Skoda Fabia 1.4 TDI Elegance: Road Test

There are more award ceremonies that celebrate excellence in automobiles in this country than you can recollect from the top of your head. And yet, it's a pity that none of them have a trophy that they give out to the most awaited car of the year, 'cause if there was one, the Skoda Fabia would probably be one of the leading contenders for 2008! Yes, it's finally here! The car that we all speculated way back would hit Indian roads is there for everyone to experience, test drive, put your money down and drive home in from Skoda dealerships around the country. Like most things then, this car should definitely have been worth the wait, especially after more than a handful automotive journalists had already taken the pains to sample the car on foreign shores as a precedent to its arrival in India.

Another big hatch!

All you Getz', Swifts, Fusions and Palios now have more company in the form of the Fabia. But don't make the mistake of undermining the Fabia as mere competition to the existing big hatches. The Czechs are on to something big here. Skoda may not have been a luxury marque all over the rest of the world, but when they steamrolled into India with the Octavia and later with the Laura and Superb, they certainly made sure they grabbed that niche here. Any Skoda is looked at with the same amount of respect or even more as any of its Japanese competition. Seems like the Volkswagen effect on the company's products has done them a world of good. Quality levels are way high and the cars perform enticingly well too. Their diesel engines even have mileage figures that'd make a Maruti proud. The Fabia, quite obviously comes loaded with all that legendary Skoda richness and much more, but commands a premium over the rest of the pecking order. Question is, is that premium well and truly justified? At first glance, your mind will be filled with both positives and negatives - mixed reactions, if you may, that'll have you confused like never before. It's when you've spent enough time with the car though, that you start to see beyond the bright light luminating off the halo over the Skoda badge on the grille and things fall in perspective.

Did you see that? Did I see what?

If there ever was a car with stealth capability, the Skoda Fabia has to be it. Unless you're a really keen hawk-eyed enthusiast, there could be a parade of Fabias passing right in front of your eyes and you wouldn't notice. The overall design of the Fabia can probably be summed up in one word - understated. That's not the same as ugly, mind you. The car actually looks cute - nice amount of mass all round, with chunky bits here and there. But there's really nothing on the Fabia's skin that makes it stand out. The front end is Koala bear cute with a big stubby grille - all chrome on the Elegance model that we tested. Flanking the vertically slatted grille are two big headlamps that wrap around the corners - more curvy and definitely a huge departure from the rest of the existing Skoda family. While it is the right step forward design-wise, ironically it may also be one of the contributing factors that make the Fabia so camouflaged.

Sharp creases on the bonnet do tend to give the Fabia a mean look along with the central kink running all the way from the circular motif on the front grille to the windscreen. The front is completed with a large air dam (with vertical slats) flanked by two smaller ones that also house the foglamps on their farthest corners.

That profile looks familiar, doesn't it?

Blame it on recent design trends, but most big hatches these days have a standard turn out for the glass house. Rakish front windscreen with matt black surrounds for the glass that culminates into a thick C-pillar seem to be the mantra for most cars like the Mini, Swift and now, even the Fabia. Mark that as another cause for the understatedness. The Fabia has a very muscular waistline with a crease running all the way from front to back. Wheel arches are slightly flared with a black rubber strip along the length. The rear is as plain Jane as the front with a tail light cluster that is similar in form to the units up front.

The Fabia is available in three trim levels with both petrol and diesel engines - the Classic, Ambiente and the Elegance. Subtle differences in equipment levels such as the alloy wheels, projector lamps and body coloured door handles distinctly differentiate between the three trims apart from the badges. But they still don't give the Fabia any kind of street presence whatsoever. Buyers will get the option of choosing from six available colours for the Fabia, but surprisingly, the brilliant orange that does rounds in the television commercial is not being offered. Irony again, ‘cause we think that brighter colours like those should help make the Fabia stand out among the competition. Could this be the price the Fabia has had to pay for holding on to a more premium image rather than a youthful one?

Powertrain

Skoda offers the Fabia with no less than seven engine options in Europe. Three of those have made their way to India though and while we've tested the 1.4 litre diesel engined Fabia Elegance, the car can also be bought with a 1.2 and a 1.4 litre petrol unit in the bay. The Classic variant is available only with the diesel engine. The diesel engine available in the Fabia is a three-cylinder unit with an overall cubic capacity of 1422cc. The transverse-mounted TDI engine is fed via Bosch's Pumpe Duse technology (German for Pump Injector) that involves direct injection of fuel into individual cylinders under high pressure. Cylinder dimensions offer a 79.5mm bore and a long 95.5mm stroke that aids in increased torque output from the triple pot as well as helps curb major vibrations. The TDI diesel motor mated to a 5-speed manual gearbox churns out 69PS of power at 4000rpm. Torque figures stand at 155Nm and peak pulling power is available between the 1600 and 2800rpm mark. If the power and torque figures seem a little lowly for a 1422cc engine, it's because of the basic cylinder architecture. Each cylinder breathes through two valves actuated by a single overhead camshaft.

