New Skoda Fabia from under $16K

Skoda's new baby has arrived in Australia brandishing better design, class-leading safety, infotainment and interior space, unique features, two efficient turbo-petrol engines, more options, bright paint colours, the only wagon in the light-car class and an unchanged starting price of $15,990.

What's more, Skoda Australia says the sub-$16,000 starting price for the entry-level 66TSI manual version of the third-generation Fabia hatchback will include all on-road costs for the remainder of this year.

The segment-unique Fabia wagon, meantime, is priced $1150 higher from $17,140 ($150 more than before), or $1500 higher drive-away.

Even without free on-road costs, the new Fabia's base price is significantly lower than key European light-car rivals like the Citroen C3, Peugeot 208 and Renault Clio, and $500 less than Volkswagen's identically powered Polo 66TSI manual.

Again excluding statutory charges, the cheapest Fabia five-door hatch is the same price as the Kia Rio three-door and Suzuki Swift, and only slightly pricier than Ford's entry-level Fiesta, Holden's Barina and Hyundai's i20, but $1000 more than the popular Honda Jazz, Mazda2 and Toyota Yaris.

Drive-away launch pricing also applies to the other Fabia variant (and the only automatic version), the 81TSI DSG, which commands a sizeable $4300 premium over the base 66TSI manual at $21,290, with the wagon again costing a further $1150, or $1500 drive-away.

The simple, two-engine, two-transmission, two-bodystyle line-up is complimented by three stand-alone options: metallic/pearl-effect paint ($500), Arkamys six-speaker surround-sound audio with integrated satellite-navigation system ($950) and a panoramic glass sunroof ($1000), plus a new range of option packs.

Those include the 66TSI's Travel Pack ($1300) comprising cruise control with speed-limiter, 16-inch ‘Rock’ alloy wheels, Fatigue Detection and LED daytime running lights; and the 81TSI's Sports Pack ($1200) including 17-inch ‘Clubber’ alloys, Fatigue Detection, LED DRLs, front fog lights and sports suspension.

A Premium Sports Pack ($2600) is also on offer for 81TSI buyers in combination with the Sports Pack, adding Light Assist (automatic light switching, coming home and leaving home functions), rain-sensing wipers, privacy glass, a three-spoke flat-bottom steering wheel, advanced keyless entry including smart key (KESSY) and alarm, Climatronic air-conditioning and DAB+ digital radio.

In addition to six bright exterior paint colours (Candy White and Corrida Red solids; Race Blue, Magic Black, Quartz Grey and Moon White metallics), a further two — Sprint Yellow and Rally Green Metallic – are available when buyers choose the optional Colour Concept package.

Costing an extra $300 with the 66TSI manual's Travel Pack and a no-cost option with the 81TSI's Sports Packs, the colour packs comprise a contrasting-colour roof, A-pillars, 16-inch alloys and mirror housings in silver, white, black or red.

Apart from more personalisation options, the new Fabia comes with a comprehensive aftersales offer, with the Skoda Care Pack adding two years of factory warranty and roadside assistance to the standard warranty plus a three-year/45,000km capped-price service plan for $1799, which Skoda says represents a $700 saving on those items purchased separately. Skoda Choice guaranteed future value and finance options are also available.

But perhaps the Fabia's biggest drawcard is its long list of standard features for all models, led by the latest infotainment technology including VW's new 6.5-inch TFT colour touch-screen multimedia system with resolution of 800 x 480 pixels, SmartLink smartphone connectivity including Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, Bluetooth with audio streaming and voice to text, making it one of the first in its segment to do so.

There's no sign of the reversing camera in VW's MY16 Polo, but the Fabia was named best in class last year by Europe's NCAP crash testing program after achieving the highest overall safety score in the Supermini class.

For Australia, there's the range-wide standard fitment of autonomous emergency braking (AEB, or Front Assist with City Emergency Brake in Skoda-speak), which automatically brakes the car in the event of an imminent collision at speeds between 5 and 30km/h and is available but not standard in the Polo and Mazda2.

The Fabia's standard safety equipment list also extends to six airbags, Multi-Collision Brake, Electronic Stability Control, Anti-lock Braking System, Hill Hold Control, Anti-Slip Regulation, Electronic Differential Lock with XDL, automatic emergency brake lights, tyre pressure monitoring, daytime running lights, height-adjustable front seat belts with pretensioners, height-adjustable rear head restraints, height-adjustable whiplash-optimised front head restraints, ISOFIX rear child seat anchorage points, front/rear seat belt reminders, rear fog lights and rear parking sensors with optical display.

