the very first review of the skoda fabia!!

Looks like the Fabia is not priced rightly. Agreed that it has all the highend features of a super hatch. But then in India a hatch is still a hatch and not a sedan. Got my point ?
Remember the SR-V a super hatch but horribly priced. And no wonder that I see only one or two SR-V's in a year or so.
I dont say that Fabia would do that badly, because people have been eagerly waiting for it to hit the indian roads. But I still feel that the pricing is not quite right and although the diesel version may do decent showing. I am seriously concerned how the petrol version does.

Ground clearance does matter. With the kind of monsoon we have, a car has to wade through water. Polluted water entering through doors is the last thing one would wish to have.

I finally made it to the Autograph Andheri showroom today for a test drive - they had a Classic Diesel model - and have the following observations. 

• Superb car, feels luxurious inside, very spacious inside and in the boot
• Boot has "high lip" - a design stupidity affecting many cars these days, which makes it difficult placing large suitcases inside and results in feeling of smaller boot space.
  
• We are not a diesel family - so when the car was stationary and at low speeds, you can notice the "put-putting" and slight vibration that goes with diesels.  At higher speeds, this doesnt become noticable
• The diesel engine is superbly responsive and accelerates fantastically - better than you might find even in petrols. 
  
• The petrol engine will be even more peppy and faster - will be a real quiet, performance, luxury hatchback.
  
• Diesel models have special filters which apparantly mean even if you leave the fabia without running for a couple of weeks you wont have trouble, and this also means you dont necessarily need to drive 50 kms/day to get the best returns out of this car - but the diesel is 80k more expensive than the petrol.   I have yet to technically verify this claim.
  
• Inside the car gadgets and cubbyholes are all very good
• Since this was the classic model, we could not adjust the seat height position.   In this model we found that we couldnt see the front lip of the car bonnet - in the ambient and elegance models the car seat height is adjustable, so this would help having a higher sitting position
• Skoda is out of production capacity until its new production line at Aurangabad comes online n March.  So they are only able to produce 21 cars per month according to the dealer.
• The dealer is not even confirming delivery period for the available models immediately, will "get back to you".
• Dealers have bought the early cars themselves, customizing them and selling it for 1-1.5 lacs on top of the ex-showroom prices - off the shelf - and these are being gobbled up by the noveau-rich - we saw 2 being sold today
• Other petrol variants will be available only after March - currently only Elegance model is quoted in Petrol
• Ground clearance issue - the spec says _minimum" ground clearance is 146 mm - and this is in the FRONT, not between the wheels - here the clearance is a more normal 160 mm or so.  The chassis is at normal height, but the way the bonnet and the bumper is designed - results in 'low minimum clearance" - so this is really not an issue. 
  
• If one wants even more clearance, can go for 15 inch alloy wheels, standard is 14 inch.
  

So while overall this is a fantastic car - indias only premium luxury hatchback, you will have delivery problems until March when things will start smoothening out.  

Nice review Surya.

Ground clearance should be considered along with the distance between the front & rear wheels, and also the structure of the car.  It is not advisable to increase the wheel size / ground clearance, as it would affect the ride quality & the suspensions.

For our roads, a minimum ground clearance of 160/165 is required.  Cars with less ground clearance are basically for highway use.

fantastic review ganesh. one little question.

would you recommend the fabia to any friend??

I am buying it myself when the Petrol Ambiente model will be available in March, so yes - highly recommended.    I dont need the high tech features of the Petrol Elegance model.

If you are OK with diesel and have enough running, then the diesel Fabia is even better than the Petrol versions, so you can go for it now.

no idea, ganesh. we dont drive much so i think petrol is a better option. but then diesel, which is more espensive, is chaper in the long run.

letsee. ill go for a test-drive first.

In my opinion/calculation, if you drive 700/800 kms per month & keep the car for 3 years, diesel is more economical - else petrol should be preferred.  Normally, the average holding of a car is more than 5 years (not sold before that).

How do you calculate that?  Lets say that you drive the car for 12000 kms per year.

Assume a petrol price of 50 Rs. and assume Diesel at 35 Rs, difference of Rs. 15 per litre. 

Assume that the fuel efficiency of Petrol and Diesel engine is same (both 1.4 liter engines) = say worst case = 12 kmpl each.   The better the fuel efficiency, the less the saving due to diesel v/s petrol mind you.

This means this will need 1000 litres of petrol or diesel per year.  This means a saving of Rs. 15000 per year only, or Rs. 45000 per for 3 years, Rs. 75000 for 5 years.

Even the difference between Skoda Petrol and Diesel is 80K rupees, not mentioning that the maintenance costs with diesel will be 50% more than the petrol over 5 years. 

So really the diesel is not worthwhile, unless you drive at least 25000 kms per year.