Spring is a young-at-heart season packed full of zesty promise. Gloomy souls perk up. Success is just around the corner. And if that’s expecting too much, well – there’s always the next bend.
If ever a car distilled and conveyed such stimulating sentiments it has to be the Fabia 130. With Skoda’s history stretching back over 130 years and a distinguished motor sport tradition, it’s fitting that this fastest, sportiest, zoomiest mark 4 Fabia should bear that nomenclature. Don’t be misled though. 130 has nothing to do with bhp because the 1.5 litre turbo 4cylinder petrol engine gives 177bhp – which is enough to shoot you to over 140mph. However, with this Fabia the real fun is not all about reaching Warp Speed.. It’s about selecting ‘sport’ mode and using the paddles to manually play tunes and override the 7speed DSG automatic gearbox.
In today’s ‘real world’ where you are not able to extend a Lambugattarri this Fabia is far more fun. And in super comfort too…and four doors…and plenty of room for passengers….and plenty of luggage space: not to mention the excellent economy (I got over 50mpg overall) in these straitened times.
It costs £29,995, looks wonderful with a black roof, other black bits and pieces, black alloys, and red brake calipers. It’s a superb distillation of design parameters pitched at the small car configuration beloved by those who believe that the better things in life are better still when packaged to please as well as to perform.
Like the very breath of the sweet season itself, the Skoda Fabia 130 lightens the heart through its transformative appeal. Its looks beguile while its functional merits recommend to good sense a rich harvest of motoring pleasures. But there’s more. This is a fiery fabia. A Q car with zip-zoom performance of the first order.
Every passerby who clocked the Fabia parked outside my Gothic manor house stopped and remarked at its charming yet purposeful appearance: truly here’s a clever piece of practical styling. By some miracle it manages to appear sleek as well as commodious – cheekily chunky yet at the same time suavely slick and racy. You can tell at a glance it’s safe as houses too – designed to muscle its way through crowded carriageways with the confidence of a prop forward. But instead of cauliflower ears you get sculpted contours that play with the eye like coloured candy in the sweetshop window..
“So tell me” people would say, “What’s it like? What does it come with? How much does it cost to buy and run?”
“Well” I replied, “These are indeed important questions. But when the apple tree blossoms, isn’t it better to simply relish the moment rather than estimate the weight of the apples in Autumn? The moment is now. And right now I’m off for a drive”. So I took to the road. Later I learnt that it was rumoured that I had swallowed a book on Zen as words reflecting my enthusiasm flowed.
And indeed there might well be something in that if you drive to enjoy it – and who wouldn’t? Perfectly weighted steering, well controlled suspension and for reasons known only unto The Great Artificer – an ability to make hairs on the back of your neck bristle.
It’s not just that this is a well appointed comfortable and rewarding livewire to drive. No. For me it’s more like that sense of piloting a machine that achieves completeness only through connectivity with the driver. The Fabia felt right: right shape, right size, the right fit in all regards (amongst best in class for leg, shoulder and headroom), plus it drives as a proper car should. Road manners are firm, smooth and precise.
Of course, there are ascending levels of technology on board. These depend on the micro process wizardry characteristic of our modern age. For those who need ‘the mostest of the latest’ there’s plenty to serve you well. Refreshingly though there is a manual handbrake – ideal – they tell me – for performing ridiculous tyre smoking feats should you be insane!
As my acquaintance with it grew I realised Skoda has created a car for the driver in a hurry that matches its environment perfectly. Whether on city streets, on challenging B roads or on motorways it’s equally at home. In town it’s compact enough to cope with tight squeezes.
It’s a car that has a wonderful spirited demeanour and lots of fun inducing attributes, generating in motoring terms, that elusive quality called jollity. There’s no bland anodyne nonsense here: just zip, zoom and liveliness of the first order. As a ‘sixties’ super spy might say ‘It’s truly a fab car baby!’
