Faults:

Misfiring.

Rattly catalytic converter (believed ceramic baffle inside cat has gone).

Erratic temperature gauge.

General Comments:

Under-rated little car. Built like a VW and available for peanuts due to its old fart image.

Lovely smooth gearbox.

Good clutch.

Heavy steering at low speeds, but lightens up at speed, and is well weighted and precise. Just get a PAS model is my advice!

Versatile load lugger due to the very easy removal of the rear seats.

Good on fuel.

Uncomfortable seats.

High build quality, seriously.

Glovebox is more like a separate room inside the car, it's that big!

Mine has problems, which I thought would be cheaper than say, a Ford or Peugeot to sort out, it would appear not, and after many years of driving all sorts of cars, I now firmly believe in what the Americans say: "if it's got t.. s or wheels, it's going to give you trouble." Their words, not mine!

Faults:

I bought the car and noticed the rust spots on the wheel arches.

The car seems to vibrate a little when idle, but it's nothing major.

When I had the front brakes looked at shortly after buying I needed the disks and pads replacing.

The underside of the car is filthy and needs a good clean (dues to previous owner). At least she kept it fully serviced and the interior unmarked.

The oil pressure light was not working, but was found to be the dashboard bulb.

The dash is easy to get off to my mechanic found it a little fiddly to fit back on!

Apart from those complaints nothing has gone seriously wrong with the car.

General Comments:

These cars are cheap to buy if you look and choose carefully you can get a gem of a car at a bargain bucket price.

Performance wise it is pretty quick if driven right and surprises quite a few people and ride and handles pretty well although don't go round bends with too much gusto!!!

It cruises on the motorway well. I usually stay at 65mph which keeps things quiet in the cabin and keeps the engine in the power band for when it's needed.

The interior is bright, thanks to the light grey interior, good glass area and sunroof and a comfortable car to sit in.

Putting in a CD Changer was easy thanks to removable plastic linings down the side of the car.

Things I wasn't too happy with is the economy (I haven't bettered 40mpg yet) which I understand is "normal" for Felicia 1.6s, but my older Astra 1.4 got 45+ which is a slightly bigger car.

I am almost wishing I bought the 1.3 version as it has much lower road tax, but I'm happy with the 1.6.

Overall I like my little Skoda, and I have it running sweetly and it serves well. I enjoy working on it too.

Would I buy another one? If getting a Felicia I'd say the 1.3 has almost as much power, but lower road tax (I haven't driven the 1.3 but specs show it about 68BHP compared to the 1.6 75BHP)

But would I buy Skoda again, oh yes indeed and it's a worthy successor for my Astra 1.4.

Faults:

At 51000 miles, the car started to overheat quite suddenly - it had hitherto been unfailingly reliable.

It appears that a plastic thermostat holder close to the cylinder head had broken - this causes the thermostat to become inoperative. The cylinder head gasket blew, and was replaced, but the cooling system - locked by the blocked thermostat would not operate.

General Comments:

This is a basically good car ruined by poor manufacture and design. The failure of the thermostat housing lead to head gasket water pump and radiator replacement. The cost of repairs will likely exceed the value of the car.