bargee1759

Did you get this sorted out? My 2012 Elegance 170tdi has the optional 3 spoke Sport MFSW but there's no controls on it for Cruise control, Cruise is all controlled from the left hand stalk which has the rocker switch as per your original photo

All cars are a compromise. You can't tow a caravan with a Ferrari! I bought the Yeti 9 years ago because I wanted a smallish 4x4 for rural winter driving as I'd moved house & commute to work on untreated roads at 5am. I've driven hot hatches & later quick turbo diesels for the first 20+ years of my driving career, but loved the Yeti when it came out. The fact that it was based on the vastly improved Golf 5/6 platform made it a definite shortlister. I was blown away by the interior quality too, but mostly how well it drove. The only thing that came close was the Kuga back then, & I tried all the Yeti's main rivals, & it was head & shoulders above the rest. The fact that the 170tdi 4x4 Elegance was ideally specced for my needs & was roughly £2k cheaper than it's rivals was the icing on the cake. The only reason I fitted the Eibachs wasn't to modify it but because I had a rear spring snap & I also had leaks on the front struts. I'd also used Eibachs before on an Alfa 156 & they transformed that car immeasurably without compromise, so it can be done. The Eibachs were also a fair bit cheaper than genuine standard Yeti springs & the combination of Eibachs & Bilstein B4s give the same normal road ride quality as standard, better infact over really sharp bumps & potholes, the Bilsteins are better quality & the damping feels more sophisticated than the standard dampers. The only compromise is I've lost about an inch of ground clearance, but as I don't do any more off-roading than normal farm tracks, it doesn't affect my requirements of the car, so it's perfect for my needs. As I'm oldish & we live in a low risk area, insurance with mods declared (including the stage 1 remap) is never more than £240 fully comp with protected NCB, so even that's not really a big compromise. The car's done 132K 100% mechanically reliable miles, 80k on the remap & economy is about 5% improved over standard, so once again, no compromise.

I run 16" winters on some old A4 alloys I bought 2nd hand off Fleabay 9 years ago (7J x16" ET45, 215/60/16) & the ride does improve, but as you say you can also loose some steering feel. However, I've found the choice of tyre just as important. The steering was more woolly with Goodyear Efficientgrip Performance 17"s than the 16" winter Pirelli Sottozero 3s I had at the time, surprising as the Sottozero's a heavily siped winter tyre. Similarly, I'm currently running Continental Premium Contact 6s on the 17" summer (standard Elegance) rims & the ride on those is almost equal to that of the 16", certainly better than any other 17" tyres I've had on the car bar the Goodyears. On the 17" I've run Dunlop Sport 01 factory fit (awful ride, wet performance poor at half worn & got noisy) Goodyear Efficientgrip Performance (quiet, economical & comfortable but very soft & imprecise on turn in & no feel, binned quickly) Continental Sportcontact 5, really sporty feeling with amazing steering feel & dry & wet grip, but not that comfortable) Continental Premiumcontact 6 (95% of the steering feel & the same grip as the SC5 but good ride quality, probably 90% as good as 16" winters) I've also driven other Yetis on Michelin Primacy & Nexens but the Continental Premiumcontact 6 is definitely the best combination I've driven on a Yeti. My car has also had Eibach Pro springs & Bilstein B4 dampers for the last 6 years which improves the handling & steering feel slightly, gives factory levels of normal ride quality, but a better low speed ride especially on really bad surfaces.

