Skoda Fabia review

Skoda’s baby car is back in an all new rendition. The Czechs entered the Indian car market during its growing stages and had made it big with the Octavia. The Fabia’s sales were decent at best simply because the japs and Koreans seemed to have won Indian hearts. I’m talking of course about the swift and the I 20. But with this latest edition of the hatch, Skoda is destined to be a pain in Maruti’s exhaust. At first the car doesn’t seem a whole lot different from its predecessor except the slight increase in ground clearance and headlamp cluster that is more appealing. But the second you enter this car it’s an all new dimension which will make you forget about maruti Suzuki’s reliability and service back-up. I stepped into the top end elegance model with beige interiors, unbelievably beautiful wooden finish and an overall feel that convinces you that the cars price is so much lesser than what it is truly worth.
The brand is keen on offering the superb’s royal experience for the customer who can’t afford one. The car has abs with ebd, airbags and is available in 3 engine options, 1.2 petrol, a 1.2 diesel and 1.6 petrol for the highway lovers. For a small car the Fabia has boot space to put luxury sedans to shame. The car beats its competitors hands down in terms of owners pleasure. The I 20 and swift though fantastic cars did not manage to welcome me as splendidly as the Fabia did and in terms of features to price ratio the Skoda is better. The drive of the car is typically Skoda. Even the petrol engine is rather noisy but isn’t really a bother, the diesel however needs to be given a better hum. The space is decent but if you are tall this car is very difficult to manage. I am 6.4 ft. tall and found it very hard to get into the car despite the seat being pulled back to the last notch. The steering wheel is adjustable and that seemed to compliment my issues. Every time I got in or out of the car my knee would keep hitting the adjusting lever and I would be afraid that I damaged something. Even the rear space was not very assuring. It was almost like the boot space had eaten out of the rear seat room. My thighs were well supported and the seats were very comfortable but if had to sit either in the drivers seat or in rear my legs would feel suffocated. My advice would be to check the car’s space yourself as the car at least seemed to be adequate for the average Indian family and it could be a case of me being big and it wasn’t the car that was small. One problem you will face with car is the same problem as any other Skoda, the spare parts will be expensive and the resale value will be lesser than that of the I 20 or swift. These glitches can be ignored because this car is a very good purchase and is truly value for money whether it’s the price, the looks or the features. The car starts of at Rs. 4,40,212 {ex-showroom Mumbai} for the 1.2 petrol mpi classic and Rs 5,49,713 for the Tdi classic and additional options such as in-car entertainment are available if you wish to have them factory fitted