FlintstoneR1

I wouldn't regard 59K as particularly high. At that age, to acheive that mileage it's had to have spent a great deal of its time cruising the motorway network at constant speed and even temperatures, few gear changes, little hard use of brakes, etc. etc. I.E. "easy miles". Its the low mileage turbo diesels you need to be wary of. Those have either just been seldom taken out (which would be OK), or much more likely had a very hard life indeed in "turbo hell" doing little else but school runs, shopping trips and the like. Oil never gets hot enough to evaporate the contaminants and unburnt fuel. DPF gets clogged. Clutch and gears hammered by constant changing, suspension been clattering over speed bumps and potholes every mile. Brakes hammered by constant use. Put it this way - I've just bought a 2010 Yeti 110 CR with 78K, with few qualms. But turned down the prospect of a similar age 110 with "just" 29K (genuine) over fears it will be knackered (it looked it when bonnet opened!) The interiors are so well constructed with good quality plastics, etc. the only inkling you would have that it has 78K miles are a few scuffs on the glove box lid - where a bag with buckles or something similar has clearly been lifted in and out regularly. My last two cars have run to 245,000 miles (a BMW, no surprises there) - still going strong when I sold it on, and 144,000 miles on a Renault Scenic that I traded for the Yeti. Yes a reliable Renault! Skoda dealer found a home for it within 4 days, and no that wasn't to auction. A Rover 220 that preceded the BMW had 110,000 quite happily, apart from oil leaks.

Hi guys, I may have missed the answer to this in the "black bolts vs. stainless bolts" debate earlier in the thread? I've just bought a pair of new genuine Skoda roof bars for my Yeti, from Caffyns. Perfect guys to deal with and also trying to help me on this. But my small problem is this: On unpacking, I discover there are only 8 of the small silver bolts/lugs (with Loctite on threads) in the fitting kit. The lugs you fit into the longitudinal rails and then slot the cross-bars on to. Yet the pack contents picture in the fitting instructions clearly shows there should be 10 bolts. And the long rails themselves have threaded holes for 10 - 2 forward and 3 to rear on each side. Presumably to allow you an alternative to how far back you clip in the rear bar, to suit different loads or applications? Sounds a good idea? The helpful guys at Caffyns have checked the other two packs they have in stock, and found just the 8 bolts in each fitting pack. They've emailed Skoda UK to find out how many there should be? Reply awaited. If there are only meant to be 8 bolts, how come the destructions show 10 and why make 10 holes in the long bars? Just wondered how many bolts you have among those you using the genuine Skoda roof bars? 8 or 10? Have I missed the plot?

Apologies for double post above. System won't let me edit out the offending lump of words? "Unable to get property "getText" - object is null or undefined."

I've been a TT phone and broadband customer for some years now. Yes the 1st line phone support is worse than useless. By contrast their online user forum and the tech advice it holds is generally excellent. You also get access to TT techies in there who do actually know their stuff and can fix most problems. MUCH better than joining a queue on an 0845 number! I experienced a similar saga to the OP early on. Working my way up through a series of Huawei "free" routers. One would be good at the wifi end, with a strong signal throught the house, but crXp at managing the exchange line on the LLU - constant drop outs. The next (router) would have the opposing "qualities". Good at managing signal:noise etc. but wifi weak enough you had to be with 1m to get a signal! Kind of defeats the object! Then another that did neither. Until the online forum techie rustled me up a D-Link. THAT did an acceptable job for around 2 years. Not 100% at either aspect, but good enough to handle all my daily "work from home" requirements and a family with 3 laptops sharing a wifi printer and 3 smart phones all banging away. UNTIL my teenagers started to do a lot more on iPlayer. Although the line bandwidth and speed was 100% fine for me during the day. You really noticed when the schools chucked out and the the whole street (not just my own kids), went on iPlayer at the same time! It helped however to upgrade to the TT+ service with unrestricted bandwidth compared to basic. (You get what you pay for - or a cynical marketing manipulation of customers - you decide for yourself?). That was when I decided to take the plunge and become an early adopter of TT's YouView service in January this year. The guy that came to install the PVR box took one look at the D-Link router, then went back out to his van to bring in "my last decent router" - a HUAWEI HG533 as it happens (looks a bit like a BT Homehub - well in some respects anyway?). It has to said this has been FAULTLESS! Manages all the YouView options and downloads just fine. Well 99% of the time with no drop outs anyway. Plus it's wifi is strong enough and stable enough to allow me to move my work desk and wifi printer out to the far end of my conservatory with 100% reliability and no noticable fall in speed when all four laptops (my SWMBO* now has an iPad as well) are online together, and the TV is doing an iPlayer catch up. If that hadn't worked, my back up plan was to switch to Plusnet (I'm in Yorkshire too!). But no need now, as the TT service is - just fine! Broadband speed checker comparisons suggest I'm getting twice the line speed of Sky users in my locality. Hope I'm not tempting fate?

