Scouting around

Here’s an interesting Skoda for you, if you’re Scouting for one

Swap engines, twiddle with the gearbox, soften or harden the suspension — the things you can do with an existing car is virtually limitless. Or, if you’re Skoda, you could take the Fabia, stretch out the rear, slap on some butch extensions on the wheel arches, play around with the interiors and add the suffix ‘Scout’ to the name.

Making its debut at this year’s Geneva Motor Show, the Fabia Scout takes after the Scout versions of the Roomster and the Octavia. The concept is simple, really. Why ruin a perfectly good thing by trying to introduce something new? Instead, Skoda’s worked on the Fabia, increased its carrying capacity to 1,485 litres from 505 litres and restyled the thing by adding more plastic around the edges. The Scout rolls on ‘Arktos’ alloy wheels, 16 inchers as standard with optional 17-inchers as well.

Not content with lavishing the goody brush on the exterior, Skoda has taken it into the interiors of the Skoda Scout as well. The seats get special Scout upholstery, the mats are embellished with the Scout logo and the pedals are made of stainless steel with rubber studs. The detailing continues with the gear lever knob, aircon louver trim and door handles getting a luscious matt silver touch.

The Skoda Scout is available with four engine options. The basic unit is the four-pot 1.4-litre petrol with an output of 84.8 bhp. The second motor is also a four-cylinder engine, but this one displaces 1.6 litres and puts out a healthy 103.5 bhp. The other two engines are both diesels, one being a 1.4-litre that produces 78.9 bhp and the other is a 103.5 bhp unit that displaces 1.9 litres. Whew!

So are we going to see this Fabia on Indian roads? Well, we’ll go with an “it’s not expected any time soon” reply. It’s sad these sorts of things take the longest time to get here and when they do, they don’t really sell like hot-cross buns — remember the Palio Adventure?