Hi All.

My background is in engineering but my job for over 35 years was flying.  I'm by no means new to Skodas.  I first worked on one in the late 70s - but now with the wife having a '62 plate Citigo from new and me just buying a '65 plate Scout, I thought it about time to get a bit more involved.  Generally I do all my own maintenance, having worked as a mechanic on a full time and part time basis since the 60's (yep, I'm an old f**t).  My other passions are machining (lathe, mill, etc) and old motorbikes.  I've bikes from the 50's to a modern '09 reg.  Keeping old stuff like that roadworthy and reliable is a challenge on its own - and I enjoy it.  It's problem solving.

I've come to a Skoda to get something that will pull and do 'winter stuff' without fuss - also because I'm so very impressed with the little Citigo.  The Scout has come about because I've just sold my much loved Sierra XR4X4, the third I'd owned and covering nearly 35 years of ownership.  All things come to an end and I just hope the new owner appreciates what he's got and cares for it (or I'll hunt him down and 🤐............ )

 

So here goes!  There'll be lots of questions and fettling, bear with me😁

Lovely old Ford, although still young by it's looks

 

Apart from the lights it's got all the new looks, as in the new looks are just rehashes of the old looks. I guess there are only so many ways to bend a body panel.

 

The 'youth' looks like a great replacement. What's the biggest difference you've felt, noticed?

1 hour ago, ColinD said:

Lovely old Ford, although still young by it's looks

 

Apart from the lights it's got all the new looks, as in the new looks are just rehashes of the old looks. I guess there are only so many ways to bend a body panel.

 

The 'youth' looks like a great replacement. What's the biggest difference you've felt, noticed?

The old Sierra was as sound as a bell - but it certainly had it's foibles and I guess forgivable considering it was a near 30 year old Ford.

So far I've only test driven 3 Scouts and I'm waiting, twiddling my thumbs, for the one I bought to be serviced/prepped for me to collect.  All 3 felt just as 'planted' on the road as the Sierra, which was years ahead of its time with the Ferguson all-wheel-drive system and stuck like the proverbial to a blanket.  The BHP is the same (150) but the diesel Skoda has so much more torque and the fuel consumption, happily, doesn't bear comparison.  In the days when I was braver/younger, there was much less traffic and very few cameras, I could readily get the Sierra down to 20 mpg - but it was a really impressive limpet on the road and readily made a fool of very expensive foreign exotics on twisty roads.

The main difference so far noticed is in the comfort, quietness and quality of the interior.  I've driven with them before but the DSG box on one example is still a revelation.  Trouble was the rest of it turned out to be a badly presented, ill cared for, dirty, smelly, overpriced waste of fuel going to see it.  My first - and probably last - attempt at using a car supermarket.   So I've got the manual box on the one I bought, none of the other DSGs coming into the criteria for age/mileage/price/model, etc

A warm welcome from another Oldie !  Started biking in the 50s, Berini, Aerial, BSA, Dot, Grieves, etc all now collectable?  Not to mention pre war cars Austin and Morris😄