I've been a TT phone and broadband customer for some years now. Yes the 1st line phone support is worse than useless. By contrast their online user forum and the tech advice it holds is generally excellent. You also get access to TT techies in there who do actually know their stuff and can fix most problems. MUCH better than joining a queue on an 0845 number! I experienced a similar saga to the OP early on. Working my way up through a series of Huawei "free" routers. One would be good at the wifi end, with a strong signal throught the house, but crXp at managing the exchange line on the LLU - constant drop outs. The next (router) would have the opposing "qualities". Good at managing signal:noise etc. but wifi weak enough you had to be with 1m to get a signal! Kind of defeats the object! Then another that did neither. Until the online forum techie rustled me up a D-Link. THAT did an acceptable job for around 2 years. Not 100% at either aspect, but good enough to handle all my daily "work from home" requirements and a family with 3 laptops sharing a wifi printer and 3 smart phones all banging away. UNTIL my teenagers started to do a lot more on iPlayer. Although the line bandwidth and speed was 100% fine for me during the day. You really noticed when the schools chucked out and the the whole street (not just my own kids), went on iPlayer at the same time! It helped however to upgrade to the TT+ service with unrestricted bandwidth compared to basic. (You get you pay for - or a cynical marketing manipulation of customers - you decide for yourself?). That was when I decided to take the plunge and become an early adopter of TT's YouView service in January this year. The guy that came to install the PVR box took one look at the D-Link router, then went back out to his van to bring in "my last decent router" - a HUAWEI HG533 as it happens (looks a bit like a BT Homehub - well in some respects anyway?). It has to said this has been FAULTLESS! Manages all the YouView options and downloads just fine. Well 99% of the time with no drop outs anyway. Plus it's wifi is strong enough and stable enough to allow me to move my work desk and wifi printer out to the far end of my conservatory with 100% reliability and no noticable fall in speed when all four laptops (my SWMBO* now has an iPad as well) are online together, and the TV is doing an iPlayer catch up. If that hadn't worked, my back up plan was to switch to Plusnet (I'm in Yorkshire too!). But no need now, as the TT service is - just fine! Broadband speed checker comparisons suggest I'm getting twice the line speed of Sky users in my locality. Hope I'm not tempting fate?

I'd agree W a bit OTT for a Fabi, even a vRS? What's the top speed rated at? Check here: http://www.blackcircles.com/general/speedrating I would have guessed V more than adequate. Or even H for Winter Tyres?

My experience running several sets of Kumho KH17s on both a Renault Grand Scenic at 205/60 16 size and on a BMW 323 at 205/60 15, was that they are excellent in all conditions, including snow. Very predicatble handling + good grip in both dry AND WET. Can't understand the post that said bad in the wet. They do need a few miles "breaking in" though, as not normal to get them with the mould release compound removed when new. Hence if used in the wet straight out of the box / fitting bay, then I could understand the "poor in the wet" criticism. On the Scenic (FWD hence closest comparison I've got to a Skody) I used to find they did 25-30k on the front, typically. 50-70+k on the rear, depending how good the rear tracking was set. Yes wear rates are higher than for Michelin. Typically those might do 25-30% more. But cost up to 35 to 50% more - so the maths is still in favour of the Kumhos. Depends on the deals you can get at the time. Had a set of Falkens on the Scenic at one point. "ZIEX something"? Very little to choose between them and the Kumhos on price or performance. But I switched back to Kumhos based on wear rate. For the back of your Fab Loz, I would have said the Kumhos would be just fine? OEM tyres on a lot of Korean built cars. Try www.ears.co.uk for a comparative quote to black circles. Or Camskill as mentioned in an earlier post. Agree with earlier posters about ultra budget for a all but a "never used over 30mph" car? E.G. Linyangwong or whatever? Trust them with your life if you dare? That 4" oval patch of rubber is all that's between you and being wrapped round a tree?

