Little-Brit

Try these to start with. All make positive comments regarding the 125 bhp spec 1.4 engine (not 123 bhp as mentioned in at least one): http://www.autocar.co.uk/car-review/volkswagen/golf-sv http://www.parkers.co.uk/cars/reviews/volkswagen/golf/sv/ http://www.autotrader.co.uk/articles/2014/05/cars/volkswagen/golf-sv/volkswagen-golf-sv-first-drive And this one says good things about the lower power 1.4 engine whilst noting that the GT suspension is not the best option; http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/volkswagen/golf/sv All influenced my choice/reenforced my own bias depending on your point of view!

Blimey, that would challenge my computing skills - and patience! Can I suggest that you just Google "VW Golf SV reviews" and read on. There is quite a lot of material out there already, including a good (if slightly corny) German video report (in English).

I would have loved to have stayed in the Skoda family - I just like the way they do things; from their products to their service, good people in my experience. I have to agree that the VW forum isn't a patch on this one - I shall be keeping a foot in both camps I suspect! As for the SV my reasons for heading that way are quite straightforward. I wanted an automatic petrol engined car with a reasonably high driving position and decent fuel economy. Realistically I can only find 3 cars that meet that spec; Skoda Yeti, VW Touran and VW Golf SV. I already have a Yeti and the only reason to change it is if something else can offer a bit more room in the cabin, a bit more luggage space, a bit more performance with a bit better fuel economy on a slightly softer suspension set up with perhaps a bit less wind noise when cruising. I think the SV will tick all of those boxes. I will find out soon... (Looking forward to playing with the adaptive cruise control) I would have loved to have had the 150 bhp GT spec engine with the standard suspension. Unfortunately that isn't an option. Helping me swing to the 1.4 SE spec is the fact that most of the journalists have raved about the 125 engine in preference to the 150 version. As it is I am right at the top of my budget anyway so an SV with minimal extras it is. I will report back when I have my new toy.

Interesting thread. After nearly four years of largely happy Yeti ownership (1.2 SE DSG) I placed an order for a VW Golf SV 1.4 SE DSG last month, due sometime in November. It is very much a competitor for a Yeti especially if your requirements are for a highish seating position with a petrol engine and an efficient auto box! The only options I have added are front and rear parking sensors and the 2-Zone auto air con (that I love on my Yeti). It may be conservative and boring but if it is comfortable, quiet and reasonably economical it will have satisfied most of my requirements for a car. If I need a buzz of excitement I take my GS motorcycle out for a ride. With 125 bhp pushing 230 kg plus me that really goes and with all the electronic wizardry that BMW can throw at it it handles and stops too! But that's another story :-)

I have an annoying intermittent rattle from the back of the car which might be what you are hearing. It took me an absolute age to track down the source and I'm not quite sure what made me check but it turns out to be the boot catch! Grab the boot handle (with the car locked) and push and pull the lid. If you hear a slight knock that is possibly your noise, the free play between the lock post and catch mechanism. Mine is going in on Friday to be sorted.

The DSG is a seven speed fully automatic twin clutch gearbox. It is not perfect, it tries much to hard to keep the CO2 numbers low when using a few more revs would match engine performance to road conditions much better. As I said pretending it's a 5 speed box and using the manual change function works really well when towing.

Thanks for that - I know that technically my combination is not quite kosha but I really do put as much "stuff" as possible in the car and as little as possible in the van. As a caravan virgin too I was quite anxious initially but I have many caravanning friends and their guidance was very helpful. My combination really does perform quite well!

