Used Skoda Felicia review and buying guide (1995 to 2000): which one to buy and what to check

Which used Skoda Felicia should you buy?

Go for a petrol Felicia rather than the diesel. The diesel carries a lot of weight over its nose, so on standard-width tyres the front end lets go sooner than you'd expect, and some diesels have had their gearboxes fail. The petrol isn't fault-free, but it doesn't carry either of those warnings.

The year matters less than the condition. It was sold from 1995 to 2000, and the April 1998 facelift brought a new grille and swapped the old single-plane door and ignition key for a twin-plane one, which is the quick way to tell an early car from a later one. Neither half has a problem the other doesn't, so a dry cabin and locks that work count for more than the plate.

Which Felicia engines and gearboxes are the safe choices?

The petrol engines are the lesser risk, unless it's a single-point (monopoint) injection car that's been converted to LPG. That engine isn't built to run on gas, so if there's an LPG conversion on the car, ask the seller which injection it has and don't buy a monopoint one, however tidy it looks.

The diesel has two marks against it. Some have suffered gearbox failures, and its heavy front end on standard-width tyres means it loses grip at the front easily. If you still want one, drive it far enough to try every gear, listen for whining or crunching, and ask for receipts for any gearbox work that's been done.

What should you check when viewing a used Felicia?

Water getting in is the big one. Lift the carpets and feel the sound-deadening underneath for damp, because the pop-up sunroofs leak and the front screen seal can fail and let rain into the cabin. If the carpet's wet or the underlay smells musty, find out which of the two it is before you agree a deal.

Then work through the locks and electrics. Try the central locking on every door, since it's been known to fail, and turn the key in the ignition several times, as the ignition locks on these can break themselves. Check the battery warning light goes out once the engine's running, because alternators have failed too.

For paperwork, ask whether a Skoda dealer looked after it. A car that's been serviced at home from a workshop manual won't have had the fixes dealers carried out under Skoda's technical bulletins. On a car with airbags, ask for proof of the 1998 recall for chafing airbag wiring, and make sure it isn't on Continental CT22 tyres, which were recalled in 2001 because they could split.

Paste the advert into the free check and it runs these against the listing, the MOT history and the DVLA record before you travel.