But are Skodas designed to be hard to fix, expensive and with limited parts availability?

My g/f likes her Felicia estate...in fact, after selling her old one and running a BMW 3 series touring for a year she decided that the Felicia was better (for her)...

I have had loads of BMWs and rarely had issues with fixing them...

After fighting the front struts on the Felicia (total time taken to replace both = 11hrs) and now needing an ABS sensor too I'm wondering if they are designed purposfully like that...

The ABS sensor costs £90 from a dealer (next day)...Yes, Jorilly quoted £65ish (plus postage), but need 3 working days to deliver...

My E36 needs one too...cost for that: £54 from the dealer (same day) or £35 from ECP (same day)...

The previous Felicia had a stuck thermostat..never had so much hassle in changing a 'stat...firstly the helicoil (metal in a plastic housing ffs) came out with the bolt...Then I find that you can't get a repair part for the housing, but have to spend £65 on a new housing!!

Had 2 new tyres fitted to the front last week...Cue strange knocking noise at certain wheel angles...Errr...the tyre fitter had used clip-on balance weights on the alloys (SLXi standard fitment wheels) and the wheel is SO close to the steering track rod end balljoint that the balance weight is hitting the knuckle when the wheel is turned at certain angles...

Of course he *should* have used stick-on weights, but that is just silly having so little clearance! What was wrong with an extra mm or two offset to allow for that?

Things seem to break easily on the Skoda...window winder is fecked on the drivers' door (won't go all the way down without not being able to come back up), centre vent is loose, rear parcel shelf straps consistantly break (why plastic?), windscreens and sunroofs leak, everything seems to rust up so easily...It has only done 70K miles in 11yrs...Last one was about the same mileage, too and had similar issues...

Might just be you :P

On a serious note.

Rust is a common problem with any car, once it takes hold you can keep it at bay depending how good you are with bodywook and tools.

I had a 1.6GLXi (no ABS) until the head gasket blew was a reliable car and cheap to maintain.

Now I have a Favorit 1.3 which you can take apart with screwdrivers and spanners as theres very little electrics plus its cheap to fix and has less rust than my previous Felly despite being older.

The clearance....take the car back and point it out. I never had any problems with my tyres.

Leaks....speaking of leaks my sunroof leaked on my Felly but that was cured after cleaning the seals and you just reminded me of my Favorit sunroof which started leaking a little this week!! Time for a good clean and a new seal.

As for being awkward to fix and parts availability...must depend where you are.

I'll admit yes I have to wait for some of my parts but thats not a major problem for me.

i dont agree, 98 felicia pickup, 128k miles. parts are fairly easy get, cheap ( try buyin VW parts ) and easy to work on. i have found a small leak on the windscreen seal, but hell she 11 years old and before i got it, it got abused. i'll stick with skoda, the older type anyway.

felicia's are really simple and they are dead easy to work on.. tbh if you think they are bad then you should try driving a fiat or similar

Might just be you :P

On a serious note.

Rust is a common problem with any car, once it takes hold you can keep it at bay depending how good you are with bodywook and tools.

Yes of course rust *can* be a serious problem with any car, but I've had many cars (including a few Fiats and Alfas), but at <12yrs old I wouldn't expect anything more than surface rust, really...Completely rusted out spring pans, fairly seriously rusty rear arches, bubbles on the front wings, etc...Much worse (by a long way) than my older BMW E36 and even worse than my 22year old BMW M3...Even my 500K mile 1987 Mercedes 609D panel van (which is pretty rusty) isn't as bad as the 2 Felicias I have known!

I had a 1.6GLXi (no ABS) until the head gasket blew was a reliable car and cheap to maintain.

Now I have a Favorit 1.3 which you can take apart with screwdrivers and spanners as theres very little electrics plus its cheap to fix and has less rust than my previous Felly despite being older.

The clearance....take the car back and point it out. I never had any problems with my tyres.

Leaks....speaking of leaks my sunroof leaked on my Felly but that was cured after cleaning the seals and you just reminded me of my Favorit sunroof which started leaking a little this week!! Time for a good clean and a new seal.

Well, at least the leaks aren't just on our ones, then! Must be a Skoda problem in general, as I've NEVER had a BMW roof leak, even ones that are fairly rusty don't leak!

In fact, the only leaky roof I've ever previously encountered was on a Peugeot 505 where the roof had been damaged, most likely through a forced entry...

As for being awkward to fix and parts availability...must depend where you are.