Any newer reviews/comments available on this subject please? I'm thinking of upgrading my rear ARB to a slightly stiffer item to reduce understeer, however I'm worried about adversely affecting the ride quality. I also have the Eibach springs which I initially also mistakenly fitted with Bilstein B6s after reading forums instead of sticking with my plan of using Koni FSDs. I didn't get on with the B6s at all, too compromised for me, too stiff. Great at high speed, but too stiff on the motorway & around town. I'd run Eibachs & Koni FSDs on a Alfa 156 before the Yeti, loved them & had no problems. A couple of years ago I also bought an Abarth 500 & put FSDs & Eibachs on that too, again with really good results. Certainly better than the B6/Eibach combination on the Yeti. Also a rear B6 always knocked at times, then a front started so I'd had enough & binned them. Unfortunately, FSDs weren't available at that time for the Yeti, so I went for B4s. What an improvement. For me this combination is what the Yeti should've been from the factory as it's less harsh over sharp bumps & potholes than standard, but the handling improvements from the Eibachs & better damping from the B4s over the cheap Skoda standard items is noticeable. People tell me the rear ARB would be a good upgrade, but I don't want to stiffen the car much more as I don't want to loose the superbly planted feel my Yeti currently has when pressing on down poorly surfaced lanes. Cheers.

The DMX7017DABS is a standard double DIN sized unit, & it's very shallow as there's no CD/DVD drive in it so there'll be loads of room behind it for the wiring etc. However as it's just a square fronted unit you'll need a facia adaptor as made by the likes of Connects2 etc. to restore the dash's appearance. The few facia adaptors I've used on different cars have been fairly good quality & look pretty well OEM once fitted. Although I haven't got as far as measuring it yet, I don't think the DNX5018DABS will need such a facia adaptor as I believe it's the exact size & shape as the Bolero unit, so should physically be a straight swap but as I say I'd double check this carefully first.

I'm in the same boat as yourself Dave, mine's a 2012 car & 2 years ago I fitted a Kenwood DMX7017DABS head unit in my Abarth 500. As an Android Auto unit it was great with a nice display that is very good for Google Maps even in Satellite mode, really good sound quality & the steering wheel controls all worked. I've been thinking of fitting one to the Yeti too however, I haven't yet because it won't support the reversing sensor display (although this can be programmed to display on the DIS screen instead). However it also won't display the HVAC information & the automatic volume speed adjustment won't work either, hence I've still not taken the plunge. Including a really good roof mounted replacement dual feed DAB/VHF aerial (can't stand the stick-on windscreen DAB aerials) you'd fit this system to a Yeti for about £450. Although you'd never know driving the car, an OBD reader will probably log HVAC & instrumentation faults due to the CANBUS not being able to communicate with the stereo properly as mentioned. That's about half the price of the official VAG replacement Kenwood DNX5018VDABS head unit that will support all the original vehicle functionality as well as having stand-alone nav without your phone connected. However I can't really see why you'd need that as I'm surgically attached to my phone so always carry it & when it's plugged in, it's also constantly charged. I've also looked at several cheap supposed vehicle specific units, but reliability & sound quality worries have prevented me going there too. So, half an answer I suppose, but hopefully someone will come to our rescue with a miraculous solution very soon! Cheers Adrian

Bobbsy, If you want to save a little cash but don't want to skimp on quality, have a look at the new Vrederstein Quatrac Pro all season. I've run a few sets of different types of Vredersteins over the years on different cars (but not on the Yeti yet) & have had Wintrac Pros on my Audi S3 this winter that have been great. As a result I'm thinking of putting Quatrac Pros on the Yeti later in the year when the current Conti Premium Contact 6 summers wear out instead of swapping wheels over for summer & winter as we haven't had much snow for the last 3 years, but I still want the better cold weather ability from the softer compounds that All season & winters have.

My 2012 170tdi has a MoreBHP stage 1 remap to 210bhp & 430nm of torque. It's just clocked 128k & was chipped 5 years ago at 55k. Absolutely no problems at all, never had a cat regen but my journeys are 90% "A" roads & motorways. It also hasn't had "the fix" post Dieselgate. Performance is impressive & tows well, no clutch or flywheel issues, still all original. The car's also got Eibach Pro springs, Bilstein B4 dampers & Brembo Xtra discs & pads all round. Makes a truly great car even better. Insurance increase was initially nearly £100 over standard, but now I'm only paying £220 a year fully comp with protected NCD. Great to be old.

