Hi folks.

I'm looking at a Skoda Favorit (I loved the one I had ten years ago!).

Should I be worried about a 115000 mileage?

Thanks.

Geoff.

Ps. any questions I should ask a dealer or seller?

Edited 5 October, 200916 yr by byronbunch
stuff I forgot...

One of my Fels has done 103k, including doing WRGB as a Recce car 3 times. It's still spot on. If it's been looked after, it should be fine.

Our Favorit did 141K and was still going strong when we got rid of it. As long as its been looked after and has a good service history I don't see why not.

Perfectly capable of mega miles, seen a few 200k+ examples first hand that were in fine fettle. If its in good nic and has been looked after theres no reason to be put off by the mileage

Check the clock actually advances, as mine didn't.sometimes and it often missed off adding the miles from many 200+ mile journeys. Apparently the clock had been in this condition for a long time so it's probably done quite a lot more miles than that. I got the original clock up to 111,604, switched the clock for a working one and added on another few thousand miles. I would guess in total (based on how often it seemed to leave miles off the clock the mileage could be somewhere like 130 - 140k maybe more.

The problems I currently have are there is an oil leak which appears to be coming from the crankshaft oil seal (although does not appear to be fouling the clutch or anything at the moment). Also the bodywork has rotted quite a bit on the inner wings requiring welding at last MOT. Give the inner wings a good prod when you look as rust won't necessarily be obvious but when you start smacking it it will give way (good metal won't). They put on this horrible polyurethane sealant and what seems to happen is water gets behind this then stays there causing it to rot away. My guess is a good indicator to the general condition of the inner wings is the ridges left and right of the engine bay which form the rain gutter to keep water out of the engine bay. If these are rust free then you're probably ok.

If it's relatively rust free and no oil leaks and seems to have been looked after I'd definitely not discount it based on the mileage

Good point!!!! I have found mine "stuck" on occassion but jigging the dial

Thanks everyone. Yes. Apparently there is a bit of rust about one of the rear arches, so I'll definitely check the inner wings.

Thanks.

Anewman.

Do you think I shouod be suspicious of a car that's done less than 50K?

If the condition ties up with the mileage, no reason to be suspicious; Favs and Fels were often bought by old dears as retirement cars and a lot have low mileage on them and have been well looked after.

Yep some nice looking low mileage ones turn up now and again. I doubt anyone would go to the effort of clocking one as there isn't much money in it, that said clocking these cars isn't difficult to do. Rear arches are a common rust spot. I found the metal there is extremely thin. Depending on how substantial the rust is some filler might sort it.

Hi Geoff,

High mileage can be a problem with Favorits, as they tend to get abused and run on a shoestring as they get older in a lot of cases. As a result of this they can get very tatty bodily and suffer mechanically as well.

Remember, they are "old school" with regards to both rust and mechanical bits, what I mean by this is if they're serviced right and the body and paint is kept up, they can last very well indeed, but unlike modern hacks, you can't get away with driving them into the ground without fettling.

Personally, I'd bide your time until a low mileage minter comes along, they surface from time to time on ebay etc. Usually when an elderly owner dies or gets beyond driving anymore. Often they have very low mileages and sometimes have lived inside a garage all thier lives!

That said, with any Favorit, high or low mileage you need to check the whole car very carefully for signs of rust, but particularly the following, and remember what you see is normally the tip of the iceburg in that area!

For post 1992 (VW influenced cars) here are the weak points:

* Both rear arches along the seam that runs along the top edge, usually the front half goes first as it got missed by the cavity wax in the factory on all of them! Also look for signs of rust growing out from behind the lower plastic stone guards here.

* Both sills, as the favorit is usually jacked via the jacking points on the sill lips, the paint comes off and they rust out from there, particularly check the rear area of the sill along the inside edge near the rear jacking points, they seem to go worst there. While your under there, check the floor area for signs of damage from incorrect jacking, theres a small box section under the front passenger footwells that gets used for jacking when it shouldn't, inevitably if it does, it gets crushed, usually bends the floor and causes rust!

* With the bonnet open, the condition of the area where the wings bolt to the body along the top edge. Also check the strut top to body bracing metalwork where it meets the inner wheel arch top edge.

* Whilst under the bonnet, look at the seam where the inner wheelarch is welded to the front cross member, you can see it underneath the rear part of the headlight housings, you might want to use a torch, water sits in the seam and rusts it out as it isn't very well sealed from new. Check the under side of this seam from under the wheelarch also.

* Check the doors very carefully for any paint bubbling along the lower centre half of the panels, they can rust out here where the side impact bars press against the outer skin, a half arsed attempt at sealing this joint in the factory, means dirty water sits in the resulting seam and can cause rusting, even very slight paint bubbling means the door will be rusted through shortly!

For Mk1, pre 1992 Favorits check everywhere else very carefully also!

Also look at the sticky post in this section regarding Felicia front strut failure, it happens to Favorits too, so check these for excessive rusting.

Other than that, if it doesn't have any badly repaired accident damage, or has been exposed to excessive stone chipping there's not much else rusts.

Again, they are so cheap to buy now, I'd advise you go for a low mileage minter, you'll only pay about £150 quid more than for an old hack!

Regards

Paul

Edited 8 October, 200916 yr by favguy