I think Fashion Julz has a point about the brakes.

When I got mine the pedal was a little weak (according to my dad) but changing the front discs, pads and master cylinder cured it and the pedal felt a lot stronger.

The sunroof does lift out on the Felly, on the Favorit to have to unscrew it from the hinge.

Handling.......well I managed to spin my Felly a day after getting it!!! (I worked on an industrial park and the car spun on a wet bend but no traffic luckily!!!)

But the reason for that was a little too quick on a damp-wet bend. I never did that again.

I drove a Corsa whilst my Fellys wing was being changed and the corsa felt wider and offered little steering feel despite being a 54 plate car. The Fiesta is the supermini of choice if you want real fun.

Apart from that I could hustle it along on a fast A-Road/motorway and it never dissappointed.

Going to a Favorit was about the same but no power steering. This one is fun to drive.

I know I said I love my Favorit and Felicia.

I did used to have an Astra (1995 shape) That was a good car. Never broke down, cruised with ease and still only had minimal equipment only had PAS and an Airbag.

After that got written off I was looking for a Fiesta but as i didnt have the budget I got a Felicia. It did take a bit of time to get used to it as I was like the Astra was better I missed that car yadda yadda yadda but as I worked on it doing things here and there it grew on me.

The Favorit I bought at a bargain price and was lucky enough to get it! Although I would like a "better" or "newer" car like the Passat my sister borrowed for a few months I just like the way my skoda handles and does things plus I can work on her with basic tools!

Not all parts are cheap........the fuel pump went and a new one of them is about £200 or maybe £200+ from my local dealer. Luckily if you can call round scrappers or someone breaking then these parts can be sourced at a more bargain bucket price.

I'm lucky my local dealer is quite reasonable on parts I get most my stuff from them (Parkside), online or Jorily. Most of the work my mechanic does but again Parkside are competitve on price too.

BTW Tell your GF a Felicia is a mans car :P either that or she has great car taste

I think Fashion Julz has a point about the brakes.

FUSHION Julz...please!!

When I got mine the pedal was a little weak (according to my dad) but changing the front discs, pads and master cylinder cured it and the pedal felt a lot stronger.

on the last Felicia we had (a 1998 GLXi estate) I changed all the pads/shoes AND the fluid AND both rear wheel cylinders (due to seized and eventually snapped bleed nipples)...Made bugger all difference to the *feel* of the pedal...Basically the brakes are over-servoed...Makes them efficient under little pressure (so great for women, I suppose, who can't or won't push as hard), but the over side of that coin is that they feel dead...hard to tell how much pressure is required.

The sunroof does lift out on the Felly, on the Favorit to have to unscrew it from the hinge.

How? I've tried, I've read the manual...It looks to me that the hinges are fixed to the roof and screwed to the glass sunroof plate...Yes, it probably could be unscrewed, but it isn't a lift out in a jiffy job...Unless you can tell me different!

Handling.......well I managed to spin my Felly a day after getting it!!! (I worked on an industrial park and the car spun on a wet bend but no traffic luckily!!!)

But the reason for that was a little too quick on a damp-wet bend. I never did that again.

Snap oversteer...keep the right foot planted...but then you may understeer into the kerb...

As I said, not the greatest handling...

I suspect that changing the spring rate, lowering the car and polybushing the front, at least, would help...The centre of gravity is a bit high and the front lacks dynamic stability...

BTW Tell your GF a Felicia is a mans car :P either that or she has great car taste

lol...not sure she would appreciate that (or care)...she isn't much of a car enthusiast at all...

The reason we sold the old (black) GLXi estate was that I bought a very cheap BMW E30 320 Touring...In nearly mint body condition, but a flat battery...She decided she would drive that instead, so we sold the Felicia (£800ish) and made a £400ish profit (BMW cost £225 plus a battery, couple of small bits and MoT)...

After a year, despite the BMW being reliable (just a new fuel line needed for the 2nd MoT), she decided she didn't like the higher insurance and petrol costs...so we sold the BMW (£700ish) and bought another Felicia estate (the SLXi we now have) for £500ish...

Only this one has a different subset of faults...

The old one had a (very) leaky sunroof and a leaky windscreen (n/s corner) that together made the fusebox wet...Also had various loose bits of trim and the 'stat housing needed changing due to a duff 'stat and poor design of helicoils...

It also had seized brake nipples and a few other random faults (but little rust).

The new one has most of the above (although some judicious adjustment has cured the sunroof leak and the windscreen leaks on the o/s so the fusebox remains dry (whoopee-do).

However it also has a stripped o/s front door winder mech...so the window won't wind up from the very bottom (a bolt in the right place as a stop is a temporary cure).

Also, annoyingly, it has a fair amount of rust...rear arches, front wings by the bumper mounts and spring seats (cured)...Yet it has less miles (at <70K) than either the BMW 320 (125K+) and the old Felicia (80K+)...

By far the worst thing, though, is the cost of parts....and the availability of same...

You can prob take the door apart to fix the window winder.

The sunroof.

Get a screwdriver (flat) and open the sunroof.

Just where the Rotating wheel thing is stick the screwdriver in and it should just unclip

Then lift the sunroof out complete with the hinge, i'm sure thats how the glass company did it!

On the Fav you need to unscrew the actual sunroof from the hinge but otherwise is pretty much the same to remove as the Felicia.

Being able to remove the sunroof glass is a bit of a bonus on a sunny day. I wished I had realised this technique before I got rid of mine! My sister did this a couple of times in hers.

Rust wise with a Felly - if you get one that has been looked after it makes a big difference. A bit of grinding and hammerite should keep it going for a bit.

