Anthony 1

From home I can clear all windows of any of my cars in seconds, care of a 2 gallon watering can full of tepid warm water. I would never use hot and even cold will do the trick usually. I have never had a problem with this cheap accessory, it works every time. Why pay extra for a heated screen that will only be used occasionally . When driving I have never experienced a frosted screen and so I can not see a benefit The problem with the heated screens is not seeing the thin wires but the light scatter that they produce. This is not normally a problem in the daylight hours but it is dangerous at night-time. I know from conversations on other forums that this is quite a common observation. As I have said, in the city this might not be problematical because of well-lit roads but in the country on dark roads it is a major safety problem. This effect is amplified in the rain. My wife hates them also. On some occasions visibility has been so degraded that it has been necessary to stop because the road just disappears in the black, parked cars and obstructions become diffused shadows and all that could be seen was the hazy stared images of headlamps. I have experienced this with Ford and Jaguar. The later is a Ford system any way. From what I have read on other forum, Ford have the patent and other companies pay them royalties to use them but don't quote me on that I have not looked into it but as far as I know all these systems use heating elements.

Having owned two cars with heated front screens , I can honestly say that I do not ever want another one. They are a pain in the neck at night, making viability difficult and even dangerous on a dark rain swept night. As soon an approaching cars headlamps comes into view, viability becomes distorted and blurred just when one needs it to be at the best. It might be OK in the city on well-lit streets but in he country on dark unlit lanes, they are an accident waiting to happen. If one became cracked, I would not replace it with like but choose a plain replacement instead.

Just remember to park it in the shade and make sure that your climate control is in top condition! :sun:

What units are the Irish speedometers calibrated in these days mph or kph ?

BMW add up various options like 3 or 5 door and so forth then calculate the CO2 from that the 5 door has a higher CO2 than the 3 . I guess that Skoda has calculated the weight and anything over a certain amount will push up to the next tax band. Perhaps they as a manufacturer get penalised in some way. I know that vehicle models have an average fuel consumption and CO2 calculated for the range for some reason. If it was for the want of staying below a tax band then it would be cheaper in the long run to add some extras like spare wheel ones self. If done by the manufacturer it pushes the tax up but if one does it ones self then no additional tax need be paid. I think that different tax bands is crazy one pays over again when we put the fuel in the tank anyway, it is a bit like double jeopardy except one is found guilty on both occasions.

Why not just buy wheel similar to the others later from the dealers or from where ever or any other wheel for that matter?

It looks very interesting. How does the collar part fix to the A pillar? Is it just a clamp or is it screwed on? I am just wondering it all very easy to remove at the end of a journey.

Thank you for the link Graham. I can remember my 101 crabbing on Srata on one occasion, the water was forcing right up on the door on the up-stream side. Quite deep to do that on a LR 101FC Quite an odd sensation.

Some think a 4x4 vehicle is a like an unsinkable boat but we all know what happened to the Titanic and HMS Hood which was also considered unsinkable until it met with the superior Bismark. The more capable a vehicle is, the further it will get one into trouble, if it is not treated with respect. Everything obeys the Laws of Physics, even 4x4 machines. Generally, compared to more normal cars, 4x4's have a higher centre of gravity and carry more weight, are not as manageable and when they do go, it can be quite spectacular. A car with 4x4 ability on the road will give greater traction in the direction that one drives it under acceleration or deceleration using the engine but they will slide off the track or road just as easily or sometimes even easier than normal 2 wheel drive cars. Depending on what sort of technology is engineered into the 4x4 they can be even harder to counter unexpected wayward tendencies, though some are very easy to correct. The Yeti should be better in many respects on the road than traditional 4x4 vehicles because it is more car like in its behaviour and handling set up and has excellent electronic chassis management. That could fool one into taking liberties as much of the warning that we might feel through the seat of the pants and the steering wheel are masked. They will bite the dust, sometimes unexpectedly as The Plumber fund out. One needs to know the behaviour of any vehicle that one drives. Snow chains area fantastic aid once one has gone to the inconvenience of fitting them. They are ideal on ice or compacted snow or even just snow. They afford the most amazing amount of traction, and will endow a car with limpet like qualities but they can be a little strange. Depending the type of chain in very adverse climbing like ice blocks for instance, they can slip in a staccato type manor alternatively gripping and biting then releasing and slipping as wheel rotates and they ascend up a flow. Even if they are not used very often, they could be a life saver. Not only can they be used on ice but they can also be used off -road in an emergency. They very make short work of wet greasy slimy grass or clay

About a year ago, a passenger travelling in a 4x4 died not very far from me. I believe that they may have been messing about, the car turned over into a river in spate, landing upside down. All but one person, the daughter of the driver, managed to escape. She was trapped upside down drowned unfortunately and drowned. I know the area extremely well and just cannot understand if some one was driving properly how they managed to fall of the track. Perhaps Llanigraham might have some details, it is about halfway between us, at a guess. I heard about the Yorkshire incident but I did not read up on it. I did not know until now that it was a 4x4 incident. Was it off-road?

