Smart car for professionals

Exterior: One of the most handsome hatchbacks in market today. Only rivalled byt the vw polo. I bought a silver example, it just stands out in any parking lot.

Interior (Features, Space & Comfort): Front seats rival any large sedan, back seats are comfortable, although can seat 2 adults and child only. Truth to tell, thats all that we usually require 90% of times. Nice beige interiors, one of the best again. Nice textured fabric for seat, doesnt slip even on hard cornering. Nice plastics, very thoughtful choice of material like in the space beneath audio which holds remote. Anti skid! Nice feel of steering plastic. 12 speed windscreen wiper! Good a/c. good road view. adjustable driver's seat and tilt and telescopic steering for the perfect riding position. two airbags as standard. largest boot in hatches (checked punto, figo, swift, ritz, polo). main reason that i switched from my earlier plan to buy sedan to consider fabia.

Engine Performance, Fuel Economy and Gearbox: Same engine as in vw polo. noisy engine, but very little vibration for diesel. noise lessens as speed increases. excellent pickup, reminds me of driving swift diesel. beautiful steering, nicely weighted, both in parking and at speeds, nicely balanced on ghat sections. decent gearbox for segment. odd but nice reverse gear. i get 15-16 in city with a/c on all the time, 19-21 on long stretch of highways (outside kerala of course, we dont have highways in kerala!!)

Ride Quality & Handling: Nice ride quality, good balance, slightly stiff suspension hence potholes felt, but dont rattle passengers. just a thud. no significant body roll for such a tall car. beautiful stability at 100kmph-120kmph. havent driven beyond that. braking adequate. dont have abs in my version.

Final Words: Excellent hatch. will recommend the car to anyone considering it. and has an upmarket appeal. more expensive than swift, but better quality, larger boot, better rear seat space, airbags than swift, so the cost difference evens out. servicing once in 15000km, unlike 5000 for swift, so cost quite similar.

Areas of improvement  : Dealership!!! skoda needs to honestly audit its dealership performance. in kerala, marikkar engineers sells and services skoda. they have been traditionally dealers of ambassadors, with very poor reputation. need at least 2 dealers per city to realise full potential of an excellent car.

Great understated style, identity, superb performance, overall qualityFogging of windscreen, quirky central locking