My first car - Skoda Felicia 1.3 (2000)
Discussion
Hi all – long time lurker here but inspired by the ‘First Car - Fiesta 1.3 1999’ thread I thought I’d share my experiences of my first year driving with my Skoda Felicia 1.3 ‘Classic’. Apologies for the long post – I’ve broken it down into a few sections so hopefully you can read it bit by bit and don’t give up!
January 2011
Bought in a hurry when I needed to move house my light blue X-reg Skoda Felicia cost me £520 with 95k miles on the clock. I chose it as it seemed to have a rather generous boot space compared to the other cars I was looking at buying/insuring at my age (21 years old and Corsa/Fiesta/Saxo etc). I’m not sure what kind of person owned the car before me but I quickly replaced the chrome dust caps and blue sidelights, although I left the fake 16V badge purely for comedy value. Perhaps in part haste and part naively I took the cheapest quote I found on a price comparison site and insured the Felicia for the princely sum of £2800 for the year.
I had passed my test 6 months prior to purchase but hadn’t driven since. Full of confidence and excitement when I first got the car, after only a few days of driving round motorways and central Birmingham on my own I realised how much I didn’t know and how much more there was to learn about driving. Whilst I didn’t really believe it before I bought my car I can now say that it’s certainly true that ‘you don’t really start learning to drive until you after you’ve passed your test’.
January 2011
Bought in a hurry when I needed to move house my light blue X-reg Skoda Felicia cost me £520 with 95k miles on the clock. I chose it as it seemed to have a rather generous boot space compared to the other cars I was looking at buying/insuring at my age (21 years old and Corsa/Fiesta/Saxo etc). I’m not sure what kind of person owned the car before me but I quickly replaced the chrome dust caps and blue sidelights, although I left the fake 16V badge purely for comedy value. Perhaps in part haste and part naively I took the cheapest quote I found on a price comparison site and insured the Felicia for the princely sum of £2800 for the year.
I had passed my test 6 months prior to purchase but hadn’t driven since. Full of confidence and excitement when I first got the car, after only a few days of driving round motorways and central Birmingham on my own I realised how much I didn’t know and how much more there was to learn about driving. Whilst I didn’t really believe it before I bought my car I can now say that it’s certainly true that ‘you don’t really start learning to drive until you after you’ve passed your test’.
February to August
When buying the Felicia my main goal was to move house and I didn’t really plan any further than this so once this had been accomplished I wasn’t quite sure what to do with it. Luckily my choice was made for me as I got a job that required me to commute late at night and public transport wasn’t an option.
I loved the freedom of having my own car. For a long time it felt weird to be driving a car on my own without an instructor and I had to remind myself that it was real and I wasn’t about to wake up from a dream! I found myself taking random trips to the 24 hour supermarkets late at night for the pure novelty. I guess after years of no access to cars as my parents didn’t drive – I even had to move my belongings to university by train! – that I was making up for lost time.
Whilst I was getting more confident at driving with a 25 mile a day commute on busy city/urban motorway roads, I was careful not to become complacent and realised that there are so many bad drivers on the roads that I needed to be more defensive in my driving style so I bought two excellent advanced driving DVDs by Chris Gilbert. Interested by the country lanes I saw on these DVDs I started going out to find these mythical roads where NSL applied. I found myself gradually going further and further afield and before long I realised that Wales has some pretty damn nice roads.
When buying the Felicia my main goal was to move house and I didn’t really plan any further than this so once this had been accomplished I wasn’t quite sure what to do with it. Luckily my choice was made for me as I got a job that required me to commute late at night and public transport wasn’t an option.
I loved the freedom of having my own car. For a long time it felt weird to be driving a car on my own without an instructor and I had to remind myself that it was real and I wasn’t about to wake up from a dream! I found myself taking random trips to the 24 hour supermarkets late at night for the pure novelty. I guess after years of no access to cars as my parents didn’t drive – I even had to move my belongings to university by train! – that I was making up for lost time.
Whilst I was getting more confident at driving with a 25 mile a day commute on busy city/urban motorway roads, I was careful not to become complacent and realised that there are so many bad drivers on the roads that I needed to be more defensive in my driving style so I bought two excellent advanced driving DVDs by Chris Gilbert. Interested by the country lanes I saw on these DVDs I started going out to find these mythical roads where NSL applied. I found myself gradually going further and further afield and before long I realised that Wales has some pretty damn nice roads.
August to December
I applied to do the IAM’s ‘Skill For Life’ in May and finally went out for my first observed drive in August. Thankfully I had learnt a lot from the DVDs and coupled with a great observer that helped me improve my driving up to the standard I passed on a cold and wet day in November.
I’ve talked mainly about my experiences so here’s a bit about the actual car! It has now covered 110k miles and has not skipped a beat. The engine never fails to start perfectly even on the cold winter mornings. Apart from requiring a new lambda sensor to pass the MOT I haven’t had to spend any money on non-consumables which I am really pleased about for a £520 car. It gets me a consistent 40mpg whether I drive like a nun or rev like a hooligan which I guess just encourages you to drive like the latter!
