Skoda Fabia 1 1.2 6v HTP review
by David Finlay (11 May 2007)
Let's start, as Julie Andrews did, at the very beginning. Our first road test of the new Fabia concerns the most basic model in the range, with the lowest trim level, the least powerful engine and - at £7990 - the most agreeable price.
This is a very good car, but the opposition is considerable. The choice of small hatchbacks under £8000 is very wide, and in some respects the Fabia struggles to keep up. In the unlikely event, for example, that you want as much performance as you can get for the money, this is not the number one choice. Most 1.2-litre engines produce more power than this one (or even than the considerably stronger 12-valve version which Skoda offers as an alternative), so you're not going to beat much away from the traffic lights.
Well, you probably don't want to do that anyway, and in any case there are compensations. Despite relatively low gearing - 70mph equals just under 3500rpm in top - this Fabia is impressively quiet. For a petrol-engined car it's also quite economical, with a combined fuel consumption figure of 47.9mpg (though that's handsomely beaten by the 61.4mpg achieved by the 1.4-litre turbo diesel). And realistically it's quick enough for its target customers.
Unlike some of its rivals, it's also good fun to drive. I had a splendid time bounding over some deserted back roads in the test car, and marvelled at its composed behaviour over all but the roughest road surfaces.
More importantly, it's very easy to drive too. Despite the many differences, this Fabia is based on the same platform as the previous one, and therefore the same as the Volkswagen Polo. Many Polo components are carried over to the Skoda, and there's a definite VW feel to the major controls - especially the steering, which is about as light as it possibly could be without seeming entirely disconnected from the front wheels.
This is particularly important in the urban environment. The clutch action is smooth enough to make inching forward in a queue of traffic relatively fuss-free, and the steering means tight manoeuvres in car parks or narrow back streets are easy to achieve. The only problem here is that the rear pillars are too thick, so it's all too easy to lose sight of people - a mother pushing a pram, say, or a child on a bike - in the large blind spot.
That's a rare flaw in what is otherwise an impressive design. Where the base-model Fabia really scores highly against the sub-£8000 competition is in the amount of interior space that's available. In particular, there's an enormous amount of headroom and sufficient height adjustment of the driver's seat, so tall owners won't feel cramped and short ones have the scope to sit conveniently high up.
Some small hatchbacks do well in this respect but offer limited room to rear passengers. Not the Fabia - you could genuinely fit four six-footers inside without any trouble. And there's plenty of space for luggage, too; Skoda quotes 300 litres with the rear seats in position and 1163 litres with them folded down. The second figure assumes you're filling the thing to roof level, but it's still impressive for a car in this class.
How impressive? Well, both statistics are improvements on what the old Fabia managed (260 and 1016 litres respectively). And they also beat what's achieved by many key rivals. Practicality is undoubtedly one of the new Fabia's strongest cards.
Mind you, gaining access to all this space isn't quite as convenient as it might be, and I feel that Skoda has missed a couple of tricks here. You have to remove the rear headrests (and then find somewhere to put them) in order to fold the seats down, and once you've done this you don't end up with a flat floor, or anything like it. Even in the prone position, the seat backs sit at a slight angle, and more significantly they create a step of a couple of inches from the boot floor. If you're going to pack anything long and fragile in there, you'd better be careful to add some support.
As you'll have noticed already, the design of the new car is heavily influenced by that of the Roomster, and has very little to do with the previous Fabia. The interior is new too, and quite attractive even in Level 1 form.
I think it's fair to say that, in order to keep the price of the 1.2 down to £7990, Skoda has had to keep the Level 1 trim quite sparse. You get ABS, four airbags, a large drinks holder in each front door panel, central locking, electric front windows and a radio/CD with an MP3 socket, but no alloy wheels (despite what you see in the pictures, the test car had the standard 15" steel rims).
If you want things like alloy wheels, air-conditioning, cruise control, an alarm and rear parking sensors (the latter particularly important given the rear visibility problem) you're going to have to dig deeper, either by checking out the options list or by investigating the Level 2 and Level 3 specs. But personally, and with only minor reservations, I think the Fabia would be a good car to have even in its cheapest and most basic form.
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