De-Yetified

[yeti hunter]

Well the demo car went back this morning.Its obviously been busy as its got 5K miles on it already and I put on a few hundred. If anyone is offered a White ex-demo Elegance, I have tested it thoroughly for you, including wading a 30 foot long flood down a lane last night (was like joining the Checkoslovakian Navy!)......................Lasting impressions? the physics defying handling, such as the poor Mini Cooper driver starting to drift on the damp slip road as a big White, HID's blazing Skoda 'van' kept bearing down on him. Very amusing. The comfortable ride and certainly getting a lot of quizzical looks. The engine was very punchy up to mid speed but runs out of puff a bit at high speed, needs the CR170 or a remap 140 to make full use of the handling.I have to concede... in real life the boot isn't too bad really (without the spare anyway) its never going to be luxurious but it IS quite livable........................... Downsides? It was a bit thirsty, mistook the fuel gauge for a stopwatch! averaged about 41mpg according to the computer but I am sure reality was a fair bit worse. Engine a bit noisy but at least it wasn't a bad noise, quite a sporty growl often.Interior needs a rethink, couldn't ever get really comfortable with my body shape, short arms long legs, to reach the steering wheel I had to have the seat closer than I wanted. If I lowered the steering it blocked the dials. The speedo really is dangerous. In a town zone with a lot of 30 speed cameras it takes far to much time to focus on what your doing, it just needs a simple thicker line on the main increments!!!!I think thats what let it down for me overall, the little details here and there that let down a really good drive, not to mention the ever present rattles and creaks. .............................. Would I buy one? well maybe, due to its sub 160 CO2 its very cheap for me to lease but I would say its currently 2nd on my list. I enjoyed my test drive in a Honda CRV a bit more overall and the revised one in January is supposed to sort some of its well known issues, so we will see. The Honda may be too expensive so I may yet become a member of the esteemed Yeti Club.Cheers for now.

[yeti hunter]

sorry about the layout... for some reason forum won't let me put linebreaks or even spaces in!

[The Plumber]

Thanks yeti hunter.

From my owners point of view albeit a couple of weeks, I would concur with most but not all of your review but everyone has their own opinion and if we didn't life would be very dull.

My fill to fill fuel consumption after 2 fill-ups is 41mpg for both, with 800 miles done.

Driving position for myself is fine, no real complaints and I can see both main dials. Only thing I would say is an inch more reach on the steering would have been just perfect but it's a very minor point.

Going back to the main dials I actually like them very much and find them very easy to read, plus the 'torpedo' tubes they live in stop a lot of reflection.

Regard engine performance the 140 for me is just fine, have no problem with overtaking or making good progress across country. I am sure others would appreciate the extra benefit of the 170, I know my Dad has been very pleased with performance of his Superb 170 DSG (waiting for an opportunity to try it out myself).

Can sympathise regard creaks and rattles as my poor Snow-monster has this issue. As long as I can get her fixed then I will be happy. Just hoping that the trials I have had with the wife's Corsa are not repeated though.

[Terfyn]

Your impression of performance comes more from where you are starting from. I am changing from a Nissan X-Trail to the Yeti and both on paper and in fact, the Yeti out performs the X-Trail.

The Nissan is no slouch, I have rarely been frustrated by the summer traffic around here and there is still plenty of blast for overtaking. I cruise a mixture of roads from the 9' wide country tracks where good braking and reversing to the nearest passing place is the norm to the A55 where a long legged top gear is required. The Yeti meets both these limits easily.

For performance, the SUV is a poor choice. High CG, high wind resistance and high gross weight spoil the handling, the acceleration and braking performance. Two Terranos and the X-Trail over a period of 15 years have shown me that. From my recent experience, the Yeti overcomes the worst of these limitations.

[aerofurb]

Thanks to all the input so far on living with a Yeti.

When I test drove Allam's CR140, I didn't find the instrumentation a particular problem - perhaps I just accepted I couldn't see all of the instruments all of the time. I find in the Fabia I have a good idea of what speed I'm travelling at but that comes with gaining the aural and visual cues after 70k miles, I think. Strange, that all said though that for the UK market they didn't make the more 'popular' speeds easily identifiable.

On the fuel consumption, I find the Fabia mpg drops by about 10% from October through the winter on my 13 mile daily journey to work and on longer trips too - must be something to do with the lower ambient temperature. Whether the CR engines do the same as my PD remains to be seen (soon, I do so hope!).

