Skoda Fabia: who needs a Polo?
Skoda’s new Fabia looks like the pick of the small VW-based hatchbacks
Now that the Citigo supermini is history, the new Fabia once again sits at the bottom of the Skoda range. No longer cheap at a likely start price around £14,000, the new Fabia still represents something of a bargain – especially since the closely related Polos and Ibizas are pricier. The latest iteration of the five-door hatch has grown to 4108mm long, its boot holds a best-in-class 380 litres and the drag coecient is a slippery 0.28. It looks as classy and clean as an early Audi A3, the cockpit easily beats the Golf Mk8 for intuitive functionality, its seats are comfy, and the build quality gives third-world materials a wide berth.
Performance remains bargain-basement, however. There are three 1.0-litre three-cylinder petrol engines rated at 79bhp, 94bhp and 109bhp. With a paltry 69lb ft, the weakest unit need to be worked hard to deliver even lethargic progress. The top-of-the-line TSI unit musters a much more useful 148lb ft of torque, and can be paired with a six-speed manual or seven-speed DSG ’box. Amazingly enough, fuel consumption is in the 50s across the entire range. A 1.5 TSI with 148bhp is coming, still with 50.4mpg.
The Fabia’s main mission in life is to provide affordable transportation, partly explaining why rear disc brakes and an adequate 50-litre fuel tank are extra. Luxury options, four-wheel drive, mild-hybrid tech? Not here.
We drove the new Skoda in Poland on a lively mix of crumbling B-roads and freshly paved smooth tarmac. In the wet, a hard-driven Fabia depends on ABS to cope with terrain irregularities, and our car benefits from the largest 18-inch tyre size to complete tricky turns without making a fool of its driver, but it could do with meatier and more communicative steering. On the credit side, however, we noted impeccable directional stability, failsafe handling and nicely weighted controls.
Although the manual gearbox is light and precise, top gear reaches from Mlada Boleslav almost to the Bavarian border, and fourth and fifth are not exactly short-legged either. The dual-clutch auto version shifts slickly and gives a 0.1sec quicker 0-62mph time.
The most dramatic improvement over the stiff and brittle predecessor is almost-cushy suspension, which handles the worst road surfaces with the nonchalant competence of an Oktoberfest waitress juggling a dozen steins. Praise is also due to the markedly reduced overall noise levels.
Unlike VW Group colleagues, Skoda chief designer Oliver Stefani has avoided blighting the interior with idiosyncrasies like cryptic touchsliders. Instead, the cockpit is self-explanatory and free of unnecessary duplication.
The specification levels (likely to be S, SE Comfort and SE L in the UK) all show a refreshing standard of material and build quality. True to Skoda’s Simply Clever motto, there are 16 different oddments spaces with a total volume of 106 litres. In combination with decent sat-nav, a multi-tasking assistant named Laura is on hand to answer your questions.
All this Skoda really lacks is an extra helping of flair in places, one or two USPs and more dedication to driving pleasure.
First verdict
Another Skoda that beats its VW and Seat stablemates at their own game, although there’s little to reward the keen driver #### #