clv101

Thanks, yes, there's no good reason for the 12v to be switched off - it's batteries charged by solar. The powering down every 30min is something I hadn't thought of. I've noticed this sitting in the car with the ignition off. Can this be disabled?

Bit of an aside, sorry, but I really like my Bolero system and would like something similar setup in my shed (where I only have 12V supply). Is it as simple as getting hold of an old Bolero (or similar), making a nice wooden box for it(!) and hooking up a 12V supply and some speakers? How would it cope with the 12V supply going on and off frequently?

My radiator developed a leak just after 100k.

Luckily for VAG they have Skoda, SEAT, VW and Audi brands so are quite able to meet all requirements by building four different cars (based around the same engine/drivetrain/engineering). A really stupid thing to do would be to build the same car, a nasty compromise pleasing few, then stick four different badges on the front.

Looks ridiculous to me. Audi and a special ability of removing size/practicality in exchange for increased cost. The Yeti is a far more useful vehicle than the Q3 and this looks even less practical!

The 170 went out of production May 25th 2015 (week 22). Personally, I'd go for a 150. The small reduction in power is compensated for by better economy and no diesel-gate issues.

Can you get the 170 on a 15 plate? It must have been one of the last out of the factory. My 15 plate is a 150.

Whether all this 'buying stuff we don't need' is good for the economy or not is a pretty deep question. Of course on the face of it, it creates jobs etc. But then again so does smashing a window. If someone were to smash my window, a job would be created for a glazer and demand would be created for a new pane of glass, ££GDP££. However, it's hard to argue that going around smashing windows is good for the economy. I wish cars were more like ovens, washing machines and fridges; practical, utilitarian... and I believe it would be more efficient, economically speaking, if we did design, develop and most importantly buy cars in the same way. It's a huge waste of recourses, many billions globally redesigning essentially the same thing and marketing it. Some might say that's 'good for the economy and creates jobs' but if it doesn't actually 'need' doing then it could be said to be a big waste of time and resources. Recourses (and jobs) that could be spent doing something more useful instead.

My point is that I don't understand what's different about cars. 'We' don't replace our ovens, washing machines, fridges, carpets, furniture etc etc every few years so why do so many people replace cars, long before they are worn out? I actually think the car industry, and the economy at large, might be better off without the continual, frantic drive to release new, superficially different, models and spend crazy money on advertising. Is it good for the economy to tie up so much resource in 'facelifting' cars?

You could just keep the Yeti? Never really understood why people feel the need to replace their cars so frequently.

Costs around £1/litre so approx 1% of fuel cost.

Here are my first ~7000 miles. On average Maxidot over reports by around 9% compared to calculations based on brim to brim and distance.

I wonder if they negatively affect the aerodynamics at all? I don't have them.

Indeed, but your Fuelly says 28.5 mpg suggesting you're using some 58% more fuel (compared to the 150 TDI returning 45mpg), or £580 every 10,000 miles.

I looked at the Renegade, was very unimpressed with its functionality - couldn't even take the rear seats out! For me one the Yeti's strong suits is that it doubles up as a small van.

Longer you keep the car the less the problem. I kept my Fabia vRS 11 years from new, and hope to keep the Yeti a similar length of time.

DAB makes some sense in the car but it's no good at home, the sounds quality is just rubbish for anything other than speech. The UK's DAB deployment is a textbook example of how to screw up a new technology. Sooner we cut our losses and move to DAB+ the better.

I use DAB all the time, BBC Radio 6 Music and World Service. I'd also recommend the fold flat front seat - greatly improves the ability to move things. Gives you 8 foot of interior space.

The fold flat front seat is brilliant in my opinion! It means you can accommodate items that are a full 8 foot long. I've moved fence posts (exactly 8'), a brush cutter, garden canes etc... It's one of the most useful options in my opinion. I wouldn't (didn't) bother with SatNav (phones are better these days) or front parking sensors (I'm not blind!). I also started with the SE as the bling on the Monte Carlo seemed unnecessary. To the SE I added: tow bar, spare wheel, DAB, folding front seat, lumbar support, rough road package, off-road button, 5yr warranty.

I swapped my 11yr old Fabia vRS for a Yeti. 99.9% positive change. The 0.1% that's not as good is the switch on the electric/heated wing mirrors. The Yeti switch feels cheap/light where the Fabia's was solid. My 4x4 150 TDI uses around 10% more fuel than the Fabia vRS, I think the older 140 would be similar to the 150 on the open road, not quite as good around town, and the 170 not as good anywhere.

AdBlue is really trivial, ~1% of fuel cost.

Distance wise, it all depends on how accurate the wheel circumference is, that's all Maxidot has to go on. a 45R17 tyre might have a circumference of 2050mm when new. Take 6mm of tread of all around, reducing the diameter by 12mm and the circumference drops to 1974mm or -3.6%. That's the uncertainty on distance depending on tyre wear, around 1.8mpg variation! Inflation will add more uncertainty. I took a long drive virtually all motorway today. Google Maps said it would be 167 miles, Maxidot recorded 167 miles! That's pretty damn accurate. My speedo is also very close to GPS. I'm running 215/60 R16 at the moment.

I've never seen the traction control light on mine.

Nothing from carwow was able to match carfile.net - however looking at it now, the same setup looks to be around a grand more than last year. But then they also talk about a £1000 loyalty discount if you show proof of currently owning a Skoda!

Is there any evidence that the 'average scrappage age' is falling, ie cars being scrapped earlier than before? It would be interesting to see the data. On the one hand, as you say cars are getting more complex with more expensive repairs (not just diesels, but hybrids as well) but on the other hand cars are way more reliable in general these days and rust is virtually unheard of. My hunch is that scrappage ages have gotten older over time - are we at 'peak scrappage age' ??