SKODA has had more comebacks than The Rolling Stones.
Its 110-year history is a story of survival. During the world wars it made jeeps and tanks and on the very last day of World War II its Mlada Bolselav factory was completely destroyed.
The Iron Curtain came down, but in 1991 it came in from the cold in a link-up with VW, and had another big fight to win over the British public, which it clearly has.
The Czech marque has two models to thank for its spectacular turnaround, the Octavia and the Fabia. I tested the Octavia Estate vRS and the new Fabia Sport - two different cars and two different stories.
The Octavia estate has an obvious drawback. Skoda has introduced a new shape, but for the speedy vRS they have kept the old shape, for this year at least
It is without doubt one of my favourite cars - blisteringly quick, surprisingly nimble, well-built, cheap and fun to drive - and it should be with 180bhp at its disposal.
The new Fabia Sport has what the older Octavia lacks - up-to-date looks. The supermini may win the style stakes and it shares the same impressive build quality and reliability, but it lags behind in performance, specification and price.
The Octavia is practical, functional and affordable with bags of space, bags of pace and superb handling. The vRS boasts a distinctly sporty trim with steel exhaust and visible bright green brake calipers.
The Fabia has similar sporty livery, and boasts factory-fitted spoiler, chrome exhaust, alloy wheels and sports seats.
They both have the sporty style, but only the Octavia delivers the performance with an eight-second 0-62mph sprint time and a top end of 143mph.
Both are good to drive, with excellent vision, driving position and comfort levels.
Space is unsurprisingly generous in the Octavia, as you would expect with an estate, but the Fabia also has a generous well-shaped boot, decent head and legroom and folding rear seats.
Both behave well at higher motorway speeds and road and engine noise is never an issue. Both cars also have simple logical controls, but the striking difference is the equipment choices.
The Fabia team must have had a brainstorm at an early design stage. If you are a fan of classic cars you can go retro with manual windows, manual mirrors and no central locking. These have obviously been sacrificed for air conditioning, alloys and CD changer instead.
It's easy to forget what it's like to live without electrics and I spent most of my week reaching over the passenger seat, to let people in, adjust the mirrors and turn the key in the door lock when everybody has waltzed off.
The Octavia, on the other hand, is brimming with kit including standard central locking and electrics, roof rails and six CD-changer.
Both models are strong on safety with twin airbags, and anti-lock brakes as standard. The Octavia also has traction control and side impact protection.
Running the Fabia should be cheap with low insurance groups and good fuel economy. Skoda is aiming to sell 800 Fabia Sports in the UK this year and it could meet that target.
It is good looking, well built and economical. But, at nearly ten grand and with no obvious sporty performance it is hard to see who will buy one when you see what other manufactuers like Honda, Fiat, Mitsubishi, Citroen and Peugeot are offering , with just as good quality, loads of standard extras and all at a cheaper price.
The Octavia, on the other hand, is a snip with all that performance at that price - buy one before they hike the price.
FAST FACTS
Skoda Octavia vRS Estate
Price: £15,800
Mechanical: 180bhp,1,781cc, 4cyl petrol engine driving front wheels via 5spd manual gearbox.
Max speed: 143mph
0-62mph: 8 secs
Combined mpg: 35.3
Insurance group:16
CO2 emissions:192g/km
BiK rating: 25%
Warranty: 3yrs/ unlimited mileage; 3yrs paint; 10yrs anti-rust
Skoda Fabia Sport 1.4 5dr
Price: £9,990
Mechanical: 75bhp, 1,390cc, 4cyl petrol engine driving front wheels via 5spd manual gearbox
Max speed: 104mph
0-62mph: 13.8 secs
Combined mpg: 43.5
Insurance group: 4
CO2 emissions: 156g/km
BiK rating: 18%
Warranty: 3yrs/ unlimited mileage; 3yrs paint; 10yrs anti-rust