I've been towing a two berth Abbey with a maximum technical permissible laden weight of 1230 kg behind my 1.2 TSI DSG for 3 seasons now. We keep as much weight in the car as possible(i.e. all of our clothes, bedding, unrefrigerated food and drink, security devices for van etc) and have very little load in the van soI estimate that it is running much nearer to 1000 kg . It tows extremely well. Stability is superb and the DSG box works well too but not really as an auto... Using the DSG in manual mode ensures that the car starts off in 1st gear (which is very low) and experience has shown that treating the car as if it has a 5 speed manual gearbox makes for a perfectly acceptable arrangement. On long down hill runs I will pop it into 6th and in slow moving traffic I occasionally drop it back into auto to save my poor aching wrist! Letting the engine stretch its legs to the heady heights of 3,500 or even 4,000 rpm is quite enjoyable and of course the gear changes are seamless causing no fore and aft pitching when you do. I stick pretty much to the speed limits, 50 mph on normal roads and a tad under 60 on dual carriageways. An indicated 94 kph (it's easier to set the speed on the digital speedo!) keeps me slightly ahead of the HGV stuff whilst keeping the fuel consumption within reasonable bounds. Solo I get 38 ish mpg, with the van in tow it ranges from 22 to 25 mpg mostly dependent on wind speed and direction. I have the oil temperature on display whilst towing and it tends to hover between the high 90s and 110C. For comparison solo running at 70 mph gives about 100C. Lower gears with more revs tends to drop the oil temperature and I am content that that is indicating an easier time for the engine, more revs more oil flow I guess. I wouldn't have selected the 1.2 as an obvious choice to tow anything but looking back through the contenders for tow cars of the years ten to fifteen years ago brought a Citroen Xara (?) diesel to my attention and its power and torque were below those figures for the Yeti so I thought what the hell. I hope this is of some use.

In short yes! I have a 1.2 Yeti and love and hate the 7 speed DSG in equal measure. For driving around town or "sensibly" it is perfect. Bury the throttle and it is near perfect too with or without sport mode selected. "Pressing on" at legal speeds is normally no problem either. Where I have an issue is between that "sensible" level and "pressing on". The problem shows on slight inclines or reasonably sharp bends. Leaving a roundabout with a slight uphill gradient and accelerating modestly the car will change up from say 3rd to 4th causing the rate of acceleration to drop. To maintain acceleration more throttle is needed but you have to virtually bury the throttle before a down change occurs and then you are off like a scolded cat which is not the effect sought. Approach a corner at 55 mph in 7th gear and the box only changes down when you are past the apex and even then only to 6th when 5th or even 4th would be more appropriate. The solution of course is to flick the lever left and take command which I do quite often these days. Sport mode I sometimes use when leaving a particularly challenging junction into a fast moving flow of traffic. And I use manual all of the time when I am towing my caravan! It become a 5 speed box then in reality. Of course the solution to my problem is probably a 1.4 DSG Yeti, all I've got to do is wait for Skoda to build one... ps The delay between brake off and throttle on is whole other can of worms and VW/Skoda need stringing up for that one.

There's a very good reason for only having one rear fog light - so that they don't get so easily confused with brake lights!

I have had my 1.2 TSi DSG for 8 months now and have covered 7,000 miles - loosening up nicely now! Firstly I have to say that the fuel consumption varies more dramatically with driving style on the Yeti than with any previous car that I can remember. On my daily commute, a 25 mile round trip of mixed town and rural driving (no dual carriageways), I have been getting between 35 and 40 mpg according to the on-board computer. This has been driving the car in D and at mildly enthusiastic but legal speeds. As I have become accustomed to the car I have become a little frustrated by the DSG's desire to change up a gear ridiculously early - sometimes before 1,500 rpm. It is also a little reluctant to change down a gear when negotiating gradients and bends. Consequently for the past few weeks I have taken to driving the car in "manual" mode all of the time. In so doing I rarely change up before 2000 rpm and often use 3000 rpm or more. I also change down in anticipation of hills and corners and consequently get a much more consistent level of urge when using the throttle. And the result of this? Fuel consumption showing 42 to 49 mpg on the read out! My conclusion is that the settings for the transmission are intended to produce low CO2 in the Euro test - not low fuel consumption in the real world...

All of the above just explains why I bit the bullet and paid for Skoda to supply and fit the whole installation!!! Just not worth the agro on my one month old car (at time of fitting).

