Hi,

I'm currently looking to replace my aging (but still excellent-to-drive) Octavia vRS MK I - and the Yeti is top of my list at the moment.

Only problem is that I can't find a dealer with a 1.8T Yeti to test-drive (I'm in Cardiff). One dealer told me that Skoda make them take several cars each month, and they have to sell them off within 3 months. So naturally they only get what they think they can sell on most easily - which seems to be the 1.2 petrol, and the diesel models. I'm sure Skoda have their reasons for doing this, but it makes test driving one of less popular variants a real pain to organise.

The diesel engines are very good (I've driven a 170 TDI Superb to get a feel for what it can do), but I just prefer the way the turbo petrol unit drives - which is why I've hung on to my Octy for so long.

Anyone with a 1.8T Yeti care to share some of their thoughts? I'm expecting it to be broadly similar to the Octy - slightly down on power of course, but the extra gear might mitigate that.

On the topic of buying - is now a good time to be talking to dealers, or is it worth waiting until later in the year? Yetis seem to be very popular, so I'm just a bit concerned that it's not going to be easy to get much off list price - if customers are running into garages and thrusting wads of money into the arms of the dealers then they're a bit less eager to discount :-)

Thanks.

David.

Try Drivethedeal.com for Yeti prices and use them as a bargaining tool at your dealer - a hefty saving should be available but you might have to wait a long time for your Yeti to be built!

We have it here in a Octavia L&K estate! Pulls like a train! Nuff said!

Edited 13 May, 201016 yr by vRSNext

Wonderful engine; simply one of the smoothest four cylinder engine I have driven, certainly in this class of car.

Many on here prefer the economy and cheaper tax of the diesel models but you sound very much like me in terms of what you want from an engine. Coming from a line of petrol powered cars that all delivered good low down torque and high rev power; its what I wanted in the Yeti. Using the low down torque its also possible to achieve excellent economy. Think mine is hovering around 32mpg overall average (thats mainly town driving) and Ive had 40-42 on a couple of occasions of motorway driving now. Keep in mind that this is on an engine that only has 500 miles on the clock so all in Im pretty gobsmacked by what it can achieve so far!

I also previously had the 'classic' 1.8t engine in my old Octavia 4x4 Turbo - im sure you are aware but they are very different units in terms of design but just as capable!

I've got the same dilemma - I'm totally ready to buy but can't decide on 1.8TSi vs CR170. I'm certainly more used to the smoother quieter power delivery of the petrol but OTOH the diesel probably has more power and hence at least somewhat better performance.

I had a test drive in a 1.8TSi and was definitely underwhelmed by its performance, although admittedly it was a very low mileage demonstrator and hence probably pretty tight still. I can't find a dealer within 50-60 miles with a CR170 to try. (I don't know why it is that Skoda can't provide a range of demo vehicles on a regional basis so that if you're potentially interested in one of the less popular specs then at least if you're willing to travel you might be able to get an hour's drive in your preferred variant - this would seem an obvious tactic to me to convert prospects into sales but I know that Skoda are not alone.)

Trouble is that I'm not sure how easy it will be to get an opinion here that will help you because reactions will totally depend on what people have been used to driving. For anyone used to a more mundane everyday vehicle then either 1.8TSi or CR170 would probably feel like a huge step up in performance. In the absence of a range of real-world in-gear acceleration figures, then we need opinions from someone used to driving eg a vRS Octavia or something similar. (My benchmark is my current 2.4 Accord with something around 180BHP and a 0-60 probably just under 8 secs.)

OTOH the diesel probably has more power and hence at least somewhat better performance.

Only 10bhp more. And a higher peak torque. But that peak torque doesn't hold as long as the petrol engine. Note that the 0-60 times of the 1.8 TSI and 2.0 TDI are identical. I haven't found any mid-range acceleration figures for either the 1.8 TSI or 2.0 TDI (say 30-70 or 50-80 through the gears), but would bet that the 1.8 isn't actually any slower in real world conditions.

