HELPING Skoda's reputation surge ahead is the fabulous little Fabia. Its strengths lie not in being fancy and flash, but in being straightforward, solid and safe.

And the little load carrier, the Fabia Estate, injects purse-pleasing practicality into the supermini sector.

If you want that mated to excellent economy, then choose one of the two diesel units, which offer different levels of power from the same 1896cc block.

What's to choose between them? Quite a bit in the performance stakes, but very little on the fuel front, if you look at the figures on paper.

The direct-injection version, the 1.9 SDi, gives the Fabia 64 brake horsepower to go at, and only marginally better mpg figures on the city and combined cycles than its 100bhp turbocharged TDi stablemate. Interestingly, both will do 68.9mpg out in the country.

The SDi is more pedestrian, with the TDi cleaving more than seven seconds off the former's 0-62mph time of 19 seconds. Volkswagen stablemate Seat have enjoyed much success in the Ibiza with the 100bhp version, which has a greater top speed, 116mph, than the SDi.

The more powerful engine is leaner and cleaner all round, using Volkswagen's state of the art fuel injection, developed with Bosch, which allows for better torque, greater economy, and lower emissions.

Fabia estates come in three trim levels, Classic, Comfort and Elegance, and the Elegance TDi Estate is the most expensive of the load carriers at £12,905. It might seem a lot, considering the Classic Estates come in at £8,635, but the specification list runs to almost 60 items, and no other supermini has the Fabia Estate's load capacity.

You'll get a lot of use out of the maximum 1,225 litres of storage space, a figure that beats the nearest rival, the Peugeot 206 SW.

As one of the largest superminis, the Fabia has got good legroom for both front and rear occupants, so a long journey for four people plus luggage should pass in reasonable comfort.

The dash and controls are as straightforward as the rest of the Fabia, presented in no-nonsense fashion and leaning, if anything, a little towards the spartan.

That doesn't mean attention to detail has been overlooked - there's lots of pocket space, and Skoda have got functionality off to a fine art on the inside.

The trim is of good quality, and the seats are well padded, and quite supportive. It all smacks of years of good, hard-wearing service.

The ride and handling is on par with the class leaders, and it is very surefooted in tight road twists - even while carrying a heavy load.

The warranty's good - three years and unlimited mileage cover. And insurance costs - this model is placed in group 6 - should be fairly low, too.

Skoda build quality and reliability means the marque is holding up very well at sell-on time, so the Estate is a good financial bet in Elegance form with its standard air conditioning, heated front seats and first-rate safety and security.

A great little all-rounder and if Skoda could get away from the sombre, Germanic stance and work a little French flair into the overall design at the next facelift, there'd be no stopping it.