Thoughts of a loaned Mk4 Fabia for a week

[AJR77]

As my car was in the body shop getting some parking scratches removed, I was given a 2022 Fabia Se Comfort 80hp.

I was really impressed with the car with the Mk IV version of the Fabia good standard of equipment and refinement.

 

I was surprised that the 80hp version of the Fabia wasn’t turbo charged. The engine revved freely and above 3k rpm it gave ok performance. Comparing the engine to a 2009 Renault Clio with a 74hp 1.2 (which I have to drive sometimes) the refinement and usable performance of the Fabia is leagues ahead even on paper they should perform the same. The Clio’s performance is miserable especially on motorways and trying to acceleration to change lane but the Fabia offered enough performance and comfort for higher speed motorway driving.

 

Looking at the June 2023 UK Brochure it has a list price of £18600 with Solid Colour Energy Blue which is the entry level Fabia. Which does seem high price for a Fabia but It’s comparable to other new car prices and most people buy based on monthly repayments rather than list prices.

 

Having the loan car for a week allowed me to compare it with a 2014 5J Fabia. 

The newer Fabia it is a big upgrade from of specification and styling. Not surprised as the 5J was sold from 2007 and is based on a VW platform from 1999.

 

Visually the Mk IV is noticeably lower than the Mk2 but the interior head room isn’t compromised by this.

 

 

The engine of the newer Fabia does look small in the engine bay

 

The 1.4 in the older Fabia really fills the engine bay in comparison

 

Newer Fabia's boot seems to be as practical as the older model.

 

I found the plastic shopping holder found in the old model useful.

 

Interior shows how modern the Fabia has gotten compared with the Mk2 Fabia

 

I do like the sports seats in the older Fabia which are comfortable and supportive but the interior really showing it's age. 

 

After a week of driving around in the new Fabia I did miss it when picking my car.

It wasn't perfect with the touch screen radio being a distraction when trying to change a station to a non-preset one.

The lane keep assist got confused with roundabouts so really I should have left that off but wanted to try it for the week to see if it was useful.

 

I just like the fact it was a nice comfortable car that I could live with day to day.

 

Currently it looks like this might be the last Fabia model with costly emissions requirements and electrification making the economics of producing small cars like this hard to justify.

It will be a shame if this is the last model but it is a good send off.