Skoda Fabia Diesel Driven - Complete Review |

Skoda made its entry in India with the Octavia which was offered with features which were only seen on cars with twice its price and marked the start of the luxury car segment in India. It carved a niche in the Indian car space and was known for its engineering and luxury. In an era where diesel cars were supposed to be slow it had a Powerful Diesel motor which changed the perception of the people towards the diesel cars.

Since then Skoda has maintained its legacy and the highly successful Laura and Superb are proof for it. The Fabia which was always regarded as an upmarket and luxury Small car sold in modest numbers thanks to the high sticker price and expensive to maintain image.

Things have changed since then, with the entry of VW, Skoda has been positioned a little lower than the VWs. The Amount of localizations has also increased and prices have seen go down. Some of the features are missing but it was necessary to keep the costs down. The 1.4 diesel engine made way for the 1.2 unit from the Polo. All these changes were made to the Fabia with the upgrade that it got a few months back. So how good is the re-packaged Fabia? Our Goa team took the Fabia diesel elegance model for a spin and did a detail review of the car and here are our views on the car.

STYLING & EXTERIORS

Front of the Fabia is dominated by the large headlamps. They look nice and along with the fog lamps give the car an elegant look. The bonnet is sculpted and there are nice lines which start from the grill and run over the bonnet till the A-pillars. The grill has slightly inclined vertical strips. The Skoda logo is embedded into a large chrome strip which sits above the grill.

Moving to the side the A and B-pillars are blackened and blend well with the design. There is a shoulder line which runs across the side from the front headlights to the rear tail lights. Fabia has Side door protective strips and 5 spoke alloys. The rear of the car is pretty much in sync with the overall design and is simple. At the back you get a spoiler, rear defogger and rear wash wipe. Overall there is no oomph in the design and it is conservative. There is an understated elegance in the design and the car looks Upmarket.

INTERIORS

Fabia comes with dual tone black and beige interiors. The Skoda Fabia central console consists of controls for the Air con in the middle with the AC vents sitting on top of it. 2 DIN music System is housed just beneath the air con controls. Music system has 2 speakers in the doors and tweeters in the A-pillars and there is an option to fit 2 more speakers.

The sound quality is good and it is loud enough with even the 2 speakers that our car came equipped with. The dials in the instrumental clusters are simple and easy to read. There is a Multi-function display between the speedometer and the tachometer. The display gives information like trip, distance to empty, outside temperature etc. It also warns you if any of the doors are open. The steering is finished in black and can be adjusted for reach as well as Rake.

As far as quality goes except for the AC controls where you can sense the cost cutting involved, rest of the bits are top notch. The quality of the plastics is the best in class and all the controls fall to hand easily and function in a smooth way. The door panels are of high quality the way they shuts tells you about the superb built quality of the car. The car feels built to last and built quality is second to none in this class of cars.

As far as space is concerned the Fabia feels compact from the inside. The Seats are placed at a good height and ingress and egress in easy. Front seats offer good bolstering, they support you in the right places are very comfortable. The width of the car is not very generous add to that the central tunnel and the sculpted seats and sitting 3 abreast in the rear is not a Fabia strength. The rear seats though have good amount of leg and head room.

The thigh support is excellent and the seats are of high quality and are very comfortable with good back support. The cushioning is perfect; seats are sculpted and thus offer excellent comfort for 2 passengers in the rear. There are 2 rear A/C vents under the front seats and add to the overall comfort. If you want to ferry 4 people in utmost comfort then this is the car for you.

The Fabia has abundant of storage spaces too. You have twin glove-boxes with one of them being illuminated. The front door pockets are huge and can hold full size bottles. There are cup-holders in between the two seats and lots of places to keep small things. The boot is big too and will be sufficient for most needs. If need be then the seats can be folded to generate more luggage room.

