The clear winner here is the Fabia. The quality of bits and pieces that make up the car is really top notch. Skoda may be a value player in Europe, but they have achieved that by streamlining their sourcing and production methods than by cutting costs on components. The switchgear, the HVAC openings, the steering wheel, the gear lever, the integrated music system on higher models – you name it all – belong to a car that is in another league. It is not just the way these bits look, they score on touch and feel too. The Ambiente version gets a grey-black combination that makes the rather tight cabin feel airy and nice. It is time for Srini and me to start sulking, then.
Getz:***
Swift: **
Fabia: ****
Power and performance
I don’t really get the logic of combing the prospective buyer demographic to such fine lengths by introducing three different engine and three different trim options. Skoda could well have done a two engine-two trim option for India and still made truckloads of money on the Fabia (such is the value of the Skoda brand in India). The issue is that the car that competes with Srini’s Getz and my Swift gets a 69 bhp petrol motor that defies the solid feel given by the rest of the Fabia. It is a shock to get into the car, slot it into first and then in no time hit a rev-limiter that makes the engine sound like a vacuum cleaner. Sad.
It takes nifty shifting and a long yawn to reach 60 kph (7.07 seconds) and some more time to reach 100 kph (17-odd seconds!). Srini can be demonic behind the wheel of strange left-hand drive cars on Indian roads, but he drives the Getz ever so gently and ensures that he teaches the rest of the drivers around him chaste words in Marathi, Hindi and English before he reaches his destination. But even he respects a bit of overtaking ability and the Getz, with 83 horses, delivers with 5.6 seconds to 60 kph and a decent 14.5 second crack at 100 kph. You see, we are not expecting these cars to break Mach II, but real life demands like some life-saving acceleration to overtake slow moving trucks is a must-have.
Time for me to show-off a chest swollen with pride. The Swift may have a motor borrowed from the Esteem, but it is one that is quick. Add to that some near perfect gearing and you are off to a smart 60 kph run in 5.2 seconds and displaying its rounded bum to other cars at 100 kph, which can be achieved in 13-odd seconds. And guess what, it is way more fun to drive than the rev-shy Getz and the impoverished Fabia. While it will take supreme effort to do anything more than 140 kph in the Fabia, the Getz can handle 165 kph on expressways while the 87 bhp motor of the Swift actually takes it to 170 kph. Sure, the Fabia with the 1.4 motor can compete better, but at this price point and with the cars that we already own, it gets a thumbs down.
But it will be unfair to the Fabia if we don’t tell you that it is extremely driveable in traffic and you forget its anaemic motor most of the time. Mind you, all these cars have similar kind of torque (around 11 kgm) and it is the gearing that has resulted in the Jap and Korean cars being quicker off the block than the Czech machine. So if the idea is to get stuck in traffic every morning, crank up the FM radio and enjoy the nice cabin, then there is no faulting the logic of a puny motor under the Fabia’s bonnet.
Getz: ***
Swift:****
Fabia: **
Ride and handling
One of the reasons I never liked the Getz at its launch drive was its over-square architecture and the resulting blotched ride quality over bad roads. The Swift is not really better and the ride has deteriorated with time on Maruti’s best-seller. When I revisited Srini’s Getz, I was convinced that the dampers sourced by Hyundai would outlast those of the Swift on Indian roads. As for handling, the Getz is as neutral as test-match umpires while the Swift shows off a colourful streak meant only for real hot hatches. But to enjoy that, you need to release the revs offered by that motor and a few screws in your head – things you don’t do while commuting. But the Fabia, riding on Slovakian Matador rubber, was a revelation when it came to ride quality as well as handling. This car is meant to have a powerful vRS version in its lineup and it shows in the underpinnings of the basic models too. Like the Octavia, the Fabia takes to Indian roads as if it was meant to do that and offers what can be termed textbook ride quality. The underpowered nature of the 1.2 motor never let me take it to the limit, but one could feel the surefootedness and inherent dynamic safety of the car in every flick of the wheel. The Fabia is the new benchmark when it comes to small car dynamics,and a brilliant one at that.
Getz: ***
Swift: ***
Fabia: *****
|
