Thread: nissan shoots skoda

In the UK and most of europe we got the 120L with the 130 engine better suspension and 5 gears.
We also got te Rapid model with both the 136 carb engine and the 135 RiC bendix injection version.

They are great cars. Simple, but great. Closest britain ever got was the Hillman Imp, and the Mini. One was too small, and the other had the engine at the wrong end.

All the Rapid needs is some internal luxuries and you wouldn't know it was an old car. The last models even ran fine with unleaded fuel. Plus they handled much better than the Favorit and Felicia that Followed and showed the Skoda could make "modern" cars. I know, I have had standard and modified 120L and Favorits.

I've even made plans to sell my current Saab convertable and buy a late model Felicia and get back to what I know best about cars.

its been over an hour and all i can see is the top of the car. GGRRRR

They look kinda like


this.
Or infact mine looked.



I believe it is long dead now which is a shame. And yes the rear door was bashed in like that.
I fitted Celica seats from an ST162, a Mountney leather steering wheel some shiney Alloy bits and a pod mounted Tach as there isn't one on the basic model from the factory.


I didn't pass my driving test until I was 32. It was cheap, and fun, and I loved it, but rust was getting to it.
And I can remember when the Skoda 130LR kicked butt on 2 litre plus machines byb being the lightest car ininternational rallying.

And being driven by a Lunatic.
Now as it happens, I happen to know someone from england who owns one of the rally winning LRs. John Shelley owns Jon Haugland's old Ulster Rally car.
As it is, it now back in CZ with John where he works awaiting a full rebuild as the tyres are down to thread, and the extra thin panels are starting to show holes. But I had the privilage, at a trackday, of seeing Haugland re-united with his car for a one off, and watched him put in a faster time round the track for 4 laps, than an Audi TT, 3 WRXs, an Evo 6, and a Lotus Elise. which isn't bad for a 17 year old 1.3 litre car needing a rebuild and running on the wrong fuel. none of the others who drove that car got it close to the times that Haugland recorded though. Just shows it takes a driver to know a car too.

Is this MP3Car or the Rapide owners club

Fair enough to have some rose tinted visions of past motoring greats, but come on guys - Skodas were budget cars, built to a price for skint komies, and mostly based on extinct technologies. They were made amongst other reasons to provide cheap reliable motoring for people without lots of means.

They can never be described as 'good/desirable' cars! and one of the only reasons they were known to be fun is because they served up RWD when most cheap cars of that era were FWD - Wake up folks!

there comes a reality check... geez... but what if you only have/had money for a car like this? wouldn't you want to parise the **** out of it, just to feel better? I mean i had a Dacia the first thing I ever drove... It's another of those commie cars. and truth to be told, i liked it. You only went with like 60 Km/h but it certainly felt like 200. and at that time i learned how to fix cars myself, having replaced about one axle per two weeks...

so yes, they suck... but if you have no choice... say you'rer poor, you better make the best of it...

Pic of similar car. Mine was red

Is it not a problem having to travel to eastern europe to get spares

I understand the thing about not having loads of money as I've never had any ... But come on, there are plenty of other more modern, faster, better equiped and more reliable cheap cars to drool over .... That weren't made by a farmer in a cow shed

I think you will find there most certainly weren't budget motoring. A 136 Rapid, without any options was nearly £4.5kGBP in 1988. It was on price par with the Mini, The Renault5/Le Car/, the Seat Ibiza, and the Fiat Panda. It most certainly wasn't some sub-basement budget junk heap.

It did 0-60 in 14.9sec, topped out at 94 MPH, and returned nearly 30MPG.
It was a full 5 seater, it didn't have power steering because it didn't need it without engine weight at the front. It did however have full independant front and rear suspension, 4 pot discs at the front, and massive drums at the rear, servo assist brakes, and a 5 speed box, a sunroof and alloys as options, and properly adjustable seats that were very comfy.

Pre-Commie, the Skoda Superb was classed as higher than a Rolls Royce by the Emperor of Japan who owned 3 of them.

During and after Communism, their cars have been basic. basic doesn't mean bad. Look at the VW beetle, the original Mini, and the 2CV. People love them, and you don't get much simpler.
The reason so few exist is that VAG ordered dealers to actively scrap them, whenever possible when they came into the workshops, and under no circumstances to re-sell them, or encourage owners to keep them on the road.

As it happens, after £150 worth of near new Gaz shocks and Chassis Dynamics springs+ some half decent tyres, my old 120L was the finest handling car I've ever owned, including two Saab turbos, and a celica GT4 with near £2kGBP of suspension parts and refitting.

Do not ever assume that old and basic means bad. Compared to the mk1 and MK2 1.3 Escort which would have been size matched to the estelle and rapid, both of those cars lose out in performance, handling as standard, comfort, features and dealer networks. Thanks to Skodas motorsport history they knew more about making small engines perform than almost anyone else, except maybe Renault, except that the GT Turbo pushrod engine used in the Le car/Renault 5 GT turbo was originally a joint development engine pre-iron curtain between Renault and Skoda, for the Dauphain and the S100 and they share a lot of design parts in early engines.

Incase anyone is vaguely interested I have a PDF of the 1988 Autocar review of the 136 Rapid, but it is too large to attach so I've linked to it on my own webserver. A good read if you will take off the blinkers.

It's not the Czech/commie thing that bothers me, but the rear-engined bit - even Porsche took 40 years to stop their drivers flying off the black stuff.
But hey, I take your point too - and if it makes ya smile then go for it!

each to there own I suppose

I never really saw the appeal myself, but that doesn't mean I can't understand that other fellas might really love these motors.

Passion is great thing!

Being a passionate ex-Rover owner I know all to well the stigmatism a name can carry. But I am aware of the Rallying success that Skoda enjoyed in the early days... and I suppose that does go a long way.

Oh and Skoda's IMO were always far better motors than the Lada's