Following last month’s teaser design sketch, Skoda has revealed in full the mildly updated Fabia in both of its five-door hatchback and wagon iterations. You have to be a big fan of the brand to detect the design changes right away, but we’re here to help you out. The headlights and taillights have gone through some subtle changes and have received LED tech, with the rear ones looking very similar to those of the Octavia facelift (thank God it didn’t get its split headlights!)
For the first time ever, the Fabia can now be ordered with 18-inch alloy wheels, but for some reason, these are available exclusively on the hatchback. Skoda has also made some minor tweaks to the front and rear bumpers, but these discreet changes won’t make you rush into your local dealer and place an order for the supermini or its more practical counterpart.
Stepping inside the cabin, all infotainment systems are now rocking a 6.5-inch touchscreen and come with Bluetooth, USB, and SD card connectivity. You will need to step up to the Swing Plus and Amundsen setups to get Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, and MirrorLink since the base Swing system lacks this hugely useful feature.
To freshen up the cabin, Skoda has come up with new trim and upholstery choices, as well as extra Simply Clever goodies: dual USBs for rear passengers, tablet holder in the back, and a double-sided mat in the trunk where the Fabia Combi can be optionally had with a removable LED torch. In addition, all windows now have the one-touch automatic roll-down functionality.
On the tech side, the LED headlights mentioned earlier are more powerful than those of the pre-facelift Fabiaand benefit from Auto Light Assist by automatically switching to low beam after detecting a car up ahead. Blind Spot Detect and Rear Traffic Alert are also available to make the supermini safer than ever before.
As far as the engines are concerned, there’s no reason to get excited as the Volkswagen Group’s new 1.5-liter TSI is a no-show. You’ll be stuck with a couple of gasoline engines: a naturally aspirated 1.0-liter MPI with either 60 horsepower (44 kilowatts) or 75 hp (55 kW) and a beefier 1.0 TSI rated at 95 hp (70 kW) and 110 hp (81 kW). All of them have three cylinders, while the turbocharged ones come bundled with a gasoline particulate filter to make them cleaner. The beefiest of them all, the 110-hp TSI, can be optionally had with a seven-speed, dual-clutch automatic gearbox. Interestingly, the 1.4-liter TDI is nowhere to be found in the press release.
Skoda will have the updated Fabia on display at the Geneva Motor Show beginning March 6.