I'm hardly the wolds leading authority on the subject but my wife and I have recently picked up an Abbey Vogue two berth caravan which is inside our 1200 Kg limit. After much research and advice from friends we will be loading the car with as much as possible and towing the van with the minimum amount of gear possible. Our very first towing experience was in hauling the caravan 90 miles back from near Guldford to Bedford via the M25 and M1. Everything seemed OK to me. Rather more will be revealed this weekend when we set off for our very first caravan trip. Incidentally we have a 1.2 SE DSG. The gearbox definitely had more work to do but the car didn't appear to be struggling. We opted to travel at Skoda's recommended speed of 50 mph. With more experience I'm sure that value will increase!

I would be the last to suggest that the 1.2 TSI DSG Yeti is a contender for "tow car of the year". When I was trawling around trying to find a suitable car to replace my faithfull old FIAT Multipla 1.6 (petrol) I was not even vaguely considering towing anything. In August the 1.2 Yeti looked to fill our requirements more closely than any other contender so we ordered ours. In the time between ordering and receiving said Yeti we had rather come to like the idea of at least considering a caravan. Why do we come to these decisions? I have no idea but we have enjoyed many years of camping over the years. I then started doing plenty of research and reading and came to the conclusion that there was no reason at all why the Yeti shouldn't be able to cope with towing a caravan. Its weight, power and torque compare reasonably with the Citroen Xsara 1.9HDi that was the Caravan Club's "tow car of the year" in 2001. Speed limits are still the same as then and, I hardly need add, more rigorously enforced now than then. Anyway we now have an Abbey Vogue 212 which is under the 85% rule in the configuration that I use. The very first time I towed anything at all was in bringing the caravan from near Guildford, around the M25 and up the M1 to Bedford; about a 90 mile trip. Other than having to get used to the rather odd motions that the van imparts on the car I can't say that there was anything alarming involved. The DSG gearbox gets to do rather more gearchanges than normal and the engine oil temp was up by about 5C but other than that no problem. I should also add that for the time being our intention is to do our caravaning relatively locally. We are not abouts to head off for the Alps or such like. If we do decide to travel much further afield I'm sure a larger engined vehicle will be considered. Our first proper trip will be this weekend. Gulp! I'm much more worried about the details of towing and caravaning than I am about the Yeti's ability to tow :-)

The 1.2 is perfectly capable of fulfilling your requirement. I'd agree with othes here, it behaves more like a 1.8/2.0 litre petrol engine with better economy. In my judgment it excells at sub 70 mph motoring. After some lengthy consideration our 1.2TSI SE DSG is being called on to tow our recently purchased 2 berth caravan!

Why would I bother trying to answer someone who hasn't vaguely understood any of my comments so far?

I really liked the Golf Plus but not the price (above my budget truthfully) or the residuals being quoted. I really wanted the DSG option so it was going to be a VW group purchase and I had pretty much settled on a Roomster until I made the "mistake" of sitting in a Yeti in the showroom! Like others I looked at everything that I could within sensible driving distance to try and ensure that I had coverred all bases before taking the plunge.

Why don't people read what is said? The only DSG equiped diesel Yeti option is the 2.0 TDI CR140 SE with 4 wheel drive (and I don't need 4 wheel drive). According to the comparitor site referred to this deisel option costs £21,860 against £17,855 for my petrol version. The fuel consumption is quoted as 44 mpg for mine and 43 mpg for the diesel. There is no break even point with this scenario, full stop. Borrowing £4,000 more than you need is not prudent at the best of times let alone now and anyone who thinks that buying a car is some sort of investment scheme is deluding themselves. The peak torque of my Yeti starts at 1550rpm and extends to 4,100 rpm and is more than adequate for my use, it copes easily with 4 adults on board. Further more it revs on freely to 6,000 if really necessary. In addition the magical DSG gearbox swaps ratios seamlessly to ensure that maximum go is available in the majority of driving situations without having do anything other than press the loud pedal. I have driven a modern diesel, a brand new 2010 Octavia 1.6 110bhp demonstrator. It was very good, extremely quiet and smooth and a worthy contender for my money. But it still isn't as smooth or quiet as my TSI. But I bought my car because it most closely met my requirements for a smallish car with a DSG gearbox, a highish driving position, reasonable economy and performance in a package that I was prepared to pay the asking price for. That just happens to be a 1.2 TSI DSG SE, and I'm very happy with my choice. Of course if you're wanting real get up and go the 103 bhp and 115 Nm of torque of a BMW R1200GS pushing a paltry 230 kg is real grin territory and makes almost anything on four wheels rather dull actually!

