Skoda Felicia 1995 test drive - 2001 -
Czech cosmetics
Returning not so long ago from the Geneva car dealership, our Kostya photo correspondent (the happy owner of the Czech car) excitedly told that he saw the new Felicia with the front of Octavia, and added: and there are also a pillow of safety and ABS! Such a technical breakthrough of former friends in the social camp could not leave us indifferent, which, in turn, was the reason for comparing Felicia of the new and Felicia of the old on the principle of find 10 differences. We took cars with ordinary, short bodies and 1.6 liters of engines from VW Golf (nevertheless, under their hoods they have an inscription Skoda).
The differences in the salon of the new model could not be found. Where is the promised airbag? A new Klaxon button is inserted into the steering hub of the steering wheel instead of it.
Apparently, in this configuration, safety was sacrificed. Honestly, the salons do not shine with luxury. But they do not pretend to her! Gray textiles; hard gray-blue, with black inserts, plastic; mechanical drive of mirrors and windows; A minimum of buttons and two steering wheel levers. I must say that, as our practice has shown, everything gray is amazingly quickly getting dirty. Without going into the details of the device of the dashboard, I would like, however, I want to note pretty analog appliances, glowing in the dark with green scales, red arrows and red critical zones.
The engines in both models are the same. The new engine starts easily and does not work quite silently, but noisily so as so as not to lose auditory control over it. This does not cause irritation. The torque is growing with an increase in revolutions, which makes it difficult to use the fifth gear in the city and makes the third often subside the third during restructuring and overtaking. But on suburban tracks, after 90 km/h, the motor begins to delight. During the start from the traffic light, with some engine twisting, the car shows good abuse. For some reason, for some reason, for some reason, it is not always possible to turn on the rear gear. In the chassis, a small change in the new rear reptile stabilizer. The company does not report the reasons for the replacement. Trinous trips on both cars showed the almost complete identity of their running qualities and behavior on the road. Perhaps the replacement of the stabilizer has improved something, but this is not perceived by the sensory organs.
But the differences are noticeable in the exterior. First of all, the front line is changed. A new front spoiler-bumper has appeared. It looks pretty, but it hangs quite low when we hooked on a small tubercle, a piece of plastic easily flew off the spoiler. (Repair gluing a piece in place and the repainting of the entire spoiler bamper cost $ 300. At the same time, it turned out that the native paint on Plastmass was holding poorly while the piece was twisted in her hands, it got off it like a skin with a boiled sausage). The coloring of the bumpers in the color of the body made the car visually already higher. In general, the results are controversial. The front line, of course, became more modern and elegant, but visually heavier.
There are also changes. Front sips are replaced. There are new fog -tanks, wheeled caps, emblems, more convenient locks: the key with symmetrical beards can now be inserted without looking, you can’t not be mistaken.
Ten differences did not get. All made alterations added $ 750 to the cost of the car. Tolerant.
Despite the rapidly saturated Russian market of foreign cars, the successful quality and price of Skoda cars makes them very, very popular. We hope that all the above changes are radically not worsening.
Alexey Strelkov
Source: Motor magazine [No. 05/98]
