That shot of the Monte Carlo with the Octavia teetering on the brink of oblivion, only being held up by an old telegraph pole still lives rent-free in my head.
@@kylereese4822 imagine one fitted with a 600hp+ twincharged I4 from the Delta S4. Pure electric may be quick with instant torque, but batteries are heavy and combustion engines screaming through the gears are so much more exciting to spectate.
As a Canadian, Skoda was that one car company that was always a big sponsor for all the big International Ice Hockey Championships. Now that I live in Germany and saw this, I kinda want one 😅
Ah yes, one of my personal favorite WRC cars. One funny fact about this car is that when Dirtfish was making a voting competition about everyone favorite WRC cars. The Octavia came first by a landslide with the second place vote being the Subaru Impreza (tho it's probably rigged).
When my parents were car shopping in 2000 they discovered that for the same money as bought a half decent second hand car, they could get a brand new Octavia with a full warranty, with more interior space and a much bigger boot than just about anything else they'd looked at. Also 4 electric windows was a huge thing at the time as most cars got electric front windows and manual rear ones if they were electric at all. The worst thing about that car was the Blaupunkt stereo which wouldn't read CD's at all. A few years later I bought a Mk2 Octavia when I was looking for a car and then moved on to a Superb Kombi (Estate). The Skoda Superb is so well regarded that they're selling second hand at higher prices than similar spec and mileage Passats where I live. The real surprise is that for cars build from the same chassis and from the same parts bin as the rest of the VW group, they somehow score better on reliability.
There is an idiom roughly translated to "golden czech hands". We have always been known to do the things we care about very well, the issue is getting us to do anything else really. This is why we have the best beer in the world and among the most dated justice systems. Thankfully newer generations are much more business savvy and want to prove their worth, so my best guess is that soon enough there will be a large boom in succesful Czech businesses in the future, it just needs that push to start us rolling.
I think that Dacia is the new Skoda, when I look around a lot of people driving around in new Dacia cars… Have to say that I really like the new logo and restyling
@@lkrnpk Last I looked Dacias scored quite badly on crash safety though (Not 1 star Jeep badly, but more like 3 when similar cars from other manufacturers, including Renault, who own them, were getting 5). Even the first Skodas under VW ownership were very good in this regard. The problem now is that Euro NCAP ratings have so much weight added to the score for driver assistance systems that are more annoying than useful, that it's hard to know whether modern cars are mechanically better on impact than 10 years ago.
Funny thing is that Škoda has made actual tanks during WW2 and after, so you’re can’t be wrong in saying an Octavia or any other Škoda has the heritage
That's actually a different Škoda. The original on, which was a massive engineering and weapons factory based in Plzeň. Czech Vickers, basically. There the tanks were bult. In 1925 this company bought a car manufacturer Laurin & Klement in Mladá Boleslav, which was then rebranded as Škoda too. This subsidiary became independent after the war but kept the name and logo. Now the Plzeň factory is split into several smaller ones like Škoda Transportation (railway) and Doosan Škoda Power (industrial steam turbines etc.).
Fun fact: Octavias are one of the least depreciating cars in the Central European Car market. Its hilarious how well built these cars are, to the point that even old ones are still holding their value rather well. The only thing that Skoda is missing is an enthusiast car, but as the peoples car brand theyve succeeded in conquering a large portion of the car market in rather a short time.
@@GoodOlTazzy Power figures do not make an enthusiast car. Handling above all makes an enthusiast car. And sadly due to most modern Skodas being FWD, with some models using AWD Haldex - which has issues during heavy load due to overheating and also being unable to send more than 50% power to the rear wheels at any given point- their cars really dont have very good handling, since they suffer from p massive understeer. This is not helped by the fact that Skoda cars are all front engined with most of their weight around the front of the car. But we have had FA and FR or even FF cars that have been regarded as enthusiast cars, like the Acura Integra for example as representation of the FF cars. But those cars were specifically tuned to handle like FR cars by Honda, and VW group at large does not tune their cars for that sort of handling. As such, there hasnt really been a car with such sharp handling as for example the Integra or the Civic Type R released by Skoda, except for the homologation special rallye cars based on the Fabia hothatch - which are not really attainable by most enthusiasts. In my opinion, the VRS badge is just a performance package and not an actual enthusiast car trim based on production cars. And thats fine, I dont think the market for enthusiast cars is big enough for SKoda to be worth spending incredible modey developing an all new car solely for that purpose. But is is very sad given the fact that I genuinely believe if Skoda pivoted their efforts to creating a sports car, they would see such success as they have seen and are seeing in WRC. But with the decision for VW group to go all electric by 2030 or smth I sincerely doubt Skoda has creating a car like this on their list of priorities. So I guess the best I can hope for is that another manufacturer sees the untapped potential and releases an enthusiast car. One of the few companies I could see doing that would be Praga, who have already created a hypercar with some truly impressive numbers and results in prototype racing. But of course that same car was in the million figures of EUR so no way that any enthusiast will be able to afford anything they make anytime soon.
