Fabia 1.2 TDI CR Review Diesel car

 

Look and Style This is a subjective topic. Like the color of the car a person chooses to drive. Fabia has classy looks. Big car feel. Good view from the rear and the front. The steel grill gives it a grander appearance from the front view. In my view this is the one of the best looking hatchbacks in India. I own the 1.2 TDI CR (diesel Fabia). Purchased it in Feb 2011.

Comfort Quality of the interiors is top notch. Gives you a majestic and luxurious feel when sitting inside. Very spacious in the front and even the back leg room is decent if not the best. The ride quality is good. But on the bumpy indian roads, i feel the suspension can be improved a bit. Steering response is good. Low engine noise inside the cabin. (this is in the newer models, 1.2 TDI CR models which come with the engine guard built in).

Yes the door closing with a thud, which is the signature of skoda make is always there. Not to mention the seat belts having the audi symbol or the VW polo engine (yes Fabia and Polo have the same exact engines. Compare the specs if you want). The AC is the best. No second thoughts here. esp the diesel cars' AC. Very powerful cooling and the car gets cooler very fast. I've noticed one interesting thing here with comparison to the petrol models (HTP models). Though the petrol fabia is very quiet (you will not know whether the engine is on or not) the moment you turn on the AC in the petrol model you can hear a noticeable noise increase and engine vibration inside the cabin. This is not seen in the diesel models (TDI CR models). When the AC is off, the diesel car is noisier than the petrol one. but we never drive a car like that. When the AC is on, there is not much of a difference, the diesel is only slightly more noisier.

The sound proofing is excellent. This adds to the reduction in the engine noise. But from outside the engine noise is much higher for the diesel car. The only problem with the rear ac vents is that they work only in the feet mode. They'd freeze your legs if you use it like that. They should have kept a mode which serves the feet and the top partially, which is very common in Indian cars.

Pickup Being a diesel car, the pickup is not so great. But not bad at all. more than enough for city driving. I feel the problem is the pick up in the 2nd gear. From the moment you reach 3rd gear the pickup is good. again the 5th gear pickup is good only after 60 kmph. 50 to 60 is little slow.

Mileage The trade off of lesser pickup is the mileage. I am getting 17 to 18 kmpl (diesel) in city driving. I think it will touch 22 on highways ( i didnt check it by driving on highways exclusively).

Best Features Interior quality, powerful A.C, smooth gear shifts, Safety (dual airbags).

Needs to improveSuspension (for bumpy roads in India). Rear AC vents should work in dual mode/ feet and top both together.

Overall Experience Extremely satisfied. No problems whatsoever in the 6 months so far. Also there is an extended warranty given (4 yrs unlimited kms) along with complete bumper to bumper coverage in the insurance (yes even scratches are covered). The talk of expensive spares is not relavant now after localization of spare part manufacturing is employed. There are plants in Pune and Shendra.

I was thinking of buying the Ford figo or the Skoda Fabia. The reasons I went for Fabia is the newer engine (2010 model, with CR/common Rail technology). Figo may offer better value but Skoda offers you pride and satisfaction on each drive.

quality interiors, powerful AC, safetyrear ac vents work only for feet, suspension can be improved for bumpy roads