Our cars: Skoda Fabia

Covering the back seat helps, but Isla’s hair still needs regular vacuuming

On the road Cross-capital treks are a breeze courtesy of the Fabia’s light controls

Skoda Fabia

Dawn Grant

Dawn _ Grant@autovia.co.uk

FOR the past couple of months, I’ ve been looking after my daughter ’ s puppy, Isla, once or twice a week, and she has become a big fan of our Skoda Fabia. Well, to be fair, she just loves being in any car, but Isla definitely knows she likes the small Skoda and will sit by the door waiting for me to let her in.

While the Fabia ’ s boot is a good size, Isla usually travels in the back seats – and as anyone with a dog knows, unfortunately dogs (or should I say their coats) and cloth interiors really don ’t go together, so I use an old cover to protect the rear seat. While this does help, it’ s definitely not ideal, and I still spend a long time hoovering up the fur that somehow seems to get everywhere.

Skoda recently conducted a survey to mark International Dog Day in conjunction with BorrowMyDoggy, which found that more than seven million owners travel with their dog in the car at least once a week, showing there is a big market out there for dog-related products. Skoda has a range of pooch accessories across its model line-up, too, including a hammock for the rear seats, which I’ ve now ordered. I’ m hoping Isla will love it and it might save me time on cleaning, too. It’ s something I’ll update you on in a future report, hopefully.

It also means I’ ve been driving across London from our home in Putney to my daughter ’ s flat in the north west of the city. It’ s only just over 8.5 miles, but the journey can take anything from 37 minutes to well over an hour. At least driving the Fabia in town is comfortable and easy because the seats are supportive and simple to adjust, as is the steering wheel. My husband and I have very different driving positions, so it’ s a big help.

The steering is light and responsive and I’ m a fan of the six-speed manual gearbox, which is smooth. The 1.0-litre TSI engine also means I can make a swift getaway from the lights, not that it’ s much of an option in town since the majority of the route is in a 20mph zone, but my husband was recently impressed at beating a Porsche off the line!

I’ m finding the fuel consumption reasonable as well. On one of our regular 100-mile trips to the coast, we managed 70mpg before reaching the outskirts of town, according to the trip meter, but for journeys across town, it’ s around half that.

The 9.2-inch infotainment screen is great and most functions are really easy

Running costs

55.6mpg (on test) £74 fill-up £165 or 30% tax

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Practicality

Boot (seats up/down) 380/1,190 litres

Performance

0-62mph/top speed 9.9 seconds/126mph

to use – except for the air-conditioning. In London ’ s stop-start traffic, you can just about operate it when you ’ re on your own, but on longer, faster-moving journeys it’ s impossible without a passenger.

The low-set dual temperature dials are fine, but if you want to adjust the fan or the direction of airflow, you need to do this via the touchscreen. Bearing in mind Skoda ’ s ethos of functionality, this seems needlessly complicated. www.autoexpress.co.uk