Hi There,

I've just joind these forums cos I'm thinking about buying a skoda in the near future, our (mine and the misses) current vehcles are costing too much to keep on the road and we reckon a skoda could be the right kind of all round car we're looking for.

We could realy do with an estate but not too large as I'll be using it daily for work, and we think probably diesel as we'd like to run it on bio-fuel and be a bit greener (can you tell we're from Totnes yet ?). It's also got be OK for doing motorway runs up to visit relle's as far off as Derby a few times each year loaded up with all the stuff having young kids seems to involve (mostly day-glo plastic).

So I've been looking arround and I've found this on ebay:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=4567653982

it looks like a good buy to me, but as I'm new to skodas I could be very wrong, any advise/opinions etc greatfully recived.

Cheers,

Phill.

Hello and welcome!

I'm not an expert (there are of course experts on here), but can tell you that Skoda's do meet the requirement for both motorway and family cars, especially including value for money. Perhaps you can review some of the threads in the forums of the cars you are considering?

As for buying from eBay, this is a very different issue involving many considerations.

:wavey:

Mo

:wavey: I assume thats from Totnes, Devon? Welcome fellow Devonian!

I don't think that Felicia is worth 2.5k, sorry. Might be better off looking a little higher for an Octavia, or maybe a Fabia estate?

I've never thought about buying car off ebay... but get it AA checked, and straight down to dealers for once over and looks like youve got yourself a really well looked adfter car there

My first Skoda was a diesel Felicia, and it was a good honest car. Performance from the indirect injection engine wasn't sparkling (i.e. overtaking on a motorway could get downright embarrassing!), and I struggled to get to 50 mpg. When I traded it for a Fabia TDI I found the car much more satisfying to drive, and it never got less than 50 mpg.

I'd go for a Fabia TDI Estate if you really need the loadspace. They've been around since about 2001 so early models may be in your range. I have run both my TDI and my current vRS on a biodiesel blend and find they run better with it than without it.

I've never been a fan of the SDI diesel - maybe I've been spoilt by turbos.

Hope that helps,

Bryan

:wavey: I assume thats from Totnes, Devon? Welcome fellow Devonian!

Sure is, in deepest darkest south hams.

I don't think that Felicia is worth 2.5k, sorry. Might be better off looking a little higher for an Octavia, or maybe a Fabia estate?

I think the Octavia would be a bit big for us at the moment, my job often involves driving arround Torbay and big car makes this much harder, I think it'll be either a Felicia or Fabia estate, quite fancy the Turbo Diesel Fabia but they're just that bit more expensive, so probably a late Felicia like the one on ebay would be best, all the other deisels I've seen in this price range all have high milage, I'll keep looking arround, I'm not in a rush at the moment.

My first Skoda was a diesel Felicia' date=' and it was a good honest car. Performance from the indirect injection engine wasn't sparkling (i.e. overtaking on a motorway could get downright embarrassing!), and I struggled to get to 50 mpg. When I traded it for a Fabia TDI I found the car much more satisfying to drive, and it never got less than 50 mpg.

I'd go for a Fabia TDI Estate if you really need the loadspace. They've been around since about 2001 so early models may be in your range. I have run both my TDI and my current vRS on a biodiesel blend and find they run better with it than without it.

I've never been a fan of the SDI diesel - maybe I've been spoilt by turbos.

Hope that helps,

Bryan[/quote']

Thanks Bryan, really usefull info, sounds like it'll be worth me shopping around a bit more to see if I can pick up a Fabia TDi,

Cheers,

Phill

If moneys tight do you know anyone in the trade & if yes have you thought of a Salvage car, found this after a quick search, not too expensive to fix with s/hand parts, a good trawl on the net might find some better bargains.

http://www.rothervalleymotorsalvage.co.uk/salvage_page_2.htm

Scroll down until you find the Red Skoda, then click on the picture for more pictures

If you do a search for Felicias they are really cheap

When money was tight a few years ago I bought a salvage car, saved thousands & it ran perfectly for 4 years.

Only thing to remember is its worth less when you sell it but when you get down to the lower priced cars it evens out. If you do go this route always take detailed photos before the works done so you can proove how light the damage was. Remember if this car was newer it have been repaired, its pure economics that rights them off

Thanks everyone for the advise, I do have a mate in the car trade and I'll check the idea of a salvage car with him, he recently repaired a VW camper and it looked imaculate, he sold it for a good price to, so definately an option.

If not I think it'll have to be a late felicia GLi, they meet all my requirments and and much cheaper than the fabia. What I realy need to do is find one locally I can take for a test drive and get a feel for.

I noticed that the one I found on ebay is on the autotrader website too.

Cheers,

Phill.