1998 Skoda Felicia from UK and Ireland - Comments

The car an intermittent problem with losing power, cutting out and then being difficult to restart. The garage had several attempts at fixing it (under warranty) with no success.

The engine used excessive oil - about a pint every 1000 miles. It was not leaking so I can only assume it was being burnt. Again the garage were unable to fix the problem.

The ignition lock failed just prior to me taking delivery of the vehicle, and as a result the dealer had to change this and all the locks.

There were also a number of more minor problems (all fixed under warranty), including leaking sunroof, squeaky electric windows, radiator expansion bottle leaking, indicator loose, headlight flasher switch failed, etc.

Just for good measure, paint started flaking in a couple of areas, which the garage had to get re-sprayed (again under warranty).

As you can see from the catalogue of problems above, this vehicle was very unreliable. I would expect an 18 month old car to only need to visit the garage for routine servicing, but this one was in virtually once a month.

Skodas may be cheap and come with free servicing and long warranties, but from my experience they still have the reliability record that has made them the butt of jokes for so many years.

(S)till (K)nocking (O)ut (D)odgy (A)utos... :)

My experience of the Felicia is very different. Our 1.6GLX has not been at all unreliable except for a leak from the windscreen. The free servicing was great and the removable seats made it a very useful little car.

I am the author of this review. It would seem from the other reviews and comments here that my example was a "lemon" and probably not typical of this vehicle.

However the whole situation was vary badly handled by the dealer. Loan cars were whatever clapped-out heap had been traded in that week (and were of questionable roadworthiness). I had to fight to get things fixed, including getting an AA report to prove just how bad the car was.

Skoda UK were completely uninterested in doing anything to help.

In the end I had to trade in the vehicle for a different make, and lost quite a lot of money in the process. I would never buy another Skoda.

I would also advise potential buyers to be cautious when dealing with "Robert Bamford Skoda" in Twigworth, Gloucestershire, England.

I bought a Skoda Felicia 1.3 LXI and was very satisfied both with the car and the service from the dealer - Livery Dole Skoda of Exeter. I bought the car 2nd hand and they replaced the steering rack at about 26,000 miles - saying it was less than perfect, even though it was safe and functional. The car has been a reliable - safe - economic form of transport - and even a good motorway cruiser. I am about to take delivery of a 1.6 GLXI because I would like the extra performance.

It is a budget car compared with many that are available - but the price reflects value for money - and it has been better than I expected it to be. I am sorry to learn of your experience - but from my experience - and that of other users known to me - it isn't typical.

Extra performance = 0-60 in .7 seconds quicker than the 1.3, oh and the 1.6s have worse handling due to having a heavier engine block (iron) over the 1.3s alloy block.