The shame of driving a SKODA
- Thread starter Nougat
- Start date
Dhimmi
Half Man Half HobNob
The slagging off of Skoda as a brand was started back the the 80's by the Sun I vaguely recall.
Firstly the Skoda factories were important enough for Hitler to invade Czechoslavakia for, secondly since VW bought it they're effectively lower priced VWs, thirdly if I couldn't afford a VW I'd buy a Skoda, fourthly a decent Fabia should cost around one and a half grand, fifthly unlike many other German brands (like Audi) when spares become an issue it won't break the bank and sixthly there's no sixthly.
Firstly the Skoda factories were important enough for Hitler to invade Czechoslavakia for, secondly since VW bought it they're effectively lower priced VWs, thirdly if I couldn't afford a VW I'd buy a Skoda, fourthly a decent Fabia should cost around one and a half grand, fifthly unlike many other German brands (like Audi) when spares become an issue it won't break the bank and sixthly there's no sixthly.
AFAIK eastern bloc cars were always the butt of jokes, mainly because they were usually rehashed versions of older western cars - Renaults and Fiats, especially - and the build quality was usually poor. It started back in the '70s, I think. The Moskvitch was pulled from the UK market after only a few years because a consumer magazine investigated it and claimed that it was very badly built and several features of it were actively dangerous - vague steering, and dashboard switches that would skewer the driver in a collision. It had been selling well up to that point, because like all eastern bloc cars it was extremely cheap.
Skoda got a lot of bad publicity in the late '70s because the 105 model's suspension was badly set up, meaning that the handling could be unpredictable. That's probably where the Skoda jokes started from. In fairness to them, Skoda remedied the problem pretty quickly and the later models were much better, although like most rear-engined cars they could be tricky when driven hard. The front-engined Favorit was introduced here in 1989 and very favourably reviewed - and that was three or four years before VW bought the company up. Unlike a few other east European car makers, Skoda wasn't a complete basket case.
Skoda has a very long history. AFAIK it's exclusively a car manufacturer now, but in the last it's made everything from munitions to trains. is one of its non-automotive products in action. As you say, it was an important enough manufacturing concern for Hitler to want to get his hands on it...
ScallyWag II
New Member
I had a fascination for Skodas in the late 1980's, so much so I called one of my first cats after them 
She's still with me, so don't knock Skodas they're great
She's still with me, so don't knock Skodas they're great
elbows
Well-Known Member
I dont think so. My Mum had 3 Lada estates during the 1990's but I think in the end they never modified them to meet new emissions standards, so they stopped importing them into the UK. The local garage that used to sell Lada's moved on to Tata's if memory serves me correctly.
The Lada's were pretty awful but they were better than nothing, they were the only estate car my Mum could afford, and our dogs didnt care what the brand was
Lada stopped importing cars to the UK in 1997 because of tighter emissions regulations. They were the last manufacturer selling new cars on the UK market with carburettors.
IIRC the last one imported was given to Mo Rees, the woman who briefly became famous through that programme 'Driving School.' Her husband had a Lada, and he praised it to the high heavens on TV, which caused sales to rocket in the last few months. The problem was, she could only drive an automatic and Lada didn't make one, so they also gave her a course of lessons to get her through the test on a manual car. Ladas used to be imported into the UK via Hull and prepared for delivery to customers at a plant near Bridlington. I remember all this being in the local news, since a fair few jobs were lost.
<e2a> Ladas are pretty rare now. Exporting them back to Russia was a fad for a while - a shop in Hull which specialised in parts for east European cars used to arrange it IIRC - and between that and rust there aren't many left. There are still a fair few Lada rally cars, though, since they're cheap, tough and rear-drive. I knew a bloke some years back whose rally team went under the name 'The Lada Louts.'
IIRC the last one imported was given to Mo Rees, the woman who briefly became famous through that programme 'Driving School.' Her husband had a Lada, and he praised it to the high heavens on TV, which caused sales to rocket in the last few months. The problem was, she could only drive an automatic and Lada didn't make one, so they also gave her a course of lessons to get her through the test on a manual car. Ladas used to be imported into the UK via Hull and prepared for delivery to customers at a plant near Bridlington. I remember all this being in the local news, since a fair few jobs were lost.
<e2a> Ladas are pretty rare now. Exporting them back to Russia was a fad for a while - a shop in Hull which specialised in parts for east European cars used to arrange it IIRC - and between that and rust there aren't many left. There are still a fair few Lada rally cars, though, since they're cheap, tough and rear-drive. I knew a bloke some years back whose rally team went under the name 'The Lada Louts.'
Oooh, exactly which skoda has a TT engine?!?! That could sway me for sure
Not sure of its official title,but there certainly is one......4 wheel drive too,if I remember correctly !!
Look on t'internet or ask as Skoda dealer,eh ??
mitochondria
full-on emptiness
my friend got 96 polo 1.4 for 300 quid. under 75000 miles, runs great. he works in a garage though...
Cid
Proper break this time
Mr weepiper has a Skoda Octavia, it's a great workhorse car, nothing major has gone wrong in the 70,000 miles he's done on it
My first car was/is a P-reg Peugot 306 turbo diesel with 118,000 miles on it, cost me £800, I've probably spent about the same again on it in the couple of years I've had it. It's going to have to go soon but only because it's really too small now we have 3 kids. Still goes fine.
Biggin it up for the 306 massiv! Ahem... (you have to admit it is kind of a boy racer car). Had mine nearly a year now, going well but had to get the brakes completely overhauled which cost a fair bit.
woodyrocks said:
Diesel engines last much better than petrol, so buying one over 100,000 miles is fairly common.
How much is scrap value these days? I have noticed loads of adverts looking for scrap cars.
weepiper
I fix the machines that fight climate change
Yes it is apparently
although mine is too ancient and beaten up to count I think.... Only major thing that has gone wrong with mine was the exhaust falling off also had to get new front suspension strut, power steering needed attention, new brake lines. But I think that's all apart from brake pads etc. Not too bad for a 12-year-old car 
Looby
Well-Known Member
Top Gear are pretnetious posers - I watch the show by the way.
If the vehicle has been serviced regularly low milage is more of a problem than high mileage. Low mileage it's probably had lots of short journeys, never warmed up properly, probably on urban runs with lots of gearchanges and times in traffic jams with the clutch held down. High mileage it's probably spent it's time on the motorway, nice and warm, steady running, not much gear changing or use of the brakes.
I bought my Peugeot diesel at two years old with just under 60,000 miles on the clock - get it serviced regular and it's never had a new exhaust, never had a new clutch - it's only had new tyres, new cambelt and last month a new water pump - it's now done 130,000 miles.
My mate bought a new Renault Laguna about 1999 which is wife ran to and from work - they only did 6000 miles in the first year and it needed new brake pads and a new exhaust when it had it's first service - the exhaust had rusted from the inside out due to never really getting warm and the vehicle had had lots of brake usage in town.
High milage - no problem.
G. Fieendish
Snark Hunter
Not sure of its official title,but there certainly is one......4 wheel drive too,if I remember correctly !!
Look on t'internet or ask as Skoda dealer,eh ??
It's the Octavia VRs Hatchback....
A decent late-1980s jap car with full service history and a year's MOT in my experience.
Funnily enough, some Skoda cars have scored higher reliability than the Golfs that they are based on.
comments from bigbry re: mileage. Spot on. Get a full service history in preference to low mileage.
Similar threads
- Poll
