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MajorTom's "Ground Control"


MajorTom

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So, here it is, the newly arrived Aqua Blue Yeti - running on 17x7" Spitzbergs with 225/45-17 (stud less) Michelin X Ice Nordics and maybe 4-5mm of tread (I'd have preferred the latest Nokian Hakkapeliitta R2s, but I'll probably get a set next year). The summer tyres have some Goodyear Efficient Grip Performance tyres, which look OK, at around 5-6mm. I've got a pretty nice spec, with the panorama sunroof, off road kit (a bit steel plate underneath), cornering fogs, tow bar etc, but no leather or satnav (I can't get too excited about cold seats and outdated CD-ROMs, especially with Finnish taxes ladled on top). And my wife likes the little picture of the car in the radio when she engages reverse! 

post-114628-0-87496200-1394978268_thumb.jpg

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After an all round inspection, and some rooting around in the back, I've decided to remove the dog guard and the very chunky flat floor, and also I've left the tow bar in the shed - they all seem to add unnecessary weight. I would consider adding a rubber boot liner if there's an OEM version.  

 

We've been "surprised and delighted" (wouldn't the marketing tyres love us) by the automatic windscreen wipers (car in front washed its windscreen), the reversing sensor image in the radio display, cornering fogs, and the electric sun blind. Those are not normally the kind of things that I look for; I was more concerned about service intervals, fluid changes, engine reliability etc.

 

Anyway, I'm trying to sell the summer rims (they're not very nice, and very heavy), and if so, I'll need some fresh tyres: I may be getting some of the latest Nokian Hakka summers as I really liked the Nokian Z G2s on the previous car for feel and imporved braking. The Michelin winters are poor (even the wifey complained), so we'll replace them next winter. Hopefully the local guy with the Annapurna's for sale will get back to me soon.

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So no response from the chap with the Annapurnas, not quite sure what was the point of taking the trouble to post up an ad? Anyway, rims can wait til next winter. I'll just put the summer Goodyears on the Spitzbergs and bin the Michelins. They're absolutely fine as long as there's no snow or ice, which is a bit odd as it states "X Ice" on the side.  

 

In other news, I've ordered my first - and probably last - external modification, which is a stubby aerial from SuperSkoda. The original radio-controlled car version twangs on the ceiling in the underground car park at the office. Which is a bit embarassing.

 

And lastly, I picked up the car with the DNA Tuning stage 1 remap for 215bhp and 262 lb ft of torque. Plus a much better set of linear and flat curves respectively. The 1500kg monster now pulls hard in any gear, all the way to the redline, with no huge drop off in power. The turbo's obviously working harder, holding 1.6-1.7 bar of boost at high revs. So now the car feels a lot perkier, and easier to drive. Very pleased.

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The Yeti must be good as the driver (ie wife) actually washed it. Miracle. I plan to give the old girl a good clean over the weekend, take some upholstery cleaner to the front seats, and do a proper vacuuming. I also need to remove the vestiges of the flat floor as the rubber mat from Superskoda doesn't seem to quite fit properly at the sides. The side panels look like they also come out.  The OEM VAG stubby aerial and Briskoda sticker are now fitted, so the external "mods" are all now done.

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  • 1 month later...

short update:

 

Those side panels do come out, very easily as it happens, so I'll probably just sell on the whole flat floor assembly. I've no use for it.

 

I had a bit of a play with the rear seats, and I quite like the two seat configuration, but since we participate in a school run, we need to keep the middle seat in situ.

 

I've also got a K&N cotton filter to go in, but I'll wait until after the summer, so I don't throw away the new filter until it's had some use.

 

And I want to get those uprated Golf R32 anti roll bars; I'm just not getting used to the lean in longer corners, even with the stiffer summer tyres.

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  • 2 months later...

2014 Summer Holiday Update

 

We’ve been up to Lapland twice this summer and we’ve now put some 3000km on the Yeti (roughly 750km each way twice, plus a bit more) so I thought I’d share a couple of thoughts.

