Hello to the crew of Octane and Overdrive, we here at Sparky T’s Customs have an idea for your proposed Skoda pickup transformation. We’re calling it “High Felicity”. Nostalgia for the 90’s seems to be pretty big right now, and mini truck customizing was a stable of that era, so this is were we drew our inspiration from.
We have given the Felicia a subtle but effective body kit that gives the truck a sleek and sporty look to it. Fender flares, bumpers, side skirts, bulged hood, tonneau cover, rear spoiler, and three spoke wheels make up this package. Then it is topped with a very rad three tone paint job.
Under the hood, we felt that the old 1.3L didn’t have the gusto to back up the new looks. So instead we have elected to swap in a VW EA390 2.5 litre VR6. This alloy engine has been fitted with twin turbos to put out 300 horsepower and a chunky 353 ft-lbs of torque.
To help put all the new power down, the Felicia has been converted to all wheel drive. It’s lucky that VAG products are a bit like Legos, so grabbing the parts from an Quattro equipped Audi helped make this fairly easy to do. With a six speed manual transmission, this gives performance figures of 0-60 in 3.79 seconds, quarter mile in 11.9, and a top speed limited to 155 mph.
Revised suspension tuning, complete with a new multi-link rear end, vented disc brakes, a variable electric assisted steering rack, magnetorheological active springs and dampers, and updates to the safety and driver aids make for a very fun and controllable ride. The interior like-wise has seen updates as well, with a state of the art infotainment system and an exterior matching upholstery.
We expect all these changes to amount to around $41,000 AMU. We look forward to hearing your thoughts on this project!
Is it too late to spot another outdated detail of the diesel ruleset? For JOC6C, I amended the cam rule to allow up to 10, and after that (not published), the reliability bonuses down to +10%.
Since challenge would have ended yesterday if it wasn’t for deadline extension, it feels a bit late yes…
OK, a little less than two days remaining now, and I have recieved complete entries from:
@the-chowi
@Maverick74
@UnderlovedGhost
Time to finish your car if you haven’t done so, time to send it in if you have.
Skoda Felicia SuperUte by HPG
Miss the days of the good ol’ Aussie ute? The SuperUte brings 'em back with a longitudinally mounted 400-bhp naturally aspirated 5.0L V8 (with WES9 compatibility thanks to direct injection and individual throttle bodies) driving the rear wheels via a six-speed manual gearbox and helical LSD, while all-new dual-wishbone front/multilink rear suspension, staggered high-performance tires, and large vented disc brakes give it the braking and handling capabilities of a genuine sports car. 0-60 mph in <4.8 seconds and a top speed of ~190 mph are guaranteed, thanks to a lightweight body (1190kg) and sports interior (complete with premium infotainment) - all for just $58,000 after options.
It’s been over 2 weeks since the deadline, but I’ll be patient and wait at least another week for the results if it means getting them right.
I was planning to try to get them out now during the weekend, I have had more busy weeks than I would have liked myself unfortunately. If they won’t come out tonight, I have some days off during easter…
…WE’RE BACK AFTER THE COMMERCIAL BREAK…
“Hello, everyone, and welcome back to Octane & Overdrive. I am miss Octane, and here we have our second host…”
“…Mr. Overdrive. Thanks!”
“Yes. And now we are going to reveal something very exciting, and you know what it is, right?”
“Absolutely. We are going to see who are going to get the important mission, to make something cool out of our Skoda.”
“Right. And we have four proposals, all of them very interesting, but only one can be a winner.”
“Yes. And the first one that will be eliminated is the…”
SKODA FELICIA PICKUP V8 LONG-DRIVE by UNDRLVD_CSTMS @UnderlovedGhost
“To start with, this is a very dragracing inspired build. Is it a drag racer that we see, too?”
"Well, yes, and no. We now have a 5.6 litre V8 under the hood. Naturally aspirated and pumping out almost 537 hp. Of course, front wheel drive won’t cut it for a drag racer, so it is now driving the rear wheels.
“And the quartermile time?”
“Well. 11.77 seconds in a Skoda Pickup ain’t all that bad, one must say. But still, the gearing seems to be more streetable, so a compromise to make it more useful I guess. So, the top speed is now 364 km/h…good lord. 4.49 seconds to 100.”
“But how streetable is it?”
“Fact is, not very. There’s not much thoughts put in behind the comfort, which makes it more or less a novelty. Which is where its downfall is. Also, at $58300 it is the most expensive of all the proposals. Service costs are high, fuel economy low, reliability too. So, it is simply too niched for a car that we wanted to be useful on a somewhat daily basis.”
“Right. And now for the next elimination…”
SKODA FELICIA SUPERUTE by HPG @abg7
"Well. Compared to the other proposals, the styling of this is a little bit bland. Which is part of its downfall.
“Yes. It is also almost as expensive as our previous proposal, at $57000. Also, fuel economy is awkwardly bad at 15.5 litres per 100 km…”
“But it surely has some positive sides too?”
“Absolutely. From what we can see, it is safe, well built, has surprisingly low service costs, will be reasonably easy to drive and comfort is at least a lot better than in the previous proposal.”
