoda is ready and willing to go right from engine idling speeds to power peak.
The gearbox is the real key to the way this small-motor car can supply performance that feels effortless for a 1.2-litre engine. With the consistent delivery of driving force throughout most of the rev range, the gearbox simply targets the right ratio according to how much pressure the driver is applying to the throttle pedal.
It’ll come off the line with some urgency at quarter throttle, and short-shift its way up to the desired cruising speed in an impressive display of efficiency. With the boosted engine delivering maximum driving force from just 1400rpm, and the twin-clutch gearbox prepped to take that energy and put it into instant motion through a series of quickfire ratio swaps, this is a powertrain that enables the Fabia to be a cross-town warrior.
Things don’t go quite so well at the other end of the rev range, however. When the torque production begins to wane at 4000rpm and maximum power arrives at 5600rpm, the Skoda begins to show the limitations of its fuel-saving small-displacement engine strategy.
There’s little point in taking the car further up the rev range than the power peak – all you get is noise and harshness. But the Skoda does have its performance priorities right. Far better to have force available at accessible engine speeds than crammed into the upper third of the rev range like the Corolla.
The chassis of the Fabia wagon also majors on efficiency thanks to the way it enables higher cornering speeds to be maintained, reducing the need to brake and accelerate again. Most of this is down to the selection of some long-time-favourite tyres. Bridgestone Potenza RE050 radials were the favoured rubber of sportscar makers back in the noughties, and although they’re not so in vogue today due to their vocal thrumming, they add limpet-like grip to the Skoda’s handling.
From this platform, good things occur, like electrically-assisted steering that isn’t entirely devoid of road feel, and a suspension tune that aids directional stability and rides politely.
Naturally, the Skoda has been built to target an affordable place in the market, and it shows this most by having no reversing camera (although it does have parking sonar back there).
The cabin also has plenty of brittle-looking plastics, and although there’s automatic lights and wipers, the air-con is manual and the seat upholstery is cloth. One nod towards higher technology is the ability to tick a $600 option that enables autonomous emergency braking.
But never mind the basics, enjoy the value.
This is the best little new station wagon on the Kiwi car market by far.