Test-driving again yesterday, this time helping my elder daughter choose a new car to replace her 2015 Hyundai i10.
It's never missed a beat, and is Olivia's second i10 following four Toyota Yarises. Another i10 was always a possibility, and as a new Yaris is coming later this year we thought there should be good deals on the current one. She would ideally like a slightly bigger boot, so I suggested the Fabia to go on the short-list.
She didn't like the look of the Kia Picanto, either outside or inside. SEAT Ibiza? She hadn't heard of SEAT (I suspect a lot of people haven't unless they are into cars) and you can't seem to add extras of your choice. You have to take the specification as is on each version.
So we tried the new i10, the Yaris and the Fabia, with slightly unexpected results.
i10 - she'd want the 1.2, but none have come to the UK yet, even as demonstrators. The 1.0 3-cylinder was a bit asthmatic and the ride on the hard side of firm. But she quite liked it and could have lived happily with the 1.2, as she's been very happy with the one she's got.
Yaris - she expected to like this, as the ones she had (all 1.3) were lively and much better to drive than the road tests at the time implied. But we were both disappointed: the engine was a 1.5 but it was noisy and lacked low-down torque. Possibly strangled by emissions legislation. From the inside the car felt narrower and more cramped than the i10. Hopeless infotainment.
Fabia - much more impressive and fun to drive than we'd expected, especially the terrific 110 bhp engine. It too is a 3-cylinder, but you couldn't tell. it was the only one of the three that you could call 'nippy' which is what small cars should be. The infotainment was much better than on the other two. It doesn't look very exciting from the outside, but it's roomy inside without feeling too big, and the all-round visiblity is excellent. Skoda throughout their range have been very good about not letting the stylist put metal where there should be glass.
Even though I have a soft spot for Skodas, I didn't push her into going for the Fabia, nor into making a quick decision. But looking at PCPs (yes, I know, but it suits us) the i10 was (before haggling) £180 a month, the Yaris £201, and the Fabia £132 (I'd done the haggling in advance on the Fabia by getting a What Car quote, and Skoda are offering 0%). That was enough to convince the half of me (and quarter of Olivia) that is Scottish to go for the Skoda.
Order placed for an SEL 110 bhp 6-speed manual: the only extras needed were metallic Race Blue paint, a reversing camera and a space-saver spare wheel.
I think we've done the right thing, but I look forward to people on here telling me we didn't. I hope it's of interest anyway.
|