@@llmkursk8254 Would be v fun, sadly in today's market there's no room for it. And tbf the homologation special Skoda Motorsport Fabia is an absolute monster, I wouldn't at all mind having that one. But it's not really an enthusiast car due to how much it costs and how little of them are made. An enthusiast car is something you can afford working a normal job for a few years. And atm, the only solution for this is ig to take an old Civic and get a kit car like the k1 attack kit to convert it into a mid engined enthusiast car. But that's a whole lot of work.
Wow. What a healthy championship it was back then. And how lovely that they still did the absolute mad Safari rally on open roads. Epic story with the slow but robust car coming through to that podium! I love Skoda motorsport!❤
These Octavias are truly tanks, nothing but reliable. You know what sector loves reliable cars? Taxi drivers. As a taxi driver on his later years, my father had 3 taxis. A 2006 Nissan Primera that caught fire due to an electrical failure, a 2010 Octavia and lastly a Toyota Prius+ (due to hefty discounts and bonuses for hybrid cars, had it until retirement when he sold it). The Octavia was my favorite Taxi he ever had, and 2nd favorite car he ever owned. Even when 2nd gen Octavias were around, some 1st gen Octavias were still being used as vehicles for the taxi industry in my country, and popular among them for being nothing but durable. One of my uncles had a 1st gen Octavia that lasted him until death, years before my father took on being a taxi driver himself. Getting to 500.000km without major issues for most Octavia taxi owners is a regular thing, and it was atound that mark (5 years later) when the big mechanical issues started for him.
I remember seeing a lot of taxi Octavias in my city before hybrid cars were made popular and almost everyone drove a Prius, I remember getting in one once with my parent and the ride was pretty good. My father is also a taxi driver whose first taxi car was a Seat Altea with automatic transmission that came with his licence. He changed into a Prius+ in a couple of years driving the Altea and now he's waiting for his Nissan Ariya to arrive, his first EV although he has driven the EV version of the Nissan Leaf before and a couple of Teslas.
Big nostalgic memories. I was a 10 year old kid when Škoda entered the WRC. And because I am Czech and a big car enthusiast since the day I learned to speak it was a big thing for me. I watched most of the races on TV and hoped for better results. It´s a pity (or škoda in czech) that Škoda left WRC. Fortunately nowadays Fabia R5 dominates the WRC2, Škoda has returned to lower class and it is again one of the best at it. Sry about my english, I know it´s not perfect:D
It reminds me of my granny here in Latvia who was was watching some lotto on TV and my aunt asked her if somebody had won anything and she replied in our local dialect that it was either harm (Skoda) or pussy (Peugeot). In regular Latvian they are really that close but in our dialect “škode” and “peža” means those things :D
I remember Armins driving in Monte 2001 was very impressive, he was in a dogfight with Delecour in the much more nimble Focus for the 3rd place. On a good day it could be fast, but overcoming the 'giants' of its day would obviously be a big ask. I miss this era of rallying
There are pieces here in czech republic with over 1 000 000 kilometers on odometer, you will never have anything this reliable ever again. The 1.9tdi engine proved to be bulletproof platform.
I have a Felicia from 1999. I got it from my great-uncle and only took it quite gingerly as I never had a Škoda before and even though I'm Czech, Škoda was always looked down at in my family. (My father, who designed Tatra trucks, never liked them.) But I was very pleasantly surprised. I quickly understood why the Kit Car was so successful. The car has (from today's perspective) a bit weird, old-school geometry but it behaves unexpectedly well on road. It's very hard to force it into a skid, it sits down incredibly well (I've got the version with front torque bar stabiliser). I sometimes amuse myself on wet, curvy roads like that---despite the pretty weak 1.3 engine, it's a very entertaining car to drive. Oh and yes, 25 years old, original state, nobody ever had to touch the engine. It's so simple a car that I did most of the necessary repairs myself, in front of the house (that includes replacing right half axle, to give you the idea).
A friendly and helpful random person on the internet, recommended by TH-cam, just subscribed. Please lower the music volume. Other than that, everything is top notch. The how you tell the story, the jokes are all top notch. I wish you the best on future projects. I will be waiting for more automotive stories.
Great video, awesome information base honestly. I would suggest however that you get a pop filter for your mic and smoothen your transitions between clips. Other than that your videos are really well structured! Keep up the good work.
When I imagine a car, I imagine an Octavia. It looks like a car and it does car things with as few bells and whistles as possible. Nothing more, nothing less. So for me it’s the carest car ever made, the most default car I would say. And yeah, I’m Czech.
@1:00 in Norway we have a saying "Hvorfor kjøre Skoda når man kan gå da?" It translates to "why drive a Skoda when you can walk?" but to make the right sound you'd say "walk da" which means "why don't you just walk then?" trust me it's funny, but very boomer-esk joke.
