Skoda Fabia Elegance 1.6 MPI - Design Review

When launched in 2008 in India, Skoda Fabia was the car to buy if you wanted to make a ‘hatch’ statement. It was the most expensive hatchback car you could have bought back then and with a premium equipment list, never seen before on a small car, it broke the norms about hatchbacks being cramped, cheap and under-specced. I mean, who could have thought of having projector beams and sunroof on a small car?  The Fabia was spacious, well-built, fully loaded and err… expensive. The competition geared up and cars like the Hyundai i20 and Honda Jazz jumped in the premium hatch bandwagon. The Fabia slowly lost its sheen. And thus Skoda decided to give it a facelift, which broke cover early last year internationally.

The Indian launch doesn’t look that simple an affair though, in fact there is a deeper strategy behind it and hence the Fabia facelift took that extra bit longer to arrive here. In its bid to restructure the positioning of products under the Volkswagen and Skoda brands in the Indian market, VW group decided to reposition the new Fabia below the VW Polo. This means, the Fabia gets robbed of its premium features. The good news is that it shares its powerplants with the Polo’s, including the hot 1.6-litre petrol, and most importantly, has become considerably cheaper.

The Fabia gets a new face with its bigger grille inspired by the Laura and the Superb. That apart, the bumper has been redesigned and so are the foglamps, which are angular against the round ones on the previous model. The rear too gets similar treatment with refreshed tail lamps. The interiors remain largely unchanged but feel stripped now. The top-of-the-line Ambiante variant comes reasonably specced though and doesn’t leave you complaining. But you tend to miss a few extras. For instance, it gets air conditioning but no automatic climate control. It gets chrome package but a leather wrapped steering wheel would’ve been a nicer touch. It gets anti-pinch power windows with auto down function but then electrically adjustable rearview mirrors are sorely missed. The twin gloveboxes add to the convenience but the new car doesn’t get the previous model’s cooling function.

The quality of the materials is fantastic and the Fabia feels solidly built. The two-tone finish looks good and the beige upholstery adds a premium and airy feel to the interiors. The Fabia’s trump has been its space and that hasn’t changed a bit. The rear seats have good knee room for a small car and the 300-litre boot can swallow quite a bit of luggage.