Even diesels burn a richer fuel/air ratio when the engine is cold. The initial smoke is the excess initial fueling getting burned off on the fire up. Especially if the engine has turned over a couple of revs before firing. Not a lot to worry about really. Cars with DPFs tend to be less noticable smokers in this respect, as the DPF catches most of the soot, so you then have to use more fuel to burn it off elsewhere/elsewhen.

Methinks the OP will find North ( & East?) Yorks has one of the lowest re-cycling rates in GB. Due in no small part to sticking with old style black bag collections for "general waste" for far longer than others due to bags being faster and therefore cheaper to pick up than wheelie bin collections. Now its being forced to join the 21st century and go to alternating fortnightly re-cycling vs. general waste collections in big bins. Yet inexplicably is still going ahead with plans to spend £billions on its pet white elephant incineration plant between Harrogate and York, that all the general waste will have to be trucked into (from as far afield as Driffield & Hull!), to avoid landfill charges in other areas. (Ask your local County Councillor how much the County is getting in kick-backs from the incinerator developer? And how much the plant will cost annually to run? The answers might be revealing?). In the Harrogate area, re-cycling only currently picks up glass, metals (only specific types!), paper (only specific types!), and garden compostibles (specifically NOT including shredded paper, despite that being eminently compostible?). What is re-cyclable varies so much from area to area due to the widely variable commercial rates for different categories of waste and what long term contracts to remove it are in place in any area. Green enthusiasts (who isn't among thinking folk?) should check however, exactly what happens to their carefully separated boxes after it's gone in the collection truck. A lot gets compressed and then sent off in containers to India and Bangladesh! Ships bring cars, clothes and manufactured stuff one way, take back "rubbish" the other. That helps keep the shipping rates down. True "Global Economy"? The poster with probs fitting plastic milk bottles and the like into the fortnightly re-cycle, might want to try squashing them first by simply treading on them (with tops removed!), before chucking in the bin? We're not yet on kerbside collection for plastic, so that has to be taken down to the dump/re-cycling centre, along with cardboard. Never ceases to amaze me how much plastic goes into the skip/container there un-squashed. Folk could reduce their trips to the collection point by a factor of 4 or more (fewer trips) by the simple act of squashing the bottles first. Same applies to baked bean/soup/pet food/drinks cans, etc. Rant over! Normal service resumed ASAP.

Have just bought some new roof bars for the Yeti from Caffyns, plus some sill protectors and chrome tail pipe add-ons from Rainworth. Some practical stuff and a little bit of bling! Had the car a fortnight now, so confident it should be a "keeper". Even fitted a grandfather clock in on Sat, on its way to the Auction. Didn't think it would fit with the loss of the extra 6" of boot length compared to its predecessor Grand Scenic, but with the spare wheel removed and the passenger seat folded fully forward it fitted a doddle! 10/10 Yeti then. Car now has a name: "Sergei the Yeti" thanks to my 16-year old daughter. Its a reference to its registration! Fred

