Jimrod

Well we got a mobile mechanic out to my friend today, he said the oil was a little high but it shouldn't have caused any problems. There were two unrelated fault codes showing (I don't know what they were) which should both be covered under warranty. He took the excess oil out and suggested she take it to Skoda and explain the power loss then let them deal with it. Thanks for any genuine advice in amongst the snark and condescension. Not everyone has grown up having to do much maintenance on modern cars outside scheduled servicing, not every Yeti driver is an OAP, she's only been driving for around two years. Cheers.

Gonna try that, I'd imagine if the oil is overfilled and it causes a problem it would invalidate the warranty anyway? (Llanigraham), it's a simple job for a mechanic.

Yes, the oil level is showing well over the max level on the dipstick - up to the top of the plastic end piece (yes we've wiped it off). The problem is getting a mechanic to look at it! Don't want to drive it and everyone is booked up for weeks... We may try the siphon option...

Apparently it was 2l, which shouldn't be toooo much considering the light was on but we're trying to take the sump plug out now, not done it before though...

Hi guys, after a little advice if poss! My friend had a low oil light on her 2.0tdi 150 Yeti and topped up with a 5l bottle of oil, after driving for a few days it got sluggish and then made a "pop" before running normally again... I'm presuming the oil is the culprit! What's the easiest way to remove some? (I'm obviously no mechanic) - I know the sump plug would seem obvious but I imagine there's a cover etc, any special tools required? Or can it be siphoned from the top somehow? Cheers for any advice! Obviously she's wary of driving the car anywhere at the moment!

Exactly, the problem with diesels now is that they're becoming more and more strangled, especially the VW ones (BMW still seem to make nice ones though) - you had the EGR valve to start, then DPF to solve problems with that and now Adblue for that, it's getting more and more complicated (ie. expensive to repair) so it seems the boom in diesels of the last 10 years may be coming to an end. Petrols are now getting seriously good too - better economy and power from ever-smaller capacities. I'm on a lease until December 2017 so may well give the Tesla model 3 a look if it's out then, pure electric like that seems to work better than hybrid and the range is ever-improving. There's now available tech to essentially double the capacity of Li-ion batteries (or halve the size for same output) which is basically ready to go, it's also safer and less likely to explode! Once that's in common use I think electic cars will really start to gain ground - 500 mile range will be viable, plenty for most!

Exactly, I do about 10k a year, I'm on my second warning at 8850 after 10.5 months use, the first was at 4017. It's already more of an annoyance than it should be due to the fiddly nature of topping it up, the Adblue tank is tiny compared to other cars using it too.

I think AdBlue is definitely going to be a factor in my next car being a petrol. I've now had my second warning come on after 8800 miles (first was at 4000 and probably topped up around 4500) so my particular Yeti seems very poor with it. Most of my driving is daily 13 mile commute (around 20 mins, half town, half 70mph dual carriageway), I don't really drive it hard in any way and engine always gets up to temp by about halfway through my journey. I've always felt my 150tdi feels lethargic compared to a friend's exact same model from a few months previous build (and, perhaps more fittingly - pre-diesel scandal) so I am dubious that the emission restrictions were possibly "turned up" by the time mine was built.

Very true, I test drove a 170 before buying my 150 and it felt very different, much stronger. My friend's 150 does too though - I've averaged about 42mpg over 7k and much of that was driving "economically" on purpose, even slipstreaming lorries on the dual-carriageway commute! My friend is averaging 43mpg and she hammers it everywhere - gets up to 50mpg going 80mph on a trip I do every day where I get around 42mpg doing 70mph (on much longer trips this will edge up to 50mpg). We've driven each other's cars (both DSG 150's, exactly the same spec) and both feel hers is more powerful. My adblue light came on at 4017 miles, hers at around 5500 (I've no way of knowing if both were full to start with of course). The only technical difference between the cars is that hers was built in August 2015 and mine in November, about 2 months after all this emission stuff came out. I am suspicious that things have been altered in the software because of it but that's just based on how the cars feel, I could well just have a "duffer". The new rear view mirror is crappy though - doesn't fit the view out of the rear, too wide and shallow vertically.

I have a November 2015 model and as far as I can tell I got a worse rear view mirror vs Pre-October 2015 models and that's about it, no other changes and I don't think any have been made since, including for 2017 models. If you were to get the 150tdi DSG then you probably won't notice any performance differences from the one you have (anecdotally mine feels less powerful and consumes more fuel and adBlue than a friend's Yeti L&K made a few months earlier - pre-scandal vs post-scandal builds, tin foil hat firmly in place!).

My friend has a petrol blue Yeti and it's a nice colour, especially if you keep it clean so it has a bit more "depth". Not as nice as my Jungle Green of course but a close second! I don't know how anyone can think the Jungle Green looks brown to be honest...

Thanks guys, I'll try to swing it around a bit in the car park later and hopefully if it's a stone it'll come out, my tyres are always full of gravel it seems so quite possible! I don't think it's the heat shield, I tried to rattle it about but seemed firmly fixed enough... Cheers.

