We're big fans of the Skoda Fabia hatchback. In fact it was our Car of the
Year back in 2014. So this stretched version, the Fabia Estate,
is already starting off on good footing. It's a car with few rivals, the
closest being the Ford Focus, Vauxhall Astra, or the Dacia Logan MCV. Still though, this
Skoda needs to prove itself to be practical and spacious family transport.
In this review will tell you what it's like to drive, how comfortable it is, how
much luggage you can put into it, and ultimately which version you should buy.
And if at the end of this review you're swayed into buying a Skoda Fabia Estate,
then go to our New Car Deals section where we can help save you thousands. But first
of all let's see what this little car is like on the road.
There's six engines to choose from in the Fabia Estate. Our favourite is the mid-range which
is fitted to this car. It's a one-litre three-cylinder and it has 94 brake
horsepower. It might sound like a small engine, but it has enough pulling power
to get you up to speed fairly easily, even with a full boot and
it's really efficient. If you're looking for more power there's
a 109 brake horsepower version of that 1-litre turbocharged engine and it's only
slightly less efficient, and at the other end of the scale there is a 74 brake
horsepower non turbocharged engine but when you get onto roads like this it
really does lack the muscle to keep up with the other cars. If you're doing
enough miles to justify a diesel there's three versions of a 1.4-litre to choose
from. We recommend the 104 brake horsepower
because it has enough pulling power and is very efficient.
The Fabia Estate is surprisingly good to drive with light and precise steering,
and nimble handling, and ride quality is decent enough on all but the most uneven
surfaces. While the interior is well soundproofed regardless of whether
you're driving around town or you're traveling at motorway speeds, you don't
really have road noise coming in. But, what does find its way in is engine
noise, especially if you go for a petrol.
There's plenty of room up front in the Skoda Fabia Estate,
and enough adjustment in the seats and steering wheel so that
you can get comfortable, and although the interior is not as premium a quality as
the Audi A1 or Volkswagen Polo all the switches do feel quite chunky and robust.
It's just this hard scratchy plastic here which is quite unforgiving to the
touch. We'd recommend going for the SE model because you get this 6.5 inch
touchscreen instead of the smaller 5 inch screen that you get on the
entry-level S model. The good news is that Skoda has
borrowed the latest infotainment system from its sister brand, Volkswagen, which
means all versions from SE upwards come with a slick SmartLink Plus system
with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity, which lets you use your
smartphone via the car's touchscreen. As a result you can do without the optional
sat-nav and use your phone system instead.
This is where the Fabia Estate comes into its own. This large bottle of
water fits in the door bin very easily, and it might fit in the glove box, let's
find out. It is quite a decent sized glove box and, yes the water bottle fits
in there! Somewhere for a healthy snack, another healthy
snack, and then I've got two cupholders down there and my phone is currently
plugged into Apple CarPlay. Let's see what the back is like!
Here, there is enough space to fit three adults side-by-side,
but really you’d only want to do that for
short journeys, because with someone in the middle seat as well, it is going to
be a bit squishy. Now if you are traveling ‘five up’ quite frequently it's
worth spending the extra to get a middle headrest because it's a small price to
pay for some whiplash protection.
Boot space is really impressive, you get 530
litres with the seats up, and with the seats down you get a whopping
1395 litres which is really great news if you like going to Ikea.
Plus there’s some really handy storage spaces, there's one here, one here, one up
here, and a 12-volt power supply, just in case you want to charge something in the
boot, or something like that. We would however recommend that you go for the
variable boot floor, because then when you put the seats down you don't get
that really irritating step.
If you're looking for a small practical car and
you're not too fussed about a premium badge, you can't really go wrong with the
Skoda Fabia Estate, and with emissions being so low that's great news for
company car drivers. And, in our latest reliability survey the Fabia shows
itself to be a pretty reliable workhorse. We'd choose the 1.0-litre TSI 95 engine
and team it with SE specification. While entry-level S cars might look tempting
because of their low price, they miss out on much of the equipment that would be
considered normal these days. SE models though, include alloy wheels,
air conditioning, and rear parking sensors. You even get a handy umbrella underneath
the front passenger seat! One thing to think about though is do you actually
need the Estate version? Because the regular Fabia hatchback is just as good
to drive, costs significantly less, and has more boot and passenger space than most
hatchbacks. If you do decide to buy a Skoda Fabia Estate rest assured it's
comfortable, incredibly spacious, and very good value. In fact it could be even
better value, because we might be able to save you thousands if you go to the New
Car Buying section of whatcar.com. While you're there check out the full online
review for this car, including its rivals. But before you go anywhere, never miss
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