"“So it is a lot more streetable?”
“A lot, yes.”
“So what is done to it?”
“Just like the previous proposal, it is converted to rear wheel drive. Also, it has a V8, but a more primitive pushrod unit. That might explain why the fuel economy is bad but the service costs better…”
“So, performance wise, that means…?”
“A 12.48 second quarter mile time. 4.85 seconds to 100 and 306 km/h top speed, so it is also blazingly fast, especially for a Skoda pickup.”
“It stops well, corners well, all in all it is absolutely not a bad proposal, but it doesn’t reach all the way forward.”
“Neither does our next proposal, since there can only be one winner, right?”
“Yes, and now it is actually one that is so good that it feels a bit sad to have to let it go…”
SKODA FELICIA FUN AF @the-chowi
“To put it this way, the exterior styling is nothing but amazing, as the mix of cyberpunk and silhouette racer that it is.”
“Is it as advanced under the skin?”
“Well, for most tuning houses it would probably have been tempting to upgrade the engine for something newer. But in this case it is still the old Skoda 1.3 litre four, with its roots in the 60s. However, it is now turned around to drive the rear wheels, and has also a more modern 4 valve head. Combined with a turbo it bumps the power up to 259 hp.”
“That sounds a bit measly after the V8 monsters we have seen, but thinking about it, that’s still a lot of engine in such a car.”
“Absolutely. It is by no means slow. A 292 km/h top speed, 4.64 seconds to 100 and 12.85 second quarter mile time, it manages to be almost as fast as the HPG entry, but with less than one third of the fuel consumption.”
“At $38100 it is also the cheapest of the proposals.”
“Absolutely. Service costs are the second highest, but not that bad still.”
“Its driving dynamics are also promised to be well on par with the looks.”
“Unfortunately, it comes at a sacrifice of comfort that is not the best, albeit much better than in the Undrlvd_Cstms entry.”
"So. There can only be one winner, and that is the…
HIGH FELICITY by SPARKY T’S CUSTOMS @Maverick74
“To start with, this is an entry that oozes of 90s nostalgia, which is “hip” at the moment. It looks a bit mild compared to the Fun AF…”
“…but that’s just at a first glance, the devil is in the details and there’s more to it than meets the eye.”
“Also, we think this will have a wide appeal as the most streetable build.”
“But under the shell, it is more of an A3 VR6 Quattro than a Felicia now.”
“Yes. A 301 hp turbo VR6 and all wheel drive. Not bad! Actually, it is maybe the sleeper since it outperforms some of the wilder looking builds with a 3.79 second time to 100 and 11.90 seconds on the quarter mile, the 250 km/h top speed is lower than the rest but still more than adequate.”
“And even if it won’t stop and corner like a formula 1 car, the update is still remarkable.”
“While it is still the most driveable and comfortable of all the entries, so it hits a rather sweet spot.”
“It also gives some bang for the buck at $42000. Not only the second lowest price, it also has the second best fuel economy at 7.7 litres per 100 km, and the second lowest service costs at $1973.90.”
“So, being a strong contender with seemingly mild, but still great aesthetical updates with a nice retro look, while having no overly weak spots, Sparky T’s customs will be the tuning house featured in our show for some episodes to follow, and the High Felicity will be the car you will have a chance to win. So, don’t miss the upcoming episodes if you want to see more of the Skoda!”
So, the standings are as follows:
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@Maverick74 - At a first glance this seems to be just a simple paintjob, but everyone that has tried to work on the Fiesta body with its awkward paint slots knows that combining a bodykit with an advanced 3 tone paint on it requires LOTS of fiddling. I would go so far that I would say that this is more or less as modded body wise as chowi’s build, just not as visible. Both were great in their own ways, but being the more streetable, better allrounder gave you the victory here.
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@the-chowi - Blazing aesthetics, very interesting choice to keep the Skoda engine with a head swap and convert it to RWD. Great stats to a low price, and I must say that it did hurt to put this one in second place, but only one can be the first one, and this had a couple more weak spots than Maverick’s build. But your builds were very close, to a more distant third…
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@abg7 - I am not a big fan of the aesthetics, and it did hurt the fuel economy a lot to go for the ancient pushrod V8. Combined with a high price it was not the most attractive choice, but it really has some strong spots like safety and reliability.
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@UnderlovedGhost - An interesting build that was a bit too extreme for the brief maybe. But aesthetics wise not bad, and I also like the basic idea. But a race car with some compromises to make it more streetable, which made it a bit “not enough” of any of them, if you understand what I mean. Not a bad build though, and one can see that you had fun with it.
Also, I am sorry that this took so long. Working with challenges have been a bit too restricted to the weekends, where I only have wanted some rest, and the weekdays there has been things coming in the way all the time. I hope you can have some understanding, as you know I am usually not that slow when it comes to challenge judging.
Now, time for KSAC I guess.
Since I’m currently hosting another challenge, I will be passing this down to @the-chowi to take the honours.
Congratulations! And yes, I would be glad to host the next round 
New round is up!