Just a word of advice from a fellow youtuber. You don't want drastic decreases or increases in volume throughout your video as it can catch the user off guard. Not saying they will skip the vid , but they will be taken aback quite a bit. Now as a fellow petrolhead and rally enjoyer I thought your video was very informative and entertaining. In my country Skoda Octavias and Fabias are a very common sight and although a Hyundai Accent user myself , I'd definitely go down the Skoda route if I needed a new car!
I have managed to buy 2010 mk1 Octavia with only 34000km driven 2 years ago and I love that car. My father had one, so it was always my dream car. In my opinion, the facelifted MK1 Octavia is timeless design....I suppose that this is the most Czech comment ever written?😂
My father had one too, I remember walking back from school as a kid and telling my friends how one day I'd have one just like it but modified... 20 years later I do! The mk4 golf was the worst mk4 golf based car, the Octavia and Leon were (and are) much better.
This video was amazing!! Please do more rally content, I’ll be here for it! I didn’t know the fact about Rally Kenya back then still used roads open to the public, that is pretty insane.
Skoda and Ford, while laughed at for a long time around here, just started building some of the best cars you can buy for a fair amount of money. Having a Octavia RS as daily and my beloved Ford Ranger as work Truck for years now.
The terrible Skoda reputation is pretty unwarranted when you think about it, they were cheap, reliable and were actually pretty good beginner race cars due to the Rear Engined Rear Wheel Drive layout.
Skoda before the communist times was actually a great car manufacturer. The Škoda Works was established as an arms manufacturer in 1859. It was one of the largest European industrial conglomerates of the 20th century, founded by Czech engineer Emil Škoda in 1859 in Plzeň, then in the Kingdom of Bohemia, Austrian Empire. It is the predecessor of today's Škoda Auto
Škoda auto has one of the oldest rally teams in the world, after the fall of the regime, the quality and intelligence of the Škoda people was confirmed
Seriously my favorite rally car of all time. Made me a Skoda fan. I actually rebranded my Versa with Skoda badges since we don't have Skoda in the States.
motorsport has to be one of the only things where I don''t know anything about this specific sport but oh my god is it interesting as fuck to hear about
Slow, uninnovative, but reliable. That's why Octavia I was the best car my family ever owned, (up until we turned it LPG, which over time started a round of electrical issues)
I like mine tbh, not for the handling, but because it doesnt take much to fix pretty much any issue. It shares many components with mk1 Octavia and since there´s still alot of them in Czech Republic, parts are either cheap or readily available in the junkyard. And yes, my engine likes to sip on oil and coolant a bit, and it ticks, but im pushing 300k and its still going. But yes, im kinda ready for the engine to grenade, the car rattles and creaks, but it has helped me and friends move a few times now and i just cant let it go yet.
Pronouncing Škoda without Š at the beggining really hurts my ears, it sounds very weird and disturbing and like an offense. It sounds like when you step on bunch of snakes 😀 I don't know why Škoda didn't put more efford to educating english speakers about how it's pronounced in their commercials, because it really sounds awful when you read it like "skoda," maybe they were supposed to change spelling to "Shkoda" but that would also look weird.
The Octavia WRC might've been a failure, but I love this car anyway lol. 🙃 It does have a certain aesthetic look, while also being the underdog in one of WRC's golden era.
I love skoda history! They are amazing the classic underdog story... My favorite era was the rear engined rally era were they had basicaly zero budget but always competitive and had a lot of succes ...
Seeing those live when younger is what clued me in to Skoda not being the joke they were made out to be. Then I really wanted a Favorit when they started those, and currently own '98 Felicia, still going strong to this day.
I love this video. Your story telling really keeps me interested throughout the video. If you're looking for video ideas, maybe you could do one on Didier Auriol. I feel like nobody talks about him and is usually an overlooked driver who had very high ups but also very low downs in his rallying career.
good vid and appreciate the hard work!! can you please jus turn the interlude music down a bit, maybe a better mic too that’s got more clarity would help too ❤
i now feel significantly more justified in loving the skoda octavia in rallisport challenge 2 on the original xbox. it was my favorite car for... well, i dont even know why it was, it just was. probably something with the name.
There's a reason Skoda is my favourite brand. The Superb is my second favourite car. We almost got an Octavia, twice actually. The Fabia was my favourite in the PSP game FIA WRC 2005. They somehow make Volkswagen's stuff more reliable and do it for cheaper.
It is more reliable just because they use the parts that Volkswagen have tested for many years, and they don't include the most advanced technology that Volkswagen is still testing. So if you quit the uknkown reliability parts and you select the older but well tested equipment you get an increase in reliability.