FEATURES

The Fabia Elegance diesel is priced at Rs 8,03,550/- on road Goa and comes equipped with

Air conditioning
Rear Ac vents
Power steering
Remote Central locking
Power windows with one touch.
2 Din music system with AUX-IN support
15 inch alloy wheels
ABS
Dual front Airbags
Front fog lamps
Anti-glare internal ORVM
Engine immobiliser
Rear defogger
Rear wash-wipe

The feature list is not very generous for the price. The things which are missing and are offered by rivals are steering mounted audio controls, climate controls, rear parking sensors, electrically adjustable ORVM, auto headlamps and wipers, engine start stop, reverse camera, USB and Bluetooth connect. But what the Fabia loses in features is compensated by small attention to detail features such as:

Height adjustable seat belts
Door open indicator
Security code for audio player
Height and length adjustment for steering wheel
Height adjustable driver seat
One touch window operation with bounce back
Illuminated boot and front glove-box
Retainer bands to hold things which are kept in door pockets
Coat hooks at the rear
Ticket holders
Removable parcel tray with twin level adjustments
Opening and closing of windows through the remote
Speed adjustment for wiper in Intermediate mode

ENGINE & PERFORMANCE

Fabia is powered by a 1.2 litre 3 cylinder Engine. It produces 75bhp@4200 rpm and 180nm of torque @2000rpm. Start the car and the idle is reasonably silent. Step on the gas pedal and the car pulls forward at a slow pace. One can easily make out that this engine isn’t the most powerful. There is considerable amount of turbo lag but things do improve after 2000rpm, the turbo kicks in and you do get good boost till 4500 rpm.

You need to drive this car in its midrange to get performance out of it. Overall the engine isn’t the best and is the weak link in the car. It feels underpowered and the car takes some time to reach triple digit speeds and Overtaking on the highway needs some planning. The engine refinement isn’t that bad.

You can hear the engine but the insulation on the car is good and the engine doesn’t feel that noisy from the inside. Being a 3 cylinder engine there ought to be some vibrations but they are well suppressed in the Fabia. Fuel efficiency is good too and Skoda claims a figure of 20.9km/ltr.

RIDE AND HANDLING

The front seats are placed at a good height and the Visibility out from the front is good. Thanks to the height adjustable driver’s seat and the steering adjust, finding a perfect driving position is easy. The Fabia feels compact from the inside and is easy to manoeuvre in the city.

The steering is light at slow speeds and the A-pillar doesn’t obstruct the vision. Rear visibility is good and parking the car is easy too. There is an underlining firmness to the suspension at low speed but the car feels solid, most bumps are absorbed well and you never feel uncomfortable with the car feeling composed in any situation.

Up the pace and small craters and expansion joints are absorbed with a muted thud. The car absorbs the bumps well and rough sections are dispatched with ease. Undulations are dealt well, the ride is flat and there is no up down bobbing motion at high speeds.

Only the large craters filter into the cabin. High speed stability is good and the car feels safe at speed. Grip from the 185/60 R15 tyres is excellent and body control despite the tall boy stance is good. The electro-mechanical steering weighs up well and is confidence inspiring. There is good amount of feedback from the steering and the car is fun to drive.

The gearshift needs special mention. The slick shifting gear lever is nice to hold and the gearshifts are superb. Shifting gears on the spring loaded gearbox is rewarding and adds to the fun to drive factor. Insulation on the Fabia is good too, the suspension is quiet and there is minimal tyre and wind noise. Overall this car has a good balance between ride and handling and is one of the best in class as far as ride and handling is concerned.

VERDICT

Fabia is a small car but has traits of a larger car. The built quality is best in class and so is the interior quality, the seats are superb and are very comfortable. The ride and handling combo is spot on and can beat many sedans. But sadly so is the price. The top end diesel costs around 8 lakhs and isn’t well equipped compared to the rivals. And being a Skoda it is likely to be expensive to maintain.

The engine isn’t the most powerful and lets it down. Look beyond this and what you get is a great car. It can carry 4 people in utmost comfort and you won’t miss your big sedan car. It is nimble in town and is good to drive on the highway. All controls fall to hand easily and function with a quality feel. What sets it apart is the solid feel of the car which is second to none. So if you need an upmarket luxury small car then this is the car you should look at.

Good bits:

Rear thigh support is excellent

Height adjustable seatbelts

Bad bits:

Bonnet opening lever is on the passenger side

No steering mounted audio controls

Test Card Rating (Out of 10)

OVERALL: 8

Safety: 9

Build Quality & Strength: 10

Ride: 9

Handling: 9