I'll admit yes I have to wait for some of my parts but thats not a major problem for me.

I'm in Reading, Slough or Surbiton areas...

Until this year there wasn't a Skoda dealer in Reading at all...The nearest one, or at least the easiest to get to, was in Hersham (A E Witham) who, to be fair, are superbly efficient and knowledgeable...But there are even 2 Aston Martin dealers closer than a Skoda one (used to be)...

The point really is that a car that is only out of production for 8 years or so shouldn't be so hard to get fairly ordinary service parts for and the cost is in Jap car territory!

I'm still stunned by the cost of an ABS sensor...can't believe the £90 :eek:

Yes the insurance is cheap for the Felicia, but it isn't especially economical and everything else about it (driving position, performance, cost of maintenence, longevity and residual value) is worse than my BMW...

@mac77...I'd be pretty horrified if my 14yr old BMW with 170K miles on the clock had a windscreen leak, tbh and I thought Skoda was part of VAG so parts should be much the same sort of price and availability?

I used to have a Mk1 Golf GTi...parts weren't to bad...more than BMW, for sure, but there are loads of specialists who stock almost everything you could ever need..even on a Sunday! Couldn't find a couple of (what I call service parts: ABS sensor, CV gaiter) even on a Monday!

felicias are easy to take apart, about the most simple car i have ever worked on.

i dont think its fair to pitch the felicia against a bmw. look at the original purches price for the two cars new..... not really fair.

True say Mr Pink skud.

It's not just Skodas that leak.

My cousin has a problem with his VW Golf mk4, door seals leaking.

My Dad had a leaky Bedford Midi

Residual value.....I bought my Felicia for £745 and a year later it got pranged. The insurers were going to write it off for £1100.... But they are cheap to buy, run and maintain.

Driving position.....you must be really tall or so

mething as I didnt have a problem with mine and it got 40mpg, 42 on good runs.

I haven't driven a BMW. Merc or premium brands.

Either you are unlucky in your buying of your Felicia or you're expecting too much from a cheapy car.

Or maybe the reason nothing or very little goes wrong on my car including my current Fav is because theres nothing on it to break!!

Well now im going to be accused of being biased yadda yadda yadda. But screw it, I love my little Skoda despite what people say about it!!

If you dont like the car then don't buy/drive it as you'll just always find fault with it.

The Felicia is simple to work on, and 11 hours to replace 2 front dampers?

I haven't struggled to work on Favorits or Felicias and my knowledge is fairly limited! Having upgraded to an Octavia its a different matter. One thing I would say is the Favorit and Felicias I had were as reliable as the Octavia is, if not better!

Ive found that the parts dont need replacing that often so when they do fix em and get them done properly

Cant beat German Build Quality

True say Mr Pink skud.

It's not just Skodas that leak.

My cousin has a problem with his VW Golf mk4, door seals leaking.

My Dad had a leaky Bedford Midi

wow..good to know another modern VAG car has leaking issues!

Residual value.....I bought my Felicia for £745 and a year later it got pranged. The insurers were going to write it off for £1100.... But they are cheap to buy, run and maintain.

Driving position.....you must be really tall or so

mething as I didnt have a problem with mine and it got 40mpg, 42 on good runs.

I haven't driven a BMW. Merc or premium brands.

Either you are unlucky in your buying of your Felicia or you're expecting too much from a cheapy car.

Or maybe the reason nothing or very little goes wrong on my car including my current Fav is because theres nothing on it to break!!

Well, my 1996 E36 328i BMW cost me £750..It has sports leather, OBC, electric sunroof, 4 electric windows, ABS, LSD, but no ASC+T or aircon...

It does 28mpg on average and will manage 30mpg+ on a long motorway run..It has a 24V 2.8litre 6 cyl motor that I know will last over 250,000 miles (currently on 170K). It also has no discernible rust...Perhaps the odd spot, but nothing major...

My g/fs 1998 Felicia has non of those things other than ABS...but the trim breaks easily, it has plenty of rust, leaky bits, etc...

However, we did buy it for <£500

Non of those things are what I was really moaning about, either...

It is no different to work on than the BMW...maybe it is a *bit* harder due to the fact you have to be more careful, especially with trim parts as they break so easily...But on a sample of 2 (I know, not that representative) they do seem to break more...

My real gripe is the cost of the mechanical bits and the fact that you can't get service items (like the ABS sensor) from aftermarket factors like GSF or ECP...

