Is it fun to drive? Well, I must say that I had a great time getting it photographed on the South Downs, where it felt agile enough and pretty quick, thanks to the larger (1.5-litre) turbo petrol engine option, but I do wonder to what extent it justifies its chequered-flag Monte Carlo badging.
While it’s more fun than a regular Fabia and several rivals – among them the Dacia Sandero and the Peugeot 208 – it doesn’t have that ‘raring to go’ attitude of the Fiesta, imbued by its meaty steering, incisive chassis and super Ecoboost/manual drivetrain. And that car actually costs two grand less in sporty ST-Line form. Hmm…
Maybe a manual gearbox would help the Monte Carlo, but that’s not an option anyway, and it wouldn’t do anything for my confidence in the steering or handling. This might be something that builds gradually with familiarity, but for now this Fabia seems to me simply a ‘faster’ supermini, rather than a ‘warm’ one.
Actually, it brings to mind the Volkswagen Polo GTI, which served as a poor introduction to the GTI sub-brand for me, being limited to an automatic gearbox and never really indicating that it fancied making a go of a country road. Which is hardly a shocker when the new Fabia is based on the same platform.
Nevertheless, I’m very pleased to be back in a humble supermini, not just for the aforementioned reasons of suitability and pleasantness but also, very importantly to me, because it feels much more responsible than the Discovery or indeed any SUV.
Love it
Right sizing
I love how I can breeze down tight streets and through gaps in traffic without having to think constantly about not hitting anything.
Loathe it
Wrong wiring
My iPhone says “accessory not supported” if I plug my USB cable into the USB-C adaptor, so I have to buy a new wire to use Apple CarPlay.
