I think it’s time for me to write a detailed review because initial excitement of buying a car has come down and now since I have completed 6 Months of my driving Fabia and clocking around 7000 KMS, it would be much useful for others to know how is the actual Skoda Fabia .  Most of the magazines and automobile websites give a fancy picture of any car. But here is the actual reality. One tip for New car buyers, always ask the actual car owners on how the model is, most of the dealers give fancy pictures. Always take your own time, check out everything before deciding.  

When I decided to take Skoda Fabia , there was a lot of negative reports of Skoda and many advised not to go for it, but today I can say Skoda products are not at all a bad the way it is being portrayed, the brand name of Skoda in India is low mainly because Skoda management had not taken corrective steps during their initial entry to India, but now I feel things are changing after the parent company also has come into India, the Volkswagen. I planned to take the risk of taking Skoda keeping in mind its quality and Safety features which I didn’t find in many other cars, the quality is what keeps Skoda apart from rest of the lot.  

Coming to the driving, most of my driving during weekdays has been in Bangalore city in peak hour traffic.  My daily travel is around 60KMS because I stay and work at two different ends of city.  Since I like driving I enjoy it, but sometimes the slow moving traffic of Bangalore City makes me sleepy.  Wait but there is good entertainment  in Fabia through its FM Radio and CD Player. The sound quality is very good, the audio system comes in-built from Chez. Even though my Fabia has two speakers its equivalent to 4 of some of the Indian makes , it’s quite powerful.

Once you close the windows and put the air condition on, you just can’t make out the outside sound. All the horrible auto rickshaws sound all die out and I get my peaceful life back.  Driving in Bangalore is a pain in peak hours since you need to change gears often. Like any European cars, the speeds are lower in first two gears, it doesn’t zoom like Japanese cars in first gears. But practically this system works well for Indian roads and slow moving traffic.  Fabia is quite heavy and it’s like a mini tank and you need to change to first gear when it becomes very slow.  Its gear ratios are a bit different than Indian cars where you can press half clutch and move on in the second gear.  Wish Skoda comes up with a Automatic transmission version of Fabia, then it would be easier to drive in traffic. Ground clearance is good. But need to be slow and change to 1^st gear while passing humps when 5 people are on board. But Bangalore has some of the uncivilized humps which are just like mini mountains and not even marked.  

On the highway Fabia is a gem to drive, you just don’t feel the speed if roads are good. And Fabia sticks to the road well. The braking is excellent despite of the base model not being a ABS. And you feel a lot safer because of the built quality and excellent safety features. On the fourth and fifth gear the car can easily compete with any high end SUV , it’s a very good car for long drive, plenty of luggage space also. I have driven in some of the worst roads in Karnataka, you can see the Horanadu photo gallery on the road condition, Fabia can take on any road with ease. Its high beam head lights are very powerful.  Performance in highway is excellent even on hilly terrain you can easily drive. I even touched 145KMS speed in a few good stretches of Belur- Hassan highway, its similar to Mumabi express way. Fabia is very stable at high speeds and sticks to the road in sharp turns.

The advantage of taking any European built car is its safety standards and high quality standards. But negative part is fuel economy, I am getting 11 KM mileage in city and 14 in highway. But driving comfort is excellent and feel safe so some where you need to balance between Fuel economy and Safety. If you are looking at fuel economy and style you can go for any Japanese car. But they are very light weight and safety features are less when compared to European models. American models have not  impressed me till now, but it’s better than Indian makes.  Indian Makes are good value for money because you get good space, good fuel economy at a very competitive price. But Safety and quality is not of international standards. For city drive Indian cars are very good and these can be rough handled, but European cars are not sport cars like Japanese and requires gentle handling .