Skoda Fabia - Practicality, comfort and boot space

Skoda only offers the Fabia as a five-door model: the previous estate version is no longer on the menu. Buyers seeking a few more creature comforts and useful standard kit (such as manual lumbar adjustment, cruise control, the 10.25-inch digital instrument cluster mentioned in the previous section, and electric rear windows) might want to upgrade to the Colour Edition trim, but the base SE Comfort trim is still well equipped and includes rear parking sensors, a multifunction steering wheel, height adjustment for the driver’s seat and air conditioning.

If you want to add further equipment, there are various optional packs that allow you to specify items such as heated seats, a heated windscreen, a wireless smartphone charging pad, and front parking sensors.

If you need to fit child seats, there are the usual two ISOFIX mounts for the outer rear seats, and another set on the front passenger seat, too.

Size

The latest Fabia has a bigger footprint than its predecessor, measuring 4,108 mm long, 1,780 mm wide, and 1,459 mm tall. In comparison, the Renault Clio isn’t as long at 4,050mm, although it is slightly wider at 1,798mm.

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Leg room, head room & passenger space

The Fabia’s extra 111mm in length means it’s more spacious in the cabin than before. The driver and front passenger should easily find a comfortable seating position. At the same time, those travelling in the rear benefit from exceptional knee room – we think equal to that found in the Mercedes A-Class. Headroom is good, too, even if you specify the optional panoramic glass roof.

That said, it may be a squeeze to seat three across the back, as you'd expect in any supermini, but we found that the Fabia's rather large transmission tunnel does eat up a lot of foot space. Rear passengers get various sizes of pockets on the back of the front seats, with one regular-sized map pocket and some shallower ones designed for smartphones.

Boot

The previous Fabia model had a decent 330-litre boot, including handy luggage hooks and useful compartments for assorted oddments. The fourth-generation model offers similar practical touches but with an increased 380-litre load space, beating the 355-litre of space offered in the SEAT Ibiza or the 328-litres found in the Dacia Sandero. If you fold the rear seats, the luggage capacity in the Fabia rises to 1,190 litres.

It’s a marker of how close today’s superminis are to more traditional hatchbacks that you’ll find a similarly sized 380-litre boot in the latest Mk8 Volkswagen Golf.