Tell me about: Felicia's

If you want to put in a VR6, the engine will cost you about twice the value of the car (maybe less if you get with a blown headgasket as you are chucking the engine), and the installation and brake/suspension upgrade will be about 3 times the cost of the car.

They are heavier than a Favorit. Early ones have the same single point injection as later favorits. Later ones have multi point injection. Some have power steering, but only the very late ones.
HPSporting in CZ make shocks that are popular. Height adjustable struts, and proper coil overs.
Ellri make body kits and bits.
Tuning the engine is pretty simple make it breathe, make it flow better and balance it.
Make sure the coolant is good, the fan works and the headgasket hasn't blown.
The camchain is untensioned, so can go anywhere from 50k to 100k. They don't break but do slap the inside of the housing and can gut important alloy parts like a chainsaw in extremes.
Parts are about £15 or if you need fitting, about £150 all in.

They I've seen them on Omex and Megasquirt ECUs.
They rally well, and when balanced can rev to 7-8k instead of the regular 5.5k redline.
Tuninf parts are available in CZ and very cheap, so a good excuse to take the missus to prague.

that estate is as cool as penguin pi$$, the other two however, are not.

I think the estate is the better looking version IMO. Interestingly, I discovered the tailgate is the same for both hatch and estate ..clever, money saving styling from Skoda ther I should have my estate on the road in a week or so but from the brief drive I've had in it already it seem like quite a nice car to drive. handling isn't bad but there's not a lot of power, not that that worries my much as I only got it as a sacrificial winter smoker ;D

They do seem to be pretty rust prone from what I can tell. I do like their slightly 80's simplicity when it comes to the technical side. Nothing at all seems complacated on it.

My Dad has a late 1998 Felicia 1.3 with the 68bhp high compression 1.3 - I'd avoid the 54bhp and single point injection earlier models - I'm sure they must be pretty damn slow.

The higher compression model is pretty nippy down to decent gear ratios and a willing engine, if you can put up with the (relative) harshness. They're also very economical. I'm just waiting for someone to bung a couple of twin webers on one - you can buy the manifolds from Czech I believe.

Being a Skoda purist, I'd tend to avoid the 1.6 - its a heavier lump, and means the Felicia isnt quite as nimble as it is with the 1.3. The 1.6 only produces an extra 5-7 or so bhp, but a bit more torque - but this is offset by the extra weight. Means you also pay more tax!





Unfortunately there are a fair few barried ones in Czech!

i should apologise now for the pix, they haven't met with all round enthusiasm!! its all i have, i haven't looked too hard for modded flikka pix!

What Felicias do best Not bad for a 1.3 hey?

You can cock about in a Felicia.

After this and this
and before this got millions spent on it, the Felicia was the factory rally weapon. Can't find much video footage of amateur campaigning though.

:)My biass is obvious,but these honestly are great little cars. My wife drives a '97 1.3 GLi and though it's fairly tatty it's got loads of character [though less than my rear engined ones! ]and does all it should reliably. The 1.3 engine is the best choice,they are rattly but very tuneable and go on for years. Head gaskets and rattly timing chains are a weakness but hardly difficult to sort out. The enthusiasts choice would be a Mk1 Favorit TBH...even more character,more retro and more fun to drive as they are lighter and more spritely. The Felicia is basically a heavily facelifted Mk2 Favorit.

Thanks for all the input guys. I passed my test a few weeks back, and have agreed with my parents that I get the car, they pay the insurance (neat, huh?!) so it looks like I'm going to have a Felicia-shaped car on our driveway soon enough. A nice upside is the hightest IG on the whole range is only a 6, lowest is a 4 according to Parkers, so should be fairly cheap to insure.