Skoda Felicia 1.9 D

Oh where do I start, I'm going to tell you about my experience of the Skoda. I bought my first ever Skoda brand new. It was an R-reg, my first ever brand new car, because for a family car it was exceptional value. I paid £10,000 for it, and that was the on the road price, now I call that VERY reasonable. It is a very practical car and very reliable.
The Skoda dealer offers a very good after sales service and nothing is too much trouble. There is a Three year Manufacturers Unlimited Mileage Warranty, plus Three years Full AA Break down Cover. You get a yearly service also, but within the three years this is free. After the three years you are looking at about £100-£150. The insurance for the car was quite a good deal, going through VW's own insurance company.
Fitted as standard is a sunroof, just the thing for those hot summer days! a stereo, which has RDS and traffic alert to let you know where all those pile-ups are, so that you can rearrange your route! An airbag and side impact bars are also fitted, giving you peace of mind and a total feeling of security. It also has a 5-speed gearbox.
It boasts a very spacious boot for all that luggage, and for extra boot space, if you need it, the rear seats are a 60/40 split with a full drop down. For even more boot space! the rear boot cover also comes off; I found this ideal when i went on holiday with the kids. The rear seats have 2 full seat belts and a lap strap. The boot is also fitted with cargo strap points so that you can tie down your luggage and stop it from sliding around. Very useful! The car has adjustable headlights, rear wash/wiper and a heated rear screen, which de-mists very quickly. Also fitted as an anti-theft device is an engine immobiliser!
The bonnet is easily accessible with a catch just inside the passenger foot well. The washer bottle/radiator/dipstick and oil filler are also easily accessible and easy to find for the lady of the house! Which i find very good, me being a woman.
There are many extras that you can buy for your car these being:-
Electric windows and mirrors, a choice of metallic colours (with matching paint pots for all those little scratches!) Roof rack, CD player, fridge (also a good thing for your holidays!) A hard plastic boot liner to protect from all the rubbish, and a range of alloy wheels if wanted. For the finishing touch for the interior you can also have a Walnut Effect dashboard trim, which looks very sleek. Tyres are inexpensive; I replaced a tyre for the costly sum of £30.00. Alarms can be fitted for about £200. I had a towbar fitted for £150. this being a single socket.
I found that the Skoda was the butt of everybodies jokes, but I now feel that they have almost certainly lost that joke appeal! With the car being stylish I find that a lot of people now look and say "thats never a Skoda!"
Anyway, back to the car itself. It is a very nippy car around town and drives very well on a long distance journey, you can fill the tank quite cheaply and it does around 50-52mphg. It corners very well even in a high gear. One draw back of the car is that when fully laden it doesn't pull up a steep hill very well, but once you reach the brow of the hill the car picks up almost straight away.
The only problem I ever had with my first Skoda was that the windscreen let the rain in. But i tool it to the local dealer who checked the problem free of charge ( I have since found out that if it was another make of car I would have had to pay for them to check and find the leak! and to solve the problem) the problem was found very quickly and the windscreen was replaced under warranty. In place of my car I was offered a courtesy car, as mine was in the garage. (Also very useful!)
With VW buying Skoda I think they have finally brought it into fashion, and you will not go wrong in choosing this car! As I said they have almost certainly lost their joke appeal!