The Yeti has worked well. We would normally have only done the one trip so there must be a compliment in there somewhere. The children and dog haven’t wailed, and we’ve been able to close the boot and still see out of the rear view mirror. The 1.8T has used a litre of oil (to my surprise) but then, we’ve been running for hours at 29-30c with aircon at 21c… The gearing is very long, which is good for fuel consumption when cruising at 80-100-110kmh (we have pretty low speed limits, speed cameras, and a distinct lack of motorway). And the car is very quiet.

 

But on the other hand, it means that we need to drop down from sixth to fourth for an overtake. The 1.8T needs a few revs to pull hard, but it’s great for what I think of as ‘the monster overtake’: you know, spot the gap, drop to fourth, and sweep past the rolling roadblock – which here typically consists of the extra long lorry (i.e. a tractor unit with a 20 foot container, towing a 40 foot container), followed by the bloke in a Volvo/Nissan with a caravan and a dawdler who doesn’t want to/can’t overtake, all taken at once, one hit. And repeat ad nauseam. It’s a bit less stressful than trying to leapfrog a whole string of 15-20 cars one at a time.

 

What I did notice is that some people seem to object to being overtaken by a Yeti – maybe it’s just me but I seem to have suffered a lot more “re-overtakes” than before, when a slower car has been woken up by a flash of 'non-race blue' and then absolutely positively has to get past the ordinary ‘Guildford blue’ car again. Or maybe it was just the hot weather, getting everyone all steamed up?

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  • 3 weeks later...

Yup. I had it done within days of the pick up. Now I need the better brakes as the feel of the stock set up is a bit soft and woolly.

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  • 1 month later...

There's not much happening with 'Guildford', although I did source some some nice cost-effective 17" rims and some Skoda badges as the new winter wheels. They're still in the shed, awaiting the new Nokian winter rubber and well, winter.

 

In the meantime I would still need to sell the horrible (but brand new) rims that the car came with, as I'm not keen on them or the cheapo/poor Michelin "x-ice3 Nordic" (ha! Nordic my arse) winter tyres that came with the car - no front end grip, just understeer. ''

 

And it seems that my wife can just about squeeze 600km from a tank of day-to-day driving.

 

It does clean up well though with a proper wash using Autoglym car shampoo.

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  • 3 months later...

Groiund Control has had a quiet winter so far; I've used it to retrieve a small boat from an unofficial slip (ie the side of the lake, in narrow dog leg gap between some trees easily negotiated in such a modestly sized car) and then tow the boat around a bit, and I've been running the roof bars as I bought a massive 3m Christmas tree (which came home on the roof). Funnily enough though, it seems to be popping bulbs, all while the temperatures are below freezing. Need to get them sorted as I'm tired of the endless reminders...

 

In the meantime, I hate the resolute understeer in low grip siutations. Really need those new tyres and rARB.

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Groiund Control has had a quiet winter so far; I've used it to retrieve a small boat from an unofficial slip (ie the side of the lake, in narrow dog leg gap between some trees easily negotiated in such a modestly sized car) and then tow the boat around a bit, and I've been running the roof bars as I bought a massive 3m Christmas tree (which came home on the roof). Funnily enough though, it seems to be popping bulbs, all while the temperatures are below freezing. Need to get them sorted as I'm tired of the endless reminders...

 

In the meantime, I hate the resolute understeer in low grip siutations. Really need those new tyres and rARB.

I went for front and rear ARB from Whiteline and its eliminated understeer :)

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  • 3 weeks later...

I just stuck another litre of oil in the car to bring it back to max, and (unlike the other car) it wasn't my driving... so that's about 3½ litres for 20,000km

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  • 1 month later...

I still haven't got round to sorting any brakes, or anti roll bars, and now that the Euro is plunging against Sterling, it won't get any cheaper to source anything from the UK. In the meantime, the Yeti failed to start this afternoon, the starter motor just made a funny noise, and the AL (Finnish for AA o RAC) relieved my wife of EUR94 for a call out and a fresh battery. Although it was done within the hour. 

