From today's The Independent:

Skoda owners have the last laugh as the Czech car firm comes in from the cold

BY MARTIN HICKMAN

For so long the butt of jokes about reliability, Skoda cars are about to have the last laugh. Instead of dying off like the late but unlamented Yugo, the Czech-made vehicles are proving a success.

Two Skoda models have made it into a top 10 of the most popular cars in Britain. A Consumers' Association survey shows 90 per cent of Skoda Octavia owners would recommend it to a friend, as would 86 per cent of Skoda Fabia owners.

Only the BMW X5 and the Toyota Yaris Verso were more popular, winning the endorsement of 92 per cent of owners.........

Skoda said the results proved the former state car maker had been transformed since Volkswagen bought a stake 12 years ago. Much of the engineering of Skoda cars now comes from the Germans.

John Simister, motoring correspondent of The Independent, warned that the survey of 33,000 Which? Car Magazine readers, was likely to have been distorted by the "evangelism" of Skoda owners with strong brand loyalty. But he said: "They are doing pretty well. Skodas have become the sensible, classless car. You buy a Skoda and get the Volkswagen quality for a lot less money. I had a Skoda Fabia VRS 1.9 turbo diesel on trial a few weeks ago and it was fabulous. I think reasonably savvy car buyers have realised that Skodas weren't the embarrassment they were."

Skoda said the company had seen a change in attitude since tackling the problem of its ramshackle reputation. "We are very pleased," Cathy Bell, a spokeswoman, said. "Things have changed a lot. Fabia was launched in 2000 and we realised we would have to acknowledge there was a problem and we did commercials that were tongue in cheek.

"In 2000 our research showed that 60 per cent of Britons would not consider owning a Skoda and now that figure is around 40 per cent

"Sales have been rising at between 20 and 30 per cent each of the last years so we have seen a big turnaround in brand popularity and loyalty."

so we are evangelical now? and we only had a religious thread a couple of weeks back...

Praise the lowered!

Originally posted by ffelan in this post

Praise the lowered!

And "Praise be on high."

i just knew you would not be able to stop yourself!

(bit like a little disc'd 4x4)

How about "Skoda is God, and Briskoda is his prophet"?

:xmas:

I saw an astra in town yesterday - reg K***BAA - I was going to force the car off the road and ask if the driver was called Tom?

BTW - Does this mean I'm a member of the lowered cult? "Praise the Eibach God"

I think reasonably savvy car buyers have realised that Skodas weren't the embarrassment they were."

were skodas ever an embarrassment?

i would quite like an estelle as an old runabout even more "classless" than the current cars in my opinion.

i forget what I was going to say...

praise the lowered!! LOL

nice one

were skodas ever an embarrassment?

Thankou, at last someone that can see past the jokes made about these solidly engineered cars.

I've been driving rear engined Skodas since I was 18, [i'm 33 now] and can honestly say that I have not once been embarrassed for people to know that I drive the Skoda parked next to the bland expensive shopping trolley. In fact, very much the opposite.

Thats all well and good BUT there will come a time when our beloved 'exclusive' cars become as common and mundaine as your *yawn* Ford Focus, VX Astra, Peugeot whatever, Renault sh!tmobile blah blah etc etc.........

So, for me it's not all good news, I enjoy being a smug Skoda owner.

Just be happy that you've got a great car that does everything an Audi does without having paid a fortune for a different bonnet badge!