Given up!

[warley]

It didn't work out. After just over three weeks and 600 miles, I've traded the Yeti, the first brand new car I have ever owned back to the dealer and taken a Golf Plus Bluemotion. I realised that I could not spend the next X years living with the bumpy ride of the 1.2 tsi elegance over anything but the smoothest surfaces. In contrast, while the Golf Plus BM is not exactly a soft ride it has nicely sorted damping and one is not constantly aware of the road surface. In fact the Plus rides about how I think the Yeti should ride if it is to be considered a family car but I'm sure all the satisfied owners would disagree. I am already missing the Yeti's multi-function steering wheel, the auto aircon and the spacious interior but am not missing the crashing into minor potholes and the Yeti's unpredictable auto-sensing windscreen wipers - unlike those in the Plus which are as good as having manual wiper control. If anyone is thinking did not the poster have a test drive, I had a longish test in a 140 4wd diesel which seemed fine and a short test in the 1.2 elegance cut short by rush hour traffic. Should have gone a bit further! My guess is that the diesels with extra wieght have more mass damping and that alone would make some difference. I'll stick arould here for a few days just for interest and then I'll pick up me coat on the way out after one of the most embarrassing and expensive mistakes I've ever made.

[Freshacre]

Sorry to hear your tale of woe - you have my commiserations. And far far better to deal with it immediately than get driven insane. Well done for that decision and good luck with the Golf +.

[The Plumber]

Sad to hear things didn't work out. Strangely I have found the opposite in comparing diesel or petrol running on over sized low profile rims and tyres. Fixed the problem with the second Yeti by getting the 16" set-up factory fitted; just a light thump now if you catch a pot hole rather than the hard thump and scuttle with the previous 140.

All the best,

TP

[Yeti_Man]

Erm, weird question but are you sure the Yeti had the transit chocks removed from the suspension at PDI as ive recently driven the Golf + and I thought the Yeti damping to be superior!?

[leckman]

The auto-wipers on my Yeti have been pretty much spot on,no complaints.

[gadgetman]

I thought the transit blocks were now bright orange and have handles on making missing them at pdi unlikely unless Stevie Wonder was the technician?

[warley]

Thanks for the sympathy! I'm disappointed as I have been a Yeti admirer since it was launched in 2009. Yes I'm a lot happier with the Bluemotion G+ even though the gear ratios will take a bit of getting used to! Did think about switching Yeti to16" wheels but my insurers (L&G) would not allow it as a 'standard car' even though I said the 16" were available as a new option and i would be buying them from Skoda so not wanting to run a modified car I gave that idea up andit would have been a sho tin the dark anyway. Re the transit blocks I'm sure the car was OK as the head of service tested it when it went in on week two to have a rattle behind the speedo fixed ( that was just "loose plastic" which they "trimmed back" which I assumed to be flapping cable ties). I'm sure the car was quite normal but just not quite what I wanted it to be. I found it admirable in almost every other way. Wipers may have been a one off problem but either seemed to wipe too much or not enough and sometimes on a dry screen. Did 2 hours on Sat in the G+ in the rain and could not fault the auto wipe. .

Edited 19 June, 2012 by warley

[angrybeard]

Sorry to hear about your problems, and esp the expense of it, i wish you luck in your golf+, they are nice cars and looked into getting one myself, only to decide against it purely because it wasn't 'me'. Having previously owned an x-trail, with big squashy all season tyres the rubber bands on the 17's do feel harsh, how do the tyre/alloy size on your golf plus compare?

[Expatman]

Sorry you were forced to change. I test drove a Golf as well as two Yeti's - one with 17" wheels and low profile tyres and one with 16" wheels. No doubt the Yeti with 16" wheels had a much smoother ride than the 17" wheeled Yeti in which, like you, I felt every minor imperfection in the road surface! I chose the Yeti with 16" wheels but had to order it through SkodaUK as a special order to get the 16" wheels on the Elegance trim; no real problem but needed a bit of perseverance to get the process underway. If I could not have specified the 16" wheels I too would have bought a Golf, as it is I feel I have the best of both worlds - smooth ride with the elevated driver/passenger position in a vehicle I wanted.

[Brijo]

So sorry that things didn't work out - you were really put in an impossible situ_ation.

[Hirundo]

No doubt the Yeti with 16" wheels had a much smoother ride than the 17" wheeled Yeti in which, like you, I felt every minor imperfection in the road surface!

I'm more and more happy I did not listen the dealer who tried to sell us 17"-s (16" Moons came standard with "Ambition"). To pay 3 times (!!!) more (185.- v. 530.- € ) for something that makes Your ride less comfortable ?!? :no:

Edited 20 June, 2012 by Hirundo

[BossFox]

It's interesting how people have different feelings toward ride comfort.

I went from an air-suspension Range Rover to a Fabia to a Yeti (on 17s) and I think the ride is great.

