2026 Skoda Fabia 130 | UK Review
Is the petrol-powered warm hatch really making a comeback? Let's hope so...
Skoda replaced its ‘Simply Clever’ slogan a few years ago, but the manufacturer has retained its knack for making canny decisions. Granted, precious few enthusiasts could tell you the difference between a Kamiq and a Karoq or pick out the Scala in a Fabia lineup, but Skoda’s identikit range has met with success regardless. Last year it built more than a million cars worldwide - a 15 per cent increase on 2024. It has two EVs inside the UK’s top ten. The Elroq seems to be everywhere.
On the basis of this long-running clairvoyance, it is heartening and perhaps even revealing that Skoda, a firm not overly concerned with hot hatches, feels like now is the time to dip a cautious toe in unfamiliar waters. Not very far in, it must be said - as Sam reminded us back in December, the new Fabia 130 only gathers up 177hp from its lightly breathed-on 1.5-litre four-pot, and will not pull the skin from a rice pudding any quicker than 7.4 seconds - yet even a moderately warm hatch is better than none at all.
Probably everyone reading this, starved of petrol-burning cars generally and affordable ones specifically, can agree with that sentiment - though it is telling that Skoda, arguably the one VW Group brand not overtly fumbling its EV strategy, does too. Of course, that there is still a gap in the market where any number of modestly lively, cheap-to-run, combustion-engined superminis might sit is as plain as the nose on an EU lawmaker’s face to anyone who cares to look. All credit to Skoda for being among the first to reverse back through what seems like an open goal.
And the car itself? Well, it’s fine. Were there still a three-cylinder Ford Fiesta setting the cheap fun benchmark, it might not seem quite so adequate - but there isn’t, so it is. In fact, somewhat inevitably, the depressing lack of anything that really fits the same mould helps to elevate first impressions of the Fabia. Its styling uptick, in the best tradition of warmed-up hatchbacks, is subtle: you get badges, you get bigger wheels, you get a mild frisson of excitement. It helps that the underlying model is crisply well-proportioned. Another Skoda knack is not trying too hard.
The interior follows suit with smart-looking seats and a sportier steering wheel. You get all the toys, but more importantly you get them in the appropriate places. With rotary knobs for the climate control and actual buttons dedicated to warming your underparts - not to mention a full-size, grip-it-and-rip-it gear lever - the Fabia shows its age inside. Which, of course, is a good thing. The 130 needs a bigger, flashier infotainment screen like a hedge trimmer needs an iPad.
This trip down memory lane continues with the distant thrum of a non-hybridised four-cylinder engine chirpily doing its thing. Important to remember here that in most other applications, the omnipresent EA211 unit is worthy enough, yet sulkily uninspiring. Skoda’s light dusting of hardware-based alterations hardly unlocks its wild side, but the gentle uplift in performance from the mid-range onwards is just credible enough to make the Fabia feel like it is going about its business with slightly more purpose.
At any rate, the 130’s limitations are less to do with peak power and more to do with how you’re accessing it. Efficiency, refinement and ease of use aside, precious few small petrol engines benefit from being manacled to a DSG - even one revised with slightly more spirited use in mind - and so it proves here. Reintroducing a manual gearbox into the mix would have made the Fabia no faster on paper (probably the opposite) yet it would surely have seemed so in the real world, with its driver suddenly able to hang onto every gear, in every conceivable circumstance.
Without that additional level of interaction and oversight, the 130’s neck tends to remain staunchly unwrung. Which is a shame not only in the long tradition of speeded-up superminis (proximity to doorhandles being a defining metric), but also because the Fabia is decently equipped to cope with fun-seeking mistreatment. As Sam noted in abroad, the 15mm lowering of the suspension has not exactly tied the car down, yet you will hardly require more control, just as you will seldom miss a proper diff - the 130 is rarely going fast enough for either to seem strictly necessary.
This is less of a criticism than you might think - fundamentally, and more often than not, the limited edition Fabia seems like a likeable and well-rounded prospect. The problem, actually vaguely redolent of the original, entry-level Mk7 Golf GTI, is that the 130 seems less like a frothier model deserving of its fairly hefty premium, and more like the kind of congenial hatchback that manufacturers should be starting with, not building up to. Still, if we show enthusiasm for the middle ground Skoda has arrived at here, it might consent to doing something more thrilling with Fabia and its underutilised vRS badge. That really would be clever. Simple, too.
SPECIFICATION | SKODA FABIA 130
Engine: 1,498cc, inline-four, turbocharged
Transmission: 7-spd dual-clutch automatic, front-wheel drive
Power (hp): 177@5,750-6,000rpm
Torque (lb ft): 184@1,500-4,000rpm
0-62mph: 7.4sec
Top speed: 141mph
Weight: 1,206kg
MPG: 50.4 combined
CO2: 126g/km
Price: £29,995
And the it’s rarely fast enough for you to miss a diff or feel tied down? I really don’t get that, it’s more than capable of going silly speeds where a lack of feeling tied down can leave you feeling floaty, unconnected and slightly out of control, 177 bhp is more than enough to go too fast.
You guys are spoiled by the ridiculously high performance cars you get to play with, in the real world, well my world, this still seems like a quick hot hatch, if obviously not the hottest.
I quite like it except for the price, but that’s indicative of all new car pricing. Makes the £25k an i20N was released at seem all the more a bargain.
That was too slow last week …….but a week is a long time in performance musing …
And the it s rarely fast enough for you to miss a diff or feel tied down? I really don t get that, it s more than capable of going silly speeds where a lack of feeling tied down can leave you feeling floaty, unconnected and slightly out of control, 177 bhp is more than enough to go too fast.
You guys are spoiled by the ridiculously high performance cars you get to play with, in the real world, well my world, this still seems like a quick hot hatch, if obviously not the hottest.
I quite like it except for the price, but that s indicative of all new car pricing. Makes the £25k an i20N was released at seem all the more a bargain.
note, I do know you can upgrade the clutch packs (£1200) and remap the box (£500) but along with labour (£1000+) to fit the clutch its not exactly cheap. So its a shame its not the DQ500.
I like Skoda as a brand and hope this is a success for them.
Sometimes, it's nice to not have so much power that you can barely use a fraction of it. I regularly drive a MK4 Focus ST and a current-gen Octavia vRS. The Focus has a good chunk more power but the Octavia makes far better use of it's 245bhp and is far better to spend a few hours in.
Back to this Skoda, I think the DSG is probably a smart choice. I'd be happy with a manual and it would be nice for them to offer it as an option but like most things, once most motorists have tried a good auto they don't really want to go back.
It's quite funny that a Skoda badge these days conveys a premium. VW has really worked wonder on the brand and perceived image.
It doesn't seem that long since I was looking at Felicia owners with a real sense of pity.
Skoda is a quality product, design is subjective but I personally think their design language is better than VW at the moment.
£10k overpriced? £30k is what cars seem to cost these days, obviously that was a bit different 25 years ago, I think I paid £4k for a brand new Fiat Punto in 2001.
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