I didn't mention driving position (did I?), but for me, I find the angle of the pedals all wrong...Would be OKish if the seat adjusted up and down more, but it isn't too bad...I can deal with it (I'm 6ft, btw)...

Positive things about it are the space, especially in the back, the load space for a small car is superb, too...

Well now im going to be accused of being biased yadda yadda yadda. But screw it, I love my little Skoda despite what people say about it!!

If you dont like the car then don't buy/drive it as you'll just always find fault with it.

Given the choice I wouldn't have bought one...and now I know the cost of the parts, I'll likely not buy one again (although I like the look of the new Yeti)...

However, my g/f likes them and, for her currently living in London, it is affordable to insure...

I've had older Skodas before...I had a S110R...fantastic design let down by evil handling and not enough power...I also had an Estelle 105S...that was really good at being rust-resistant and survived on almost zero maintenance until the nasty 3-bearing crank broke!!

But parts for those were (at the time) pretty cheap, being Communistic built...They were also plentiful in scrappies...when scrappies were plentiful, too...

BTW Pinkskud...

I followed the link to your other forum (I think it's yours) and found a list of parts that are supposedly from other VAG cars fitted to Felicias...It said the ABS sensor came from a Polo...

It doesn't..I went to my friendly man at GSF and he got a couple of different ones out for me to look at...The 95-00 Polo one may fit (in the hole), but it isn't the same and the cable and connections are all different...

Shame, cos the Polo ones can be had for <£20 each!!

Ive found that the parts dont need replacing that often so when they do fix em and get them done properly

Cant beat German Build Quality

lol...

Just been to pick up my parts (ABS sensor, CV gaiter and a set of new brake bleed nipples)...

all made in....

HUNGARY!!

The Felicia is simple to work on, and 11 hours to replace 2 front dampers?

I know...only it ain't really funny...

The seized bolts were killers...took ages to get the feckers out.

i can bye a p38 range rover for £3000. but it is still a £50,000 car, with £50,000 built quality.

if you catch my drift.

i'll have a look t the other site list. not been on for ages.

This is quite an interesting thread. I honestly don't think you can compare a BMW to a Skoda, they are in different sections of the car market and priced accordingly too. I believe Skoda's do very well considering their position in the car market. An even comparison between a Skoda Felicia and something else would be a Ford Fiesta, Peugeot 106 etc. Comparing it to a BMW is a bit different!

I have been in a number of BMW's and I do like them alot. I have driven a 3 series, been in a friends Z3, and 3 series cabriolet, although I wouldn't compare their build quality to a Felicia. My sisters M reg Ford Fiesta might be a better comparison, so that compared to my old R reg Felicia 1.6 might more reasonable. In terms of this I would put reliability as about the same, performance better on the Felicia side of things due to multi point Injection and overhead Cam (and a few more cc's!), compared to an OHV engine, and in terms of the quality of the trim, the Skoda would win! Overall they are about the same, and considering a Fiesta was priced about the same in the mid 90's that would be fair.

More food for thought.

Might just be you :P

On a serious note.

Rust is a common problem with any car, once it takes hold you can keep it at bay depending how good you are with bodywook and tools.

I had a 1.6GLXi (no ABS) until the head gasket blew was a reliable car and cheap to maintain.

Now I have a Favorit 1.3 which you can take apart with screwdrivers and spanners as theres very little electrics plus its cheap to fix and has less rust than my previous Felly despite being older.

The clearance....take the car back and point it out. I never had any problems with my tyres.

Leaks....speaking of leaks my sunroof leaked on my Felly but that was cured after cleaning the seals and you just reminded me of my Favorit sunroof which started leaking a little this week!! Time for a good clean and a new seal.

As for being awkward to fix and parts availability...must depend where you are.

I'll admit yes I have to wait for some of my parts but thats not a major problem for me.

Just a tip....I cured my sunroof leak by applying silicone 'grease' to the part of the seal that leaked....also I needed new front pads....none of my [6] local factors stocked them[& I thought it was a popular/plentiful simple car??? got them in next town eventually{long way on a bike!] @ twice the price of my Landrover pads [which were twice the size:rotz:]

fighting the front struts on the Felicia (total time taken to replace both = 11hrs)

Yes, but they fit the same way as most cars out there and if the one you happen to be working on is rusted up then it will take a long time and a lot of swearing. And never go near any car over 10 years old without a tin of Plus Gas.