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  • 1 month later...

Not much happening with 'Guildford', as I've got another project on the go, or rather, a fresh daily newly acquired so the old daily can retire to a life better lived as a weekend and trackday car.

 

So now we have three cars, and a total of 4.4 litres, 10 driven wheels, 7 sets of wheels, two turbos, one supercharger, two spoilers, one wing, and something north of 720bhp, all of which gargle Shell V Power.

Edited by MajorTom
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  • 1 month later...

It looks like life with the Yeti is coming to an end - we're moving. And I don't think they even sell Skodas where we're going.

 

In the meantime, we've got a summer fun: a couple of trips up to Lapland, and one across Sweden to Jutland, Denmark.

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It looks like life with the Yeti is coming to an end - we're moving. And I don't think they even sell Skodas where we're going.

 

In the meantime, we've got a summer fun: a couple of trips up to Lapland, and one across Sweden to Jutland, Denmark.

 

where on earth are you moving to that they don't sell Skodas? 

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 3 weeks later...

where on earth are you moving to that they don't sell Skodas? 

 

Dubai, UAE.

 

Although I must correct myself, as I have seen some Fabias for sale on 'dubizzle'

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One other item to report: the various lightbulb error messages were finally diagnosed as water ingress in the fuse box. I was getting confused as replacing a light bulb didn't seem to make a difference. I had to have the whole fuse box replaced eventually, at great expense and inconvenience, but it seems there is still some way that water is getting in - we drove through some pretty torrential rainstorms in Sweden this summer and we now have a couple more error messages on the MFD.

 

I wonder if this is a known or otherwise common problem in the UK (where it seems to rain a lot as well)?

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And as to Dubai, I'm not going there so that I can buy a new Skoda - I'll be in the market for something less practical and more rear wheel drive. My wife wants a bigger SUV.

 

Maybe we'll get a Skoda when we get back from the posting: I fancy the latest 2.0T Superb estate with DSG and Haldex as the family runaround. That thing seems long enough to be able to stick the skis in without folding anything down!

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One other item to report: the various lightbulb error messages were finally diagnosed as water ingress in the fuse box. I was getting confused as replacing a light bulb didn't seem to make a difference. I had to have the whole fuse box replaced eventually, at great expense and inconvenience, but it seems there is still some way that water is getting in - we drove through some pretty torrential rainstorms in Sweden this summer and we now have a couple more error messages on the MFD.

 

I wonder if this is a known or otherwise common problem in the UK (where it seems to rain a lot as well)?

 

 

first I've heard of it, and this summer has been pretty much non stop rain give or take the odd day here or there  :rain:  :rain:  :rain:  :x

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^ thanks. As usual the dealer response is to replace rather than resolve. I'll keep an eye on those bulbs!

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  • 3 weeks later...

Now that we're getting closer to moving, I need to start thinking about a new set of wheels for the family. I know this is off topic, but it is my thread...

 

Anyway, in the MAD that is Dubai traffic, might is right, and visibility is key. As such, I'm considering a second hand Land Rover Discovery4 (LR4 in UAE) with the 5.0 V8, ZF automatic, seven seats and "full option" (they all seem to come fully loaded because UAE). Big, chnuky but not so enormous that you can't park it.

 

The biggest challenge seem to be finding one that doesn't have running bars (they'll come off when we go to the desert for a picnic), and that isn't black. I want one in silver, or perhaps UN spec white, because buying a black car in a desert country is simply deranged. We went down for a recon mission, and unfortunately rented a grey car with a brown leather interior. It was ridiculous, as it got so hot, it hurt to sit down and the steering wheel simply couldn't be touched for 10 minutes or so (until the a/c had brought the temperature back to something resembling normality).

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And once the family wagon's sorted out, I'll be needing my own set of wheels. At the moment I'm wavering between a 3.8 flat six with PDK and a 4.0 V8 with DCT. I've already given up looking for manuals. The latter seems easier to come by, but the former is more special (and a bit more money for an older car too... ). Hmmm. Suggestions and comments welcome.

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