Northener

After 31K the Yeti had to go. 4wd 2.0Tdi SE. Conceptually and practically a great car. Ultimately our experience of the car, the franchise dealership (even after it changed hands) and bits that broke - both fundamental and more cosmetic - have been far too much for a carefully looked after machine. Problems have been: Paintwork chips+++ and a bit of rust within 12 months (fight++ with dealer and SUK to get fixed (L) rear window mechanism failed (window stuck in down position; fixed after three visits to garage ® rear window mechanism failed (window stuck in down position; fixed after two visits to garage) Air conditioning matrix broke (actually fixed without fuss this time) ® rear coil spring failed whilst car parked! (warranty fix) On first MoT: ® rear drive shaft defect: "wear and tear", and explains where increasing and intractable shake at 60-65mph came from despite three wheel rebalances. Defect is integral / not due to part available separately. Photos from non-SUK franchise to and from SUK agreed with this as needing a new shaft, that the front ® is developing similar problem, and shaft alone is £1k!!! SUK also not prepared to do anything to help with fix as car one week outwith 36 month warranty. Franchise garage wanted to examine separately at cost of £86, which they would not shift on. That was enough for us. I have never had such bad experience with a car from new or with a manufacturer. Despite its many plusses there have been too many key minuses. i would never recommend Skoda to a friend, and to all Yeti owners I'd suggest looking a bit past the hype. If you look at past owner's experience there is a developing trend of those who have had similar poor experiences. Good luck.

Cheers. Will read your post. Do you think Skoda will remember you for a subsequent complaint (from me) to quote your fun time getting sorted out as a precedent?

Erm, no: a car that's done 6400 should not be going rusty (yes there are rust spots not just stone chips, which I would deal with happily and accept as reasonable wear and tear) particularly when it's (1) got mud flaps since new - read the post - (2) doesn't do off-road and (3) has 12 year (IIRC) bodywork / perforation warranty. Gone to Skoda after two Hondas, these totalling 135000 miles and yes some stone chips but no rust / perforation. The definition of perforation is probably arguable but would you have a car with rust after 6400 miles, particularly one with the rough / tough / soft 4x4 marketing that the Yeti has? If you would good luck, but no thanks. I don't think that's merchantable quality paint, even if the rest's fine. Wind the clock forward 10000 miles and whatcha got?! Two tone car Oh, and yes the winter was a wild one, but my previous Civic, although a bit of a sledge as far as handling went got through the previous one and three before that - 2009/10 was worse up here than 2010/11 - and when traded in at four years old had no rust. Got the Yeti as the CRV too expensive to buy / run / insure etc etc. Bet it doesn't rust though. Nothing personal but I don't agree with your post: Cars may chip a bit but not have full-thickness breeches. Cheers!

So after about 7 weeks to and from Chathams Edinburgh and multiple phone calls, emails and the like the Yeti gets its rear door chips fixed properly last month. Pretty good job in the end on the second attempt. So fed up with the back and forth from garage ended up not grumbling about the couple of superficial lacquer scratches that I figured I would gently rub then rewax myself (!!) Only took about 10 days of actual car in the garage time in the end. Yes I am being a little sarcastic... Now I notice a similar but slightly more subtle gravel rash and (whoopee!) four paint perforations - two with developing "subcutaneous" rust - appearing about half way along both front doors below the trim line. Fantastic! I have never had this sort of hassle with paintwork on a new car ever, and this is one that's never been off road, never swerved into gravelly verge (quite hard to do on the driver side under usual circumstance) or any rough stuff. In case you're wondering the reason for 4wd beast is for the winters up here in the sticks up a hill 57 degrees north. Which it excelled at. So how can Skoda have made such a good car with such crap paintwork / paintwork protection? I've now realised (duh) why almost all other 4x4s have plastic at least a quarter of the way up the doors. So all of you out there with the otherwise wonderful Yeti: get the car clean, get it dry, and get on your knees and have a really good look at the front doors this time. Might just be me, but I guess it's going to be more common on cars with wider alloys / tyres. Ours has got mudflaps so don't rule this out as proof against rash. Any further thoughts / experiences / advice appreciated. Can you get full retail refund at current price off a 6400 mile car in otherwise perfect condition on the grounds that it is not of merchantable quality? A 6-month old car shouldn't have paint falling off it, and the logical extension of this is a rust-spotted car in less than a year. Off to the bl****y (stronger word under normal circumstances would be inserted here) garage again on Monday. Seriously though if anyone in the Lothians / Borders wants an otherwise perfect Yeti feel free to add a post here to avoid the 6-month wait. The above is almost a selling pitch isn't it?