Miss those "family" cars in rally, when i was a kid it was all about subarus and mitsubishis and seeing those cars on the road was always fun, now it's all econoboxes that no one cares besides the GR Yaris
I have no idea about two things: 1, Why Skoda decided to build a WRC from the Octavia, instead of the Fabia in 1999? 2, Why do I remember the name of Toni Gardemeister?! I literally haven't heard about him for 20 years! This was nice to watch. :)
My mom had the normal Octavia and i loved it. In some alternate universe the octavia WRC caught on more and there is a three way battle between the evo wrx sti and octavia wrc
Skoda was not poor build quality.... They were better put together than the British cars.... It was the rear engine construction and if you have ever been passenger in a 120 from 1982 you could do a lot worse regarding ride
This is one of my favorite rally cars, if I was ever in a position to afford an ex wrc car I'd probably pick the Octavia. I can't imagine it being as expensive as a wrc Evo, Impreza, 206 and Focus. The Seat is the only one that could be more affordable.
Part 2 about the Fabia is out now!
th-cam.com/video/ABSrJdgxEek/w-d-xo.htmlsi=puBbS29b9I0CVOP3
i wonder if you vet these videos befor you post them so many repeated voice lines very anoying. What othere mistakes are in these vids
"Petter Solberg was fast, BUT... his front right wheel was even faster!" Killed me :D
I was looking for this comment.
"Given the performance loss from not having a front right wheel, Solberg retired."
"But the wheel did set the 7th fastest stage time."
That shot of the Monte Carlo with the Octavia teetering on the brink of oblivion, only being held up by an old telegraph pole still lives rent-free in my head.
Imagine one fitted with the Plaid 700bhp rear motors and with a 60kw battery.... and the body kit of the WRC and wheels...
@@kylereese4822 meh
@@kylereese4822would be a cool matchbox for kids to toy around in at home :D
@@kylereese4822 boooooring.
@@kylereese4822 imagine one fitted with a 600hp+ twincharged I4 from the Delta S4. Pure electric may be quick with instant torque, but batteries are heavy and combustion engines screaming through the gears are so much more exciting to spectate.
My favourite part of the video is when the Skoda say ‘it’s Skoda time’ and he Skoded all over everyone
Can’t beat a good Skodaing ❤️
That was definitely the best thing I've seen all year!
One of the cars of all time.
Do you know what Škoda means in czech? It can have two meanings - damage or pity.:D
That's what I'm going to call the reek out of a fabia vrs.
As a Canadian, Skoda was that one car company that was always a big sponsor for all the big International Ice Hockey Championships. Now that I live in Germany and saw this, I kinda want one 😅
Fabiz RS tdi shoulld be your dream car)
Ah yes, one of my personal favorite WRC cars. One funny fact about this car is that when Dirtfish was making a voting competition about everyone favorite WRC cars. The Octavia came first by a landslide with the second place vote being the Subaru Impreza (tho it's probably rigged).
I may or may not have had something to do with that DirtFish result 🤭🤭🤭
@failedracers4452 I believe in the Skoda supremacy so I see this as an absolute win.
The gravel crew group has a slight obsession with the octavia that's all I need to say
Even the late Craig Breen also voted for the Octavia in that poll
Skoda ftw
When my parents were car shopping in 2000 they discovered that for the same money as bought a half decent second hand car, they could get a brand new Octavia with a full warranty, with more interior space and a much bigger boot than just about anything else they'd looked at. Also 4 electric windows was a huge thing at the time as most cars got electric front windows and manual rear ones if they were electric at all. The worst thing about that car was the Blaupunkt stereo which wouldn't read CD's at all. A few years later I bought a Mk2 Octavia when I was looking for a car and then moved on to a Superb Kombi (Estate). The Skoda Superb is so well regarded that they're selling second hand at higher prices than similar spec and mileage Passats where I live. The real surprise is that for cars build from the same chassis and from the same parts bin as the rest of the VW group, they somehow score better on reliability.
There is an idiom roughly translated to "golden czech hands". We have always been known to do the things we care about very well, the issue is getting us to do anything else really. This is why we have the best beer in the world and among the most dated justice systems. Thankfully newer generations are much more business savvy and want to prove their worth, so my best guess is that soon enough there will be a large boom in succesful Czech businesses in the future, it just needs that push to start us rolling.
The best decision you will ever make in the car market.
i mean skodas are everywhere, thats why theyre cheap, you can get mk1 octavia for less than 2k dolars with no big issues
I think that Dacia is the new Skoda, when I look around a lot of people driving around in new Dacia cars… Have to say that I really like the new logo and restyling
@@lkrnpk Last I looked Dacias scored quite badly on crash safety though (Not 1 star Jeep badly, but more like 3 when similar cars from other manufacturers, including Renault, who own them, were getting 5).
Even the first Skodas under VW ownership were very good in this regard. The problem now is that Euro NCAP ratings have so much weight added to the score for driver assistance systems that are more annoying than useful, that it's hard to know whether modern cars are mechanically better on impact than 10 years ago.