My local Quick Fit used to swap a pair of tyres onto rims for a £20 contribution to the tea and biscuits fund - until the manager changed and the new guy wouldn't contemplate it unless I had bought the tyres from them. That'll be his loss then! I'm now a Nat Tyres crew Tea Fund contributor instead! For the winter tyres on the Beemer (110% useful and essential as mentioned before, especially as my summers are 35% profile "rubber band" jobs, hard compound and stupidly wide), I bought a second hand set of 17" alloys (OEM) off a popular auction site. Then had the Yokohama W-Drives fitted to those. 1" less diameter than the summer wheels, so I could run narrower but taller winter tyres and still keep the original rolling circumference. The effect was so wonderful on the Yoko's, I've now bought a third set of 17" alloys off flea bay to fit a fresh set of summer tyres to when the original 18" are worn enough. That means I've got the original 255/35 wide jobs to use for track days, etc. (If I ever get time to go to one of those?) All the extra wheels means at least I don't have to keep swapping tyres round on rims, with all the problems that entails. The good thing about driving around in a car as common as a 10-year old 3-series is there dozens of suitable OEM wheels on offer on Fleabay at any given time, so you don't have to wait too long to find some within collection distance. Yes, I also spend time digging bits of flint and grit out of the sipes before I wash, dry and put away my winter/summer wheels for the duration! That's the thing about a lot of DIY maintenance - at least you can be sure of the job being done right! Also gives me the perfect chance to check the condition and monitor wear rates on pads and disks, etc. I suspect from reading other posts there are a number of like minded fastidious so and so's in here? Or should I just say - we're all keen on attention to detail? "Freaks" compared to the rest of the motoring nation? Haven't decided what to do about Winter boots for the Yeti yet(!). Postponed that descision till October. Just bought it some roof bars, chrome tail pipes, and sill protectors instead. Oh - and a head rest for the centre rear seat. What is it with Yeti locking wheel nuts though? Are they made from soft metal ore something? Haven't tried mine yet, but never had a problem with locking nuts on my Beemer(s), nor on the RS2000s I used to have alloys on. But then I've always used either a cross brace or a 17mm socket and T-bar to remove. So you can keep the torque sqauare on to the wheel. Very seldom indeed the cheap wheel brace supplied with the car, except in emergencies. Those always seem to be prone to twist off-line and apply torque to the nut at an angle? Or is it just me? Same with the jack - used a mini trolley jack at home for years. Wheel ramps, etc for for oil changes. Seldom trust the cheap, flimsy emergency jacks cars come with. Cars I've had for the last 20 years those never come out of their OEM wrapping. (You'll gather I haven't had a puncture that needed a roadside wheel change for that length of time either - touch wood!)

I've run Kumho KH17s on both my Renault Grand Scenic that preceded the Yeti and on a a previous BMW 323i. With absolute confidence in all condititions, including snow. The fact I ran three sets on the Scenic to 144,000 miles probably tells you all you need to know about my recommendation. When the Hankooks on my new (to me) Yeti get <3mm, they'll be replaced by Kumhos. When the Contis currently on my 330d are down, they'll also get replaced by Kumho Ecsta. Their motorsport tyres ain't half bad either! We've been running both gravel and tarmac tyres of theirs on various rally cars for over 10 years now. When you've tried Camskill and Black circles to compare prices, then try here: http://www.ears.co.uk/, especially if you live anywhere near Macclesfield. Or if anywhere in the Fylde district of Lancashire give South Shore Tyres (Blackpool) a call. They'll also give you excellent advice on the best choice of type or pattern for your car.

Hi James, RE: "My Yeti has now done 77,000 miles and still goes extremely well" I hope that's true as I've just bought a 78k example. Expecting to at least double, possibly triple, that without any problems, if it's been treated right from new. Do you know how your's was "broken in"? Mind you, there's an old adage in motorsport circles that engines "always go best, just before they blow up!". Which was certainly true of the Vauxhall red tops I experienced in a Darrian rally car a couple of years back. It's not the "go" I have mild concerns about on unsympathetically broken in engines, so much as the long term dependabilty. Problem is, you only really discover the good/bad effects after at least 100k???

All Kumho's (road or motorsport) certainly have the dot, usually a pinkish colour? I can testify that when correctly fitted, i.e. by Tony Mekwinski(sp?) of South Shore Tyres (who used to be "Mr Kumho" in rallying), then virtually no additional balancing is needed. Call me cynical, but I also get the impression most regular tyre fitters don't pay any attention to the dot, as the clever electronics of the modern balancing machines tell them exactly where to put the weights anyway and the more they have to do, the more it makes the job look necessary? - Now stands back to be shot down in flames by the proper professional tyre fitters out there.....?