Here are the costs of the various things I can think of:
Car - £520
MOT - £45 plus £80 for lambda sensor replacement
New brake discs and pads – £90
Oil and filter change – £60
3 new tyres - £150
Insurance – £2800
Fuel - £2200ish
So just under £6000 for the year. Whilst I would obviously liked to have spent less on insurance I don’t think the total cost was too bad at all for my first year of car ownership. I was lucky enough to have a faithful and reliable car to use as both my commuting machine and for leisure driving which I will miss. However, perhaps most importantly I now have 1 year NCB which means next year I’ll be enjoying driving my new car!
I applied to do the IAM’s ‘Skill For Life’ in May and finally went out for my first observed drive in August. Thankfully I had learnt a lot from the DVDs and coupled with a great observer that helped me improve my driving up to the standard I passed on a cold and wet day in November.
I’ve talked mainly about my experiences so here’s a bit about the actual car! It has now covered 110k miles and has not skipped a beat. The engine never fails to start perfectly even on the cold winter mornings. Apart from requiring a new lambda sensor to pass the MOT I haven’t had to spend any money on non-consumables which I am really pleased about for a £520 car. It gets me a consistent 40mpg whether I drive like a nun or rev like a hooligan which I guess just encourages you to drive like the latter!
Here are the costs of the various things I can think of:
Car - £520
MOT - £45 plus £80 for lambda sensor replacement
New brake discs and pads – £90
Oil and filter change – £60
3 new tyres - £150
Insurance – £2800
Fuel - £2200ish
So just under £6000 for the year. Whilst I would obviously liked to have spent less on insurance I don’t think the total cost was too bad at all for my first year of car ownership. I was lucky enough to have a faithful and reliable car to use as both my commuting machine and for leisure driving which I will miss. However, perhaps most importantly I now have 1 year NCB which means next year I’ll be enjoying driving my new car!
Edited by Hyperen on Monday 26th December 17:57
My first car was a '99 Felicia! A 1.3, forgot the trim level 
Was alright for about 9months until the gearbox slowly started letting go, by the time we weighed it in only two of the gears worked iirc.
Still, was cheap and cheerful, and even managed my first ever trackday without exploding (although the brakes weren't really up to the job, amazingly).
Possibly looking back with rose tinted glasses, but really not too bad a car, despite my feelings toward it at the time (17 year old me was not a fan of the skoda brand)
Was alright for about 9months until the gearbox slowly started letting go, by the time we weighed it in only two of the gears worked iirc.
Still, was cheap and cheerful, and even managed my first ever trackday without exploding (although the brakes weren't really up to the job, amazingly).
Possibly looking back with rose tinted glasses, but really not too bad a car, despite my feelings toward it at the time (17 year old me was not a fan of the skoda brand)
Great to see someone else out there spanking one of these about. I'm fond of them because a good friend of mine had two- he wrote the first off and bought another. I used to do all the repairs and maintenance.
He goes on about it as if it was unreliable, but I always remind him that, although it had it's querks, it never left him stranded and was never costly to fix.
The second one we got was picked up for £200, and I was tasked with making it run properly. A service, cam chain replacement, valve clearance adjustment and an Italian tune-up were performed, and the car went well for three years requiring only a thermostat and rear brakes.
I used to love the way it revved, being an old overhead cam engine it sounded like an old crossflow (to my ears!)
He goes on about it as if it was unreliable, but I always remind him that, although it had it's querks, it never left him stranded and was never costly to fix.
The second one we got was picked up for £200, and I was tasked with making it run properly. A service, cam chain replacement, valve clearance adjustment and an Italian tune-up were performed, and the car went well for three years requiring only a thermostat and rear brakes.
I used to love the way it revved, being an old overhead cam engine it sounded like an old crossflow (to my ears!)
greggy50 said:
You paid £2,800 on insurance for this aged 21? WTF!
I paid £1,650 for a 1.25 Fiesta Ghia aged 18 with 3 points fully comp you seem to have been truly ripped off there paying well under 1k now for the MG aged 19 still two year's younger...
Worse still that was only for Third Party, fire and theft I paid £1,650 for a 1.25 Fiesta Ghia aged 18 with 3 points fully comp you seem to have been truly ripped off there paying well under 1k now for the MG aged 19 still two year's younger...
I believe it's my postcode that's the major problem - I tried a quote with the postcode of a quiet town less than 10 miles away and it was half the price - Was tempted to move there!
Will be glad to get my 1 year NCB though as it means the cost of the Puma and fully comprehensive insurance for it will be less than what I paid on insurance alone on the Skoda this year.
Classic Grad 98 said:
Greggy- does seem expensive but it's churlish to say OP has been ripped off. Postcodes and other factors effect premiums dramatically, and premiums have rocketed in the last few years, even faster than in the years before.