Also standard across the line-up is a three-spoke leather-clad multi-function steering wheel with height/reach adjustment, leather-clad gearshifter and handbrake, full trip computer, air-conditioning, driver's seat height adjustment, remote central locking, front reading lights, four power windows, heated/power wing mirrors, twin front vanity mirrors, carpet floor mats and a chromed grille, gearshifter and air-vents.

Instead of the 66TSI's 6.5x15-inch Dentro steel wheels, the 81TSI adds Mato alloy wheels of the same size, plus a front armrest with storage and cruise control with speed-limiter.

Both the hatch and wagon offer plenty of interior space and 17 ‘Simply Clever’ features (nine of them new), with the hatch packing a class-leading 305-litre boot (up five litres) and the wagon 505 litres (up 25), extending to a respective 1125 and 1370 litres – about the same as a Mazda CX-5.

Both also come with an array of storage solutions, including a boot net, flexible compartment and multi-position parcel shelf, six anchor points, 60/40-split folding rear seat, 500ml front and 1.5-litre rear bottle holders, a large glovebox with 1.0-litre bottle storage and retractable luggage cover and roof-rails (wagon).

Both turbocharged direct-injection 1.2-litre four-cylinder petrol engines are fitted with fuel-saving idle-stop and brake energy recuperation systems, and return a miserly 4.8L/100km combined fuel consumption on recommended 95 RON premium unleaded.

As the names suggest, the 66TSI manual produces 66kW of power (less than the 77kW engine it replaces) over 4400-5400rpm and 160Nm of torque over 1400-3500rpm. Matched only with a five-speed manual gearbox, the 66TSI hatch is claimed to hit 100km/h in 10.9 seconds on its way to a 182km/h top speed (wagon: 11 sec and 185km/h).

Forecast to account for 80 per cent of sales, meanwhile, is the seven-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission-only 81TSI, which makes 81kW over 4600-5600rpm and 175Nm over 1400-4000rpm. The 81TSI hatch is quickest to 100km/h (9.4 sec) on its way to a 196km/h top speed (wagon: 9.6 sec, 199km/h).

Externally, the MkIII Fabia – which replaces the MkII that arrived here in October 2011 — wears the new Skoda design theme first seen here on the new Octavia, the only other Skoda model to enter its second generation in Australia. Skoda has sold almost 3.5 million Fabias worldwide since the 1999 original, which was not sold here.

Based not on the Volkswagen Group's latest MQB (Modularer Querbaukasten, or Modular Transverse Matrix) chassis architecture but the Polo's PQ25 chassis and using MQB safety, powertrain and infotainment modules, the new Fabia nevertheless weighs up to 112kg less in base 66TSI form (1042kg hatch, 1066kg the wagon) and shares its electro-mechanical C-EPS (Column-Electric Power Steering, replacing the electro-hydraulic power steering used previously) and electrical architecture with a range of VW models.

Although the new Fabia hatch is 8mm shorter than its predecessor at 3992mm long, its wheelbase is 5mm longer at 2470mm, its interior is 8mm longer at 1674mm and there's more headroom despite being 31mm lower. Overall width is up by 90mm to 1732mm, liberating 21mm more front elbow room (1401mm) and 30mm-wider wheel tracks. The wagon is 10mm longer than before at 4257mm and its loading area is 960mm wide – 2mm wider than before.

Skoda says the new Fabia body is not only lighter and more aerodynamic, but stiffer because its proportion of hot-formed steel, which is up to four times stronger than conventional high-strength steel, was increased by 29 per cent.

The Fabia hatch and wagon joins the larger Rapid Spaceback hatch, mid-size Octavia sedan/wagon, large Superb sedan/wagon and Yeti compact SUV in a local Skoda line-up that found 2350 Australian buyers in the first half of this year (up 30 per cent on 2014).

A relatively late comer to Australia in late 2007, Skoda has been a Volkswagen brand since 1991, when it sold just 200,000 cars, and last year notched up more than one million sales globally for the first time – about as many as Subaru and Mitsubishi, despite having no presence in North America.