Can you make a Skoda Fabia Scout 1.6 TDi genuinely fun to drive day-to-day?

We wanted to know: Can you make an ordinary every day family estate car genuinely fun to drive without compromising its comfort and practicality?

It's common practice, particularly in the UK, to customise and upgrade cars to make them more fun to drive and who can argue with that. If you can increase the enjoyment you get from your daily commute or trip to the supermarket then every trip out becomes something to look forward to rather than a chore.

The aftermarket upgrade sector is where you would go to start the transformation of your car and there are many paths to choose from. The most common involves increasing power - because more power means more fun right? Yes, but it also means more speed. More speed means you need to make the car handle better to cope with the extra power. The most common route to better handling is to fit coilover suspension which will almost certainly improve the speed at which you can take a corner but also involves accepting an element of compromise to daily comfort. On track cars, comfort is not an issue, but for many owners, ride comfort is important with the family on board.

The "fun" part of driving a car comes from feeling connected to what the car is doing, being in control of what's happening, reacting to the feedback from the controls and, for the ultimate thrill, being near the limits of grip and traction - extracting the best from your car and becoming a better driver as a result.

We wanted to know if it's possible to get that pleasure from a 2012 Skoda Fabia Scout 1.6 TDi (which uses the same VAG PQ25 platform as the VW Polo MK5 / 6R and, SEAT Ibiza MK4 / 6J). These cars are known for being very practical and well built but not for the driver enjoyment.