Well this morning the latest in a long line of niggles with my 4500mile new L&K DSG 150 Yeti has arisen, I'm wondering if anyone might have a clue... Basically since I pulled off the drive this morning my Yeti has sounded, the best I can describe, like I'm dragging a tin can along underneath the car. Quite a loud and noticeable metallic jangling at low speeds, seemingly coming from the front of the car (hard to tell for sure), at higher speeds it seems to go, it doesn't seem to be affected by going over speed bumps (so doesn't seem to be anything loose like an exhaust bracket) and doesn't seem to occur in reverse. I've looked underneath and in the engine bay and nothing looks amiss... Any ideas or suggestions appreciated and welcomed!

Generally you get used to all the "auto" stuff, I've had it all on last few cars and it's nice never having to turn lights on etc. For the postcode - I had the same problem but I'm sure there was an easier solution that listed above, I'm pretty sure on a recent trip that my wife was trying then just saw a button at the bottom of the screen saying "postcode" or something after it had prompted for street address and all that. I'll have to check. I find my "new" November 2015 build car seems far less well built than any other Yeti I've been in sadly, I always liked the impression of solidity they had but mine is a full of rattles and little issues.

Worth noting that you should be able to get the same deal from a local Skoda dealer if Simpsons isn't in the area... My friend did after a chat with the boss of the local (Swindon) branch.

*Sorry can't edit my previous post again* Actually the only potential difference with my Yeti is that it's a newer build, I think mid October 2015 (vs Friend's being August/September) - mine had the newer (worse) rear view mirror, there is I guess some potential for VW Group to have messed with the engine in light of the emissions scandal, though this particular engine shouldn't have been affected. I know they're now saying they can reduce emissions with no impact on performance or economy but in a like for like comparison with essentially the same car a few months older mine is definitely worse off on both counts! Pure speculation of course but with modern tolerances I'm not sure how else my car would be noticeably so much worse...

It does, but then my car has seemed like a bit of a "Friday Afternoon" job since I got it, rattles behind dash, missing boot torch, Oil warning light came on at 300miles... I wanted it run in hard but was delivered with 100miles on the clock and driven by a guy who wouldn't do that for me, my friend with exactly the same car ran hers in hard for the first 20 miles at my suggestion and gets far better economy on same trips (tested) and what feels like noticeably more power. It's a 150tdi DSG L&K, averaged 41.5mpg over that 4k period and that's with a lot of "nannying" driving to get MPG up, if I drive what I'd call normally I get about 37mpg on my 13mile commute, 30% town with a little stop/start and 70% dual-carriageway @ 70mph. If I drive like a saint on that trip and don't go much over 60mph or touch the accelerator I can see up to 46mpg. On a very careful long trip (100's of miles) I can get 50mpg. That friend drives at 80mph with no effort taken on economy and frequent overtaking and can still see up to 50mpg on the same trip. :\ Her car's done about 3200 miles. My driving is mainly that commute with long trips thrown in about once a month. Her trips are the odd commute and lots of round town school runs etc. I may sound bitter about it.

Got my first (1500 mile) warning yesterday at 4018 miles on the clock.

Yup, but with stop/start off and just holding the car on the brake in the same way you pull away instantly because it holds the gear. Oddly enough I had the same gearbox in a 2.0t petrol Scirocco and it felt much livelier and smoother, it has funny moments in the Yeti sometimes when pulling away.

Yup, the tyres even had sidewalls so the ride was nice.

It's why I loved my old BMW 530i, was a 2000 plate and was just at the right age to have all of the basic toys you want, very decent performance, refinement and ok economy but no annoying "defaults" or alarms if you didn't put seatbelt on when moving the car around the block etc. I think all cars should have menus allowing the DRIVER to choose what annoyances they want to default to "on" rather than nannying test agencies.

The stop/start is a strange thing because it's at it's most irritating in stop/start traffic where it cuts out and then 2 seconds later you're pulling away again, there's definitely a little transmission delay with the auto as well before the car picks back up. With 3k on the clock it's failed me once (same for my friend with around 2k on the clock) - at a set of lights it said "Manually restart car" when I went to pull away, once I was over the "oh ****" moment and remembered I have to hold the brake to restart the lights were changing back to red and I had slightly miffed drivers behind me... I get the impression it's all about passing emissions tests rather than actually saving the planet/fuel or making the driving experience better!

On my Oct 2015 Yeti L&K you can definitely see the heating elements in the windscreen, quite easily really from the driver's seat - so perhaps it's been changed by Skoda if it was hard to see them before (unless just one of those things that once you see it, you can't unsee it!).

Sounds more to me like modern VW Group cars are less reliable! My Scirocco had injector troubles with 22k on the clock as well. Everyone I know with Japanese cars seems to have no problems though. Even French cars, when looked after, seem largely problem free - all the people I know that complain about their reliability seem to be those driving 10-15 year old models that they never service and ignore warning lights on (speaking anecdotally from friends who've had failures after me constantly telling them to get "that annoying light" checked out... Then when engine goes boom they're all "Bloody Renault piece of **** etc!). The myth of VW being reliable comes purely from the press who seem to only be keen on VW and Fords... I expect they know where their bread is buttered.

Well, if it's the same as the 150 tdi it'll have a twin exhaust pipe, the leather seems pretty "standard" quality to me, the brown looks fine in real life too, something you don't even think about after a few days!