You may wonder why I am comparing a Yeti to a 3 series BMW, well been on the phone to my bro who has just replaced his company 07 320d SE with a 59 version.

The thing is he was surprised that the new model no longer comes with cruise control although it does have stop/start. So I decided to have a look at the BM web site which got me comparing with my Monster. Needles to say in terms of standard kit the Skoda even in SE spec is the winner in most respects and I hadn't appreciated how expensive a BMW is now; £26,680 without options ouch!!

I think it’s fair to say that comparing the two as to which is better is a bit chalk and cheese. I could say my 123D is a much better drivers car than the OctyII I had, but it has a much smaller boot. It doesn’t mean the Octy is a better car, just better in some ways. The thing I found with a BMW is the little things that you get. Put the parking light on with the indicator and when you get back in and start the car it doesn’t just revert back to an indicator, nice OK so it’s easy to have a pop at that one, but when I ordered my Sat Nav and telmatics package, I found that I can go to Google maps and send the coordinates of a place directly to the car via it’s inbuilt sim card. There is an awful lot of little stuff that I found I got that isn’t so obvious at first.

Mind you, I do miss that boot :(

Everything in life is a compromise and some cars will have stuff that are appreciated by some more than others. Personally, I think the Yeti is equipped with some really trick and clever stuff - far in excess of a parking light remaining a parking light (which if I remember correctly is illegal in the UK - you need all side lights on when parked at the roadside at night). For instance, it is very clever (and amuses me) how the wipers move every now and then to prevent the blades taking a set and ageing prematurely.

Still, I would be biased about a Yeti on a Yeti forum. Are there any BMW forums out there to inhabit or aren't there enough appreciators to form one...

Sounds cool. My experience with a 118d MSport was - USB option £200. However cannot be specced on standard stereo, so a £300 headunit upgrade is required, which according to the forums still won't sound any good without a £50 tweeter upgrade.....

Oh, and if you want cupholders, they're part of a £200 storage option....

Sounds cool. My experience with a 118d MSport was - USB option £200. However cannot be specced on standard stereo, so a £300 headunit upgrade is required, which according to the forums still won't sound any good without a £50 tweeter upgrade.....

Oh, and if you want cupholders, they're part of a £200 storage option....

I like the Yeti but can't help but feel it is very expensive compared to an Octavia Scout at about £18k with the current VAT free offer

Any Car must be 4x4. The most important options for me are the HID & Cornering Lights, Leather is very handy when living on a farm because it is easy to wipe clean. Climate is preferable to air con but I am not that bothered. A car has to be able to get to my home and how it drives are the most important things to me. The BMW 123d would be lovely but would not get very far unfortunately,so is a non starter! BMW are comparatively expensive. I like the X1, I have not driven one as yet but it is just a little too expensive for me. The X3 is way too much for me. So it looks most likely to be the Yeti.

Everything in life is a compromise and some cars will have stuff that are appreciated by some more than others. Personally, I think the Yeti is equipped with some really trick and clever stuff - far in excess of a parking light remaining a parking light (which if I remember correctly is illegal in the UK - you need all side lights on when parked at the roadside at night). For instance, it is very clever (and amuses me) how the wipers move every now and then to prevent the blades taking a set and ageing prematurely.

Still, I would be biased about a Yeti on a Yeti forum. Are there any BMW forums out there to inhabit or aren't there enough appreciators to form one...

Sorry? Did the OP not mention a BMW in his post? I own a Sedici 4x4. Cost me £8K with 7,000 miles on it and only 7 months old. It has Climate. All elec windows, MP3 playing ice. Multi button steering wheel and not only switchable auto 4x4, but a centre transmission lock. It is much better value for money than the Yeti and by quite a margin. But would I prefer to have a Yeti, yes!

My point is only I don’t think the 320D and the Yeti are natural competitors and so can’t be realistically compared.

Oh and my Octy had indicator driven parking lights and they reverted into an active indicator the second the key was inserted and turned in the ignition.

Why does the Octavia Scout not come with the higher powered diesel engine. the Yeti can come with the 170 which gives it reasonable performance why not the Scout?

I like the X1, I have not driven one as yet but it is just a little too expensive for me. The X3 is way too much for me. So it looks most likely to be the Yeti.

I was disappointed by the X1. It isn’t quite the step up from the 1 series I had hoped for, plus some of the plastics are not quite as good as I would have liked. I would forgive them if they put the 3.0 tdi in it and dropped the price a couple of grand though.

Why does the Octavia Scout not come with the higher powered diesel engine. the Yeti can come with the 170 which gives it reasonable performance why not the Scout?

