Czech it out (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

Czech it out

4:17pm Friday 15th October 2010 in Motoring By Steve Teale

Wow. Skodas have become good cars in recent years, but now they’ve added a dash of excitement, too. That’s right. Volkswagen, when they took over the company, made sure they were designed sensibly and built with quality but the one element they lacked was flair.

But the addition of vRS models has changed that. The vRS is the sporty line-up, the Skoda equivalent of GTI, and it has turned a respectable but pedestrian line-up into every schoolboy’s dream.

The original Fabia vRS model was something of a departure for the genre, as Skoda chose diesel over petrol. The result was a torquey, rapid yet economical ‘sleeper’ GTI, as visually it hid its potential extremely well.

Skoda’s new-found confidence has encouraged it to shout a little louder – witness the car’s bolder colour options and distinctive alloy wheels – and it’s made the switch to petrol and added a fancy DSG gearbox.

Alongside its reputation for producing durable cars, Skoda has a long tradition of motor-sport competition. The Czech firm has been a consistent supporter of grass roots rallying, but more recently it has stepped up its game and also experienced considerable success at the fully-fledged ‘works’ level.

It’s therefore a happy coincidence that this second generation Fabia vRS appears at a time when Skoda is receiving more exposure than ever. And it makes perfect sense to make the switch from diesel to petrol. Employing the same 180 horsepower 1.4 TSi engine that you’ll find in Seat’s Ibiza Cupra and VW’s Polo GTi, it has allowed Skoda to pitch the Fabia as a genuinely affordable compact hot hatch with added practicality. As such it will only be available in five-door and estate trim.

This engine has already received plenty of praise and rightly so. Combining both super and turbo-charging technology, the former ensures plenty of low-down responsiveness, while the latter takes care of delivering heaps of power higher up the rev range. The result is an immensely torquey engine, with the flexibility to make light work of urban motoring yet deliver a blistering performance on challenging country roads.

And like the Polo and Ibiza, the Fabia eschews a manual gearbox for the Volkswagen Group’s impressive seven-speed DSG unit. This direct shift gearbox allows fully automatic operation plus a sport mode for a more aggressive shift pattern. Take control via the steering wheel paddles or gear lever and you can dictate the pace.

The end result is a car that’s easy to live with day-to-day, as the engine displays a pleasingly refined and flexible character. This is helped by the gearbox which, in auto mode, proves predictable and never skips a shift. Even the car’s ride is sophisticated enough to cope with poorly-surfaced urban roads, despite it being lower and firmer than normal and being tasked with reducing roll when you’re pressing on at higher speeds.

And it’s away from the city limits when the car comes into its own. It’s worth noting that this Fabia offers similar performance to something like a GTI from only a few years ago. As a result, the little vRS’s rapid acceleration and ability to cling on when cornering hard shouldn’t come as a surprise to seasoned GTI drivers. That the car’s electronic stability and traction systems don’t intrude when you’re having fun is another plus point.

With the Fabia’s eye-popping mid-range acceleration and the ability to simply click-click-click up the gears with the paddle shifters, making progress is both hugely enjoyable and made incredibly easy. Fortunately the car’s 1.4-litre motor is not only up to the task but also capable of delivering sensible fuel economy – even when worked hard – further enhancing the ownership experience.

When you’re not aspiring to be the next world rally champion, the Fabia’s cabin offers plenty of space and demonstrates a level of solidity that would shame many in its class. Aside from the vRS-themed seats and subtle trim detailing, everything around you is pure Fabia; it will easily accommodate four or five in comfort and swallow plenty of luggage or shopping.

Skoda’s Fabia has always been a competent and easy to live with car – you only have to ask one of the many happy owners for proof. For this second-generation vRS model Skoda has injected a huge dose of GTI goodness, alerting those who would have otherwise opted for something Spanish or German to think again. High praise indeed for the impressive Czech hot hatch.

PRICE: from £15,700 on the road.

ENGINE: 1.4-litre turbo petrol unit developing 180bhp via a seven-speed DSG transmission as standard, driving the front wheels.

PERFORMANCE: Top speed 139mph and 0 to 62mph 7.3 seconds.

COSTS: 45.6mpg.

EMISSIONS: 148g/km.

INSURANCE: Group 27.

WARRANTY: Three years, 60,000 miles.