Funny thing is that Škoda has made actual tanks during WW2 and after, so you’re can’t be wrong in saying an Octavia or any other Škoda has the heritage
Not to sound 🤓 but they started from ww1 with some prototype tanks for the austrian empire
LT vz. 38 or PzKpfw 38(t) co-produced by Škoda was the best light tank of its time
That's actually a different Škoda. The original on, which was a massive engineering and weapons factory based in Plzeň. Czech Vickers, basically. There the tanks were bult. In 1925 this company bought a car manufacturer Laurin & Klement in Mladá Boleslav, which was then rebranded as Škoda too. This subsidiary became independent after the war but kept the name and logo. Now the Plzeň factory is split into several smaller ones like Škoda Transportation (railway) and Doosan Škoda Power (industrial steam turbines etc.).
Fun fact: Octavias are one of the least depreciating cars in the Central European Car market. Its hilarious how well built these cars are, to the point that even old ones are still holding their value rather well. The only thing that Skoda is missing is an enthusiast car, but as the peoples car brand theyve succeeded in conquering a large portion of the car market in rather a short time.
What do you mean missing enthusiast car? They've got plenty of VRS stuff with a ton of HP.
@@GoodOlTazzy Power figures do not make an enthusiast car. Handling above all makes an enthusiast car. And sadly due to most modern Skodas being FWD, with some models using AWD Haldex - which has issues during heavy load due to overheating and also being unable to send more than 50% power to the rear wheels at any given point- their cars really dont have very good handling, since they suffer from p massive understeer. This is not helped by the fact that Skoda cars are all front engined with most of their weight around the front of the car. But we have had FA and FR or even FF cars that have been regarded as enthusiast cars, like the Acura Integra for example as representation of the FF cars. But those cars were specifically tuned to handle like FR cars by Honda, and VW group at large does not tune their cars for that sort of handling. As such, there hasnt really been a car with such sharp handling as for example the Integra or the Civic Type R released by Skoda, except for the homologation special rallye cars based on the Fabia hothatch - which are not really attainable by most enthusiasts.
In my opinion, the VRS badge is just a performance package and not an actual enthusiast car trim based on production cars. And thats fine, I dont think the market for enthusiast cars is big enough for SKoda to be worth spending incredible modey developing an all new car solely for that purpose. But is is very sad given the fact that I genuinely believe if Skoda pivoted their efforts to creating a sports car, they would see such success as they have seen and are seeing in WRC. But with the decision for VW group to go all electric by 2030 or smth I sincerely doubt Skoda has creating a car like this on their list of priorities. So I guess the best I can hope for is that another manufacturer sees the untapped potential and releases an enthusiast car. One of the few companies I could see doing that would be Praga, who have already created a hypercar with some truly impressive numbers and results in prototype racing. But of course that same car was in the million figures of EUR so no way that any enthusiast will be able to afford anything they make anytime soon.
@@cronoz-sensei4259someone has been watching too much American TH-cam lol
Imagine if they pulled a Renault/Alpine and released a mid-engine sports car styled like their old RR cars.
@@llmkursk8254 Would be v fun, sadly in today's market there's no room for it. And tbf the homologation special Skoda Motorsport Fabia is an absolute monster, I wouldn't at all mind having that one. But it's not really an enthusiast car due to how much it costs and how little of them are made. An enthusiast car is something you can afford working a normal job for a few years. And atm, the only solution for this is ig to take an old Civic and get a kit car like the k1 attack kit to convert it into a mid engined enthusiast car. But that's a whole lot of work.
Wow.
What a healthy championship it was back then.
And how lovely that they still did the absolute mad Safari rally on open roads.
Epic story with the slow but robust car coming through to that podium!
I love Skoda motorsport!❤
As a Mk1 Octavia VRS owner and half Kenyan I approve this video 🙂✅
Barry?
These Octavias are truly tanks, nothing but reliable. You know what sector loves reliable cars? Taxi drivers.
As a taxi driver on his later years, my father had 3 taxis. A 2006 Nissan Primera that caught fire due to an electrical failure, a 2010 Octavia and lastly a Toyota Prius+ (due to hefty discounts and bonuses for hybrid cars, had it until retirement when he sold it). The Octavia was my favorite Taxi he ever had, and 2nd favorite car he ever owned.
Even when 2nd gen Octavias were around, some 1st gen Octavias were still being used as vehicles for the taxi industry in my country, and popular among them for being nothing but durable. One of my uncles had a 1st gen Octavia that lasted him until death, years before my father took on being a taxi driver himself. Getting to 500.000km without major issues for most Octavia taxi owners is a regular thing, and it was atound that mark (5 years later) when the big mechanical issues started for him.
I remember seeing a lot of taxi Octavias in my city before hybrid cars were made popular and almost everyone drove a Prius, I remember getting in one once with my parent and the ride was pretty good. My father is also a taxi driver whose first taxi car was a Seat Altea with automatic transmission that came with his licence. He changed into a Prius+ in a couple of years driving the Altea and now he's waiting for his Nissan Ariya to arrive, his first EV although he has driven the EV version of the Nissan Leaf before and a couple of Teslas.
Best taxi cars:
1.Skoda Octavia
2.Peugeot 406
3.Toyota Prius
Big nostalgic memories. I was a 10 year old kid when Škoda entered the WRC. And because I am Czech and a big car enthusiast since the day I learned to speak it was a big thing for me. I watched most of the races on TV and hoped for better results. It´s a pity (or škoda in czech) that Škoda left WRC. Fortunately nowadays Fabia R5 dominates the WRC2, Škoda has returned to lower class and it is again one of the best at it. Sry about my english, I know it´s not perfect:D
Škoda also means pity/shame/harm in Croatian, so I always found the name a bit funny
@@jogurt5577 it means same thing in slovak and czech :D :D
It reminds me of my granny here in Latvia who was was watching some lotto on TV and my aunt asked her if somebody had won anything and she replied in our local dialect that it was either harm (Skoda) or pussy (Peugeot). In regular Latvian they are really that close but in our dialect “škode” and “peža” means those things :D
@@lkrnpk it´s almost the same in czech language - "škoda" and "píča".:D
@@jogurt5577 even funnier is they originaly made artyllery and tanks
I remember Armins driving in Monte 2001 was very impressive, he was in a dogfight with Delecour in the much more nimble Focus for the 3rd place. On a good day it could be fast, but overcoming the 'giants' of its day would obviously be a big ask. I miss this era of rallying
I've said it many times. Armins 01 Monte was probably one of his best performances of all time. He was battling in the top 6 all rally long.
I am a rally fan from the Czech Republic and this made my day. Very nice, thanks
Amazing cars. Have had a Skoda Octavia mk1 for the past 5 years in Kenya. Love it.
There are pieces here in czech republic with over 1 000 000 kilometers on odometer, you will never have anything this reliable ever again. The 1.9tdi engine proved to be bulletproof platform.
I have a Felicia from 1999. I got it from my great-uncle and only took it quite gingerly as I never had a Škoda before and even though I'm Czech, Škoda was always looked down at in my family. (My father, who designed Tatra trucks, never liked them.) But I was very pleasantly surprised. I quickly understood why the Kit Car was so successful. The car has (from today's perspective) a bit weird, old-school geometry but it behaves unexpectedly well on road. It's very hard to force it into a skid, it sits down incredibly well (I've got the version with front torque bar stabiliser). I sometimes amuse myself on wet, curvy roads like that---despite the pretty weak 1.3 engine, it's a very entertaining car to drive.
Oh and yes, 25 years old, original state, nobody ever had to touch the engine. It's so simple a car that I did most of the necessary repairs myself, in front of the house (that includes replacing right half axle, to give you the idea).
"Czech tank"
*excited LT vz. 38 noises*
This video has popped out in my recommendations out of nowhere. I'm no rally fan, but I'm a sucker for a good underdog story. Great video!
Thank you for putting the music in the description :)
I never knew stages where not closed for local traffic during the Safari.
Pretty incredible this was allowed until 2001.
I will always remember the Skoda Felicia from the old game International Rally Championship.
A friendly and helpful random person on the internet, recommended by TH-cam, just subscribed. Please lower the music volume. Other than that, everything is top notch. The how you tell the story, the jokes are all top notch.
I wish you the best on future projects. I will be waiting for more automotive stories.
The cage on the front of the skodas in Kenya is such a cool looking detail, it works so well with the Octavia front end
Awesome music! Together with that narration creates a great experience. Well done!
Great video, awesome information base honestly. I would suggest however that you get a pop filter for your mic and smoothen your transitions between clips. Other than that your videos are really well structured! Keep up the good work.
When I imagine a car, I imagine an Octavia. It looks like a car and it does car things with as few bells and whistles as possible. Nothing more, nothing less. So for me it’s the carest car ever made, the most default car I would say. And yeah, I’m Czech.
Škodas are great. Really great, even the older ones.
@1:00 in Norway we have a saying "Hvorfor kjøre Skoda når man kan gå da?" It translates to "why drive a Skoda when you can walk?" but to make the right sound you'd say "walk da" which means "why don't you just walk then?" trust me it's funny, but very boomer-esk joke.
Armin Schwarz in Czech tank are such a great memories!!!
We still have these skoda as active and reserve duty police cars. Very reliable and handle quite well in pursuits.
Thank you for this video! My favourite old school WRC car!
Just a word of advice from a fellow youtuber. You don't want drastic decreases or increases in volume throughout your video as it can catch the user off guard. Not saying they will skip the vid , but they will be taken aback quite a bit. Now as a fellow petrolhead and rally enjoyer I thought your video was very informative and entertaining. In my country Skoda Octavias and Fabias are a very common sight and although a Hyundai Accent user myself , I'd definitely go down the Skoda route if I needed a new car!
I have managed to buy 2010 mk1 Octavia with only 34000km driven 2 years ago and I love that car. My father had one, so it was always my dream car. In my opinion, the facelifted MK1 Octavia is timeless design....I suppose that this is the most Czech comment ever written?😂
Also there's original Octavian WRC EVO2 Safari really spec in Škoda Muzeu in Mladá Boleslav. Absolutely beautiful car.
My father had one too, I remember walking back from school as a kid and telling my friends how one day I'd have one just like it but modified... 20 years later I do! The mk4 golf was the worst mk4 golf based car, the Octavia and Leon were (and are) much better.
Nah it and other late 90s and early 2000s VAG group cars have aged very well.
This video was amazing!! Please do more rally content, I’ll be here for it! I didn’t know the fact about Rally Kenya back then still used roads open to the public, that is pretty insane.
Great video! The editing is amazing, can’t wait to see you grow ❤
i read an article where Armin was saying he had to constantly complain to management for upgrades. Management back then were holding back on spending
Your determination to pronouncing Felicia as fellatio is truly appreciated. I myself could use a fellatio kit, I mean Felicia kit car
Skoda and Ford, while laughed at for a long time around here, just started building some of the best cars you can buy for a fair amount of money.
Having a Octavia RS as daily and my beloved Ford Ranger as work Truck for years now.
The ford ranger is the biggest pile of shit ever to grace 4 wheels
Ford just stopped making cars though.
The terrible Skoda reputation is pretty unwarranted when you think about it, they were cheap, reliable and were actually pretty good beginner race cars due to the Rear Engined Rear Wheel Drive layout.
great video
Used to play WRC2; we called the Octavia the Taxicab. It wasn't the fastest car, but it seemed to survive
Skoda before the communist times was actually a great car manufacturer.
The Škoda Works was established as an arms manufacturer in 1859. It was one of the largest European industrial conglomerates of the 20th century, founded by Czech engineer Emil Škoda in 1859 in Plzeň, then in the Kingdom of Bohemia, Austrian Empire. It is the predecessor of today's Škoda Auto
Amazing video very in depth and easy to understand for a rally noob like me. You deserve more than 2k subs that was beautifully put together
20:34 Look at the pace of that tyre, the true star of the video
man your editing is all over the place
Škoda. The best Czech car manufacturer.
Its the only czech car manufacturer :)
ŠKODA 120S, 200RS, 130RS, 130LR, 130 L/A, Favorit 136L/A, Felicia Kit Car, Octavia Kit Car, Octavia WRC, Fabia WRC, Fabia Super2000, Fabia R5, Fabia Rally2...💚💪👍
Škoda auto has one of the oldest rally teams in the world, after the fall of the regime, the quality and intelligence of the Škoda people was confirmed
Love the dedication ur gonna blow up
What was the phonk song called?
The phonk song is this
th-cam.com/video/WhvygG1jVzM/w-d-xo.htmlsi=NZJ_HOMCxkhXcfpq
This makes me wanna get a first gen Octavia with a WRC wing on it. Man, what a car!
Seriously my favorite rally car of all time. Made me a Skoda fan. I actually rebranded my Versa with Skoda badges since we don't have Skoda in the States.
I'm completely surprised you don't currently have a larger following. Really good info
as someone from czech i want to see more vids like this
motorsport has to be one of the only things where I don''t know anything about this specific sport but oh my god is it interesting as fuck to hear about
If only the underdogs of seat, skoda, hyundai, and suzuki coulda had some success. Love those cars but they all got the worst luck possible
Skodas seem so fucking cool I wish we had them in America!
Already your videos are fantastic keep it up love seeing such genuinely good content about rally!
Slow, uninnovative, but reliable.
That's why Octavia I was the best car my family ever owned, (up until we turned it LPG, which over time started a round of electrical issues)
Love the contents and witty script just need sound insulation wherever you record to up the quality, good vid tho. I subbed
theres just some speical genre of "rally music" and damn its good
Thank you for the video, you did pretty good job.
mark iv golf is widely hated and considered to be a "Floppy Unresponsive Puddle of Diarrhea"
You got me there. Had one. Hated the Sluge..
I like mine tbh, not for the handling, but because it doesnt take much to fix pretty much any issue. It shares many components with mk1 Octavia and since there´s still alot of them in Czech Republic, parts are either cheap or readily available in the junkyard.
And yes, my engine likes to sip on oil and coolant a bit, and it ticks, but im pushing 300k and its still going.
But yes, im kinda ready for the engine to grenade, the car rattles and creaks, but it has helped me and friends move a few times now and i just cant let it go yet.