[Anthony 1]

Hi,

I do not understand why you should be achieving worse fuel consumption during the winter months. The air is colder and more compressed holding a greater quantity of oxygen also the fuel is colder and more compressed, storing greater energy per unit volume. I suppose if your engine is not running at optimum temperature then thermal efficiency will be down which would affect fuel consumption. I also suppose that for some of the journey the engine is not up to heat any way but in 13 miles I would have thought it should have reached temperature easily by then. Perhaps your engine might benefit from a radiator blind to allow it to reach optimum temperature in a shorter distance in the winter or that the electronics need adjusting?

Thanks to all the input so far on living with a Yeti.

On the fuel consumption, I find the Fabia mpg drops by about 10% from October through the winter on my 13 mile daily journey to work and on longer trips too - must be something to do with the lower ambient temperature. Whether the CR engines do the same as my PD remains to be seen (soon, I do so hope!).

[scunjee]

if memory serves me correctly it states in the user manual for my Octy 4x4 pd that fuel efficiency will be less in the winter months than in the summer months. I haven't measured it exactly though mine's somewhere between 5 and 10% less efficient in the winter

[Agerbundsen]

We are kinda getting off-topic here, but never mind:On a 13 mile journey in winter, it would take longer forthe engine to reach operating temperature than in sumer for a relatively longer part of the trip. The engine is not as efficient cold as it is hot, so this makes sense.I suppose the higher air density also makes the aerodynamic drag a little higher than in summer, but how much this might be is a good question.On long trips - say a few hundred motorway miles, I do not see any marked difference between summer and winter economy.

[Tom_vRS]

Also winter diesel has additives in which doesn't help economy.

Thanks for the Yeti reviews - its the little points that don't get picked up on a quick test drive

[yeti hunter]

Also winter diesel has additives in which doesn't help economy.

Thanks for the Yeti reviews - its the little points that don't get picked up on a quick test drive

Heading off in the Accord today I was reminded what a gem the icdti engine still is for refinement. Hardly a peep out of it at any revs, can sit at the red line and you don't even notice. Also I noticed an oddity about the Yeti steering, anyone know is it electrically assisted? my Honda is hydraulic. They have cleverly added quite a bit of artificial weight to the Yeti's steering which adds to the feeling of driving something strong and chunky. The odd thing is it doesn't lighten naturally with speed like normal steering and seemed to stay fairly constant. I noticed it after a 300 mile round trip that my wrists felt tired. Not that you need too much steering feedback, if you got the Yeti to let go your in deep dooda!

[The Plumber]

Heading off in the Accord today I was reminded what a gem the icdti engine still is for refinement. Hardly a peep out of it at any revs, can sit at the red line and you don't even notice. Also I noticed an oddity about the Yeti steering, anyone know is it electrically assisted? my Honda is hydraulic. They have cleverly added quite a bit of artificial weight to the Yeti's steering which adds to the feeling of driving something strong and chunky. The odd thing is it doesn't lighten naturally with speed like normal steering and seemed to stay fairly constant. I noticed it after a 300 mile round trip that my wrists felt tired. Not that you need too much steering feedback, if you got the Yeti to let go your in deep dooda!

Yes the Yeti's steering is electric not hydraulic; VAG have been that way for a while.

Personally find the steering to be OK, sometimes get a slight kickback with when cornering but that might be the tyre width as I had similar on a 525iX BMW with 225 tyres but not the Golf 4motion or Octavia 4x4 Turbo with 205.

Edit

Wish in some ways SUK had put the the 16" Moon alloys with 215 width tyres on the SE as with the European Ambition, although I must say the Dolomites do look the part.

Edited 25 November, 2009 by The Plumber

[Terfyn]

We are kinda getting off-topic here, but never mind:On a 13 mile journey in winter, it would take longer forthe engine to reach operating temperature than in sumer for a relatively longer part of the trip. The engine is not as efficient cold as it is hot, so this makes sense.I suppose the higher air density also makes the aerodynamic drag a little higher than in summer, but how much this might be is a good question.On long trips - say a few hundred motorway miles, I do not see any marked difference between summer and winter economy.

This is not true. When the air is cold it is denser so the mass for a given volume increases. This results in more O2 entering the cylinder and giving a better combustion. (Reason for aftercoolers fitted to turbochargers) Have you never noticed that your car goes better at night when the air is cooler? I always enjoyed a night journey 'cos the car used to Sing along.The cause is more likely to be the higher viscosity of the oil and greases in the transmission. The only heat generated is from friction so the oil temperature only increases slightly above ambient.

Edited 25 November, 2009 by Terfyn