While the three-pot motor doesn't really vibrate excessively, there's a whole lot of diesel chatter, especially outside the cabin. A meaty roar is all that seeps into the cabin though - more of that later.

What about the gasoline engines?

Petrol lovers will get the option of a 1198cc inline three-cylinder engine and a 1390cc inline four. The smaller 1.2 litre engine is clearly to take advantage of the reduced excise duties that came into effect in the beginning of 2007 which saw quite a few manufacturers offer their small cars with even smaller engines like the Indica and the Getz. The tiny gas burner makes the same power as its diesel counterpart but the 69PS now peaks at a higher 5400rpm. Torque is comparatively low at 112Nm @ 3000rpm. Cylinder dimensions remain over-square at 76.5mm x 86.9mm.

The bigger 1390cc petrol mill makes use of an extra cylinder with the four pots churning out an impressive 85PS @ 5000rpm. Torque figures are impressive as well at 132Nm @ 3800rpm. Both petrol motors employ double overhead camshafts to actuate the four valves in each of their cylinders. The biggest difference though, is in the stroke length. Under-square dimensions on the 1.4 litre petrol with a stroke of just 75.6mm along with an extra cylinder to achieve more balance in the power delivery will translate into completely different characteristics than the 1.2 litre gasoline burner. We've driven the diesel engined Fabia Elegance for now, so we'll subject the petrol engines to a full-fledged test sometime later.

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Chassis & Suspension

The Fabia has a typical front wheel drive layout with a transverse-mounted motor in the engine bay. Skoda prides itself over its car's safety ratings and the Fabia is no different. Throughout the three trims that the Fabia is available in, there has been absolutely no compromise in safety with even the cheapest trim coming equipped with both driver and passenger airbags for the front seats. Add to that other safety features such as shear bolts on the engine mounts and side impact beams that minimize cabin intrusion in the event of a collision and the Fabia is well and truly a safe vehicle.

Suspension setup is the de rigueur McPherson strut type with lower triangular links and also features torsion stabilizers to keep things horizontal during cornering as well as to iron out most bumps that Indian roads throw at the car. The engineers at Skoda have done a great job in tuning the suspension though, and one drive in the Fabia will prove that a perfect balance between handling and good ride quality is definitely an achievable target. The Fabia comes with good stopping power as well. While ventilated discs do duty up front, a set of drum brakes take care of the rear wheels.

Performance

Before we move on to the test figures, I'd like to get something off my chest. There is absolutely nothing that the Fabia's 1.4 litre diesel has to offer below the 1700rpm mark. It is annoyingly slow till the time the tacho needle touches that rpm and the car makes you want to whip its bottom to make it go faster. Once you're beyond that figure though, this is an amazing piece of machinery to drive! The tiny turbo kicks in at around 1800rpm and then there's just no looking back. The car revs cleanly to its 4500 redline and delivers oodles of torque all the way. In fact, in first and second gears, the transition from 1800rpm to the redline is so fast that you wouldn't know what hit you! Keep that tachometer needle hovering close to the 2000rpm mark and above and you'll enjoy driving this car so much that you wouldn't ever want to step out.

And then there's this very meaty induction roar emanating from the engine bay that sort of confuses you. It sounds like you're driving a big block American hemi from the 70s and in the beginning it makes you keep accelerating just for the heck of listening to that sweet sound. After a while though, it becomes a tad irritating to keep hearing it over and over again, especially since you're not exactly moving like a Camaro. Prolonged exposure to the howl will however, result in you getting used to it and enjoying it every time you do notice that its there. See what I mean when I say it confuses you?

Let's talk numbers then, shall we?

