I like it. Dem aiiiite

What engines would be useable then from the VW badge

Someone put a VR6 in one in the late 90s, given the 1.9D goes in with Skoda gearbox then a tall block of unknown power limit, and certainly all the short blocks.

Skodaboy is worth searching, he put a 1.6 16v AFH/AVY hybrid in his grey one, was on G60s last time i saw. Haven't seen him on here for time, but read stuff on other forums.

They have really neat lines imo, as this random flat painted one highlights..

think there are issues with fitting certain tdi motors, i.e. they dont fit too well, but from memory if you use the tdi setup as found in the mk2 golfs, then they can be fitted.

Can't you just go with the new fangled MTDi steup using Disco bits?

Keeps it simple... There's a few about but they're all miles away from me. Definately be keeping an eye out though

My mate has just broke his that was low on 10" wide banded steels

I liked mine. Pretty cool, good on fuel, reliable but....... They rust like f**k.

The front arches don't have liners so shit flies up and rusts them where they bolt into the engine bay. They rust well along where the sill/bodywork join in front of the rear wheel arch. The rear bed is ok but the rear suspesion turrets also rust like shit from the inside out. If the pickup had a bed liner they rust even worse as they trapped water which rusted everything it was trying to protect. They also rust quite nicely round the wheel arches too.

Other things to note. For some reason trim parts for these are very expensive and hard to come by so if buying one make sure all trim is complete. Don't buy a skoda one hoping to change the front grill and badges for the vw stuff, as new from vw they are a lot of dollar.

Check for fifth gear whine. Fifth gear is at the end of the box and held in place with a retaining nut that commonly works loose and then fifth starts to whine. Cheap and easy fix as the retaining bolt is about £5 and to get to it you just have to drop oil and take the gearbox end plate off and change it. Garage charge around £150. Just not something to ignore if you hear it as it will strip fifth gear if left.

The front headlights adjust using a shitty hydraulic system which is prone to leaking over time and cannot be refilled. So the headlights often point right up into the air. There is a way of modifying the adjusters and setting them down manually but i never got mine right and they blinded everyone oncoming.

Seats are terrible and to change them is custom jazz really as nothing is a nice straight swap and there is no nice felicia seats (felicia leather is like rocking horse shit and looks awful anyway).

Windscreen leaking is very common and really annoying. Seals are shit as standard and then you end up with a puddle in either footwell (or both) following heavy rain. So if buying ask the owner about this. Check the carpet is dry under the mats (as they take ages to dry and will most likely still be wet if leaking). Also check to see if it steams up really fast when test driving it. To fix you need to have the windscreen refit with a new seal or alternatively some people pikey it by caking on silicone sealer at the bottom corners of the windscreen (common place to leak). The same symptoms happen if the engine drain holes clog up with leaves to check these are clear too.

Suspension i used was 40mm springs (front are felicia lowering springs) and the rears you can't buy and have to use mk4 golf front lowering springs (so mk4 golf fronts on the rear suspension). Weird right?? I just did this with new shocks on mine and it sat and handled nice. Was cheap to do and a good mod to do as the orginal spring cups on the suspension is prone to rusting and collapsing. Changing the front suspension is a real pain in the ass. To get the shock retaining bolt out of the bottom of the strut took two days and then had to dremel the bottom of the shocks as they had mushroomed with age and would not come out. Bare in mind this was done laying on the ground. Coilies used are GAZ coilies but that is an expensive outlay on a slow non performance car.

Performance.... forget it. I had the 1.9D model, they are dog slow and so they should be. They are reliable and easy to maintain but you cannot tune them. Open cone filters and all that shite is just wasted. Just enjoy the fuel economy ad forget about going fast.

I have owned 2 and looked at about 10. Mine wasn't immaculate and the rest were absolute dogs.

Hope this helps.

Edited 26 September, 201213 yr by demolover

Probably won't bother then!

my old one had none of those problems demo mentioned (not to say that most aren't like it though), bone dry, warm in winter, next to no rust, picked up loads of bits cheap from the scrappy. only correction I have is that you can get pick-up specific lowering kits which include front and rear springs.

in fact my old one is for sale

http://retrorides.proboards.com/index.cgi?...p;thread=136080

Edited 25 September, 201213 yr by g40jon

I'm not saying don't bother by any stretch. In fact i would have another clean one no problem. Just giving you a heads up on what to watch out for when looking. Being a van/pickup the majority have been used as a work horse they have been driven hard and used for carrying crap. Meaning straight bodywork and a clean bed is a difficult find.

The gearbox issue is mainly something to bare in mind not to worry about.

Windscreen was an issue for me and has been for other felicia owners but can be sorted and may not be an issue at all for you.

Bodywork is like any car of the time. With a bit of underseal on the inner arch areas i am sure it would be fine.

Good thing is with felicias being such a low end car and it sharing most of its part with the pickup spares (engine and front end etc) are quite easy to come by.

If you can find a clean one i would go for it. If it is a dog and you thinking about tidying it i wouldn't bother. My list is a fairly comprehensive list of negatives with you can quickly tick off on a viewing and test drive. Keep your eyes peeled for a good local one. I travelled far and wide and was left disappointed many times. I also found that those selling pickups/vans have the, "If it works its an excellent truck." They don't seem to grasp what you mean when you say, "clean?, dents? or rust?" and just say "It's a great little pickup." You get there and find it is a great little dog of a pickup.

in fact my old one is for sale

http://retrorides.proboards.com/index.cgi?...p;thread=136080

I'd already read that ad as it happens

Theres one on ebay that went for silly money (around £870 last look) considering the amount of rust on it... Front wings and sills were pretty bad on the exterior so were blatantly rotten on the inside :(

My plan was to buy a fixer-upper but from peoples comments seems more logical to just spend more on a better one in the first place...

Depends, if it's just the front wings that are gone, they're piss to change and about £25 each.

Hmmm, fair point.

Dunno if it's worth taking a gamble on one with no mot... If it runs and drives alright can't be anything too major