Skoda Fabia - Fab(ia)ulous!

Pumpe-Düse, that’s what the engine shouts about, and when I say shouts, it really does. Dammit, either it was noisy or my ears were dancing on the hood. The latter, I am certain, was not the case. And this was not the only vexing event. The 1422cc TDI engine says that it sends 69 horses when the motor is spinning at the rate of 4000rpm. Good, I like. But whatever happened to the torque? The Czech auto-maker will say that 155Nm of torque is sent between 1600 and 2800 revs, which it definitely does not feel like. Consider this; you are trundling about quietly and comfortably in a city like Mumbai where you are, in all certainty, going to get stuck in choc-o-bloc traffic. The use of lower gears is called for and the car is rarely going to see itself crossing a 30 odd on the speedo. You slot the gear in second when doing a 10-15kmph and expect the car to give you a linear surge of power whenever the foot digs deeper into the carpet. What you get instead is a perpetual wait for the mill to pick up speed. The turbo lag is awfully evident and the response is hilariously dire at low speeds.

But the scenario changes soon after, and how! Once past 2000rpm, the progress is rapid and you actually do experience the surge you were expecting earlier. The engine transforms its behaviour completely and becomes eager to churn out all that power in an enraged comportment. It likes to take a beating and gets vocal about it being whipped hard. As its holler gets louder, so does its performance. The damn thing just keeps on going all the way to a top whack of over 160 while demolishing the sprint to 100kmph in 14.1 seconds. At this point, the frown of disappointment gets transformed into a grin of satisfaction, and what helps is the gearshift. Precise, slick and short throws make the gearbox a delight to operate and, it feels, the gear-lever is designed by God himself. It fits perfectly in your hand and exudes a good, positive feel. The steering too is accurate, but the wheel could have been a bit smaller in size. I also particularly liked the brakes on the Fabia. The disc/drum combination works well in conjunction with ABS and you come to a halt without any drama, with complete poise. The bite is progressive but a bit heavy pedal robs the fun off the feel.

Fun as though it starts to be, the march is halted by the way this thing handles. Being a diesel, the car has a front-heavy nature and there is pronounced understeer which is only but expected. Then why the derision? Tyres. Those Matador Elites bawl in pain when asked to work hard and run out of grip just when you think that you’ve hit the apex well and the corner can be executed well. Tyres though may be no good, but the chassis otherwise is competent and can surely handle strain with aplomb. The ride quality is typical Skoda, firm but not uncomfortable. You don’t feel like your essentials are being crushed to dust but yet can sense all those grains of the tarmac. It’s like a rum chocolate – no matter how much you dislike the liquor, you won’t mind having the luscious chocolate.

She drinks as one would expect her to – mildly. The Skoda Fabia was given a tank-full of high-speed diesel which she gladly accepted to rinse her throat with. Drinking a litre for every 14 kays that she ran in the city, her sprint on the highway was very economical with the Fabia emptying that litre-bottle of fuel after every 18 kilometers. This endows her with an operating range of about 650-700km. Good number that.

‘Simply Clever’, the tag line of Skoda is, and it is evident in the way Fabia has come out as a product. It is clever, has a lot of things going for it. It’s got the looks, the aura, is as bang up to date as the reporting at Reuters. Those bells and whistles, that aesthetic appeal – it has got it all. But… what happened to the pricing? The direct competition is from Maruti Suzuki Swift which performs better, is more refined and looks equally attractive, if not more (I would say Swift looks better). It has got airbags and ABS so the safety factor is taken care of, to a certain point. Now, you tell me, do we really ‘need’ a sunroof? No, not really. India’s on-road and environmental conditions will seldom see the sunroof being enjoyed. But still, for the love of hatchbacks, I wish the Fabia takes the battle right at the doorstep of Maruti Suzuki. May the best man (car) win. Amen.