[andyspan]

I too have no problem with the ride and I live in an area famous for its cart track roads, I suppose it's all a matter of taste and you can't satisfy all the people all the time. I also think the 17" wheels look so much better :-)

[Macdemon]

I thought the transit blocks were now bright orange and have handles on making missing them at pdi unlikely unless Stevie Wonder was the technician?

Or David Blunkett.................

[Trevorminor]

Or David Blunkett.................

No, the black Lab would have spotted them :think:

[Yeti_Man]

I thought the transit blocks were now bright orange and have handles on making missing them at pdi unlikely unless Stevie Wonder was the technician?

POssibly, id ont know tbh. It just seems weird what some people perceive as comfortable, good even and some dont like. I think, as BossFox said, its all to do with what you have come from and are used to. Personally I think the damping, especially the primary damping of the Yeti is one of its biggest attributes.

[Norry]

I'm more and more happy I did not to listen the dealer who tried to sell us 17"-s (16" Moons came standard with "Ambition"). To pay 3 times (!!!) more (185.- v. 530.- € ) for something that makes Your ride less comfortable ?!? :no:

16" wheels, a 2litre diesel engine and a spare wheel and everything will smooth out!!

Oh! And a 4X4 of course!

Edited 20 June, 2012 by Norry

[MikeWales]

Hi Warley. Sorry you couldn't stick it out with the Yeti, I reached that point with my SLK 3 months ago!

A while back I had a Seat Altea 2.0 FSi which of course is similar to the Golf+ underneath (and the Yeti I suppose). Great car, but so is the Yeti in my eyes.

Enjoy the VW

[ejstubbs]

I too have no problem with the ride and I live in an area famous for its cart track roads, I suppose it's all a matter of taste and you can't satisfy all the people all the time.

I have no problems with my Yeti's ride on Edinburgh's potholed and often cobbled streets, but it can get a bit choppy going over speed bumps. Oddly, the square ones with simple ramps up each side are not so bad, it's the rounded ones that can be a bit abrupt. Then again, the council have already had to replace the speed bumps in one estate which turned out not to meet the DoT standard (IIRC they had to pay for them to be replaced as well, you'd have thought it would be the contractor who installed them who would be responsible). I often suspect that a fair few other speed bumps round here are wrongly profiled, but perhaps those locals prioritise "calm" traffic over drivable roads.

[warley]

Thanks to all for further sympathetic comments. It is clear that perceptions of ride quality vary quite widely so maybe I'm built for comfort not speed. The comments also help me to believe that I probably made the right move for me as at one point I was doubting my sanity and trying rationalise whether I was looking for a problem that wasn't there as a work colleague put it after giving me a ride in Miss Tiggy for comparison - I thought the Tiggy was nearly as firm a ride! I'll probably lurk on the forums as a friend has an 8-y-o Fabia and I've picked up useful help with that here in the past couple of years. Cheers all and good luck with those Yetis!

[bilun777]

Always found the ride very much on the acceptable side of firm.

However I have to agree with the auto wipers, as mine are b****y useless.

[SnowYeti]

Got my 1.2 Tsi Elegance (16" wheels) yesterday, drove 300 miles home, took it for a nice spin on twisty bumpy country roads today. It's great to drive, corners well, but still smooth enough over the bumps. I only test drove the 17" version so my wheel downgrade was on briskoda advice only, glad I did it!

Got it up to 44mpg (indicated) with aircon on, wasn't trying to hard either, happy with that.

We shall agree to disagree!

[Anzio]

Nothing wrong with my 140 4x4 on 17"s, that's what it came and that's what it's staying with.

[rockhopper]

I collected mine before the 16" wheels became available, but I asked the dealer many times to change them but he couldn't/wouldn't.

The damping as far as I'm concerned is not great. But I'm coming from "the best executive car" the 5 series e39 BMW. That was so smooth in SE guise. (wouldn't touch any m sport with proverbial barge pole)

In comparison the Yeti is very poorly damped.

Certain roads have a ripple effect and they are very uncomfortable in the Yeti.

The Octavia wasn't any better until I replaced the shocks with Koni FSD's, but even then it wasn't as comfortable as I would have liked.

The Yeti is way, way better than the 535d m sport I had. Hit a pothole with one of the 275/35R20's and I needed to visit the osteopath!!

I personally think the suspension is one area where Skoda have saved money compared to a VW. To be cheaper they have to save money somewhere and I'm sure that is one area.

It is adequate. Not great, just adequate in my opinion. It was my main area of concern when I was buying the car, as all the reports said, and most still do, say it has a jittery ride, and that describes it well.

By the way I still love the car overall, but if I could change one thing it would be the suspension.

[jlwah]

By the way I still love the car overall, but if I could change one thing it would be the suspension.

It would be nice to see the facelift Yeti (whenever it arrives) offered with the option of adaptive damping like the Tiguan.

I don't particularly have a problem with the Yeti's ride, but given that road maintenance budgets are being cut, it would be nice to have the option to switch to a softer setting for uneven roads and a firmer one when pressing on (strictly within legal limits, of course ).

Sadly, I doubt VW will let Skoda have that technology just yet.