I did find some torque curve diagrams somewhere once, but can't locate the link right now. Anyway, the TDI only gets peak torque between 1750 and 2500 rpm (a 750rpm band). The 1.8 TSI gets peak torque between 1500 and 4500 rpm (a 3000rpm band - and I don't think it tails off quite as dramatically as the diesel, even after 4500rpm). That big "shove" from the diesel can make it feel a lot faster (compared to the less brutal, but more sustained power in the petrol), and it certainly helps in getting away from junctions! But I just prefer the way the petrol lump delivers.

Of course, what I would *really* like is the 260bhp turbo 4 from the Golf R, tucked under the bonnet of the Yeti. *That* would be rather tasty... :-)

Thanks for the comments.

We take delivery of our 1.8TSI on Tuesday! I did some very long test drives and found the engine great with lots of low down torque, but coming from a BMW 330 CI Sport, I was a bit disappointed at the noise. I wanted the sound you get from our 330 CI or a Golf GTI or something, but sadly is was a bit too muted.

Overall though I was very inpressed with the other aspects of the engine / gear train. After all we did end up buying one!

We take delivery of our 1.8TSI on Tuesday! I did some very long test drives and found the engine great with lots of low down torque, but coming from a BMW 330 CI Sport, I was a bit disappointed at the noise. I wanted the sound you get from our 330 CI or a Golf GTI or something, but sadly is was a bit too muted.

Overall though I was very inpressed with the other aspects of the engine / gear train. After all we did end up buying one!

Actually, I'd have to agree. It does offer amazing refinement but if I had to come up with a negative it would be that its almost too quite and fairly characterless. Weird, as I think of this as one of its main strenghts too! :S

Only 10bhp more. And a higher peak torque. But that peak torque doesn't hold as long as the petrol engine. Note that the 0-60 times of the 1.8 TSI and 2.0 TDI are identical. I haven't found any mid-range acceleration figures for either the 1.8 TSI or 2.0 TDI (say 30-70 or 50-80 through the gears), but would bet that the 1.8 isn't actually any slower in real world conditions.

I did overlay the published power curves for the two engines once - see:

http://briskoda.net/...i-power-curves/

But I'm still unconvinced about what torque figures have to do with performance (directly at least). AIUI engine power is a measure of the rate at which energy can be transferred from the engine to the vehicle as a whole (ie effectively the accelerative characteristics of the vehicle) and so torque figures don't bring anything extra to the party. All that matters is the power curve. If someone would like to disabuse me of this notion then I'd be delighted to listen to the (physics-based please) arguments.

Edited 13 May, 201016 yr by prodata

Wonderful engine; simply one of the smoothest four cylinder engine I have driven, certainly in this class of car.

Many on here prefer the economy and cheaper tax of the diesel models but you sound very much like me in terms of what you want from an engine. Coming from a line of petrol powered cars that all delivered good low down torque and high rev power; its what I wanted in the Yeti. Using the low down torque its also possible to achieve excellent economy. Think mine is hovering around 32mpg overall average (thats mainly town driving) and Ive had 40-42 on a couple of occasions of motorway driving now. Keep in mind that this is on an engine that only has 500 miles on the clock so all in Im pretty gobsmacked by what it can achieve so far!

I also previously had the 'classic' 1.8t engine in my old Octavia 4x4 Turbo - im sure you are aware but they are very different units in terms of design but just as capable!

+1

We have the 1.8TSi in our Yeti - great engine albeit rather lacking in character....in that its a little too smooth for its own good. Ours is still loosening but can tell its going to be a little flier!

Coming from a VW 197bhp 2.0T (which is a real joy) I was tempted by the 1.8tsi.

I doubted I would average more than 32 mpg out of it the way I drive so went for the diesel as I will do a good 16k miles this year and the diesel is good for over 45mpg average. Also needed the space and the 4x4 versatility of the Yeti.

I wanted the 170 CR but that’s only available in the significantly more expensive elegance spec and I’m not a fan of leather.

Sounds like the economy of the 1.8 isn’t too bad though.

Now if they put the latest 210bhp 2.0T engine in the Yeti I wouldn’t be able to stop myself having one.

Edited 13 May, 201016 yr by fuzzybunny

Thanks for the link to the charts - excellent!

