Skoda Fabia 2021 first drive

By far the biggest changes to the Fabia are found inside the cabin. In higher-spec models the digital array is borrowed from more senior Skodas, with a 9.2in touchscreen sitting front and centre. It can be paired with a fully digital instrument binnacle, though it’s also possible to have the car with analogue dials and a tiny 3.5in infotainment display, for the authentic bargain-basement experience. 

The rest of the layout borrows heavily from the latest Skoda Octavia, and with its woven fabrics and Saffiano-style texturing for the more obvious hard plastics – notably for the entire dashboard upper and windowsills – the Fabia possesses a very credible sense of maturity. Our well-equipped test car (heated steering wheel, but no wireless phone charging) also had a bronze vane running across the dash, and with the panoramic roof and very faintly exotic two-spoke steering wheel Skoda now favour, it all combines to make the car feel characterful and interesting and generally very fresh.

Skoda’s ‘Simply Clever’ approach to innovating in mundane but useful ways also continues with the new Fabia. There are smartphone pockets in the back of the front seats, various nets and partitions in the split-level boot (plus a hammock, for loose items such as – I don’t know – watermelons), a little rubbish container that slots into the front door bins, and the usual pen holsters, card holders and the ice scraper neatly affixed to the inside of the filler cap. There’s also a USB port in the back of the rear-view mirror, for charging any windscreen-mounted devices, plus two more in the front cubby and a further pair for back-seat passengers. You can also have device mounts that clip onto the back of the front headrests, to provide some low-rent rear-seat entertainment via nothing more serious than a smartphone. 

More broadly, this is an unusually spacious car by the standards of the segment, though taller rear-seat passengers would still rather you’d gone for the Octavia instead. The front berths feel expansive, and with plenty of adjustability in the driving position, the Fabia genuinely feels like something from the class above, but the back bench remains supermini spec, albeit with more leg and head room than most. 

Prices haven’t been announced yet, and the Fabia’s new chassis, with the improved electronic architecture it brings, will surely make the fourth-generation car noticeably more expensive than its forebear. 

That said, the most junior Skoda has also grown up quite a bit with this generational change, so in reality you’re getting something that feels more Focus-sized in its spirit and road manners, only with a smaller footprint. That might suit a lot of people, not least because the Focus and its many competitors are now all quite large cars.  

Those buyers won’t be in it for the driving experience, sure, but with its easy-going nature and high levels of practicality and convenience – still Skoda’s reason for being – the Fabia will be very difficult to beat at its own game.