Y4YETI

Greetings from the deserter! Would agree about pricing and running costs although it is important to compare autos with autos - the Freelander diesel manuals are said do about 5mpg more than the autos. After Clarkson's silly testing of the Yeti I am persuading my local Land Rover dealer to put a horsebox plus a race horse (I own it's left back hoof) on the roof of a Freelander! Hmm even more daft publicity if we could get the horse to jump off the roof and over a fence!!! For a high mileage user obviously fuel consumption is a very important issue but the cost for a low mileage user is not really significant. Depreciation for is not such an important factor if you intend to keep the car for at least five years. Ease of driving the auto, comfort and quietness are key factors in favour of the Freelander. My Freelander was fitted with Pirelli All Season M&S tyres and not the motorway superspeed ones provided by Skoda! With pavements dangerous and uncleared roads I have been using the Freelander every day this year to take our dog a short journey to a rural area. There was a very steep incline to and from the car parking area and I trusted my Freelander completely in these conditions. When I saw a Mitsibushi 4WD skid sideways down the exit to be stopped by railings I got out to help only to find I went on my butt because the road was sheet ice. Whlst retrieve sorted out offered to take driver and dogs home. Returned an hour later with my wife to see how things were going and the Mitsibushi had been removed. Explaining the auto descent controls and need to line up with the exit and with over confidence in the Freelander I did not follow my own instructions to line up! Thought Freelander would also end up sideways. Wonderful vehicle and tyres! Corrected skid and autodescent rescued the situation. Thanks to the Landrover team at Ashford for their training day!! Best wishes to all. PS We both found the steering seemed to be oversensitive and required very little pressure We have got used to this now but at one of the Ashford days the Freelander we were using had much more feel to the steering- but it is fine for on-road use and parking. Maybe it would have been easier, on a rain drenched open day using our own Freelander, to deal with crossing a ford with narrow exit on a hill rise. Realised had to get out of deep rut to climb and failed three times. Delighted when one of the training staff took over and it took him four goes!!

I have been instructed by Freshacre to update myself on the Yeti!!! I swapped a V6 Superb TD (about 45mpg average) for a new manual Yeti TD where I experienced substantial drop in fuel economy. My new Freelander TD Auto is averaging about 30 mpg. It is quite noticeable that whilst the Superb on a motorway was ticking over and showing very low consumption at 70 mph on motorway driving the Freelander is frequently using much more fuel (particularly up hill) Possibly drag coefficient is a major cause of fuel economy differences between engines of similar power in saloon/estate versions as compared with SUV's Once one drops to 40-50 mph the fuel consumption improves dramatically!! OTH I think the DSGs fitted to the Skoda range should be more fuel efficient than the units fitted to the Freelander (loses about 5mpg in comparison with manual version) Best wishes for Christmas and the New Year From the Traitor in the Camp

Best wishes for Christmas and the New Year - guess you guys have to chase up the deserters when you are so few on the ground. Are Skoda still fitting crap high speed tyres instead of decent M & S (yes the designation still seems to be used but I've seen more S&M on the internet)? Delighted with the automatic Freelander II replacing the Yeti. It came with Pirelli M&S and I have yet to experience a slip either in climb or descent. The descent control (has to be switched on manually in Freelander but not Range Rover snow and ice setting) is brilliant. Plenty of opportunity to extend experience from one day training course (discounted last minute offer) on Range Rover at Landrover Ashford followed by introductory course on Freelander offered free to both wife and self. Better stick to all round wellies rather than Yaktraks. I believe if you wear Yaktraks on a tiled surface in a shopping centre you are likely to go a over h. Was I right in thinking that a Government representative in suggesting road damage from winter tyres was confusing studded tyres with winter or M&S tyres? Don't mind using a few extra drops of diesel on the automatic Freelander to avoid all the stick waggling needed to keep a manual Yeti performing well in hilly areas Thanks again for all the fun on this forum......................................

BTW although I have no rattles on my new Freelander and I found this when searching for "Rattles and Freelander" Is it possible the article originated from an April 1st post?

I too confirm my anger was directed towards Skoda and I am sorry if anyone on this forum felt this anger was misdirected. I appreciate the understanding of those who feel there is clearly a need for "free speech" so as to ensure the forum is not just a fan club but a means of pressing Skoda to improve production and testing standards. Instructions were revised to allow snow chains to be fitted on the standard 17" wheels fitted to Elegance models (you can fit them to the rear wheels where the arch clearance is greater) My real anger and final decision to get rid of the Yeti was based on a near accident caused by a lighting failure. The headlights suddenly went off on a curved slip road off a motorway leaving the road ahead unlit and emergency braking was needed. So thanks to those who believe this forum should not just be a fan club for the Yeti but an objective feedback to ensure Skoda standards are maintained. Maybe some of the problem here is the tremendous difference in price between the basic and top of the range models. Those of us who have owned previous Skoda's have come to expect £30,000 plus standards of luxury cars at just over £20,000 and this standard seems to have been downgraded in the Yeti. Merc owner friends were jealous of the comfort, ride and quietness of the Skoda Superb and of course the economy of the diesel model. Is it possible that those purchasing the base models are indeed getting a better quality than equivalent models from other manufacturers and thus feel that they are getting value for money? Good luck Octy and remember ...... "The Esso Sign Means Happy Motoring"

We were very satisfied Skoda owners hence the reason for opting for a Yeti. Our expeience is that the Yeti does not appear to offer value for money and quality in comparison with our previous Skodas including a Superb. Our Superb compared quite favourably with the Freelander for price, quality, overall noise levels , comfort and value for money. Instead of knocking me you should be knocking Skoda to ensure the Yeti meets the expectations of long standing Skoda customers. It seems obvious to me that the lining of the wheel arches should fit accurately and neatly and not have excessive play that could give rise to problems described in this forum - are you suggesting I did not observe this correctly during my ownership of a Yeti?.

