Skoda Fabia

Driving
The first-generation Fabia was always noted for its excellent ride quality. With the latest car, things are no different. The soft set-up copes well with rough surfaces, and helps refinement. However, compared to rivals, there's more body roll in corners, and despite having sharp steering, the Fabia isn't as agile as it could be. There's also more dive under braking, and the Skoda's stopping distances are nothing to write home about. At least it's easy to drive and feels mechanically robust - we liked the snappy gearchange, for example. Three-cylinder 1.2-litre petrol and 1.4-litre TDI diesel engines of cheaper variants call for its use, though; the units lack low-down grunt and need to be revved. And while the petrol unit is silky-smooth, the TDI vibrates and is noisy at idle.

Marketplace
With the Fabia, it's clear Skoda has taken inspiration from several directions. The headlights and grille echo the Roomster supermini-MPV, while the black windscreen pillars and sloping roof edges are reminiscent of the Suzuki Swift. Yet the shape of the C-pillars and tailgate looks similar to that of the MkI Fabia, leaving you in no doubt it's Skoda's popular supermini. The chassis confirms this, by using a reworked version of the old model's platform (though it's currently still more modern than the car which donates these underpinnings, the Volkswagen Polo). It comes with a range of five engines, and a simple line-up of trims - simply, 1, 2 or 3, plus a Sport variant that brings a touch of glamour to the line-up (although suspension settings are unchanged). As before, Skoda will be hoping the car's economy and value for money will help it steal a march on rivals, which include the Renault Clio, Vauxhall Corsa, Peugeot 207, Ford Fiesta and its sister budget car, the SEAT Ibiza.

Owning
Dash layout is simple and the trim feels robust - so it's a shame the design hasn't moved forward. It looks basic when compared to rivals, while the air con switches seem old fashioned and the steering wheel feels cheap. It does have a double glovebox and easy to read, attractively lit dials, though. And there's no questioning interior space. The Fabia has excellent rear head and legroom, plus a commodious 300-litre boot. With this in mind, it's therefore mean of Skoda to charge £45 for a central rear head restraint; surely safety should come first? More penny-pinching that impacts on safety is curtain airbags that only come as standard on the range-topping Fabia 3; a fuel cap that isn't linked to the central locking is merely irritating. Fuel economy from the test 1.4-litre TDI was equally disappointing. It's meant to achieve 61.4mpg on the combined cycle, but such is the need to work the engine hard, all we could manage was a poor 37.6mpg. The situation will be similar with 1.2-litre models, so it's fortunate that retained values are predicted to be pretty impressive, which should help trim pence-per-mile costs (and offset short 10,000-mile service intervals).