The Plumber, Just a thought. In the survey we have a vote for wheels for the SE and the Elegance that is two votes bit we only have a vote for one tyre. I would like to suggest that we have an addition vote for a tyre. That is a tyre choice for the SE and a Tyre choice for the Elegance.

According to the Yeti Brochure the DSG is not more economical than the manual, except in extra urban 1.2 DSG Uban 29.4 mpg Extra Urban 50.4 mpg Combined 39.8 mpg CO2 165 g/km 1.2 manual Urban 37.2 mpg Extra Urban 47.9 mpg Combined 44.1 mpg CO2 149 g/kg Nor does the 1.2 DSG Perform better than the manual 1.2 DSG Max Speed 108 mph 0.62 mph 12 sec 1.2 manual Max Speed 109 mph 0-62 mph 11.8 sec

If that is correct, it must be to allow a safe margin for occasions when we can rev out, in legal places of course

I believe that for those countries that require winter tyres in the winter months that they may need a snow flake symbol but from some other sources I have heard say just suitable M&S tyres. I think one will need to look up in some of those links that I and others provided or perhaps our EU Yeti owner might give us a guide. Most say that higher profiles give the best feel, traction and handling in snow and ice conditions, that is certainly so off-road in mud, greasy clay, grass, sand, etc. Wet clay is extremely slippery as is wet grass A higher or taller profile tyre gives less shock, absorbs imperfections better and so is less likely to break away suddenly because of this. The shear forces are less basically. I prefer the 16" for most uses, there are a greater selection of tyres available even more so with 15" but I think that the brakes might be too big for 15". If I had a choice then I would specify 16" wheels.

The Yeti Landed on Carnforth Platform!

Well done Y4YETI, thank you for your efforts and perseverance on this matter. At last you have had a useful response. Excellent now something may happen.

That is true

Your correct, it is the lack of options that grates. I would be happy with steel 16" wheels with 215/60R16 tyres from what they have available even summer. I would then just an additional set with the money saved for winter tyres, that is two sets of 5 wheels. I think that Skoda would do better out of me that way and possibly others also. If I do not get what I want then, I may sell the wheels and tyres that it comes with and buy two sets of aftermarket wheels with tyres that I do want. Then inform the insurers what I have done so that there is no funny business from them.

I think that legally they could getaway with H rated 130 mph tyres as the official max of the 170CR is 125. I suspect though that on the Autobahn the Yeti 170 CR might well exceed it supposed maxim and may go on past 130 mph so perhaps a V rated tyre might be more prudent for them to choose because of the possible litigation.

Brief Encounter :love:

I am not talking about a cage under the floor but a spare wheel hanger like those on proper 4x4 vehicles. If the outside spare wheel holder is designed properly there is no reason why the spare would be any easier to steal than any other wheels on the car. I have had spare wheels on the back of 4x4 machines for a number of decades and have never had a spare stolen to date and I can tell you some of the wheel and tyre assembles that I have had cost an arm and a leg more than the little things that we are talking about here. It was suggested by Le Plumber that the spare would only need to be carried this way when the boot volume is needed, at other times it could be put back in the boot. I am only suggesting this for people who need the space. If I get around to making one up I may just leave it hanging on the back end permanently.

The "Full Sized Spare" is not a space saver type. It is a 16" Steel Wheel I have lost the tyre size and it is not to hand the new brochure that I have does not give the tyre size for the spare, only the rim size, it will be on the forum somewhere. I guess it will depend on what specification of car one orders but if it is an elegance 170 then the size is smaller than the 225/50R17 standard for that specification. Most of the images showing the spare have a 50 mph warning label stuck on the tyre. I would not like to advise what corner the "supposed full sized spare" is put on I would not be happy putting it on any corner I want a real sized spare in my boot, same wheel same tyre & size. What are they playing at, if one wanted a space save one would have asked for one, what we have here is neither one nor the other. Their has to be a differential of sorts even in the front to allow for speed differences going around corners etc. There is defiantly a differential at the rear on 4x4 versions.

I am sorry to disappoint you. If you purchase the Skoda supposed "full-sized Spare Wheel" for the Yeti, you will find that it is not actually full-sized at all but smaller, so the speed is restricted to 50mph, not sure if there is a distance limit but I would not want to travel far limited to 50mph and potentially have a problem with the differentials as the bearings are not designed to continually rotate all of the time but differentiate more occasionally. Also the chassis management and so on cannot be relied upon because it is already reading speed differences between wheels and axles. My solution is to buy the same wheel tyre combination as on the other 4 corners.

Possibly the stiff suspension adds to it but most BMW have low profile tyres which then adds up to rigid.

Do you not drive in the dark at all?