The Fabia has always been one of the larger superminis and has often been styled in such a way as to make that pretty evident from the kerb. The memory of the first-generation car’s slightly dumpling-like looks were at least partly banished when the third-generation version appeared in 2014, though, and they’ve now given way to an even more sharply drawn design in this fourth-generation model.
Some of the car’s soft-jawed, friendly old visual charm has certainly gone, too. It could be argued that the Fabia is now like a car that, without its glossy wide radiator grille, could be inserted into the current VW, Audi or Skoda showroom line-up without anyone really noticing. But the car nonetheless looks very smart, modern and presentable – if a bit modern-VW-Group-generic.
It has grown more than any Fabia iteration before it: by 111mm in overall length, in fact, to 4108mm. That makes it the biggest car in its class and the only one longer than 4.1m – the kind of length you generally need a Nissan Juke-sized crossover to breach. Indeed, Skoda reckons those who need more space will opt for a crossover, so the estate version will not return for this generation of the Fabia.
The car’s wheelbase has also grown and is some 120mm longer than that of the closely related Seat Ibiza, but in this respect, one or two rivals (Kia Rio, Renault Clio) go even larger.
The car’s width (without mirrors) is 1780mm, making it slightly wider than Britain’s best-selling Vauxhall Corsa (1765mm), but quite a bit wider than Europe’s best-selling Renault Clio (1728mm). It’s still easy enough to squeeze into the average parking bay, though.