Regarding the oft-debated power versus torque subject -- I'm not an engineer, but will venture my ill-informed opinion anyway :-)

Yes - power determines how quickly a car accelerates. But power is a product of torque AND rpms. So you can get the same power by either revving slowly with high torque (diesel engine), or revving fast with low torque (Honda VTEC for example). Given that the gearbox can multiply the available torque up or down to whatever you want, then acceleration is down to the peak power available from the engine.

Using horsepower and pounds-feet as the units then the relevant equation is this: Horsepower = torque * RPM / 5252

Where 5252 is derived from 1 horsepower being defined as the power needed to move 550 pounds a distance of 1 foot in 1 second. Google will give you lots of background info. A good place to start is here: http://www.revsearch.com/dynamometer/torque_vs_horsepower.html

Actually the best indicator of real-world performance for a car (in my opinion) is probably the power-to-weight ratio - bhp-per-tonne. The Yeti 170 TDI comes out at 110, and the 160 TSI at 106 I think. Slightly lower bhp, but 30kg less weight.

In terms of perception though, and what a car *feels* like from behind the wheel, then what you *feel* is the torque available at any given time. And in a good modern turbodiesel that can be quite big, so you get that nice "shove" in the back when you stand on the pedal.

But getting back to my point: the TDI engine is indeed great - I just prefer petrol engines :-)

The 1.8TSi is a great engine, it's what we've got in our Yeti at the moment and I love it. It's very forgiving to drive in the sense that it seems to have the same amount of torque available regardless of engine speed. That said the 170CR is pretty amusing but I've only driven it for a short period.

it seems to have the same amount of torque available regardless of engine speed.

Very true! And that is one of the biggest plus points for the engine - a good flat peak torque curve thats available throughout a decent amount of the rev range! Its a wonderfully flexible engine. I just need to get some more miles on mine asap.

Having made the transition from Mk1 vRS 1.8T to snowmonster I understand your dilemma.

Power maybe a little short on the Yeti in comparison but the delivery of what it has is much smoother there's no sudden urge just smooth power. The gear ratios seem to be lower and of course theres six against five which means rapid driving through built up areas needs more gear changing but the gear change is lighter. The TSi engine is much more eager to gain revs than the 20 valve Turbo. Not being an engineer I can't talk about Torque bands but I would say that yeti pulls from 1000 revs in almost any gear, keep it avove 1400 and you can really fly around - vRS needed 1200 and 1800 to do the same. In the give and take world of London driving the power diference is not that noticible to me.

Top end speed is much lower which is more to do with aerodynamics than anything else - that vertical back end I believe.

Economy on our 2000 mile trip to Monaco overall was 33.6 mpg this included city (traffic jams), French autoroute, and 'B road ' driving, one thing I noticed was the difference between a steady 70-75 mph and a steady 85-90 mph - 6 mpg those aerodynamics again I guess, I always allow for the speedo the be optimistic ! Naturally a diesel would be more economical but it's my choice.

Noise levels are much lower.

Ride is much much much better !

Squeekrattles are better/less in number.

We only test drove the 1.2 & 1.8TSIs as our dealer didn't have a diesel in at the time. We did try an Octavia with what I believe was the equivalent diesel engine to the CR170, but thought it sounded a bit noisey when sitting in traffic - something we do a lot of here. Mrs Caveman & I both agreed the 1.8 was simply more fun to drive than the 1.2, so that's what we opted for. At the moment we're still glad we did, and I doubt we'll change our minds once everything loosens up - we've only had it 3 weeks, so we've only done 250 miles.

As we live on a small island with a 35mph speed limit, we know we're never going to get cracking mpg figures, but Mrs Caveman's getting about 30mpg at the moment which isn't bad considering it's roughly what I get in my 1.4 Ford Puma & my father gets about 25mpg in his 2.0 BMW diesel. We're driving up to the Outer Hebrides in a couple of weeks, so it will be interesting to see how it goes on the motorway and once it's got a few more miles on it.

Sorry for the unscientific response, but essentially we picked the 1.8TSI becase we enjoyed driving it the most.