I do also remember having to tick the boxes for driving late at night, weekends and regularly in the rush hour.Hyperen said:
Worse still that was only for Third Party, fire and theft
I believe it's my postcode that's the major problem - I tried a quote with the postcode of a quiet town less than 10 miles away and it was half the price - Was tempted to move there!
Will be glad to get my 1 year NCB though as it means the cost of the Puma and fully comprehensive insurance for it will be less than what I paid on insurance alone on the Skoda this year.
Fair enough's just seems mad aged 21 the insurance when I looked drops dramatically for me aged 21 no matter if I had ncb or not on the smaller engined cars. I believe it's my postcode that's the major problem - I tried a quote with the postcode of a quiet town less than 10 miles away and it was half the price - Was tempted to move there!
Will be glad to get my 1 year NCB though as it means the cost of the Puma and fully comprehensive insurance for it will be less than what I paid on insurance alone on the Skoda this year.
For me the cheapest I could find was admiral/elephant insurance on confused comprehensive with a £500 excess (£750 was even cheaper) and then adding both my mum and dad as a named drivers which knocked hundreds of pounds of my policy two named drivers is the key to knocking it down saved me about £600 on my fiesta from what it was for just for me. Also I found when looking Comprehensive with a higher £500 excess was actually a couple hundred cheaper than fire and theft which was a big strange...
Edit - These companies also offer a 10month policy which I opt for as it allows you to get your ncb faster which for me was a big bonus getting quotes of around £1250 for a leon cupra 180 in june aged 20 with 2yr ncb bonus and 3 points comp with admiral on a 10 month policy so well worth looking into
Classic Grad 98 said:
Greggy- does seem expensive but it's churlish to say OP has been ripped off. Postcodes and other factors effect premiums dramatically, and premiums have rocketed in the last few years, even faster than in the years before.
I know they have rocketed as I am only 19 myself just find it hard he was paying near enough double what I was last year when he was 3 years older at the time and didn't carry the 3 points I did seemed like madness to me cant believe a postcode can make such a difference 
greggy50 said:
You paid £2,800 on insurance for this aged 21? WTF!
I paid £1,650 for a 1.25 Fiesta Ghia aged 18 with 3 points fully comp you seem to have been truly ripped off there paying well under 1k now for the MG aged 19 still two year's younger...
I paid 2800 on a 1.3 Fiesta. TPFT. And it was the cheapest, trust me.I paid £1,650 for a 1.25 Fiesta Ghia aged 18 with 3 points fully comp you seem to have been truly ripped off there paying well under 1k now for the MG aged 19 still two year's younger...
OP, Glad my thread inspired you! Jealous of the Puma
. I do agree Wales has some lovely roads, a shame the same cant be said about the weather!! 0a said:
How are those wheel arches on the puma? Enjoy it - great little cars.
They are starting to rust and flake sadly but I'm happy to spend the money getting them sorted sometime as I think this car's a keeper. It always puts a smile on my face on the fun roads whilst being effortless to drive on my commute - when I want some power it's always available. Just need to be careful with my right foot as she likes to drink fuel compared to the Felicia 
43034 said:
I paid 2800 on a 1.3 Fiesta. TPFT. And it was the cheapest, trust me.
OP, Glad my thread inspired you! Jealous of the Puma. I do agree Wales has some lovely roads, a shame the same cant be said about the weather!!
Yeah was horrid out there today (quick blast to Usk) with a number of ponds appearing in the middle of the road OP, Glad my thread inspired you! Jealous of the Puma
. I do agree Wales has some lovely roads, a shame the same cant be said about the weather!! 
. I'll have to look out for your Fiesta as I'm sure we must drive the same roads. Hopefully I'll be getting a PH smilie sticker when they become available again so you can recognise me My father has a puma and I never tired of taking the piss out of his little fiesta.
I've driven (not owned ) m3s z4ms and so on.
I was left with access to the Puma for the week once, on b-roads it was brilliant (I even started a thread here!). BMW should have used it to benchmark the MINI!
Well worth doing those arches. One of the best things is that parts are cheap/free!
I've driven (not owned
) m3s z4ms and so on.I was left with access to the Puma for the week once, on b-roads it was brilliant (I even started a thread here!). BMW should have used it to benchmark the MINI!
Well worth doing those arches. One of the best things is that parts are cheap/free!
Hyperen said:
Yeah was horrid out there today (quick blast to Usk) with a number of ponds appearing in the middle of the road . I'll have to look out for your Fiesta as I'm sure we must drive the same roads. Hopefully I'll be getting a PH smilie sticker when they become available again so you can recognise me
I've yet to do the A4069, but thats on the list for when the weather gets better. I do enjoy the drive up to Usk, Monmouth as well!. I'll have to look out for your Fiesta as I'm sure we must drive the same roads. Hopefully I'll be getting a PH smilie sticker when they become available again so you can recognise me Gassing Station | Readers' Cars | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff