For the sixth year in succession, the Skoda Felicia has won the budget car class in the Auto Express awards. That's no real surprise. There may be other cars at similar prices, but the Felicia murders them for passenger and luggage space, and for its customer deal.The absolutely rock-bottom spec Felicia is the Popular, available only as a five-door hatchback and not, like the Classic, as an estate as well. It's fairly basic, of course, but it strikes us as an honest car at a fair price.And the great thing about the Popular is that you get a lot more than, with most other cars, you pay for. Skoda's UK prices include not only delivery, a filled fuel tank and a year's road tax, plus three years' warranty and AA roadside assistance, but also a three-year/45,000-mile service package. For the Popular's list price of just under £6200, that's a pretty good deal.This isn't as advanced a design as the Fabia. Nothing like it. It's essentially an update of the old Favorit. But it was the first new model to come out of the Czech factory after Volkswagen became involved; so it's well enough put together, if not nearly to Fabia or Golf standards.Passenger space is pretty good, and the generous headroom reminds you that this is a car for four, five at a pinch, six-footers. And the Felicia, using a Skoda model name from way back, was the company's first car in recent years to have a stylish rather than strictly utilitarian fascia design.Even the Popular isn't badly equipped, with an immobiliser, a radio/cassette player with removable front panel, adjustable headlight beams and so on as standard. You don't get an airbag, central locking, power steering or metallic paint, though.You don't get a bang up-to-date engine, either. The Popular is fitted with Skoda's own 1.3-litre light alloy engine in its lower state of tune. It can't provide sparkling acceleration, but it gets the car along briskly enough once it's "off the line", and the Popular puts up a surprisingly good economy show.The thing about the Popular, or any Felicia, on the road, is that it handles a lot better than many people think. Especially with the modest power output of the Popular, you can go close to flat-out a lot of the time. And Skoda's suspension engineers know how to keep a decent balance between cornering and ride.Skoda imports Felicias in hatchback, estate, pickup and van variants, and there are a few of the wild Felicia Fun devices still unsold. But the Popular is the real, down-to-earth budget version, and none the worse for that. Engine 1289cc, 4 cylinders Power 54bhp Fuel 44.0mpg Acceleration 0-62mph: 15.5 seconds Top speed 94mph Price £6199 Details correct at publication date
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