The facelifted Skoda Fabia is priced from £12,840, with the entry-level car getting a 25% bump in power, from 59bhp to 74bhp.
Leading the updates of the Fabia, which was first unveiled in facelifted form at the Geneva motor show, is the removal of a diesel option from the car’s engine lineup - the only engines available are 1.0-litre three-cylinder engines, with between 74 and 109bhp. The 1.4-litre diesel from the current Fabia will no longer be an option, post-facelift. The entry-level car's power bump is also accompanied by a price hike - The new entry-level car is £2340 more than the entry-level, 59bhp, S-trim outgoing Fabia.
The same range of specs will appear as the pre-facelift version, with S at the bottom and Monte Carlo and Colour Edition cars at the top. Currently, the range-topping Fabia is the £17,950 1.0 TSI SE L estate, although the new range-topper is the most powerful 109bhp, DSG gearbox-equipped Monte Carlo-spec hatch, at £18,435.
The two higher-powered engines are particulate filter-equipped TSI units, while the lower power engines are naturally-aspirated MPI engines. The highest-power engine can be equipped with a seven-speed DSG automatic gearbox.
Skoda claims that the petrol engines are as frugal and cheap to run as their diesel counterparts, hence the petrol-only engine options. Diesels typically sell in far smaller numbers in the supermini segment, so slow sales has also influenced the decision. 98% of Fabia sales are currently petrol, while just 2% are diesels.
Higher-spec technology has trickled down from Skoda’s larger models into the Fabia, which now includes a blind spot monitor, rear traffic alert system (which alerts the driver of approaching traffic when reversing) and automatic high beam assistance.
In addition to the tweaked front-end design and tech, the new Skoda Fabia gets a refreshed interior, with two-tone seats and new interior strips. The instrument cluster has been redesigned, and Skoda’s signature ‘Simply Clever’ features have been updated, including a tyre tread depth measurement tool integrated into the filler-cap-stowed ice scraper. The Fabia estate gets an LED torch in the boot, while both cars are available with rear-seat USB ports.
The infotainment system has been given a boost - it’s now a 6.5in system with Apple Carplay and Android Auto integrated, as well as real-time journey data when equipped with sat-nav.
The Fabia is Skoda’s second-best-seller in the UK, with 19,275 registered in the UK last year, compared with 20,493 Octavias.
UK deliveries are set to be a few weeks later than European deliveries; first customers will receive their cars in September.
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I was driving one of these
I was driving one of these recently - it cheerfully adorned a sticker in the back window that stated What Car Of The Year 2015. For the life of me I could not fathom out why, as the weeks passed and I had to drive it for week nothing struck out at me.
It was a 1.4tdi no idea the model but it was basic. Idle was like a route master bus noisy and wobbly. It had no performance at all, it would should of quickly for a couple of seconds, but all done by 2.5k then offered minimal performance. It averaged 45mpg.
The ride was clumsy and crashy, handling average with body roll, and it had this really odd sensation of the rear squatting down on its springs when you accelerated off the line.
The inteterior was a bland sea of dark hard plastics and the infotatinament difficult to fathom out with a tiny little touch screen.
Positives? It was fairly spacious not much else really
Skoda Fabia Facelift
Good freshening up of the Fabia,but since the introduction of the Citego the Fabia is no longer the bargain it once was. I'm rather surprised that the 59hp engine has been retained as the base level of tune I would have thought that more powerful unit than that is needed to give the entry level version more power.
Ab Fab..... not
This is a car styled for those who have given up on life and who ever was responsible for the face lift should go to spec savers as I cant see any diference in the blandness offered. I am sure there might be a change to the LED graphics well done to the VAG lighting department changes only eviden with ignition on!
db wrote:
A tad rich coming from someone who spends their free time posting their comments on a car website?
You’re mature
Gosh, what a childish, personal comment. More fool you for not noticing anything - maybe learn to be more observant x