Skoda Fabia test drive since 2007 -

Lucky day

It is customary to talk about security systems last, but if it weren’t for them, instead of this article, a short text with one photo, full of praise about me, and not about the new Skoda Fabia could have appeared.
When a person gets into an accident, he begins to painfully think why this happened. Specific reasons, as a rule, are so stupid that they do not explain anything. But why did this happen to you? You involuntarily think about Fatum. You look at the horoscope, even if you do not really believe in all this. And there is a good day. And suddenly you remember that I had recently quarreled with one woman, and she looked at you very badly. In a word, all nonsense climbs into my head.
 
Everything was as always. If something is considered a warning, then only a book that I read on an airplane that carried me to this test to Portugal. Chuck Palanik, Ghosts: Sometimes it begins to seem that we spend the first half of our life in search of some big trouble. However, literature is full of such predictions.
 
Fate? Maybe this is my fate to become an automobile journalist to travel to half the world and die in an accident on the shores of the Atlantic. This could happen. A good day to die, jokes a colleague that came into a break with me, with pleasure inhaling the air sparkling with the sun. Not today, I answer. And mentally add: and not on this car.
Step forward
Fabia Epochial car for Skoda. Having entered the European arena in 1999, Fabia of the first generation made the main thing finally changed the idea of \u200b\u200bSkoda as a certain relic of socialism. This model replaced the unforgettable Felicia, the departure of which was mourned by many. In the economic situation of that time, this departure in the most dramatically affected Skoda sales in Russia. However, the further course of events proved the correct orientation of a civilized European buyer. The first Fabia received many prestigious awards and conquered a decent piece of supermini market in countries such as Germany, Austria and Great Britain. In total, 1.5 million cars were sold. All these years, it was Fabia that was the bestseller of the company, and only in 2006 Octavia reached the first place in terms of sales. Eight years, decent age. It is time for update.
 
The second -generation Fabia, if you look at it in front, spilled by Roomster, which made a noise with its debut last year. But if the highest degree of the original Roomster is composed, as it were, from two parts of a flattened pilot cabin and apartments with a high ceiling and huge windows, then in the case of Fabia, a cabin with a predatory narrowed head -on -glass lamp logically passes into the back of the body with a panoramic window with a window. trunk doors. It turned out a small city plane. It is very difficult to make Supermin so that it does not look funny. The creators of Fabia succeeded.
 
The width and the wheelbase have almost not changed. The new Fabia length stretched for 22 mm, but this happened mainly due to the refinement of the form of the bumper and hood, which now meet the requirements for the protection of pedestrians, which will be introduced only in 2010. Compactness is very important for the city car, and the new Fabia preserved This is a dignity. But in height it grew into noticeable 47 mm. A slightly higher center of gravity is unlikely to affect the controllability of a machine of this class, but as these millimeters affected the impression that Fabia makes from the outside and especially inside!
 
The high and flat top gave the car of solidity and statues, and in the option with a white roof (option), it generally looks amazing, recalling Mini. But the increase in the increase in growth on the salon. Spaces above the head like in a limousine. The former Fabia also did not seem cramped at all, but now you have a complete feeling that you are sitting in a car higher. The increased height not only allowed the creators to declare a record in the segment of the internal volume, but also reasonable to dispose of this volume. The seats of the driver and the front passenger are 30 mm higher, which improved the review and landed and landing more convenient. The volume of the luggage compartment increased to 300 liters, and with folded seats to 1163 liters.
 
But spacious in Fabia is not only overhead. From the doors, the driver's seat separates an impressive distance (which may have saved my leg in an accident). A 1.5-liter water bottle is placed in the pockets of the doors, which does not always happen in much larger cars. Between the seats of the driver and the front passenger of the folding armrest. Surprised by the capacity of a two -story glove compartment, the lower compartment of which is equipped with a cooling system. The space for the legs of the rear passengers is one of the largest in the class. But a new car is intended not only for traditional Fabia buyers who are not inclined to litter money, but also for those who primarily appreciate quality and comfort. Speaking of money. At the time of the presentation about prices, nothing was reported yet, but it is expected that they will not be too different from the prices of the first -generation car. In March, sales will begin in the Czech Republic, Germany, Austria and Switzerland. In April, Russia will come. Fabia should appear earlier than, for example, in the UK. There is something to think about and those who want to emphasize their personality. This is not only a stylish appearance and high -quality finish, but also an amazing variety of incarnations of the new model.
 
