Expatman

I can understand your thinking. I’m one of the 16” wheel group so kerbing is not a real concern with 60 profile tyres! They also provide a comfier ride more suitable to my 70+ old bones. Anyway your new wheeltrims look good, just a pity you won’t get to enjoy the alloys.

The trims look good but if you're buying All Season Goodyear's why do you need both summer and all season tyres? I used to have summer and winter tyres but swapped to Goodyear All Season's to avoid the twice yearly swapping. Honestly the All Seasons are so good all year round that its pointless to have 2 sets of wheels for summer and winter.

Still got my 16" wheel shod 2017 Yeti. It will be 7 years old next year so I have been looking for a replacement. Problem is I can't find anything to match it. Possibility is facelifted T-CROSS due early 2024 but until I've seen it in the metal too early to tell. Not ready for EV yet for all the usual reasons, possibly a hybrid but can't see one that appeals yet.

Thanks, very interesting, but practically when ordering a new car there are only certain changes to the standard specification that can be achieved. Getting Skoda(UK) to supply a Yeti with 16” wheels when the standard Spec is 17” wheels took a great deal of time and effort, dealers would not even entertain such a change and I needed to go up the Skoda(UK) management chain to find someone who would authorise the change. Eventually writing to the MD who finally authorised the change.

I am one of the original members of the 16” club. Changed my 2012 Yeti for a new final manufacture 1.2 Tsi DSG Yeti in 2017, again with factory fitted 16” wheels. Always found Skoda(UK) HQ very willing to intercept and modify factory order to effect the change from 17” to 16” wheels. 16” wheels definitely provide a smoother more refined ride and with Goodyear ALL Season tyres ride is about as good as you will get with a Yeti. More modern suspension designed Crossover/SUV’s provide a better ride (VW T-Roc and T-Cross particularly) but I haven’t been able to find a satisfactory replacement for my Yeti which are anywhere near as good overall. I keep looking but haven’t found anything yet!

But how they treat customers is up to them. All I can say is that my local Skoda main dealer was more than fair with me - and it must have cost them £ hundred(s) to go above excellent customer service. Don't tar all dealers with the same brush!

Have you tried deep cleaning the screen at that point ? It could be a build up of residue on the screen which is preventing the blade properly ‘wiping’ the area. Try cleaning with a solvent then finish with a good glass cleaner. Worth trying before you go to expense of springs etc.

Not so, I have had excellent service from my local Skoda main Dealer who have gone out of their way to save me money on repairs. On one mistake they made in a quotation for a repair they corrected the work done by an Independent totally free of charge to me. Dealers are generally independent of VAG and rely on keeping their good name in their community to thrive.

I take it you have written to D M Keith Service Manager, with a copy to their MD, demanding an explanation as to why they advised new front discs and pads when the existing ones were perfectly serviceable? They owe you an explanation and you can tell them you were a loyal customer and ask if this is how they treat all their loyal customers. Interesting to see their response.

Oldstan - one advantage of Carwow - or other on-line tool - is that you don’t have to sit across from a salesman who very obviously knows much less about the car you are interested in than you! It always amazes me just how little salespeople generally know about the cars they are selling, although tbh I have encountered in my years of buying cars a few, a very few, notable exceptions. I am one of those people who have studied a possible purchase in depth, read the road tests, crawled through the options list, studied the technical data etc. etc. So all I need the salesman for is to arrange a test drive then do the paperwork without trying to sell me ridiculous add-ons. Using Carwow (or other online system) I just input the exact spec I want and wait for the quotes to arrive. As it’s all done remotely you can avoid much - but sadly not all - of the sales chatter.

You could also try Carwow, simpler and you deal directly with the supplying dealer. Worked for me, local dealer couldn't match Carwow quote but I've had all servicing etc done excellently by the local dealer.

Closest I can see to a replacement Yeti is the facelifted VW T-Cross, slightly smaller but has that same ‘bigger inside’ feel. I looked at the pre-facelift but the low grade interior put me off, all reports of the facelifted T-cross praise the upgraded interior. Will have to wait till I see one in the metal but could be an acceptable substitute - I doubt whether anything could supplant the actual iconic Yeti though but age wearies all, including the Yeti. I must admit I am toying with the idea of keeping it as well as getting a newer vehicle!!!

