An old-skool hit

Skodas are no longer a joke and haven’t been for decades, but they’re often not a bargain buy any more either. Once a simple brand that majored on value, Skoda has been overtaken on that front by Dacia and latterly MG.

But no matter – the Czech

Republic arm of the mighty Volkswagen Group continues to build and sell very appealing cars.

One of them is the Fabia. While everyone is talking about how the crossover and SUV dominates the showrooms and sales charts these days, it is a fact that in 2021 four out of the UK’S 10 best-selling cars were superminis like the Fabia. In Europe make that five out of 10 – the supermini is not dead.

The latest Skoda Fabia is a fantastically straightforward small car. Electrification might be taking over the car world but there are still old-school new cars that you can buy that do things the traditional way.

The Fabia doesn’t even have a mild-hybrid system, which is fine by me. Our test car is an SE Comfort, which is one up from the entrylevel S. It comes with a 95PS threecylinder turbo engine and a fivespeed manual gearbox. If you want six gears or an automatic DSG gearbox you need to trade up to the 110PS model. We drove a left-hand drive version of that car late last year with a six-speed manual gearbox.

This new-from-the-wheels-up Fabia is built using the Volkswagen Group’s MQB-AO platform (which the VW Polo and Seat Ibiza have been using for some time), which means that not only is the car stiffer, the wheelbase has grown by 94mm. This means more legroom in the back and the boot can now hold 380 litres of luggage.

Skoda coined the term “Simply Clever” for the myriad of natty gadgets and solutions that it’s come up with over the past few years. Like the ice scraper behind the fuel filler cap and the smartphone pockets on the backs of the front seats.

Skoda has also got a good take on what makes a difference in the ‘rear world’. There’s a USB socket in the rear-view mirror, for example, if you want to power a windscreenmounted device. There are also USB sockets for the rear passengers which your kids will approve of.

Finally, you get 100 litres of storage space dotted around the cabin. Pity you don’t get wireless smartphone mirroring, a useful feature I’ve got rather used to. Still, a cable is worth putting up with on a £18,590 car that’s this competent.

The Fabia is not a sporty car – certainly not as sporty as its Spanish cousin the Seat Ibiza – but what it is is comfortable. The ride quality is excellent and the modest 15in wheels and 65-profile tyres help soak up amazingly threatening bumps even at high speed.

Our Fabia doesn’t look quite as cool as the metallic purple VW Polo that we put to the test last year.

But it’s cheaper and, like the Polo, it’s a car that you can get for sensible money – and keep for many years.

So the Fabia’s a smart option for people who can’t afford an EV.