The inclusion affected areas of the doors haven't suffered a return of any defects since its respray 6 years ago. However, it's the rear corners that suffer most. I agree with muddy boots, I think it's a combination of the doors constantly rubbing on the door seals as the body flexes (probably not helped by my "enthusiastic" driving style & bouncing from crater to crater over the UK's crap road surfaces) & also abrasion resulting from the airflow over certain areas of the doors carrying all manner of salt, sand & other abrasives as the rust starts in the areas where the crap & water collects on the rear, lower outer door skins. I also think modern paints are crap too though, I've covered well over 100K miles in every one of my last 8 or 9 main cars, but from my Alfa 156 (140k) the Yeti (currently 128k) the amount of stone chip damage on the nose is much worse than cars I had twenty years ago. I can see it already on my S3 & that's only on 31K, only 6k of that in my hands)

My car's early 2012 & I've had it since new. Both sides were repainted under warranty at 2 years old for this. Last year rust started to appear again so I looked around at a few dealers with a view to swapping the car, but a fair few of the (much newer) Yetis I looked at were the same. I also looked at the Karoq & various other cars, but none ticked my boxes like the Yeti. So as my car has been 100% mechanically reliable for its 128k miles & I couldn't find a clean replacement with the options & spec I wanted & have now, I had mine repainted again. It won't last but as every model has shortcomings & compromises, I'll put up with it to keep a great car as long as I can!

You can still order online for home delivery from the likes of Eurocarparts, (I changed my rear brakes yesterday) so no need to wait or go out unnecessarily & further ruin the diff!

Great review cheers, but I should just say to people having done this job quite a few times now, it can be done easily enough without taking the seat out, so no need to disturb the airbag system. Initially I bought a new element, but since, I've just repaired the element, & the last repair has lasted 4 years. There's 2 things I put this down to. Firstly, There are 2 different types of element. One is a single strand wire element which is quite thick & snaps partly because it's fairly rigid, & solder repairing wasn't that successful. This maybe an earlier design (my Yeti's early 2012) but the replacement I bought is a braided cable so is more flexible & repairs much more successfully -I've only repaired that one once which as I say is still going strong after 4 years. Secondly, when you refit the heater mat to the seat base, tuck some of the heater mat down between the base & side bolsters so that when the seat sides flex, the heater mat can also flex instead of stretching & snapping. I also don't fasten the side bolster wings of the element to the seat cushion on refitment to give the element more chance to move if it needs to. Also good advice as the OP said, kneeling on the seats isn't a good idea, although I have to say all my failures have been around the outside bolster to seat base joint area.

Well that's the biggest load of tosh I've ever read! I've got the 12 speaker set up in mine & I've experienced several Yetis without. It's night & day! & 2 owners with cars not equipped both commented on how they wish they'd ordered it after they heard mine, they were that amazed at the difference. Mind you, unless you enhance the bass significantly on the "graphic" & turn up the volume, you won't hear any difference. It's enough of an issue for me that when I eventually upgrade my Yeti (which now looks increasingly like it'll be for another one) it MUST have the speaker package & a heated screen to replicate what I have now. That's how I came across this thread - looking into what to do about retro fitting if necessary as it seems to be quite a rarely specified option.

Regarding protection film, it won't make any difference at all whether you have them fitted or not. This is a base metal/primer issue so all goes on under the paint/film/wheel arch trims, door protectors. The film will help against stone chips, but that's not the issue here. It's either crap quality already rusting steel the cars are built with or the Zinc primer/application ptocess at fault causing the inclusions. A lot of mine originally looked like spiders' webs under the paint.

Hmm, this is pretty disappointing reading. I thought this problem was restricted to 2011/12 cars like mine. Both sides of mine were resprayed under warranty 5 years ago, but largely due to substandard workmanship, it only lasted 4 years before rust started to appear along the door bottoms because the paint was too thin, so I've just paid to have mine all done again & properly this time so hopefully it'll last longer. But I have been thinking of upgrading to a last of the line Yeti in the future, & thought paint quality wouldn't be an issue. Obviously I'm wrong!