Category: Superminis 
Price Range: £8,950 to £13,730
Space, ride comfort, value, feels more expensive than it is.
Overlight steering at speed, a little stodgy to drive, underpowered economy-price engines best avoided.
This roomy Czech-built supermini is great value for money without being cheap and nasty.
The steering feels too light at speed, but otherwise the Fabia has precise, obedient responses. It has lots of grip and is generally well-balanced and predictable. It does feel on the stodgy side, however, lacking a sense of lightness and agility; the diesels can feel nose-heavy, especially the less powerful versions. The 130bhp vRS can be quite amusing, however, if strong torque is more your thing than out-and-out acceleration: it's certainly not slow, though no Fabia is exactly thrilling.
The 1.4 8v engine is the one remaining vestige of the old Skoda - it's derived from the unit in the Felicia, and the ancient rear-engined models before it - and though it's priced cheaply, the more modern 16v or the VW three-cylinder 1.2s are a better bet. The old-tech non-turbo 1.9 SDI is pretty dreary, too. The 2.0 petrol (as in the Beetle and last-gen Golf GTi) isn't particularly powerful for its size, nor is it especially lively; the torquey turbodiesels are the most rewarding, with the 130bhp vRS the nearest thing to a hot hatch in the range.