Wheel disks alone are offered in seven performances. Three different steering design. Nine options for upholstery. Four configurations. Moreover, even the most modest of them, Classic, in Western European design includes two front and four lateral airbags, ABS, immobilizer, steering wheel with an electro -hydraulic amplifier and adjustment of tilt and removal that captures the pollen filter, an emergency braking system. Add here an expanded list of options, many of which are unique to a car of this class: rotary headlights, a tire pressure control system, telephone control and audio systems on the steering wheel, navigation, automatic cruise control, and a transparent roof.
 
Finally, as many as seven engines are offered: three diesel (1.4 liters, 70 and 80 hp.; 1.9 liters, 105 hp) and four gasoline (1.2 liters, 60 and 70 hp. ; 1.4 liters, 86 hp.; 1.6 l, 105 hp). The most powerful gasoline engine can it is supplied not only with a 5-speed manual transmission, like everyone else, but also with a 6-band automaton with a manual gear function. It is expected that the most popular in Russia will be a gasoline version with a 1.4-liter engine.
 
For each engine, you can order any equipment and any item from the list of options. As for the body types, so far Fabia exists only in the form of a 5-door hatchback. But already in the fall, the station wagon should appear. Nothing is known about the timing of the release of the sedan.
 
But how much differs to the sound and the engines themselves to the touch! Everyone can choose a motor to their taste: from an unusually prominent for their size and the most responsive 1.2-liter gasoline engine in the entire line of a rumbling and a thrown in the entire range of revolutions of a 1.9-liter turbodiesel.
 
But it just so happened that at the wheel of Fabia I happened to experience what they usually talk about in the end, safety. Now I am sure that it is precisely by this aspect that it is worth taking care in the first place. No lateral airbags? The buyer turns around and leaves. In general, the horoscope is not lying. Test such luck for a journalist. Test and be able to tell about it.
Let you be lucky
What does a person experience after the accident? This is a very unpleasant feeling. Because of the scratch on the doors, and then you are upset, and then the car is broken under the write-off. Disassembly with the police also do not cheer up. You are unharmed, with the exception of abrasions on the bridge of the nose and a pair of bruises, although the ringing stands in your head for a long time. First, you are lying in a hotel room for a couple of hours, like a thrown out mannequin for Crash tests. The brain scrolls the video again and again. Then it becomes unbearable, and you go to people. In the lobby, you are encouraged in different languages, offered to drink.
 
You are grateful for the support, but this comforts little. And you go to the ocean. The ocean is huge, and you are small, and all your experiences receive a true measure. They are small. The trouble does not allow us to live the way we dream of living in a continuous running around, says one of the characters in Palanik.
 
I actually do not believe in providence too much and always recall the joke in this regard. A person burned a house in one day, a car was stolen, a wife left him, and he lost his job. A person looks at the horoscope. It says: a good day. And then he says: it’s scary to think, and if the day was unsuccessful?!
 
I recall how the Portuguese policeman (who arrived, by the way, at the Skoda Octavia) was surprised to inspect the dented door and asked: is everything all right with you? Are you sure?
Usually, such things as a hard body, durable doors and the presence of side airbags speak last. Although for small city cars that are not protected by their dimensions and weight, it is safety that acquires paramount importance. It would seem that the mining from the shape of the hood, mitigating the blow when hitting a pedestrian, and it may depend on this whether you will become a killer or not. I was really lucky that I was driving Fabia on this day with a durable body and side pillows, which are included in the basic package (and I hope they will also enter in Russia). With such a machine you can believe that any day will be successful.
Technical characteristics of Skoda Fabia 1.4
Dimensions, mm 3992x1642x1498
Equipped mass, kg 1060
Benzine engine type L4
Working volume, cubic meter. cm 1390
Max. Power, L.S./rpm 86/5000
Max. moment, nm/rpm 132/3800
Mechanical transmission 5-speed
Max. Speed, km/h 174
Front drive
Acceleration time 0-100 km, with 12.3
Fuel consumption (average), l/100 km 6.5

 
Leonid Sitnik
Photo by the author and the manufacturer
 

Source: Avtopanorama magazine