Pronouncing Škoda without Š at the beggining really hurts my ears, it sounds very weird and disturbing and like an offense. It sounds like when you step on bunch of snakes 😀 I don't know why Škoda didn't put more efford to educating english speakers about how it's pronounced in their commercials, because it really sounds awful when you read it like "skoda," maybe they were supposed to change spelling to "Shkoda" but that would also look weird.
Great job bro, try to normalize the music volume.. but really good vid. Kudos!
The Octavia WRC might've been a failure, but I love this car anyway lol. 🙃
It does have a certain aesthetic look, while also being the underdog in one of WRC's golden era.
I love skoda history! They are amazing the classic underdog story... My favorite era was the rear engined rally era were they had basicaly zero budget but always competitive and had a lot of succes ...
Seeing those live when younger is what clued me in to Skoda not being the joke they were made out to be. Then I really wanted a Favorit when they started those, and currently own '98 Felicia, still going strong to this day.
I love this video. Your story telling really keeps me interested throughout the video. If you're looking for video ideas, maybe you could do one on Didier Auriol. I feel like nobody talks about him and is usually an overlooked driver who had very high ups but also very low downs in his rallying career.
Skoda before soviet times where one of the best vehicles around.
So you are telling me 10 cars catch fire and the truck trying to savethe rest fliped over in a corner crashing with more cars? Damn
But the wheel did set the second fastest stage time 😂🤣🤣🤣😂
I love how the dude made a 25 min video and has no idea how to pronounce "škoda" which just ,by the way means "Damage"
Stop shiting on a car that took you from A to B affordably and they still drive personally been drifting whit favorit very fun cars
good vid and appreciate the hard work!! can you please jus turn the interlude music down a bit, maybe a better mic too that’s got more clarity would help too ❤
i now feel significantly more justified in loving the skoda octavia in rallisport challenge 2 on the original xbox. it was my favorite car for... well, i dont even know why it was, it just was. probably something with the name.
There's a reason Skoda is my favourite brand.
The Superb is my second favourite car.
We almost got an Octavia, twice actually.
The Fabia was my favourite in the PSP game FIA WRC 2005.
They somehow make Volkswagen's stuff more reliable and do it for cheaper.
It is more reliable just because they use the parts that Volkswagen have tested for many years, and they don't include the most advanced technology that Volkswagen is still testing. So if you quit the uknkown reliability parts and you select the older but well tested equipment you get an increase in reliability.
Miss those "family" cars in rally, when i was a kid it was all about subarus and mitsubishis and seeing those cars on the road was always fun, now it's all econoboxes that no one cares besides the GR Yaris
I have no idea about two things:
1, Why Skoda decided to build a WRC from the Octavia, instead of the Fabia in 1999?
2, Why do I remember the name of Toni Gardemeister?! I literally haven't heard about him for 20 years!
This was nice to watch. :)
For some reason Gardemeister is also a familiar name for me, despite never hearing it before lol
no wonder we did good in kenya ... just by looking at their dirt roads they are in better condition than our highways
I LOVE MY OCTAVIA U1 TOURING!! 1.8 t 20v AUM lyfe!!!
Yeah the music needs to be toned waaayy down bro other than that it was a really interesting video
CZECHIA MENTIONED! 🗣️🗣️🗣️🔥🔥🔥 WHAT THE HELL IS RELIGION????
Love the early internet vibes on this video. Low bitrate
I don't know why, but Skodas are just cool. In general.
My mom had the normal Octavia and i loved it. In some alternate universe the octavia WRC caught on more and there is a three way battle between the evo wrx sti and octavia wrc
love the soundtrack, dog
Skoda was not poor build quality.... They were better put together than the British cars.... It was the rear engine construction and if you have ever been passenger in a 120 from 1982 you could do a lot worse regarding ride
You've told us about "Skoda" but it's actually Škoda [shkoda]
Great video I'd suggest working on the music/editing a bit though it doesnt quite fit throughout the pace of the video at a couple spots
Great channel! You should do the K11 Kit Car at some point!
good car
i love the quality and the information that was pumped into this video but to be honest you do need to work on your editing skills a little more
Love this car we had a very nice ones in the hungarian rally!
you can see felicia's common on the roads after 3O years and is still in Slovakia and the Czech Republic
Nevím jak na Slovensku, ale v Česku opravdu běžně nepotkáš feldu. Jezdim každý týden přes cele Česko 😂
@@Lasak_5 škoda simply invisible XD
Its such a handsome car
Thanks for the video, although it is extremely frustrating to keep pronouncing it as Skoda, when its Škoda (Shkoda, sh as in shock)
Pronunciation is fixed in the next part on the Fabia :)
Nice
Now show the history of 2011 skoda fabia in february
Its škoda not skoda of how you pronouce it skouda
This is one of my favorite rally cars, if I was ever in a position to afford an ex wrc car I'd probably pick the Octavia. I can't imagine it being as expensive as a wrc Evo, Impreza, 206 and Focus. The Seat is the only one that could be more affordable.
škoda in Ukrainian language means "[a] pity"