Skoda Fabia Estate (08 on) - Review

Review by Parkers on
Last Updated: 30 June 2009
The Fabia Estate is a great choice for young families. It’s roomy, good to drive and cheap to run. The estate model offers additional practical benefits to the hatchback - namely a bigger, versatile boot - and it meets the needs of families with smaller children with a well thought-out design. The bigger load space results in a longer body, so it isn’t as ideally suited to city life as the hatchback. But buyers in need of a roomy family car with a reasonable price tag should give this estate serious consideration. A Greenline model is available which, thanks to low emissions, is cheap to tax and returns impressive economy. There's also a Scout version which has a more rugged look along with chunky bumpers and side protection.
4 out of 5

Other Skoda reviews

4 out of 5

Running costs

The Fabia Estate is incredibly good value for money, affordable to run and - thanks to its fuel-sipping engines - has low road tax costs and cheap insurance. Inexperienced drivers should take a look at the low-spec 1.2 model which falls into the cheapest insurance group, but even the top of the range 1.9 TDI is only classified in group 4. Resale values should remain strong.

* based on most recent data

Estimated fuel cost for 10,000 miles per year

Unleaded

£1,137 - £1,659 *

Diesel

£772 - £1,125 *

The estimated fuel cost figure is a guide to how much this model will cost to fuel each year, so you can compare between cars. It's calculated by using the model's average mpg (calculated from both town centre and motorway driving) and the average fuel price. It's based on the following cost-per-litre: petrol 135p and diesel 141p. Prices are updated daily.

Summary Running Costs

Servicing period

10,000 miles (minor), 20,000 miles (major).

Warranty

Three years/60,000 miles.

Road tax (12 months)

£0.00 - £215.00

Vehicle excise duty (VED) varies according to the CO2 emissions and the fuel type of the vehicle. For cars registered after March 1st 2001 VED or road tax is based on the car's CO2 emissions. For cars registered before March 1st 2001 it is based on engine size.

Full running costs data

4.5 out of 5

Green credentials

  • A
    89
  • B
  • C
  • D
  • E
  • F
  • G
  • H
  • I
    180
  • J
  • K
  • L
  • M

CO2 emission figure (g/km)

Fuel economy rating

The arrows indicate the best and worst CO2 bands for this model.

Emissions summary

The Fabia range won’t cost the earth as it’s impressively frugal overall. Only the petrol 1.6-litre automatic returns under 40mpg and CO2 emissions are also good - the diesels engines all emit less than 130g/km CO2. The cheap-to-tax Greenline produces a rock-bottom 109g/km and returns 69mpg. It is undoubtedly the engine of choice for eco-conscious buyers.

Find the exact engine and CO2