Space is a piece of cake for the new Skoda Fabia Estate
Skoda Fabia Estate - actually made of steel, aluminium and plastic
Author: David Miles
Published: 11 March 2008
Skoda label themselves as the ‘Manufacturer of Happy Drivers’. You can be sure that if in- car space at a budget price makes new car customers happy then the new Fabia Estate is the icing on their well-publicised cake.
Skoda in the UK has built up a loyal following of buyers and their consistent high placing in various customer service ratings proves buyers are happy with the brand.
Sales already this year in the UK show a 4.15 per cent increase over the first two months of 2007 according to official figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders. This goes against the national trend which has seen the UK new car market fall by 3.13 per cent this year.
Launched in February 2008 prices for the Fabia Estate range start at just £9,360 for the 1.2 HTP petrol Estate 1. With a choice of three petrol and three diesel engines and three specification levels, simply called 1, 2 and 3, prices do rise to £13,775 for the top of the range 1.9 TDi diesel version with the 3 level of specification.
Hot off the press is news that Skoda is introducing Greenline versions of the Fabia Hatch and Estate. Following the Volkswagen parent company’s lead with their BlueMotion low-CO2 models, Greenline is Skoda’s answer.
Using a 1.4 TDi diesel engine, Greenline Hatch prices start at £11,490 and the Estates at £12,140. Emissions are 109g/km - making them exempt from the London Congestion Charge - and road tax is just £35 a year. Average fuel economy is claimed to be nearly 69mpg.
The Estate is based on Skoda’s award winning Fabia Hatch launched in May 2007 and it sells along in the very competitive ‘supermini’ estate and medium-sized hatchback sectors where the main hatch/estate competitors are the Ford Focus, Vauxhall Astra, Citroen C4, Kia Cee’d, Hyundai i30, and Peugeot 207.
At 4,239mm in length the new Fabia Estate is right in the middle of this grouping as far as overall length goes but it is almost at the top of the sector when maximum load carrying space is compared with 1,460-litres. However the new Ford Focus Estate offers considerably more load space at 1,520-litres, but then it is more expensive vehicle.
With the Fabia Estate we are talking cheap motoring, well as cheap as it can be with high fuel prices, with load-carrying space to meet the needs of people who want a practical and affordable estate car whether it is for family or business use, or both.
Compared to the previous Fabia Estate the new model is just 7mm longer but the boot space has increased by 235-litres and for rear seat passengers there is 42mm for headroom. With all the seats in use there are still 480-litres of luggage space.
These figures, plus extra legroom front and rear and greater refinement, offer better value for money so it is clever packaging to meet the needs of today’s financially hard-pressed motorists.
Its predecessor, launched in 2001, attracted 630,000 customers worldwide of which 31,000 were in the UK. With the growing demand for medium sized estate cars, as customers move from commonplace five-door hatchbacks, the arrival of the latest Fabia Estate is timely.
Skoda UK say they expect to sell around 3,800 Fabia Estates in the UK this year and the best selling model is likely to be the 1.9 TDi, 105bhp diesel variant. The 1.4 TDi 80bhp diesel version will also sell well as will the bargain price 1.2-litre, 70bhp petrol.
Overall Skoda think that 60 per cent of sales will be for diesel models but 70 per cent of sales will be retail buyers.
Skoda employs test-driving services of helmeted-bloke called Carlos Sainz, as all-new Fabia Super 2000 is given some WRC-labelled beans around Volkswagen’s proving ground ahead of hot, hot hatch's sign off.
Skoda has won a Gold Award for its Fabia Cake advert, while Volkswagen wins runner-up award for Golf Night Driving advert and cinema ads.
The new Skoda Fabia Estate offers good interior space and is reasonably priced, but styling, equipment and handling are below par.
The new green variant of the Fabia - the Skoda Fabia GreenLine - is available to order now, boosting fuel economy, cutting emissions and saving cash.
Racing-bred new Skoda Fabia Super 2000 - this is a car not full of lovely stuff.
advertisement
2008 Goodwood Festival of Speed is the best excuse yet to see new Nissan GT-R, Ariel Atom 500 V8, Mazda Furai, Tesla Roadster and Toyota Aygo up close in UK, fortnight before British Motor Show. | 04/07/2008
Top Gear presenters James May and Richard Hammond will be out of contract by the end of July - following the end of the current series - after refusing new contracts. | 04/07/2008
Toyota head for British Motor Show with convoy that includes all-new iQ city car, Urban Cruiser mini-SUV RAV4 descendant, earnest Hilux Invincible 200 pick-up and steroid-munching Aygo Crazy supermini. | 04/07/2008
All-new Nissan Qashqai+2 and revamped Murano SUV Crossovers, Denki Cube electric box car, celebratory Micra 25 supermini genre-setter and jaw-droppingly urgent GT-R supercar line up at British Motor Show. | 04/07/2008
New Lexus LF-A Concept supercar takes centre stage at British Motor Show, surrounded by Lexus IS F super saloon brother in arms, as hybrid-evolved performers GS 450h, RX 400h and LS 600h pipe up too. | 04/07/2008
|02/07/2008
British Grand Prix set to be gate-crashed by Dark Knight Batmobile and Bat-Pod, as Silverstone braces itself for a Hollywood style shoot-out between Toyota TF108 and Batmobile. Whoaa!
|02/07/2008
New Range Rover variants aimed very much at new money - a new exclusive Overfinch collection from £60K.
|02/07/2008
New 2009 Range Rover Autobiography luxury 4X4 flagship model will break cover at British International Motor Show, and take its place as the heir apparent to crown the new line up.
|02/07/2008
£305k Rolls Royce Phantom Drophead Coupe handed over to Pininfarina by wealthy – yet unnamed – car buyer, to pimp in a decidedly 1930s styley.
|02/07/2008
SEAT will debut the new SportCoupé at the British International Motor Show (BIMS) in July and goes on sale 16 July.
|20/11/2007
Around 400 people a day risk damaging their car by misfuelling, and filling up with gas is a mistake that could cost thousands. So what do you do if you´ve filled up your diesel car with unleaded petrol?
|06/12/2007
Fuel protests similar to those that brought the UK to a halt in 2000 are being planned by a breakaway group of disaffected hauliers, according to press reports.
|28/03/2008
Volkswagen has been forced to issue a statement on the Polo singing dog advert after complaints that the dog was mistreated. VW says the animal was not harmed.
|16/10/2007
Top Gear in hot water again over smoking ban breach after Clarkson and May spark up Porsche ´911´ pipes.
|10/01/2008
The People´s car, the one-Lakh car, the cheapest car in the world, an environmental disaster or a seismic shift in the industry. Call it what you will, its manufacturer calls it the Tata Nano, and it costs less than £1,300.
Search Motortorque:
No readers comments
Be the first to write a comment on this article