Leaking sunroof: by far the best stuff I've tried is Comma 'Seak'n'Seal', which is a sticky liquid that stays liquid. Silicone never seems to seal them up, quite. I hate sunroofs, they always leak after about 10-12 years, and since I usually buy cars at about that age, and most of the ones I've bought have had a sunroof.....

Yes, but they fit the same way as most cars out there and if the one you happen to be working on is rusted up then it will take a long time and a lot of swearing. And never go near any car over 10 years old without a tin of Plus Gas.

Leaking sunroof: by far the best stuff I've tried is Comma 'Seak'n'Seal', which is a sticky liquid that stays liquid. Silicone never seems to seal them up, quite. I hate sunroofs, they always leak after about 10-12 years, and since I usually buy cars at about that age, and most of the ones I've bought have had a sunroof.....

Is this available from Halfords or any auto shop?

I currently have matchsticks in my seal to try and close the gaps but it's not 100% effective!!!

The one crucial thing to remember is that the felicia is that it has oodles of character and is a very fun little car to drive. I really enjoy mine and don't even have to drive hard/fast to do that in it which is great.

Have always found it easy to work on and have done some pretty in-depth repairs that I always struggled with on other cars or wouldn't even have attempted.

Price wise for parts etc I think it's average but wouldn't say they were cheap or expensive really.

Think with all cars the felicia had a couple of design flaws and common problems but don't all cars. It's just that the Felicia's weak spot is it's rust proofing (inside of tailgate, rear arches and suspension struts).

Phil

Comma seak n seal is horrible gunk...I've used it in the past and a) it only partially works and stains paintwork

My fix for the leaking sunroof was to replace the seal...That works, but the real problem is that the design of the tilt-only roof is poor with the fixing hinges too far inboard allowing the glass section to not follow the sit-on seal contour...

Tis also a pain that it doesn't slide nor lift out!

Glad to see that someone else had the "expensive and hard to find parts" issue...(not just me, you see)

The thing about build quality is, Skoda are now part of VAG and you would have expected (well I would, anyway) better build quality than the old communistic era cars...Only IMHO, it isn't any better...certainly not in the trim and fittings department!

As for the fitting of the struts...It isn't the same on all cars...Most cars have the ability to replace the damper insert rather than the whole strut (but I'm glad in this case that Skoda did go for a sealed unit as it was a rusted spring pan NOT a failed damper that caused the replacement issue)...Also most cars do NOT have a single bolt clamp arrangement...However, the type of fixing is almost irrelevant...

At 70K miles and under 12years old I wouldn't have expected it to rust so badly...

It is a case of incompatible metals reacting...A galvanised bolt would have solved the problem...Even a silicone plastic sleeve in the base of the damper may have alleviated the worst effects of time and corrosion...

My point was that my 170K mile and 13year old BMW suffers no such issues and neither did my (long gone) older Mk2 Golf or even older Mk3 Escort...The Golf leaked, sure enough, and the interior was shoddy, but mechanically it was a tank...and cheap enough to fix and maintain!! The Escort cost more in parts, but was more watertight and better assembled.

The Felicia isn't a great handling car...Understeers like a pig, is a bit asthmatic and has wooden brakes...

The steering is nice, though, and it swallows a fair sized load for a "small" car...

I gotta say, personally I wouldn't buy another, though...For the hassle involved it isn't worth it and the cheap purchase price is way offset by the expensive parts...

For a small, cheap car I'd go for a Golf or Astra or maybe a Peugeot 206 or 306

For a better load carrier I'd go for an older Freelander or maybe a Daihatsu Fourtrak or a BMW E34 touring

The Felicia isn't a great handling car...Understeers like a pig, is a bit asthmatic and has wooden brakes...

The steering is nice, though, and it swallows a fair sized load for a "small" car...

For a small, cheap car I'd go for a Golf or Astra or maybe a Peugeot 206 or 306

For a better load carrier I'd go for an older Freelander or maybe a Daihatsu Fourtrak or a BMW E34 touring

I think it handles pretty well. You've just got to know what you can and can't do with it? :P

But agree with the understeer but but don't really push it but only find it understeers in the wet and never really feel it in the dry.

In regards to it being asthmatic... your obviously driving it wrong and my brakes are bloody brilliant and stop the car very well/quickly!

Think you should wipe the Pug 206 and 306 of that list unless you want more electrical problems that you can shake a stick at?!!

