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Right, cards on the table. I've never liked diesels. Too smoky, noisy and slow. And if I had to pick one car to change my outlook, it's hardly likely to be a diesel-engined, five-door Skoda.

But along came the Fabia vRS - and how wrong can someone be? OK, styling-wise, it's a bit of a Marmite car - you either love it or hate it, but despite my initial misgivings, I thought it pretty tasty.

 Its on-paper performance belies the actual car's abilities. I doubt the claimed 0-60 time of 9.6 seconds as it feels so much quicker. This is due to the 130bhp turbo diesel engine's 229lb/ft of torque at a useful 1900rpm - more than a Porsche Boxster. But all this adds up to a car that, if you keep it in the power band, will see off most others in the overtaking stakes.

On the twisty bits, the vRS remains composed thanks to a combination of low-profile tyres and communicative steering, but the suspension is a tad soft, leading to a fair degree of body roll. The upside being that long distance motorway cruising is as relaxing as an Indian head massage.

So it appealed to the petrolhead (or is that dieselhead?) in me, but it also put a smile on my face when handing over my pound of flesh at the fuel pump. Despite mind-numbing stop-start traffic commuting across London each day and the occasional A- and B-road blast, the trip computer never dipped below an average of 40mpg. If I tried that in my own petrol Focus, I'd probably be looking at little more than 27.

The interior is dominated with a set of fantastically supportive seats, which move every which way, so finding the perfect seating position is easy. The black and grey upholstery looks to be hard wearing although the grey side bolsters will soon get dirty. The rest of the interior is pretty much standard Fabia fare - vast areas of sober plastic and well laid out switchgear.

The stereo is reasonably straightforward to use, although retrieving your CD can be a challenge of Krypton Factor proportions, but as a previous hack had blown one of the speakers, we can't really comment on sound quality.

 Things are more pleasing on the safety front, with driver and passenger airbags and anti-lock brakes coming as standard, but you'll have to fork out extra for side ?bags. Those with young children will be pleased to know that the passenger airbag can be switched off when they are travelling in the front.

All indications point to the vRS being an excellent buy. Weighing in at a shade under £12,000, it's a cheap car given the level of kit and the performance, and industry experts are already saying that the vRS should hold a fair amount of its value, alongside the rest of the range.

If it was my money, I'd have one over any of its rivals - the Golf, Polo, A3, Leon or Ibiza thanks to a combination of sportiness, looks, value and the fact that it's a perfect Q car. Badge snobs beware.

Rivals
You might want to consider:

Volkswagen Polo GTi
Chevrolet Kalos Sport
Mini Cooper

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