i have owned a skoda felicia 1999 t reg 1.3 for over 5 years and except for having to cure a rain water leak getting into the passenger footwell when i first bought it i have found the felicia to be a very reliable car the most trouble free vehicle i've ever owned in many years of driving , but i now sadly have to change my car and the car i am thinking of purchasing is a w reg 2000 skoda fabia 1.4 comfort 8 valve . does anyone have any knowledge to compare felicia and fabia regarding any known faults and reliability ? any advice would be greatly appreciated . thank you

i have owned a skoda felicia 1999 t reg 1.3 for over 5 years and except for having to cure a rain water leak getting into the passenger footwell when i first bought it i have found the felicia to be a very reliable car the most trouble free vehicle i've ever owned in many years of driving , but i now sadly have to change my car and the car i am thinking of purchasing is a w reg 2000 skoda fabia 1.4 comfort 8 valve . does anyone have any knowledge to compare felicia and fabia regarding any known faults and reliability ? any advice would be greatly appreciated . thank you

Your Felicia was only 6 years old when you bought it - but you're replacing it with a car that's already 10 years old. I read a report on here in the last few days of one that age with lots of problems - so chose well. I don't have direct experience but would suggest the Fabia being a more recent design is going to be more complicated and hence potentially more hassle when things do go wrong. My experience is that the interlinking of the electronics produces some curious results, and Skoda dealers aren't particularly good when it comes to diagnosing problems...

Skoda dealers aren't particularly good when it comes to diagnosing problems...

Oooo I love that comment

Ive had both in various guises, both have common issues.

Fabia is a better car, but there isnt anything wrong with a Felicia by far, great sturdy cars.

Our 2001 MPi has been on the whole pretty reliable but it is a basic classic model so very little in the way of frills (until I added them..lol)

I moved from a 1994 Favorit Estate (the car the Felicia was based on) to a 1.4mpi Fabia Hatch (based on the 1.3 engine used in the Favorit and Felicia etc). On the Favorit I had a leak into the boot that I could only seem to reduce and never fully cure. The Fabia has leaked through both rear doors (common problem) but relatively easy fix. There seems to be a slight leak from driver's door too so may need to seal that up. The Favorit was very reliable and never broke down, although I did put a good bit of effort into maintenance.

MPG is poorer, I suspect due to goodies like power steering and ABS eating the power a little, the increased combustion size, and increased weight of the car.

You get a bit less road noise and it feels a bit stiffer/more tame on the corners (probably due to the Anti-Roll Bar as well as a stiffer body), but it probably still isn't the best cornering car out there. Although there was something appealing about the body roll in the Favorit.

I would say for DIY on the Fabia VCDS and a laptop are rather more useful than they are on the Felicia.

The 1.4mpi was apparently more prone to head gasket failure with an updated head gasket being made.

If I was looking for another Fabia I'd probably be after the 1.2 htp or 1.9sdi for better MPG and I believe lower road tax.

having vagcom and a reasonably good noggin about cars can mean owning a 10 year old Fabia isn't too much of a hardship. At least thats the way I like to think of it with my car which will be celebrating its 10th birthday in April 2011.

http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/181083-how-reliable-is-your-fabia-vrs/page__view__findpost__p__2184495

HTH