For the past few days, I have been living with Skoda's latest version of the renowned Fabia. Please don't assume this is an article about any ordinary version though, this is about the limited edition 130 Edition. The model first arrived late last year to celebrate the manufacturer's 130th anniversary.

When I picked up the car, I assumed it would be just another ordinary small hatchback or city car. It could not have been further from the truth.

From the moment you step inside, you can tell Skoda is really trying to bring its rally heritage into this model. The front is full of details such as bucket seats, a paddle-shift gearbox, and carbon fibre trim. The exterior carries its own nods to the anniversary celebrations, with a black rear boot lid stripe decal and 130 badges dotted around the car.

The alloys deserve a mention too, they're a real highlight of the design, finished in a sharp two-tone style that suits the car's sportier ambitions perfectly and ties the whole exterior look together. They're one of the first things people notice when the car is parked up, and they do a lot of the heavy lifting in giving the Fabia 130 its distinctive stance. That stance is genuinely impressive; between the black decals, the alloys, and the front splitter, the car looks like it's sitting lower on the road than it is.

Where the special edition touches do fall a little flat, though, is once you get in the back. After all the visual drama up front, the rear seats and doors feel comparatively plain, none of the bucket seats, carbon fibre details, or special-edition flourishes carry through to the back of the cabin, other than some pattern in the middle of the seat, and it ends up feeling much like any other Fabia once you're sat in the rear. It's a shame, because it means some of that sense of occasion the front of the car works so hard to build gets a little lost the moment you climb into the back.

For most of my time with the 130, I drove it in manual mode, as that's really when the car comes into its own both in driving style and in sound. The 1.5-litre engine is paired with a DSG gearbox which, I must say, isn't the quickest and can sometimes get confused about which gear it should be in. For the most part, though, it played ball. In manual mode is when you really hear the turbocharger roar through the high revs. I had a lot of fun working through the gears, enjoying the details, and being gripped by the bucket seats through tight corners.

On one of the test days, I had to carry a small, motorised wheelchair in the boot, and I can confirm there's more than enough space to fit it in without folding the seats down. It's a hot (practical) hatchback, a genuine mix of fun and usability. To slightly contradict that, though: I was using the car as much as possible to make the most of my time with it, and I noticed the thick fabric carpets inside get dirty very easily. For someone like me who likes to keep things clean, that wasn't the happiest discovery. It's unlikely to be an issue for most consumers, though.

We're only going to see fewer than 200 of these special editions in the UK, owing to its limited production run. Being up North, where the hatchback is always popular among boy racers and anyone after something sporty, I didn't spot a single other example on the road. It's still a genuinely rare sight, and one that draws plenty of attention thanks to the bright colours on offer.

By chance, I had the car during the hottest few days of the year so far in 2026, and it was clear the infotainment system wasn't a huge fan of it. The touchscreen struggled to register selections properly in the heat. That said, this was unusually rare weather for the UK, so it's unlikely to be a real-world issue for most owners. In cooler temperatures, the screen worked entirely normally, as I have seen in other vehicles.

The Skoda Fabia 130 Edition is a rare, characterful take on a familiar hatchback, one that trades a little practicality and polish for genuine driving enjoyment and a real sense of occasion.

Exterior Photographs – By Spencer Bentley