An interesting site. I've just done a comparison between my 1.2 TSi SE DSG and the only diesel DSG SE spec option (which is 4 x 4). The deisel is more expensive to buy and more expensive to run so there is no break even point. The DSG gearbox was the first thing I specified before I'd even chosen which manufacturer's car I was going to buy let alone which model I wanted! I can appreciate the lure of the torque of a diesel but the way a petrol engine revs out is quite adictive too. The 1.2's turbo does an amazing job of filling out the bottom end of the torque curve to almost diesel proportions but without any of the uncivilised noises and vibrations that diesels so often have. I really like mine and everyone who has travelled in Hettie has comented on how smooth and quiet she is.

The length of these lists tells you as much about the age of contributors as anything else I suspect... 1969 Honda CD175 (you have to start somewhere) 1971 Ducati 350 1974 Honda CB350K4 (my very first new vehicle, what a joy) 1976 BMW 75/6 (Don't buy accident damaged vehicle and expect flawless reliability!!!) 1978 Honda CX500 (Brilliant but slightly flawed) 1963 (I think) Morris Minor (Red leather upholstery and a switch for a clutch but it did get me in to 4 wheels) 1976 Ford Escort Popular 1100 White. What a heap of *****, door skins flapping at 3 years old. 1977 BMW R60/7 economical, reliable and DULL 1982 Honda CX 500B (Still brilliant and now reliable. 13 years owned and let me ride really cheaply whilst bringing up my young family.) 1985 FIAT Uno 45. My first new car. Affordable, amazing amount of room and a joy to drive with an engine that just loved to rev and rev. Owned 15 years and drove it to the scrap yard :-( 1989 Ford Granada 2.0 GL Auto. A 100,000 mile old dog but what a lovely comfortable old pair of slippers. 1985 Honda XBR500 (A lovely toy) 1988 BMW K75s (The bike I'd have loved to have had ten years earlier) 1996 Ford Mondeo 1.8 GLX Auto. How can a nearly new up-to-the-minute car be less refine and less economical than the old dog above? 1990? Honda CBR600FL (Way too much performance for the road) 1995 BMW R850r (The most beautiful blend of torque, refined power, comfort and performance. Another long relationship - 10 years) 2001 FIAT Multipla 1.6 Ex-demo. Owned 10 years and covered 120,000 miles without a glitch. A fantastic car in so many ways. 2006 BMW R1200GS All the better to tour on 2006 Ducati S2R 800 Just to play on 2009 BMW R1200GS My first new motorcycle for over 20 years and Because She Who Must Be Obeyed said yes! 2010 Skoda Yeti 1.2 TSI DSG I've never bought a car by deciding on a gearbox and then trying to find a car to fit around it before. 1 month and a 1000 miles done.

Only today have I bought a 4 gb SD card to do the same thing. As a similarly higerent IT person I await the answer to your question with much interest and a little trepidation!

With my lovely new Yeti 1.2 TSI DSG (arrived Christmas eve. Hows that for timing?) I'm being offerred a service plan. The paperwork that I've received is quoting a litle over £22 per month for 3 years with an expected annual mileage of 12,000 miles. That tots up to over £800 for 3 services (plus penalty costs for exceeding stated mileage plan). Sounds a lot to me. Any thoughts or views?

You're not alone! Ordered our Yeti on the 19th Aug eventually getting a build week of 46. After 15 weeks of waiting I hear today that "The Yeti is in the country"! Yee-ha...