Skoda Fabia Estate Review

Skoda Fabia Review

It was way back in 2000, when the first Fabia was launched, as part of the ‘new’ Skoda line-up. It certainly put a stop to the jokes but far from being an amusement, the company’s makeover succeeded.

The Fabia’s part in the revival of Skoda, or should that be resurgence, amounts to over 2million units exiting the production line since its launch, which serves to indicate the company was and still is, doing something right. In fact the Fabia won no less than seven important awards in the first two years and a good few more since then.

Solid build quality, plenty of interior space and practicality were the supermini’s main qualities and people soon came to realise that any Skoda, represented Volkswagen quality at a bargain price.

The same can be said of the latest version but with more cabin space and better materials, whilst keeping the prices down - something of a conjuring trick that many mainstream manufacturers are trying to master. And now Skoda has pulled another bunny out of the hat, with the GreenLine Fabias.

To people of a certain age, the name is likely to evoke memories of buses but even the Fabia Estate isn’t big enough to carry that off. That said, the engine noise might be deemed quite representative. The reason is that the GreenLine Fabia, in either hatch or estate form, houses a 3-cylinder, 1.4-litre, diesel engine, which sounds decidedly agricultural. However, this can be overlooked in view of the car’s surprising performance and meagre thirst.

Fabia and performance in the same sentence seems almost laughable, unless, that is, we’re talking about Skoda’s future rally car, the Fabia Super 2000. For sure, the GreenLine is not in the same league as a Bugatti, but it does have a top speed of 105mph after a somewhat leisurely 0-62mph time of 13.2 seconds.  But it is the torque that makes the difference – that and the effect of TDI PD engineering, which never fails to maximise any potential. This Turbo-Diesel, Pumpe Duse (high-pressure unit injector) engine produces 81 PS (80bhp) at 4,400rpm and 195Nm of torque, which peaks at 2,200rpm but is evident long before that point.

Skoda Fabia Estate