So sad for you but glad all survived with no serious injury

Strange too that you regard as "aggressive" objective input that disturbs infatuation. I was looking forward to another high quality excellent value vehicle from Skoda and for me it was sad, and a little expensive, that the Yeti failed to meet the standards set by previous Skoda vehicles Others have disagreed with my post here but I have accepted their comments as constructive, valuable and friendly input into helping Skoda become aware of customer concerns (as well as love affairs ) You may recall in one of my earlier threads I raised the issue of the shoddily fitted linings between the wheel arches and wheels. On the rear wheels the linings were loose with an obvious and moving gap between the lining and body. If I recall correctly someone suggested that the space was to ensure the body panels did not receive direct sound transmission of road debris hitting this protective layer. I would suggest that badly sized and fitted wheel linings could well give rise to some rattles. On the front wheels the arch lining was fixed slightly mismatched to the actual wheel arch. This was certainly below the standard of workmanship for other Skodas we have owned.

There was a previous thread on this forum raising this very point but unfortunately I cannot trace it and do a link. Here's a summary..... Full article Skoda spells trouble for parent company Volkswagen

... and we too agree with Worldlife

Graham three of us had a vehicle supplied with an instructor for the day. The course was organised so we were each learning both from our own experiences and watching that of others.and of course the input of the instructor to the various situations. I am not sure that your suggestion would be feasible on safety grounds or Land Rover insurance requirements. If one were to offer the use of one's own Land Rover vehicle on the course it would be important to check ones own conditions of insurance to see if they enabled one to both instructor and other participants for this off road course on private land including quarries and of course the other drivers were covered for your vehicle. In all I think the Land Rover arrangement is the best. We could not tackle the maximum angled slope because the ground surface was wet and slippery. Knowing our instructor would not want the Land Rover vehicle damaged (or risk his life!) I was happy tackling everything on the course without the worry of a potential insurance claim on my own vehicle!!! We even had fun with a simulated ice covered pond using bow waves to break up the ice! Will our neighbours in our cul de sac be pleased if I use the shunt plough technique to move snow and compact a track to the main road that may not be useable by two wheel drive vehicles? .

A possible solution is the Skoda earplug set as long as you do not mind the Skoda logo visible in your ear lobe

If you can get the whole day course at last minute price it is much better value than the morning or afternoon course. As "punishment" for using a wet grass field as a fun skid test pan I was given an extremely slippery steep slope with the the exit route to the left of a small pond set in front of the slope. Guess I won't forget the consequences of not relying on the auto systems and applying brakes on a wet slope! Thank goodness I did not have to wash the Range Rover afterwards. BTW would anyone have time to look at the full electronic instrument panel of the Range Rover when things get difficult? For the "normal" quarry work it seemed better to focus on what was happening outside and I certainly found the course useful in utilising substantial steering wheel rotations and then sensing when you were centralised again. The owner of a heavy goods firm certainly had an excellent one handed technique for turning and centralising the steering! So far so good with the Freelander II and my wife will be doing the free half day course on the Freelander (not our own one of course!)

Yea it is a bit of a step up from the Yeti ...... I f you have a tape measure it will be easy to verify that the Freelander is larger than the Yeti! Surely the substantial weight difference between the Yeti and Freelander is not due merely to the fact that the Freelander has a spare wheel ! The Freelander is so popular that the Land Rover Experience centre could not offer the free driver and guests half day session until June and I will of course be using the sat nav included with the Freelander to get there! Of course Yeti drivers don't need these freebies!! Off this weekend on a half price late booking whole day course in Kent - damn will have to make do with a Range Rover. Interesting thing is the training is orientated around automatics!! Take care.... Have fun. I'm sure you are waiting to hear about my first complaint about the Freelander! Well it is that the instrument lighting and display are not as bright and clear as the Yeti Otherwise purrfect so far.

Yes I agree with your first point and that Skoda in their promotional material do not stress the off road capability of the Yeti. Thanks for your forgiveness and tolerance. On the third point their is a reasonable certainty that my "investment" in the Freelander will result in a substantial loss through depreciation - far more than the Yeti. Maybe what I was trying to suggest was that I would not be doing this with hard earned money. However we are using gambling wins and for every winner on the stock market there are losers! The only betting I have done with William Hill was to purchase their shares before the rights issue and selling only a short time after the rights issue was completed successfully. Agree with you that the uninitiated need to do their own research as there are too many people on the internet who promote a buy share because they are already shareholders or a sell a share because they are hoping to buy it cheaper! It has been a truly gambling position with Lloyds shares I would suggest that only about one in a hundred of pundits on a day trading forum were correct in their projections. For those in the know I would suggest to some of the 99% who were wrong should light their candlesticks and stuff them somewhere quite uncomfortable!!! Certainly I do wish to suggest gambling with money you cannot afford to lose. On the other hand it may not make good sense to leave money in a low interest situation to decrease in real value, particularly internationally. I am prepared to write off money spent on some luxury items. For me (but maybe not others) the Freelander counts as a luxury item but I guess it could be an essential for someone in a remote off road situation and only able to afford one vehicle for all round use.