Interesting to hear next week how the Bilsteins perform. The main difference is the smoothness of the ride, the Monroe’s had a "jiggly" feel that has completely gone with the new shocks. I can’t believe it is only Skoda OEM shocks that are any good and if you are fitting standard shocks then you should be fine. Time will tell!!!

Well the Main Dealer replaced the front Monroe shocks with Skoda shock absorbers today. Now back to a very comfortable ride with all the sharpness when going over pot holes or speed bumps gone. Dealer replaced the top bearings/bushes at same time because when it is all stripped down thought it was sensible to do it. Main difference, apart from riding smoother over rough roads, is just a more relaxed comfortable ride over normal UK roads i.e. not smooth but slightly broken up at best. The road “vibration” I got with the Monroe’s is completely gone which improves the driving experience. So now back to a new car feel. Great result and hats off to the dealer who did the work totally free of charge.

No, nothing to back it up. I just know how different the damping feels on the Aron's compared to the Kamiq, both of which I have driven. The whole suspension feels different, the Arona is much more firmly damped and sporty compared with the softer Kamiq. I will be interested to see next week when the Monroe recommended front shocks on my Yeti are swapped for Skoda OEM shocks. Monroe data is that their replacement shocks are a direct OEM replacement for the Skoda shocks in my opinion they are not.

But it is a combination of springs and dampers that provides ride characteristics. If they were the common to the Arona, T Cross and Kamiq then the ride would be much the same. In fact they ride very differently, the Kamiq is less sharp with a more supple ride while the Arona has a firmer ride and a more sporty setup. T Cross different again, not as soft as Kamiq but more supple than the Arona.

I don’t know but it would be no problem to get dampers specifically valved by the supplier to meet Skoda’s exact specification. The real question is why wouldn’t they? manufacturers spend months road testing their new cars to prepare them for launch and into the hands of the motoring press who can easily make or break a new car and the appeal to potential customers. If it was on the basis of - well just bolt on the same dampers etc for whatever vehicle is on that chassis no matter the weight or set-up - then I doubt the cars would drive as well as they do. Look at the Seat Arona, VW T-Cross and Skoda Kamiq, all use the same chassis platform but all have different driving characteristics from the more comfy Skoda set up through to the more aggressive Arona set up.

Interesting isn’t it the different experiences we have had. I found the original Skoda shocks comfortable and dealt well with speed bumps etc. The Monroe shocks are much harder and do tend to “crash” over pot holes and speed bumps. Bilstein have a great reputation so probably will be great; Monroes are also highly rated but I found them to be very hard. Switching back to Skoda shocks on Monday so will let you know how they perform next week.

Why gamble on the lottery? The main cost is labour so fit genuine parts once.

Having just been all through this I would strongly recommend that you fit genuine Skoda shock absorbers and parts. I fitted highly recommended Monroe shocks and it was a disaster. One thing to remember is that Skoda specced the shock absorbers for the Yeti, roads in the Czech Republic are reputedly as bad as ours so shocks had to cope with their roads.!

Yes, I had GY Efficient Grip before the GY Vector All Seasons and they certainly are excellent in suppressing road noise. Much quieter than other tyres I had. The Vector All seasons are equally good at suppressing noise - purely subjective of course. Here in North Yorkshire I need All Season tyres because of winter conditions.

I can only post what I have found. MPG calculated on brim full to brim full basis since car was new so I know findings are accurate.

Technically, of course, you are right. But practically if I get a better MPG then I am happy. I do wonder if my findings relate to many other cars and drivers would be financially better off using the higher grades of petrol. Also an improved driving experience as well.

It doesn’t really matter to my MPG results what the exact composition of the fuel is. The fact is I get better £ per mile with the “Super E5” petrols than with nominal E10 petrols. Generally I use Sainsburys Super because it is most convenient for me and the premium over the regular E10 is relatively small whereby the increased MPG more than offsets the extra cost of the fuel.

Worth noting that I have always used E5 97 octane petrol, apart from 3 months in 2019 when I used 95 octane petrol to see what effect it had on MPG, it increased petrol consumption by over 7.5% and car felt less responsive, at supermarket price per litre for 97 is about 5% more than 95 so didn't save any money for worst driving experience.