Faults:

I have had 34 electrical problems to date. My first problem was blowing bulbs, mainly L/H headlight. This turned out to be vibration at idle. I remounted the headlight on rubber shims, which has cured the problem.

Next was power steering failure, which turned out to be the load sense line to the alternator (broken wire).

Then the driver's door switch.

Rear wiper motor.

L/H rear door central locking failure.

Both rear doors leaking.

Rear hatch lock failure.

Passenger heated seat failure.

Driver's electric wing mirror.

Heater blower.

Air con won't hold gas.

Both front ABS wheel sensors at different times.

I have had problems with the driver's and passenger's windows moving on their own or just not moving at all.

Fuel temp sensor.

Coolant temp sensor.

General Comments:

I took it to Skoda for the first couple of problems, and found they just wanted to play parts darts with it. I started fixing the problems myself. I will say that it is always catching several faults, but it has never broken down and only once failed to start, which was partly my fault, as I left the lights on, but this was due to no lights on warning when I open the driver's door, as the door switch was not working.

The quality of the wiring is truly awful. There are bare wires everywhere, and where tape has been applied, it looks like the person who applied it was wearing boxing gloves.

Faults:

Leaking rear doors (common).

Paint bubbling due to water penetration under rubbing strips.

Worn console bushes (common).

Rear screen heater blows fuse due to water leaking from washer pipe (common).

Blower rheostat fails (common, every 18-24 months).

Rear calipers don't work properly after first brake disc/pad change (common, sort of fixed by adding Audi A3 tensioner springs).

Rear calipers leaking after brake service.

Clutch slipping after 50000 miles.

Driver's seat foam padding split, allowing a hole to wear in the seat bolster.

Due a timing belt service, which is expensive due to shoddy plastic water pump, and the need for new pulleys and tensioners.

General Comments:

Great performance from the 130bhp (228lb/ft) turbo diesel lump, and a pretty good drive for a small FWD hatchback. Modified to 180bhp and 312lb/ft it really shifts, leaving a lot of serious performance car drivers wide eyed and embarrassed. Driven sensibly it easily gets 50+mpg. Just a shame that the brilliant engine is let down by so many lacklustre components throughout the car.

Faults:

DMF failed at 23,000 (changed clutch and water pump at the same time).

Fuel flap catch failed, but easily repaired.

Fuel pump relay failed.

Seats stained (but easily resolved).

General Comments:

It's a good car, but not the rocket that some people seem to think.

It's relatively quick, but as standard doesn't handle as well as it should. I put Eibach (-15mm) springs on mine with the standard dampers, and it improved the handling no end.

It's a quick car for not a lot of money, and running costs are quite cheap.