Unsung heroes: Skoda Favorit

Nobody laughs at Skoda nowadays. Thanks to the influence of parent company Volkswagen, the brand has become an award-winning mainstream producer of appealing, well-built and highly-regarded cars, and choosing to buy one is a perfectly sensible decision that won't make you the butt of any jokes. Things weren't always like this though and such a remarkable change has come about in less than thirty years. Although they had a small loyal following in the UK, until the 1990s Skodas were generally considered to be crude bargain-basement transport and objects of derision in popular culture. While Volkswagen must take a lot of the credit for Skoda's transformation, it actually began some years before the takeover with the Favorit, the car that marks the start of the transition from the much-derided rear-engined Skodas of old to today's smart modern range and a worthy choice of unsung hero.

A typical early-90s supermini and not something to joke about
(from http://classics.honestjohn.co.uk/reviews/skoda/favorit/)

The Favorit was Skoda's first front-wheel-drive car and marked a return to front engines after many years of building only rear-engined models. These had culminated in the Estelle and Rapid, which had a certain niche-market appeal and sold in healthy numbers to those who appreciated them but could hardly be considered mainstream and had gained a joke image among the general public. The Favorit on the other hand was a typical supermini with a practical, modern-looking five-door hatchback body designed in Italy by Bertone, and the transverse front engine and.front-wheel-drive followed contemporary trends, making it far more conventional and appealing than previous Skodas to British eyes. It took a long time to make it into production though.

Before the Favorit, the rear-engined Estelle was a joke car in the UK
(By Alofok (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons)

Development was approved by the government of what was then still Czechoslovakia in 1982, with work beginning the following year, but disputes between Bertone and the government meant it didn't reach the domestic market until 1987 and it would be two more years before exports to the UK began. It has also been said, although I'm not sure how much truth there is in this claim, that the launch was deliberately delayed by the Soviet authorities as the Favorit was so far ahead of anything else then made in the Eastern Bloc that the other manufacturers needed time to catch up and develop new models to the same standards to avoid it totally dominating the market.

The Favorit is a popular choice of budget rally car

Initially available only as a hatchback, although a four-door saloon was reputedly fully developed but never went into production, the Favorit estate appeared in 1991 and a range of commercial vehicles were also sold, vans under the Favorit Freeway name and a pickup as the Favorit Foreman; oddly the vans had five doors as they were based on the standard hatch and estate shells without rear windows. The Favorit was praised by contemporary road testers for its comfortable ride and good handling, and the only engine was the 1.3-litre petrol that was carried over from the Estelle so it had a tried and trusted reputation. Originally fed by a carburettor, after Volkswagen took over it was upgraded with fuel injection and a catalytic convertor, and would last until 2003 in the Felicia and Fabia.

I remember the local hardware shop having a Favorit pickup like this
(By Harold (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons)

Of course, the Favorit wasn't perfect and build quality wasn't quite up to western standards with flimsy interior trim and rust-prone bodywork, but it was better than its main rivals from Lada, Yugo and FSO, and far ahead of previous Skodas. It was cheap too, the range-topping 136 LX costing about the same as a basic Fiesta Popular, and had particular appeal to the retired generation who appreciated value for money. Such was its success that by the time Volkswagen bought the company in 1991 all of the rear-engined models had been discontinued and the entire Skoda range consisted of Favorits. It would continue to improve under Volkswagen ownership, receiving a facelift in 1993, and was replaced the following year by the Felicia, which was heavily revised and benefitted from Volkswagen influence in its design but retained the basic platform of the Favorit.

Pretty basic and not that well built, but good enough for budget-conscious buyers
(from http://classics.honestjohn.co.uk/reviews/skoda/favorit/)

There's no doubt Skoda have come a long way since those days and today Favorits are rare as poor build quality and rock-bottom values have seen them off in large numbers and the scrappage scheme must have been responsible for the demise of many - I haven't seen one for years and even the later Felicias are becoming uncommon. They don't have the same cult following as the rear-engined cars and aren't really considered to be proper classics yet. Values are still low and the surviving cars can be picked up for a few hundred quid, but as time passes hopefully the Favorit will be raised out of the doldrums and appreciated as an important car that started to change Skoda's image in the UK.

Special editions like the Flairline looked quite smart with their metallic paint and alloy wheels

Before the Favorit, the mere mention of the name would provoke derision and laughter and the cars were quite frankly seen as a joke, but with this model Skoda suddenly started to be taken seriously, and it set the path towards the company's current success as a producer of mainstream cars under the wing of Volkswagen. For doing so much to overcome its manufacturer's terrible image and persuade the British public to sit up and take notice, I nominate the humble and oft-forgotten Skoda Favorit as my final unsung hero of 2016. Do you think it deserves such an accolade? Let me know your thoughts in the comments...