I concur that there would be only very remote chance of problems while the engine was relatively new. The concern comes for the long term life of an un-broken in engine, being treated like "normal" (whatever that is?) right from fresh out of the box. I guess it might be the subsequent owner(s) who would feel the effects in terms of accelerated early wear rates leading to reduced engine/transmission life and premature replacements?? As the owner / driver of several cars now that have exceeded 200,000 miles very happily - I can testify that the long term health of the engine benefits from sympathetic treatment during early life. Oh - and full oil changes at half the so-called "recommended" distances of course!

" are you local to Brookroyds " Ripon - so not far.

A smidgin (tech term!) of coppaslip on the tip of bolt threads stops 'em seizing into the hubs with the winter salt spray penetration. But NOT on the conical face that mates onto the wheel itself, nor the full length of the thread. Those have to remain dry for the torque / friction to work properly, as said above. As always with coppaslip / copper grease around brakes - a little can be good - too much is BAD! Similarly, a fine smear on the hub / wheel spigot reduces the dissimilar metal corrosion (especially for alloys*) that leads to the wheel seizing stuck to the hub. (It's fine punching it with your foot from the far side to unseize it when the car's on a dry workshop floor and securely on axle stands (or even better rally-style stands positively located into the sills), but you don't want to be doing that on a motorway hard shoulder, at night, in the rain, with car on nowt but the basic emergency jack!!). As a BMW driver, I'm sure I've read somewhere about it being recommended for the wheel's mating face too, but would take that advisedly for the reasons suggested above. My trusty old torque wrench doesn't do Nm as its nearly as old as me! (A present from a grateful former girl friend for fixing her car regularly (she had a mini as well as a 1954 Riley RM!). The gf moved on many, many moons ago, but I got to keep the torque wrench! Wouldn't know where I'd be without it? My Haynes dust cover reckons 120Nm equates to approx. 90 lbs ft. (sounds about right for an alloy wheel & steel bolts?) As per the OP and several others - the important thing is not to OVER tighten them! * The scientists and metallurgists out there will be familiar with this, but aluminium alloy (wheel) + steel (hub) + salt water (the perfect electrolyte!), will form the ideal corrosion cell, with the alloy coming off worst - I think because it always becomes the cathode - but the experts will correct me I'm sure? That's why North Sea rigs have alu blocks bolted to the steel legs at intervals in the tide/wave washed zone - so the alu is sacrificed and that stops the legs themselves from corroding. (My nephew's job is inspecting and replacing the blocks annually!)

As a driver on my second BMW now, current one being an even more torquey 330d, I'd say this about your experiences in the OP. - I have some sympathy with the MSport ride quality issue. Try an SE spec and you'd be amazed at the difference! That's why BMW make the different specifications. It's not just about a few trim options! - Ditch the run-flats at the earliest opportunity. Get some proper tyres on there instead. Kumho for summer. Yokohama for winter. - Winter tyres make ALL the difference to RWD traction in snow. My workplace has an incline to its car park too. There was one morning this winter when my Beemer was the ONLY car to make it up the hill to the car park. That was without any Welsh Rugby props to act as ballast either. All the FWD cars were scrabbling for grip at the bottom of the hill! Their driver's were amazed - "What's a BMW doing sailing up a snow covered hill like that?" I had just one thing to say in reply: "Check the tyres!"

Having fitted a set of Yokohama Winter-Drive tyres to my BMW last November, I've only just swapped back to my summer tyres and wheels this weekend. The Yoko's have been ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT (apols for shouting, but it's true!). In the cold and dry they're much better than expected or the summer tyres were in similar conditions. I was sceptical before that they would make a difference in the dry. In the damp, braking distances are much reduced. In the wet, they're much more sure footed and in standing water they just cut through to the tarmac like nothing else I've ever driven on. MUCH safer. Not even sure I want the summer tyres back on, hence why delayed the swap back. Wear has been much less than expected. Less than 1mm over 8000 miles. So they'll be good for several winters yet! Oh - and their brilliant in the snow too! Although I had to travel all the way to Hertfordshire to find enough snow to worry about (>4"). Not enough in t'North to worry over. Luckily its a regular trip! So even more reason to have some Winter Tyres for my regular trips down to the regularly frozen South East. Whilst you may not get much snow in "Little England Beyond Wales" (i.e. Carmarthen to St Davids), it does rain in winter - a lot! Try some - you might just be as impressed as I have been? In rallying we take at least 3 or 4 sets of tyres to any event, sometimes more. And change them almost hourly sometimes, according to the conditions. Its a big ask to expect any tyre to work as well in summer as it does in winter and vice versa. Hence I regard it as no chore at all really to spend 30 minutes twice a year for the swap. Plus it gives you an opportunity to give the discs and pads a thorough check, suspension bushes, etc. Peace of mind when traveling at (ahem!) 70mph for mile after mile on the motorway. The most snow I found on the M1 this winter was in Leicestershire. (Two lanes totally covered, inside lane 3" of pure slush. All handled totally securely on the Yoko's, while at least three cars in front of me skated off onto the shoulder.). So don't try to tell me winter tyres are only needed if you live in Scandinavia. That's plain untrue! So instead of a heavy weight penalty 4x4 Yeti, I'll stick with my new 2WD and just get myself an extra set of wheels and some Yoko's for it next winter.