I think the point I'm trying to make here is that yes it has all these faults and is FAR FAR FAR from perfect but I still love them!

I think it handles pretty well. You've just got to know what you can and can't do with it? :P

But agree with the understeer but but don't really push it but only find it understeers in the wet and never really feel it in the dry.

Of course, every chassis has its' limitations, but it understeers terminally...even in the dry! If you don't push it, you'll never find out how the car really handles... I prefer my cars to be as neutral as possible...At the limit controllable oversteer is far preferable to understeer...

The problem with the Felicia is that the 13" wheels aren't really big enough for the weight of the car...Lift off on the limit (understeering) and you get snap oversteer...In a FWD car, that ain't good, cos the only way it is going to end is badly!

In regards to it being asthmatic... your obviously driving it wrong and my brakes are bloody brilliant and stop the car very well/quickly!

Sorry...for a 1.6 injected motor, it is asthmatic...It only revs to 5.5K and runs out of puff at 4750...peak power is somewhere around 4250-4500rpm...Saving grace is a flatish torque curve and decent gearing.

I used to have a 1960s carburettor Hillman minx with a 1500cc OHV motor that produced more than the quoted 75bhp the Felicia does!

The brakes do work well...never said they didn't...but they feel woodem. there is little feel (they are way over-servoed)

Think you should wipe the Pug 206 and 306 of that list unless you want more electrical problems that you can shake a stick at?!!

I think the point I'm trying to make here is that yes it has all these faults and is FAR FAR FAR from perfect but I still love them!

Peugeots are renowned for poor electrics...But then so are E39 BMWs and XJ40 Jags...but they aren't that bad...I'd rather deal with a dodgy speedo connection or duff central locking than rusty spring pans!!

I know that people on this forum would be Skoda lovers in general and Felicia lovers (or Favorit lovers) in particular...

But that doesn't make them the best car even in their class, unfortunately...

However, we have one at the moment, My g/f needs an estate to haul her massage table around, and she likes the Skoda Felicia...hence we have the best model we could get (SLXi estate)...

Agree with you entirely there. It does understeer more than it should and more than a lot of other similar sized/aged cars but I can still get it round some tight twisties pretty quick if I want and have kept up/gone faster than a few other newer/more powerful cars while out on Brisky drives.

I find that my little 1.3 SPi moves pretty well and I don't have to puch her hard to get moving at a decent pace... it is also nice to get her reving right up to 6k sometimes too! Having never driven a 1.6 before I can't really compare them though. The 1.6 only has 6bhp more and is slightly heavier too!

Phil

Can't say I agree with the original post - the Felicia isn't a difficult car to work on in any way, shape or form - I've owned a hideous amount of cars, and I can think of few that are easier to work on than the Fel. There are some parts which are a bit pricey, and availability of some is quite difficult now, which is shocking (1.3 engine parts aren't something that main stealers will help you with, for instance), but they are very good for what they are, a simple reliable old thing that you can drive for ever.

I drove one 4400 miles to Banjul, including the Sahara, no problems. I have another one which is totally standard aside from a sumpguard, and it's done the recce for Rally GB three times without needing anything doing to it.

The build quality of the Felicias is WAY better than the pre-VW Favorits (I owned one of those as a rally car, and the difference is night and day, particularly in terms of the quality of the electrics). Yes, the clearance on the alloys is narrow, but a decent tyre fitter should check for that - it's hardly the only car that suffers from this.

I think you need to compare like with like - if you compare a Fel with (say) a Fiesta or something else of similar vintage, generally the Felicias will be a much better, nicer car. If understeer is a problem, it's nothing that a decent set of tyres and better suspension won't sort out, along with different driving technique, but that's hardly the point for most people.

If you want cars that are particularly designed in a cynical "self-destructive" manner, then try a later VAG car; I had a Fabia briefly and I'd NEVER own another, it was a hateful little car in every respect. Look at a Focus - there are plenty of things on there which are designed to need expensive bespoke tools, for no real reason, or which are single-use. Now THAT is the kind of car that's designed not to be worked on by amateurs (along with most modern cars, to be fair). And the Peugeot 306 I've fixed this morning for a friend is a far more rust-filled beast in terms of front hub/knuckle. Oh, and has an outer CV that's part of the driveshaft, nice way to spend lots of money there....

Oh, and has an outer CV that's part of the driveshaft, nice way to spend lots of money there....

Yup! So did my Citroen ZX... 90 odd quid a pop for those!

Phil