Skoda Fabia 1.4 16v

Road Test

Your Say

Test date 18 April 2007 Price as tested £10,405

For Packaging, grown-up feel, supple ride, value

AgainstEngine noise, body roll, poor seat support

Did you hear the one about the Skoda? It was in 2000, when people told Skoda jokes and still thought them funny. Then along came the Fabia, built on an all-new platform, a platform so new it had yet to find its way into any VW-badged product. The Fabia was good – so good that overnight those jokes seemed outdated. People stopped laughing and started listening; Skoda was suddenly a serious player.

Now, the challenge facing Skoda is to keep that momentum going, to elevate the brand from challenger to conqueror. It would be a major upset if the new Fabia wasn’t a thoroughly decent car. But is it good enough to challenge for top slot in a sector packed with competition as fresh and talented as the Vauxhall Corsa, Fiat Punto and Renault Clio?

If anything, the second-generation Fabia is less radical that the first, the platform an updated version of the previous generation, with the same MacPherson struts up front and a torsion beam rear axle, although this tweaked floorplan again previews that of the next Volkswagen Polo. For the moment there is just a five-door hatch, with an estate version to follow in 2008. The engine line-up has been amended, but is broadly similar to that of the previous model.

Of the petrol versions, the 1.2-litre three-cylinder (in 6v and 12v forms) and the standard 1.4-litre four-cylinder engines remain, each with a slight power increase, while the higher-output 1.4 is replaced by a 105bhp 1.6-litre motor. Those preferring the black pump have three options: a three-cylinder 1.4, offered in two states of tune, or a four-cylinder 1.9. Prices start at £7990 for the 60bhp 1.2 and rise to £13,015 for the 105bhp 1.9 TDI. The specification hierarchy mirrors the simple three-level structure introduced with the Roomster. It is the mid-spec, 85bhp 1.4-litre Fabia 2 that we test here.