What ever happened to the 200bhp diesel I read about last year. I heard VAG were designing one to compete with the Merc and BMW twin turbo diesels. Now a 200bhp TDi Yeti would be fun

Edited 20 December, 200916 yr by Lady Elanore

Sounds cool. My experience with a 118d MSport was - USB option £200. However cannot be specced on standard stereo, so a £300 headunit upgrade is required, which according to the forums still won't sound any good without a £50 tweeter upgrade.....

Oh, and if you want cupholders, they're part of a £200 storage option....

Cupholders were standard on my 1 series.

The X1 23d unfortunately is auto also, why did they not offer a manual version? I took out an X3 3.0d SE lovely it was but auto sadly. The engine is beautifully silky smooth with loads of power and torque. I would prefer a manual.

I was disappointed by the X1. It isn’t quite the step up from the 1 series I had hoped for, plus some of the plastics are not quite as good as I would have liked. I would forgive them if they put the 3.0 tdi in it and dropped the price a couple of grand though.

Edited 20 December, 200916 yr by Anthony 1

I wonder how many BMW drivers have noticed the trick parking light ?

From my experience, very few of them seem to understand the correct use of the lever whilst the vehicle is in motion, never mind whilst parked !!

Edited 20 December, 200916 yr by Gilesmengland

I wonder how many BMW drivers have noticed the trick parking light ?

From my experience, very few of them seem to understand the correct use of the lever whilst the vehicle is in motion, never mind whilst parked !!

That why I said it was easy to have a ‘pop at ’ . I think you are taking me more literally than I meant you too. I was using the odd example to show there was more to these things than comparing ‘Top Trumps’ style kit list.

Edited 20 December, 200916 yr by Lady Elanore

Don't get me wrong - I like little details like that.

Had a Focus on hire the other week - it was about 1 degree when I cranked it the next morning - the heated read window and mirrors came on automatically.

I used to have a Fabia elegance on an '02 plate. Colleagues would be quite impressed when I put heated seats on for them and hit the TIM button on the radio.

A lot of the BMW money is spent on things you can’t see. Take the light, all alloy 2.0 TDi which produces 177bhp (slightly increased in the new 5 series) and does 140 mph. My 123D will blow warm air through it’s climate control within 1 mile of start up from cold, even on a day like today. That’s because it not only is made of alloy, but it has a louvered blind in front of the radiator which keeps the cold air out until the engine is warm. It even has a button to blow residual heat from the engine once it is switched off. It’s these little things that slowly impress. I found a similar thrill (I don’t get out enough) when I got my first VAG car (Golf Mk IV Gt TDi with sat nan, then a very rare thing on a 99 plate car).

We had a 318d as a holiday car last summer. It felt very claustraphobic and, when he was driving, my husband's head was very close to the roof and he's only 5ft 9. It was a stop/start and we got some strange looks through a gridlock in town as everyone thought we were stalling. My husband said he thought the start/stop would wear the clutch out as, if you put it in neutral it was stop/stop! The biggest downer was that it made us ALL feel so sick though that was 'enhanced' with hubby testing out the how it held the windy country roads! Everything was black inside and out and we couldn't put the windows down as we got that vibrating thingy that does your earsdrums in. Kids ended up with sickbags and we had to stop regularly to take a breather. Oh and boot cover kept spontaneously opening so we couldn't hide things in the boot. 6 hour journey of hell.

I know what you mean, that BMW have that dark look inside, while the Yeti is bright and cheerful having much a much bigger window area. I prefer the dark interior with the black headlining but my wife loathes it, she prefers bright. I like the dark claustrophobic look because it allows the driver to totally concentrate on the road ahead with no distraction. As the driver I don't care how cheerful an interior is. I prefer sombre. I spend my time in a car driving it not admiring the carpets. The Jaguar XF, much heralded for its interior, is a distracting nightmare for me, I would hate that Christmas tree instrument binnacle. I prefer the BMW red glow. Red being the best colour for interior lighting as it does not compromise night vision. I agree with what Amanda said, BMW has more hidden qualities it is a drivers machine, the 23 2 liter alloy engine is wonderful, what else pumps out 204 bhp out of 2 litres. I will accept that it is not everyones cup of tea and it depend on what one wants out of a car but for me handling driving dynamics and performance are important. I believe that the X1 is only being sold with a limited range of engines, gear boxes and trim, I should think that a bigger choice is just around the corner. It will be expensive though.

the other thing is that Even the likes of drive the deal are unlikely to offer very much of a discount on BMW while everything else is well discounted even the Yeti, Which makes the Yeti an even better buy in comparison.

