thumper59

AW, page 6 states that replacement parts have a warranty of 2 years in UK from the date of purchase. The company want to encourage people to fit Skoda parts and must therefore attract them with a warranty. Sure you could go to Bodge`n Fixit garage at a cheaper price on a pattern part but he won`t give you 2 years warranty. Here in Germany, after I have the Yeti serviced and the book stamped, the car is under Skoda warranty against breakdown until the next service. This includes recovery back to the garage from any location in the country. Re your gearbox problem, you could search out a specialist box rebuilder. Most dealers farm out this work, especially on autos, as it saves them money in the long run in not having to train people to do it.

AW, warranty work after a repair or service carries a 12 month cover, but only on the exact work and parts carried out. Before my Yeti, I had a Golf TDi with a six speed box. Don`t do massive miles a year but after 6 years and only 45k on the clock, the change up and down to 2nd produced a crunch. Double de-clutching worked!! Eventually traded it in and the dealer just took it as normal wear and tear in his assessment. I have heard that the 6 box from VW does have issues with synchro on 2nd on other forums.

The Yeti has been a huge success for Skoda and even after the granddad facelift it still managed to be a high seller especially in Europe. I don`t get the dropping of the name for Karoq just to Alaskanize it with Kodiaq. What will they do with the Octavia?? Can you imagine changing the name of it to the Skoda Anchorage? Or the harbour town of Sitka? I think the management team in the factory need to understand that they created a niche vehicle and some of its owners are not happy about an early abandonment of the name. Might save the odd Yeti badge to stick on a Crock.

Living over in Germany, I too have just received the dreaded letter. To be honest, I have always discussed the situation with my local excellent Skoda dealer, who has explained everything to me regarding which engines, the process and what will happen after. At the moment there is no legal requirement for the software update, however, before you sell it on the next purchaser or dealer will want to have it sorted before they undertake the sale. Furthermore, the Government may, if the uptake for change is low, make it compulsory or have your car registration revoked! As VW ( and family ) are updating per sales volume of cars sold, i.e. Amoroks first, Golfs last, then when they come around to the massive sales of the most popular models they will then meet the wall of legal claims. All the business sales of Octavias, Passats plus the Polo(3 cylinder diesel models) and Golfs will have fleet managers howling at the differences between each and every car with mostly increased costs to their company. In Germany, the wait will come to the crunch when middle managers and bosses with their high end Audi`s will think about jumping ship to Merc and BMW. Brand loyalty only stretches so far even in Germany!

Skoda Europe have always insisted they use their own design facilities rather be pressurised by VW. But the way that the marque is progressing, with a company "nose" to all the cars similar to the other sheep manufacturers, they are losing their identity. Importantly, each model should be instantly recognisable from the others, unlike VW, Audi, BMW to name a few. The current trend by car designers however is to bland each model from £10K to £40K (or more so with Audi and BMW)so they look like adverts from a zombie screen. All look the same and boring! The original Yeti sold amazingly well and was generally well received new and second hand. The facelift normalised it and washed the character out of the car from the outside. They could have done a far better job, given that the rest of the car didn`t need changing! Are Skoda happy to lose all these customers in a few years time when change is needed and all there is on the market are corporate blobs?

I have just bought a Yeti, 14 months old with the Amundsen satnav. ( not the +) It came with a France only CD and as I live in Germany thats not much use to me! My manual suggests that I can load nav data and music through the sd slot. However, my Skoda dealer says that it will only run nav information with a CD and not with sd. Obviously, I won`t pay £150 for a euro CD from a dealer when other satnavs are available with free map updates for much less. Anyone got any ideas on how to resolve this? There are CD`s available, copies, from the internet but I am naturally suspicious of quality and potential damage to the RNS310 unit.