Faults:

Central locking failed at 174,000 km. I haven't bothered to repair it yet.

Rev counter has not worked since I bought the car (March '04, then driven 150,000 km) ; dealer says it's not worth the cost to repair it. Mildly annoying as a non-working gauge in the dashboard is, I can do without it.

Part of the dashboard lights have burnt out, but all readings are still visible in the dark. Some of the switches, such as rear window heater and rear fog lights, have no light and need to be remembered in the dark.

Slight spots of surface rust have appeared on the lower part of both front doors. The car is white, so all rust is clearly visible. It helps to wash the car regularly and to use rust remover from time to time.

General Comments:

The car was ridiculously cheap to buy and so far worth every penny invested.

I have now driven 25,000 kms in 7 months without major problems.

Skoda's old-type 1.3-litre engine is a bit noisy and weak. It takes a long time to accelerate back to 120 km/h, the max. allowed speed on Finnish motorways, if you have to slow down for some reason.

Load affects the vehicle's performance a lot. When only 2 people and no luggage are on board, however, it easily maintains its cruising speed even on motorways.

Many great design features, such as recessed wiper blades that never cause water streaks across the windshield when stopped, and rear window design that deflects dirt from the centre of the glass so that rear visibility is retained in bad weather even without using the rear wiper.

Fuel economy is very good. It has remained steadily below 8 litres/100 km regardless of driving conditions (mostly city and motorway at top speed).