OMG! I didn't know about this... will give it a go tomorrow if it isn't raining!

Phil

You can prob take the door apart to fix the window winder.

[\quote]

Tried that. The toothed winder strip is dead!

The sunroof.

Get a screwdriver (flat) and open the sunroof.

Just where the Rotating wheel thing is stick the screwdriver in and it should just unclip

Then lift the sunroof out complete with the hinge, i'm sure thats how the glass company did it!

On the Fav you need to unscrew the actual sunroof from the hinge but otherwise is pretty much the same to remove as the Felicia.

Bit of a faff having to use a screwdriver though, innit?

Not if you have one in the car anyway as I always do!

Phil

Then you need a new winder thing.

Prob best off finding someone who is scrapping a Felicia. Had i not sold mine it might have been fun taking more bits off!!!

And playing with screwdrivers and powertools is well fun, especially if you like to do a lot of drilling and screwing........................

Some people will try and justify anything, eh?

The sunroof doesn't lift out (for a normal user)...in other words my non-technical g/f wouldn't be able to remove the roof...and, quite frankly, although I may well be able to, I wouldn't as a regular ting if the use of a screwdriver was required each time!

Yes, I know I need a new window winder mech...

It was just my point, really...loads of bits are falling apart at 70K miles...and THAT is VAG build quality!!

lol

Clicky

Follow Phils guide and you'll be able to get the sunroof off.

It literally takes me 30 seconds to get the roof off and in the boot!

lol

Phil

I would use the ignition key - no need for a screw driver. See the Felicia is now a sports car!

Understeer - if you're talking about a stock secondhand Felly or Fav, bear in mind that most of them will have been fitted with cheap rubbish tyres 'cos that's what most people put on cheap cars. Spend a little more on the best treads you can find and the difference will not be subtle.

And indeed the whole mindset of 'oh, it's a cheap car, let's not do any maintenance' affects models like that in general.

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...

;)You need an Estelle! :P

;)You need an Estelle! :P

Had one...

It was quite a late car, a 105s was the last, and it handled not too bad at all...Yes it would have the swing axle tuck-in but you had to get pretty extreme before that would happen...I thought it was quite throttle controllable...It understeered intially, but giving it some welly would straighten it out...

As for the tyres, the fronts are decent Pirelli P3000 and the rears are Fulda (can't recall the type)....

PS: fixed the CV drive shaft boot and the ABS sensor today....Neither job went perfectly, but I now expect things to be stuck, rusted or just badly assembled!

Edited 6 September, 200916 yr by fushion julz

I have Fuldas on the back of my car. The Ecocontacts I think,

Yeah, think they're the ones!

Been following this with some interest and good to see the respective

views about the good and bad of the felicia.

It has now been ten years since I bought brand new my 1.3 carb Felicia

over here in Malta only two versions 1.3 GLX and 1.3 LX were imported

mine is the cheapo LX but as already mentioned nothing on it to break.

The car is serviced by the book and it never missed a beat, parts I replaced

are normal wear and tear parts, this summer I replaced the disc brakes

after 10 years and only the second set of brake pads. I did replace the thermostat

a couple of years ago and I admit that was the only time I was shocked when

I was asked for 60 Euros but it's a complete unit. The dealer here stocks every

single part and are very reasonably priced.

What I found strange was the interior falling off, maybe I got lucky as nothing

from mine fell off and still look as good as when it was new with no rattles

what so ever and roads in Malta are not the best.

Coming to the issue of rust after I had the felicia for about a year I started noticing

older Felicia's and Favourit's with rust round the rear window, went and bought a tin

of waxoil removed the rear panel and sprayed ( emptied the whole can in there)

worked a treat as there is no sign of rust. Unfortunatley as also mentioned in

another thread I now have a rust hole under the washer a bottle as it started

to leak some time ago and I did not replace it in time as I did not believe it would

damage the inner wing considering the very small amount it leaked and the engine

heath will dry it out. this now have to be fixed properly, rust cut out and new metal

welded in.

I did not buy the Felicia to drive fast and go round corners, I wanted something

reliable to use every day and it is doing that with ease. For a bit more fun I have

a 1600 XR3I MK3 Escort convertable which I use on sunny weekends and

although it is a lot faster and makes me feel younger you cannot drive the Escort

all day as you drive the Felicia, in and out of parking bays / shop to shop with the

Mrs as it is more tireing.

So yes I am very happy with my Felicia.

Removed by self

Edited 15 September, 200916 yr by favguy
Think I'm getting too opinionated in my old age! lol

Hey Chaz,

I'm surprized you get any rust in Malta, I thought the climate meant almost nothing rusted ever, when I was over there I saw 30 year old stuff everywhere, lots of dents sometimes, but no rust!

Best regards

Paul

I've now parted with my top of the range 1.6 SLXi which I ran for over 4 years. If only I could go back in time and tell the VW team how they could make this a better car. It was so nearly a great car. I loved driving it and it was really comfortable. The spec was comprehensive. It started first time, was nippy and reasonably economical. I will eventually make a last post about what I think you need to look for when buying one.

Hey Chaz,

I'm surprized you get any rust in Malta, I thought the climate meant almost nothing rusted ever, when I was over there I saw 30 year old stuff everywhere, lots of dents sometimes, but no rust!

Best regards

Paul

Definetly cars last longer and rust less over here, unfortunatley the favorit's and

Felicia's still rusted round the rear window over here, but I definetly think the

ammount of rust proofing they got from the factory is not the same because I know

of some Favourit;s and Felicia's that never had any rust round the rear window

yet others had.