After seven and half years and 144,000 miles in a 7-seat Renault Grand Scenic with no spare, just a can of gunk / mousse, then touch wood, I'm relieved to say the original gunk is still in it's container, unused. Such is the puncture resistance of modern tyres. That said, I admit I've been lucky, as my other car (with a conventional spare) has had two punctures during that time. So while on one hand I can understand manufacturers making a heavy and expensive spare an option, or even deleting it altogether, it has to be said I dread anything other than a slow puncture. As that would mean a breakdown call rather than a 5-10 minute delay. I can also concur with those who point out that after using the mousse, your tyre is often unrepairable anyway. So tough if its still got plenty of tread and only a nail through the middle of the tread. Hence, I'm pleased my new (to me) Yeti has a spare option. FlintstoneR1

Hello Skoda fans! I've been recommended to come here by an existing member and I must say from what I've seen so far of zones like the Technical info section - this seems to be an excellent forum. I'm about to become the owner of a 2010 Yeti 2.0TDI CR S+. I've been an admirer of these cars for some time, but only recently has it become sensible to consider swapping my Renault Grand Scenic (2005) 1.9dCi, 144,000 miles for a Yeti, as I no longer need the seven seats of the Scenic and can live with the loss of 6" of load space length ( I hope!). My other half will be the main driver of the Yeti and she likes it - so it's a reality at last! Timing also feels right with the Yeti claiming No. 1 spot in Auto Express Driver Power best car to own for the 2nd year running!. As mentioned in my profile, I also spent three years co-driving Felicias in the Skoda Trophy rally series, 97 to 99 (?) from recall. Really enjoyed that, winning best rookie for my driver the first year, then most improved driver (different driver), the following year, when I think we finished in 5th place in the championship in '99, culminating in a run on Wales Rally GB (blew up spectacularly in Resolven! After the fan belt broke, so no water pump!). Those were cracking little cars, even if you did wish for a bit more grunt up the hills - but boy were they quick with a bit of gravity assistance. Spotted a number of active rally folk in here already, chunkymonkey, Llanigraham, A6TDH, etc. So feel as if I'm amongst friends right away! Anyone in here from Brookroyd Garage? The Yeti technical section looks great for what I need right now, so I'll enjoy browsing some of the other zones in due course. I've discovered someone already has the name "Flintstone" in here. So I'll be "Flintstone R1" if that's OK and not too confusing? I'd quite like to hang onto the moniker, as it's also the name I'm known as in "another place", and was originally given to me by the late Rob Arthur (co-driver to folk like, Tony Pond, Jimmy McRae, etc.). When I competed as Fred F on a foot rally in a place called Thames Ditton, Surrey. When time permits, I'll scan a Felicia trophy photo and use that to replace the Integrale I'm currently using as my member photo.....

Hi fellow newbie! Re: "So we are now considering an upgrade to a 06-08 mk2 Octavia VRS TDi." Brookroyd Garage in Killinghall near Harrogate have a very nice Octavia Estate 2.0TDI VRS in their showroom right now! 2007(57) 64k miles in red. I only know 'cos that's where I've just bought my about to be delivered Yeti from! Independent specialists. Seem very good to deal with. A long way from Cornwall I have to agree. But depends how much / how soon you want one? I went 220 miles each way to get the right BMW (my other car). Flintstone R1