My A2 was one of the first ones and had a normal "old fashioned" wiper blade and arm. The A2 has only one huge wiper by the way. The old one was so well planted on the windscreen that it rocked the very light A2 from side to side. It was also quite a beast of a wiper in depth and very visible from the driver's seat. Thus in 2002 Audi changed the design to a new type "floppy" aero wiper. Yes it looks much smaller and nicer from inside the car - being near invisible below the bottom of the window line, BUT it does not nearly press down on the screen as well as the old type leaving streaks in front of the passenger all the time - and that whilst always using screen wash.

So my point? The Yeti has floppy wipers I presume? They look great but as a design evolution are not really a great step forward in terms of wiper design. Only problem is to change to the old fashioned type you have to change the entire arm mechanism which of course you can't do on the Yeti as no such thing exists as it does for the A2. So maybe that is why some people might think the wipers are no good?

You've totally hit the nail on the head. On my old VW van I only ever cleaned the windscreen by hand when I washed my car (3 times a year!!) and the wipers did an excellent job. Yes, they were the old fashioned, more rigid wipers. The floppy yeti wipers do seem to be the problem.

I think the problem relates more to the angle of the windscreen itself

I finally got my 1:43 scale Yeti back (after the first one arrived with a cracked case). "Parking" the Yeti next to the A2 1:43 I was surprised to find that the Yeti's windscreen angle is near exactly the same as that of the A2! And I would have thought the A2's windscreen was much steeper to account for the 0.28 Cd vs the Yeti's 0.37 Cd (though total frontal area, roof shape, width of wheels and all the rest count as well of course!)

And the shape at the back does make the A2 a lot more aerodynamic (but gives me far less space to pack thing in!):

I finally got my 1:43 scale Yeti back (after the first one arrived with a cracked case). "Parking" the Yeti next to the A2 1:43 I was surprised to find that the Yeti's windscreen angle is near exactly the same as that of the A2! And I would have thought the A2's windscreen was much steeper to account for the 0.28 Cd vs the Yeti's 0.37 Cd (though total frontal area, roof shape, width of wheels and all the rest count as well of course!)

And the shape at the back does make the A2 a lot more aerodynamic (but gives me far less space to pack thing in!):

[

I think you have to not separate the windshield angle from the oveall shape of the front. There is a pillow of high pressure at the lower part of the windshield, which acts as if part of the vehicle shape. The air flowing over the car sees this as part of the shape and does not really flow horizontally till it hits the windshield, and then flow up. The A2 has a clear overall airfoil shape from the front to the spoiler on the back. The spoiler is probably there to define the size (Height) of the turbulent zone behind the car.

The Yeti is much less foil shaped, but also has a spoiler built into the top of the boot lid - not obvious till you look for it. It is most likely there to ensure that laminar flow adheres all the way to the back of the roof, as if there was any separation before, the turbulent wake could be much taller than the car. That the yeti shape manages to maintain close to laminar flow over a large part of the vehicle is evidenced by the very low wind noise - at least up to around 100 mph. That is disturbed in a crosswind, where there is a destinct noise at the leading edge of the roof rails. Naturally, the turbulent area behind the car is rather large with the square cut-off shape. The turbulence below the vehicle is also likely to contribute to drag big time, as the ground clearance is high.

Aerodynamically speaking, there does seem to be a break somewhere around 100 mph. Below that, The Yeti is not sensitive to a strong crosswind, but above, it is quite noticeable.

Edited 20 May, 201016 yr by Agerbundsen

I think you have to not separate the windshield angle from the oveall shape of the front. There is a pillow of high pressure at the lower part of the windshield, which acts as if part of the vehicle shape. The air flowing over the car sees this as part of the shape and does not really flow horizontally till it hits the windshield, and then flow up. The A2 has a clear overall airfoil shape from the front to the spoiler on the back. The spoiler is probably there to define the size (Height) of the turbulent zone behind the car.

The Yeti is much less foil shaped, but also has a spoiler built into the top of the boot lid - not obvious till you look for it. It is most likely there to ensure that laminar flow adheres all the way to the back of the roof, as if there was any separation before, the turbulent wake could be much taller than the car. That the yeti shape manages to maintain close to laminar flow over a large part of the vehicle is evidenced by the very low wind noise - at least up to around 100 mph. That is disturbed in a crosswind, where there is a destinct noise at the leading edge of the roof rails. Naturally, the turbulent area behind the car is rather large with the square cut-off shape. The turbulence below the vehicle is also likely to contribute to drag big time, as the ground clearance is high.

Aerodynamically speaking, there does seem to be a break somewhere around 100 mph. Below that, The Yeti is not sensitive to a strong crosswind, but above, it is quite noticeable.

I know a bit about aerodynamics, and would say this is almost certainly true. I won't say that it is actually true without access to tunnel or CFD data, but it conforms to experience from other makes and models.

As to the question of "aero wipers", a popular mod on the Octy 1 is to fit Golf Mk4 aero wiper arms and blades. What other VAG model(s) share the Yeti's wiper linkage and arm length?

As to the question of "aero wipers", a popular mod on the Octy 1 is to fit Golf Mk4 aero wiper arms and blades. What other VAG model(s) share the Yeti's wiper linkage and arm length?

So is this to replace the "proper" old style ones with new aero ones? Hmmm... I'd be surprised if the same would work on a Yeti going the other way around (aero to old style). But I have seen weirder things!

So is this to replace the "proper" old style ones with new aero ones? Hmmm... I'd be surprised if the same would work on a Yeti going the other way around (aero to old style). But I have seen weirder things!

My 2005 Octy 2 had Aero wipers and so does the Yeti - both different lengths right and left and incidentally also an Aero wiper on the back. They may be diffent in the UK, as my right wiper does not sweep al the way up to the corner of the windshield, whereas the left one does.

My only beef with any two wiper system is that the one leaves a slight line of crud, which the other one does not seem to be able to get rid of. My 1986 Mercedes 250TD had a single wiper with a weird motion, but it really worked well - once you got over the facination of watching the weird motion.

Edited 20 May, 201016 yr by Agerbundsen

My only beef with any two wiper system is that the one leaves a slight line of crud, which the other one does not seem to be able to get rid of. My 1986 Mercedes 250TD had a single wiper with a weird motion, but it really worked well - once you got over the facination of watching the weird motion.

Was that when it did half a sweep then seemed to 'duck' down and continue the sweep fully round? I bombed around in a c class for a bit and it was rather mesmarising!

I have to say, Im not convinced the wipers are particularly bad on the Yeti but I would say the screen gets far more than average on it in terms of splattered flies etc. At 800 miles now and it needs a proper clean!

My 2005 Octy 2 had Aero wipers and so does the Yeti - both different lengths right and left and incidentally also an Aero wiper on the back. They may be diffent in the UK, as my right wiper does not sweep al the way up to the corner of the windshield, whereas the left one does.

As part of a left hand drive to right hand drive swap the wipers get mounted the opposite way. So on a UK car the wiper on the driver's side wipes all the way to the top most corner of the windscreen next to the A-pillar to ensure the driver has the best view and the passenger will have a smaller wiper that does not clean all the area in front of them. Some cars like the just replaced "dame Edna" BMW 5-series still has the wipers the wrong way around on a UK car, BUT the main driver's side wiper gets a Mercedes like kink in it so that it moves into the top corner to still clear the same amount of the screen.

Anyone seen the weird wipers in action on the current Seat Leon/Altea/Toledo? They both PARK vertically next to the A-pillars and then work like a normal claphand system.