Remember the big-block American muscle type induction roar we just spoke about? Well, the Fabia TDI will try its best to accelerate hard from a stand still but manages to get to 100 km/h in all of 16.49 seconds. That sprint time thus makes this baby Skoda faster than only the Ford Fusion TDCi. The Swift DDiS and the Getz Prime CRDi will be miles ahead in an outright drag. The quarter mile will come up in 20.27s with a terminal speed of 109.19 km/h. Top speed isn't much either at 163.8 km/h, considering that cars with smaller engines are doing more-or-less the same figures. All of the above can be clearly attributed to the three-cylinder engine and two valves per cylinder SOHC layout. We would have preferred if Skoda dropped in a proper four-pot motor with peppier power delivery in that bay - now that would do justice to the awesome handling package that the Fabia provides.

Brakes are great too - positive and returning just the right amount of feedback at any speed. The Fabia came to a halt within 51 metres and 3.32 seconds from a speed of 100 km/h. Fuel efficiency was again, marred by the reduced power-to-weight ratio because of the three cylinder engine. The car returned an overall figure of just 12.40 kmpl - 11.73 kmpl in the city and 14.75 kmpl on the highway

Dynamic Ability

If the performance is really nothing much to write home about, the dynamic capabilities of the Fabia are at the extreme opposite pole! This car is one of the best handlers in the segment, Aided by a taut chassis setup and a perfectly tuned suspension that offers the best in both ride quality and handling, the Fabia will behave exactly the way you want it to. Dial in small amounts from the steering wheel and you'll be amazed by it's preciseness as it converts into direction changes on the road. Steering feedback is great as well and all of this is helped no less by the uncompromising tyre choice Skoda has made. Even under the highest amounts of pressure as you turn the Fabia in fiercely to take the current corner and line up for the next one, the 185/60 R14 Matador Elite tyres will not let out so much as a squeal and will stay perfectly glued to the tarmac urging your confidence into making you push the car all the way to edge of your driving capabilities. In the lower gears, there's just a bit of a hint of torque steer though, as you turn in and floor the throttle all the way to the redline.

The Fabia's ability to iron out some of the biggest craters on Mumbai's roads was noteworthy. If there's one thing that the boffins at Skoda have mastered, it's the art of tuning suspension bits for India. To have achieved a package that not only handles well but also cushions its passengers from the most extreme road conditions on offer is a great feat. The car remains planted and stable at close to terminal velocity as well as under hard braking. It's details like these that somewhat take your attention off the lack of performance from the Fabia and make you revel in the sweet overall package that the car is.

Living with it

We tested the top-of-the-line Skoda Fabia TDI Elegance and that is a car that comes loaded with every pamper-gadget on offer in cars today. Power-everything included electrically adjustable wing mirrors, a decent sounding console-mounted music system, central locking, and even an electrically operated sunroof! The driver's seat is comfortable and is adjustable for height as well. The central armrest though interferes with gear changes and we preferred driving around with it retracted. Steering wheel is nice to grip but could have been a tad smaller in diameter to compliment that great handling package. The cabin is turned out in a classy beige tint with the upper portion of the dashboard in black. Glove compartment is divided into two and storage space seems a bit cramped.

The Fabia isn't really all that wide and seating three adults in the back seat can be a bit of a squeeze. Rear seat comfort for two though, is top notch and the baby Skoda's cabin is definitely one of the most luxurious for any car in India without a boot. The superior build quality makes itself evident all throughout the interior with the quality of plastics and fabric being carefully chosen. We were quite impressed by the smoothness of the inertia ring in the seat belt unit - we kept tugging and letting go of the belt just to feel it wind and unwind so very smoothly while doing so. All three passengers on the rear bench, by the way, get mandatory three point seat belts instead of the hip-only belt available in most cars for the middle passenger. Boot space is quite adequate as well, for a car of this size.

Verdict

So the Skoda Fabia is an impressive car indeed. Prices for the 1.4 TDI start at Rs 6.35 lakh (OTR Maharashtra) for the Classic and go all the way up to Rs 7.68 lakh for the fully loaded Elegance trim. Now that's a lot of money to pay for a hatchback. But then again, this car's no ordinary car. It's a Skoda. Great handling and features that'll pamper you come standard along with the assurance of sturdy build quality and safety. The engine is smooth and all, but a tad noisy. It doesn't give you the kind of performance or fuel efficiency you'd expect though. And if that wasn't enough, the car has little or no street presence whatsoever.

If you're the kinds for who brand image is above everything else and wants more pampering than the feeling of being pushed back in your seats as you accelerate hard from a stoplight,and you have around Rs 7.5 lakh that you're not going to be doing much else with, then the Fabia 1.4 TDI is the car for you. If however, you value performance over anything else, wait till we've tested-the petrol Fabias, or look elsewhere!