Skoda Fabia II — heir to success

There comes a moment in every bestseller's life when, instead of a new promotion in the manufacturer's price list, it receives the blessing of the chairman of the board and rolls off the assembly line. In addition, every bestseller has its successor, usually adding nothing new and costing twice as much. How is the second generation Fabia doing?

It's funny, but criticized for its dreamy "expressiveness", an ugly interior and an unsightly rear end in a sedan, the Fabia I won the hearts of invincible Poles, got confused in the city car segment and finally grew old. So it was time for a successor, and not just any successor - he had to stay in shape. The manufacturer got down to business, surprisingly took the attention of users to the heart and created a car that is practical, like its predecessor, and quite stylish. The dreaming "expression" replaced the warmly received front from the Roomster, the ugly rear of the sedan and completely threw it out of the offer, and the interior - well. Here the people of Volkswagen will be bored for a long time without “balls”.

The console is also taken from Roomster, which means it is genderless and almost perfect in terms of ergonomics. Otherwise, it cannot be said that it is ugly - rather correct. The market is worth looking for Fabia with the original 2DIN radio, which fits perfectly into the cockpit and fills the hole that scares away most copies. It's true that many users think of it as a pen and napkin shelf, but don't worry, the Fabia II has plenty of compartments. Starting with regular ones on all doors, backs and the central tunnel, ending with a more tricky one under the right front seat. In addition, his passenger also has not one, but two compartments in the console in front of him. No matter how good it is, the top one is not closed in all versions and asks to put something expensive on it, go home for a nap, and be surprised in the morning. The materials fit well, even look interesting, but one has only to touch them to twitch - they are hard as a wall in physical education. Even more striking is the fact that in the predecessor, the console was covered with patches of strange plastic of unknown origin, the quality of which was at least higher. It is the same with carpets on the floor - this material tends to accumulate everything that falls on it, so it is difficult to clean it. A nice, relatively legible retro-style watch and a few silvery accessories are the only stylist madness you can count on in this car, but the richer versions also have a flashy trim on the lower cockpit that brings a lot. freshness. In turn, the rear is really interesting, because the amount of space is surprising. Due to the fact that the passengers sit slightly from the vertical, there is a lot of legroom on the sofa. In addition, the roof is flat, like the face of Dariusz Michalczewski, and there is also a slight sag overhead. The trunk, as in the first generation, can be opened from the outside with a button that automatically locks while driving. The capacity of the trunk in the hatchback is 300 liters, and after folding the backs of the sofa, the floor, unfortunately, is not perfectly flat. Well, you can't have it all, but in return, the whole space is easy to organize and you can outfit it with a variety of accessories, from nets to keep your purchases in the corners, to pockets for small items.

Few people will treat this car as a car "with a claw", but the topic of driving should not be omitted. Moreover, Fabia II has nothing to be ashamed of. The suspension is firm but stiffer than its predecessor, and the steering is direct and pleasant enough for the driver. Thankfully, it doesn't act like it came from a "psychiatrist" - it reacts quickly but calmly and, coupled with some suspension, it's a pleasure to drive this car around corners. And during a leisurely trip in a straight line? It is also nice on a flat road, but there are not so many of them - most of the holes and bumps, unfortunately, are clearly felt.

When choosing an engine, two categories of interests are usually distinguished - for the crazy and for the reasonable. In the first one, you can accelerate up to a hundred faster than the children who ran from the kindergarten building to the playground, and in the second, you can move culturally, but lively. This problem has been fixed in the Fabia II, since the last category is not included in it - here it is also worth recommending the most powerful units to everyone, because the car is quite heavy and some power is required for a pleasant ride. Among petrol engines, the 1.6L is the best choice, and among diesels, the 1.9L TDI. Both are 105 km, lively and relatively economical. Oh, and unfortunately quite expensive, so they're not the ones that dominate the sales charts. There are a lot of cheaper and weaker units. Base "gasoline" 1.2l 60 or 70 km. In practice, the difference in power between them is not particularly noticeable, both will do just fine in the city. Overtaking, sharp accelerations, high speeds - this is not such a fairy tale. In such cases, they have to be killed with the “gas” pedal, and the effects are so-so - they are simply designed for agglomeration and quiet drivers, which is why they should be chosen by such people. Well, perhaps trading companies, because 1.2L is cheap to buy, although "traders" who swallow huge kilometers are unlikely to be delighted with it. 1.4l 85km is surprisingly not as good as it might seem, so you might even think it's better to save money and just go for 70ls 1.2l or rinse at 1.6l. Among diesels, in addition to 1.9TDI, there is also a small 1.4TDI with 70 and 80KM. It has 3 cylinders, it works quite specific and relatively loud, but especially more powerful, not only does it drive quite decently for such low power, it also burns a little. Savers will like it, but the purchase will pay off after a long run.

The Fabia II is actually the successor to the bestseller and kind of proves the rule - its dealership prices jumped as usual, but it brought something new - style. The look itself and accessories such as the white roof meant that the flagship versions of this car were compared to the Mini. And what? They were losing. Fabia is not a stylish life car, which, like the Mini, should attract the opposite sex to the club - for some reason, many journalists fell for this. This car is still supposed to be a cheap and practical car, and you can tweak the accessories so you can actually enjoy it all – well, who said the side effects always have to be negative?

This article was created thanks to the courtesy of TopCar, who provided a car from the current offer for a test and photo session.

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