ALL that glitters is not gold – and sometimes all that is tarted up like a race-bred track hero is, well, not.

There are plenty of examples of consumer goods available today that sport the look and occasionally the feel of something that functions at a higher level, but those functions are deliberately downplayed.

Sometimes it’s done to hit a price point, and sometimes it’s just done because the maker is fully aware that the client doesn’t want, or even necessarily need, all the performance that the appearance alludes to.

Case in point the Skoda Fabia Monte Carlo. Named after one of the most prestigious and longest-running rally events in the world – and an event where the 120-year-old Skoda brand has actually enjoyed success, albeit in the 1960s and ’70s – the diminutive Fabia comes complete with aero appendages, a lowered stance and the general demeanour of something that’s ready to thrill.

But, quite by design, it’s something else entirely.

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