Well having a totally rubbish experience with Chathams Edinburgh in retrofitting these. Car first went for inspection on 23 February, work finally cleared to be done late March (!!!) and after having the car for four days before finally picking it up on 8 April (yup it needed both doors resprayed) found it had bubbles under the film and more annoyingly one foil hadn't been sealed properly at the top edge and was easily pickable off with just a fingernail due to the dust that was already under it. Not to mention that the final detailing and presentation of the car was not the best (polish overrub on some of the plastics; various splatters here and there). Didn't even get an apology, and even worse, workshop manager stated that he knew some bubbling was a recurrent problem but he hadn't even been bothered to go outside to check on a car that his workshop had done and was sitting for 24 hours. Hopeless. So car still at garage waiting for replacement foils but what are the chances of these getting fitted properly after the first experience? Anyone want a Yeti...?

FWIW, and in some ways a reply to original post: I live somewhere that's hilly, cold, and this winter - like last - very snowy. There's a 1 in 7 hill up to the village. Gritting is patchy, and the nearest "main" road has been compacted snow and ice frequently, both this winter and last. Having driven last winter on a 2wd Civic with 138 HP, which is similar footprint, tyre size and weight to a Golf TDi (i.e. not far off a Yeti 2wd) with non-winter tyres, then this winter (much worse so far) with initially 4wd 140 HP Yeti and summer tyres, then changed to winter tyres (same size; Goodyear SP Winter Sport) my experience is: 2wd+summer tyres+snow and ice = rubbish to dangerously uncontrollable. 4wd+summer tyres+snow+ice = generally quite good, but slips, particularly downhill, and control on very slidy stuff a bit sideways at times but 4wd system generally sorts you out; not got stuck, and not too worried about the journey. However.... 4wd+winter tyres+snow+ice = definition of safety, how good 4wd can be in snow, and how vastly better winter tyres are for, erm, winter. Took very hilly compacted snow road home immediately after getting them fitted: two cars in 8 miles, both Defenders. No slips, no dodgy corners, fantastic uphill and cornering traction, and braking surreally good - almost like being on tarmac! Can't recommend strongly enough. Only slips so far have been in icing-sugar-like semi slush cornering when deliberately trying to find limits of grip, and Yeti sorts out these no bother. Intelligent 4wd more intelligent than me probably. Tried (when safe to do so) to get car very sideways: still not done it, car straightens up, keeps going forward. Total entertainment at times! Can't imagine 2wd + winter tyres managing the stuff we've had this year as well, but winter tyres are superb on a Yeti in this winter's snow. I guess price premium determines whether you'd opt for 2wd or 4wd if you live rurally with likely snow and dodgy driving conditions. I'm sure the lower HP rated 4wd Yeti would do as well as the 140 HP.

Thanks for all replies: stuff to think about... Think middle ground might be best approach. Initially thought of walking away, but indeed cannot face another 20 week wait for what seems by all (all!) accounts to be a brilliant car, particularly with winter approaching and us being up a Scottish moor (Honda Civic + snow + moor = toboggan: wheeeee!). Any more experiences of this sort of thing out there?

Hello all. After a wait as long as most, and probably shorter than some, got very excited (bit like new toy at Christmas 30 years ago) as Yeti arrived this w/e to garage, to be detailed and picked up midweek. 140 SE TDi 4 x 4 in steel grey metallic, with OR button, heated front windscreen and spare tyre for the spec afficionados amongst you all. So myself and other half dropped by garage to check if it had actually arrived (a few false starts and two previous delivery dates have come and gone so seeing is believing and stuff) and to our dismay discovered that although actually there and still "wrapped" from transit it has a dent and scrape in the OS rear quarter paned corner at junction of window and ail light assembly. Looks like something has swung and hit it. Now this dent is by no means huge, but by its location it won't be possible to "vacuum" it out as it's very close to top corner of panel and having politely collared salesman (not sure how I did the polite thing but it wasn't his fault and we are British after all) he agreed that panel would probably need removed, sorted and refitted. Neither of us are repair / paintshop workers so not entirely clear yet. Salesperson who is actually responsible for us on holiday so couldn't start proper decision-making, but could do with a bit of a heads up from anyone with a bit of knowledge out there as to what we should ask for: I have issues around: 1. Brand new car will have to be repaired before / if we drive it away 2. Will it be as perfect as factory car post repair? Well, objectively surely no: Reverse engineering and reassembly / respray cannot possibly be perfect, so 3. What to do? What recompense could we expect? Should we walk away? Should we get completely new un-fiddled with car? Would you drive off in a car that you knew had already had rear quarter taken apart and put back together again? Current car is Px so garage won't want 20 week further depreciation on its value against new car So annoying, but as with most I'm sure you don't spend around £20K to drive away a repaired car! Couldn't stand another 20 week wait though. Advice for a newbie greatly appreciated. I have no idea how "flexible" garage is as never dealt with them before. Cheers. :|

Hi Should be picking up Yeti on 14th. Only took since June! 4x4 140 TDi but wee problem: will expand on Yeti section of forum. Views from sensible people needed!