Edited 21 December, 200916 yr by Anthony 1

Sadly Drivethedeal had the BMW plug pulled from under them. BMW are trying to control the discounting online, much in the way that Mercedes did several years ago (although they haven’t taken franchise dealers back into the fold). Still around 13% is quite ‘doable’ for a BMW discount. My trouble is I want a 330D, but the RWD is a nightmare in snow. Having just driven about 120 miles today in the snow and slush, I doubt my 123D would have got my more than 100 yards, yet my cheapo Sedici breezed the whole day.

I looked at the Yeti and Tiguan a few months ago, but I don’t know if I want to go back to FWD handling. But there again, the X1 suffers from the usual crippling ride problem of sports suspension and run flats and the A4 Quattro is almost as bad in S-Line trim. Shame really as the A4 is the nearest thing to a cross between a Yeti and a 3 series.

Edited 21 December, 200916 yr by Lady Elanore

I thought that the X1 was available with normal tyres. I am sure that I read a road test that stated that run flats were an option. The all wheel drive Yeti does not feel like a front drive vehicle even if power predominantly goes to the front.

I thought that the X1 was available with normal tyres. I am sure that I read a road test that stated that run flats were an option. The all wheel drive Yeti does not feel like a front drive vehicle even if power predominantly goes to the front.

It is, but not in the 23X version, which is the version I was interested in. BMW are putting conventional tyres on the entry and mid spec cars. This, the industry concludes, is either to save money, or to force the Run Flat manufacturers to lower the prices on their tyres and also do a little more work on their ride quality.

As for the FWD Yeti, I haven't driven it, but can't think how a top heavy soft roader could ever exhibit anything but FWD handling? My Octy II certainly felt like a FWD

I have never driven the FWD only the AWD, the AWD does not feel like a FWD in my opinion. I only drove it for 1/2 to 3/4 hour but I drove it very hard on lots of back roads, wet, negative camber, bumpy, narrow, that sort of thing. It felt quite eery really , the suspension is very well sorted something that is unusual these days. The Ford Kuga for instance feels like a pogoing van in comparison it is very poor and has a cheep nasty interior for those who want to know. On similar roads it bounces and crashes the handling feels remote and it leans terribly. The Yeti keeps things very neat and I should imagine even in poor weather it would be very easy for anyone to drive long distances over A and B roads. Amanda you should consider taking a Yeti 170 elegance out for a ride.

I have never driven the FWD only the AWD, the AWD does not feel like a FWD in my opinion. I only drove it for 1/2 to 3/4 hour but I drove it very hard on lots of back roads, wet, negative camber, bumpy, narrow, that sort of thing. It felt quite eery really , the suspension is very well sorted something that is unusual these days. The Ford Kuga for instance feels like a pogoing van in comparison it is very poor and has a cheep nasty interior for those who want to know. On similar roads it bounces and crashes the handling feels remote and it leans terribly. The Yeti keeps things very neat and I should imagine even in poor weather it would be very easy for anyone to drive long distances over A and B roads. Amanda you should consider taking a Yeti 170 elegance out for a ride.

I did funnily enough, consider it, but I want something a bit quicker and that means (at least in my book) the inevitable understeer. I am a bit of a press on driver and have to say I love the RWD of my 123D. I’ve had mid engine, FWD and RWD as well as couple of Imprezas, but a decent RWD does feel more wieldy (if that makes sense). I have never found a FWD car that didn't feel like the front wheels were being driven :( Even a Type R felt FWD imho

well I doubt that anything that Skoda offers will compare with the BMW 123d for dynamics. I have had mid engined cars also very twitchy on the limit but very responsive. RWD also but I need to stick with AWD/4x4 for the foreseeable future. Still sometimes one can have a lot of fun pushing a crate around its just a matter of application.

well I doubt that anything that Skoda offers will compare with the BMW 123d for dynamics. I have had mid engined cars also very twitchy on the limit but very responsive. RWD also but I need to stick with AWD/4x4 for the foreseeable future. Still sometimes one can have a lot of fun pushing a crate around its just a matter of application.

I’ve had a lot of great fwd cars, but having got a nicely sorted rwd at the moment, it just makes me smile more. can’t really explain it. It is fun to push the back end out a little instead of ploughing on like a stuck pig (not sure where I heard that phrase before). The X1 and the A4 Quattro both have rear biased 4x4 systems and although the X1 is probably the more rwd biased model, the Audi (especially with the Sports Diff) isn’t too bad.

Perhaps I should just spend more on shoes and boots and get the Yeti/Tiguan instead