Skoda Fabia test drive since 2007 -

Skoda Fabia: Long Test

Family life with a compact hatchback
November 10, 2009
Mileage 2000 km
Average fuel consumption 9.6 liters
Class B hatchback. The first car for a young family, not yet burdened with life and dachas. Or, on the contrary, the second car on which the spouse can go shopping or take the children to school. In a word, for everything that does not require a large trunk, nor a powerful engine, nor patency. What to give preference? There are many criteria. Here and of course! price. And the design to be pleased. And in the cabin to make it comfortable and beautiful. And the head of the family, tired of piloting a dull and practical family minibus, wants the car to go interesting, it is necessary to once enjoy driving.
To understand how Skoda Fabia is suitable for all these roles, we took it for a long test drive. And there is a lot to survive a car in a month.
We got Fabia in a good configuration: a bright interior finish, air conditioning, heating seats, parking sensors ... an engine with a volume of 1.4 liters. For a small machine should be enough, and the consumption promises to be small. Although for the most economical and leisurely there is another three -cylinder engine 1.2.
The gearbox is mechanical. The machine is offered only with the 1.6 engine. By the way, the automatic transmission on Fabia has as much as 6 steps.
I had to spend the first two weeks of dough with Fabia. I will not say that this is love at first sight, but outwardly I like the machine: the ocular body, the bully bend of the rear rack, large crystal-clean eyes-fara. Unisex. And the color of the body is to match the terracotta, bright, juicy kner. Eh, we would rush on this red bun with warm summer evenings around the city. When there are no more traffic jams, and you can easily wave after working for friends after half-Moscow. But no. Autumn in the yard, and the hatchback has been prepared a more responsible mission. Take out the belongings accumulated over the summer and the crop grown from two summer cottages, carry the family on weekends, and on the everyday life of the eternal house-work, where without it. So sports qualities, if they are found, let my colleagues evaluate. And I will try to come from a purely pragmatic point of view.
The cabin is comfortable. The proprietary two -tone upholstery is striking, the dark top of the light bottom. Impractically, of course, almost white seats cause particular concern. And if there are children in the family? .. But the version with a completely gray salon looks much more boring. Not a house on wheels, but a mobile office. I would like to wear a tie and express myself officially. So the price of comfort is one or two unnecessary dry cleaning of the cabin per year. And if you transport the children, be sure to put the apron on the back of the passenger seat so that the boots do not get up the upholstery.
The seats themselves, like all cars of the Volkswagen concern, are hard, well -defiled. You sit down like a glove. But there is one nuance to choose the perfect working pose from the pedals interfere. Very long -term clutch, and besides, is located high as the brake pedal. We have to raise the seat (there is good adjustment). But since the spaces above my head with a margin, I did not rest on the ceiling even in the extreme upper position of the chair, despite my 187 cm of growth.
Everything is in place, everything is convenient. All pens where they should be, all the dials are as it should. You can write a textbook. But, however, it’s boring, as in the same textbook. The Dance proprietary radio system resembles some electronic device from the beginning of the 90s. Convenient control, but a dull font on the screen gives the impression that the designers painted it in unpaid overtime hours. Moreover, the duplicate screen on the dashboard, between the speedometer and the tachometer, on the contrary, is contrasting and convenient.
However, the key to the start and everything changes! The gearbox lever moves so clearly and accurately that this process does not irritate even in traffic jams. By golly, with such a mechanics and a machine gun does not need! Clutch, for nothing that long -term, is also well tuned. Even yesterday's graduate of a driving school does not stall at starting from a traffic light. And overclocking? No, no cannon accelerations, of course. But quantum satis, it is quite enough. And in the stream is not ashamed, and there are enough on the highway. You just need to not be shy to advance. And the sound least expected this from a small machine. He growls seriously, like an adult way! This is not a shrill marsh, it is a fearless York. I catch myself thinking that I am in no hurry to switch up. And food familiar route is much faster than usual, and evening fatigue after work went somewhere. He rides well, cheerfully! And the steering wheel is also a pleasure to twist. The steering wheel itself is okay, the skin is rough, tenacious. And there are no pseudo -sports protrusions under the thumbs.
Here it is, the pleasure of driving. Even if modest, not multi-liter and not neuromotive, just pleasure and joy. And even the rolls and slander of a high body do not irritate. A very folding car. The suspension is tight, it will report on each shovchik in full shape, but without unnecessary sounds, clangs and vibrations. I don’t like only one thing in the city’s movement, but this is not the fault of the car complete ignore from the neighbors in the stream. No, I also do not like increased attention, but I can’t rebuild in my side, as if I were not at all, it is also not worth it. And the color is bright, and there is no high machine, they do not notice, at least crack. It is just right to develop an inferiority complex. Ay, drivers, for what?
However, it's time to go down from heaven to earth, not all the same to drive at night on empty streets. Let's see how practical Fabia is in family life. Of course, there is no need to expect miracles from a short salon, but still you can sit back. The front backs are so formed that there is a place for the knees of the rear passengers. But the conditional five -month salon led to the fact that the extreme places behind are narrowly a problem even to fasten the children's chair, the belt buckle is under it.
And what about the placement of baggage? For front passengers, there are pockets in the doorway with a touching rubber band so that the cards or documents can be pressed. There are cup holders, although they are located far beyond the lever of the checkpoint. There are two glove boxes at once! There is still a small secretary in the armrest. The armrest itself, by the way, is inconvenient. Being lowered, he blocks the handbrake and the cigarette lighter nest, and switching even gears also interferes. It’s good that it can be thrown up.
The trunk (by compact class standards, of course) is very spacious, and if there is not enough space, then you can fold the rear seats. Classic scheme lift the seats, lower the backs to the floor. That's just for this you have to remove the headrests, which greatly slows down the process. Fortunately, they can be stuck in the back of the pillow, they will not hang around the cabin.
Remember from childhood, right? Basket, picture, cardboard and small dog. When I stored near the car everything that I had to take from a summer house to Moscow in order to move my family to winter apartments, I realized that all this would not even fit into my station wagon, which is two sizes more. I had to make an extra leaf, breaking things into two parties. Time spent for two hours, in the plus the pleasure of flying back to the summer cottage. But such global tasks arise infrequently?
Any good experimenter repeats his experiments at least twice to exclude accident. So I decided to make another attempt for the second time Fabia had to take the crop grown over the summer. This time everything turned out. Two people, 12 boxes, a bunch of bags and one huge pumpkin.
So, you can sell your family barn and transplant to a compact hatch, since everything is so good? No, personally I will refrain. For distant travels in it is still crowded. But as the second car in the family just right. And if I really had the need for a car for every day, then I would have paid close attention to Fabia. If you choose a package on the principle without excesses, that is, a couple of pillows, electric windows and air conditioning, then at a price it will be quite comparable with competitors, and pleasure can deliver even more than many of them. That's just the front panel would be more fun.
Text: Leonid Aizikovich
Photo: Vitaly Kabyshev
 
 

 

Source: Auto.mail.ru