A smart guy
Those who are small often have to prove themselves and show what they are made of. Like the Skoda Fabia, which you pretty much love after a more intensive get-to-know-you phase.
Skoda's small car model Fabia has always been a car of reason. It is still practical and pragmatic today, but at the same time, the Czech, which is well balanced in all its features, offers in its most recent stage of development some pampering details that are by no means self-evident in its class. If you get to know them in practice, you might be inclined to prefer the small compact car, which is four meters long, to larger competitors.
The Skoda Fabia is not an emotional type, but one that can convince in many ways 
At four meters in length, the Fabia is still compact for a small car 
Its sharp edges in sheet metal give the Skoda Fabia a certain charm
The designers of the Fabia continue to reject the lifestyle moods that are currently popular with many car manufacturers and the increasingly aggressive styling. His sharp-edged sheet dress looks not sleek, but fine. Especially if, as in our case, chic rims and LED headlights give something extra prestige. The modern lights not only provide good visibility in the dark, but sometimes even on the left highway lane even for free travel, because not a few suspect behind the bright light cones a fast approaching representative of the business class.
The little Czech is of course far from this in terms of space. Unlike the group brothers Ibiza and Polo, the Fabia is on a small car platform with a shorter wheelbase, and there are no space wonders. But in everyday life, you can get by with moderate legroom and a 330-liter trunk that can be expanded to 1.150 liters. In any case, it is worth praising the wide-opening entrance doors, the large headroom and good all-round visibility.
Although soft surfaces are extremely scarce even in our classy test car, the hard plastic landscape leaves a visibly high-quality impression. The touch-screen of the infotainment, which has grown on the 2018 inch touchscreen, also looks good on the facelift launched with the 6,5. The online networked system can work a lot and works well too. The smartphone is connected quickly, the route is entered for navigation via voice command and calculated taking into account current traffic information.
Propulsion is the responsibility of a 81 kW / 110 PS strong 1,0-liter three-cylinder in combination with long-ratio six-speed manual transmission. At low speeds, the slightly grumpy three-cylinder seems a bit restrained, but the engine is revved, drives the 1,1-Tonner sparkling. The sprint from a standstill to Tempo 100 can be completed in less than 10 seconds, with a maximum of almost 200 km / h in it. Since you can keep up with the larger on the highway. Anyone who wants that, however, must count on consumption beyond seven liters. In normal driving, it is practically six liters, who exercises in particular restraint, can still save a few tenths of a liter. Despite direct injection and a well-functioning automatic start-stop system, the 4,6 test-bench liters are more of a theory.
With 330 up to 1.150 liters, the trunk offers enough space 
The hard plastic landscape makes a very valuable impression 
A highly recommended all-rounder is the Amundsen infotainment system
In practice fully convincing the chassis. The Fabia gives even at high speeds a safe and rich driving experience. Brav and with good feedback steering commands are implemented. In the city it makes quite a mood, sweeping with more courage around corners. Despite the binding nature of the substructure gives in most situations a comfortable driving experience.
Likewise the Fabia prepares joy with his helpers, in particular with the Abstandstempomat. This can, if you have rehearsed the various functions of the additionally mounted steering column lever, easy to operate and adjust to relieve the driver on long distances. Remarkably sensitively, calmly and with fast reaction time he regulates the distances to the front man. This ensures safety, especially if the driver can not leave occasional glances on the smartphone. Collision avoidors, parking beeper, reversing camera, high beam and lane change assistant and cross traffic detectors round off the assistance program.
The catch on the matter: All the splendor calls for high investment readiness. Even with the base price of almost 14.000 Euro, the small car moves slightly above the bargain league. If the Fabia then still properly offer performance and extras, you can quickly get over 20.000 Euro, in the case of the spacious estate version, it can even be more than 25.000 Euro. Even a reasonable small car can be expensive today. So expensive that you are not only in terms of equipment, but also financially on the level of higher classes moves.
Mario Hommen / SP-X
Skoda Fabia 1.0 TFSI - Specifications:
Five-door, five-seat compact car with front-wheel drive, length: 4,00 meter, width: 1,73 meter, height: 1,47 meter, wheelbase: 2,47 meter, trunk volume: 330 to 1.150 liter
1,0-liter three-cylinder turbo gasoline engine, 81 kW / 110 PS, maximum torque: 200 Nm at 2.000-3.500 rpm, 0-100 km / h: 9,6 s, Vmax: 195 km / h, average consumption: 4,6 l / 100 km, CO2 emissions: 105 g / km, emission standard: Euro 6d-temp, efficiency class: B, test consumption: 6,5 l / 100 km
Price: from € 17.790
Brief description:
Why: attractive combination of efficiency, modern technology and compact external dimensions
Why not: because the space inside is not very lush
What else: VW Polo, Opel Corsa, Seat Ibiza, Ford Fiesta, Peugeot 208, Hyundai i20, Kia Rio