Following piece in this week's Autocar from long-term tester Alan Muir:

"Not only is the Yeti my favourite Skoda model but it's also, in my opinion, the pick of the junior SUV brigade. With its four-square stance and refinement, it warrants comparison with a Discovery. The only bugbear in ours is its DSG gearbox, which gets caught out around town; the hesitancy and subsequent surge of power can frustrate".

Apart from the comment over the DSG gearbox, over which I can't comment, he's not wrong about the car is he?

And neither are we!

John

Edited 16 June, 201016 yr by jst_at_home

I love the four-square stance as well. It is amazing to see how much road presence a Yeti has (the few times I have seen them on the road). And it does visually punch well above its price IMHO.

Edited 17 June, 201016 yr by 900000

I agree about the DSG getting caught out at times but what the hell I still love it.

I agree about the DSG getting caught out at times but what the hell I still love it.

The thing that amuses me about complaints about the DSG gearbox getting caught out is the implication that users of manual gearboxes always have the right gear at the right time, which isn't always the case.

My wife's car has a old style hydraulic torque converter box and that gets caught out, and if you think a DSG is less than perfect, try a Ford AMT with the old software - (single clutch) felt suicidal on roundabouts unless you stopped and then pulled away with a good bit of welly. (I had one before I bought the Octavia with DSG.)

The DSG depends on the signals it gets, and one of those is from the driver's foot. Once I had learned how to get the best out of it it was a lot smoother than my manual changes used to be, especially when tired. The only time I use S mode is on difficult roundabouts, it just feels better and safer, whether it is or not.

When is the 8 speed DSG due?

I am actually amazed about the power of the little 1.2, but its not the engine that caught my eye.

Rather strangely enough, it was the weight of the front door and the clunks it makes, feels much better than any VW and in fact compares well to Audi. s

All the cars in the VAG group seem to have the 'GOLF' doors - much copied as the standard 'clunk'?

ernieb

The thing that amuses me about complaints about the DSG gearbox getting caught out is the implication that users of manual gearboxes always have the right gear at the right time, which isn't always the case.

My wife's car has a old style hydraulic torque converter box and that gets caught out, and if you think a DSG is less than perfect, try a Ford AMT with the old software - (single clutch) felt suicidal on roundabouts unless you stopped and then pulled away with a good bit of welly. (I had one before I bought the Octavia with DSG.)

The DSG depends on the signals it gets, and one of those is from the driver's foot. Once I had learned how to get the best out of it it was a lot smoother than my manual changes used to be, especially when tired. The only time I use S mode is on difficult roundabouts, it just feels better and safer, whether it is or not.

When is the 8 speed DSG due?

I totally agree about the drivers foot comment, the DSG seems to hesitate / bog down when you have been bimbling about at lowish revs and want to speed up a bit, and you are a bit heavy on the accelerator, it's fine if you accelerate gradually.

Mark

Still positive praise this week for Autocar's 1.2 DSG Yeti. Saying it is a "baby Land Rover but costs £10,000 less". But big grumble about fuel economy. "A few office grumblers say that they find the Yeti's 1,2-litre turbocharged engine a little overawed by its bulk" and they can't crack 35MPG yet... with an average of 32.8mpg.

Still positive praise this week for Autocar's 1.2 DSG Yeti. Saying it is a "baby Land Rover but costs £10,000 less". But big grumble about fuel economy. "A few office grumblers say that they find the Yeti's 1,2-litre turbocharged engine a little overawed by its bulk" and they can't crack 35MPG yet... with an average of 32.8mpg.

They are probably a bunch of Leadfoot's by definition, so no big surprise.

.......and, Yes!, I do fit in the category.

Ohhhh. And I missed the little Yeti snippet on page 99. Ed Keohane saying: "I like it anyway: opting for a front-drive Yeti to keep costs down is understandable, but if you've got to get about in bad conditions you'll be glad of 4WD. The Yeti is surprisingly capable in the rough - steal junior Discovery."

Also good to see the Audi A2 also features twice! Page 42 with the new A1 and page 70 under Price Watch: fuel misers: "it will run and run". And mine sure did. 107,000 and still going strong.

Also good to see the Audi A2 also features twice! Page 42 with the new A1 and page 70 under Price Watch: fuel misers: "it will run and run". And mine sure did. 107,000 and still going strong.

Yes I thought of you when I read those. A couple of friends also have A2s. An A2 was on my wife's want-list but an A Class M-B with its elevated driving position and auto fit the bill.

John

1.2 manual is giving me 42+ MPG and over 45MPG at 70mph on cruise, cant argue with that!!!!

There is another tiny installment in this week's Autocar of their long term Yeti:

They still love it!

Is the DSG an intelligent box that adapts to your driving style? If so I can see it getting caught out. Found no such problems with the DSG in the Fabia VRS I drove. I would think the 1.2 would be a little overwhelmed but not driven one. Been out in a 1.8 TSI 4x4 manual though and loved it but even that was not that quick.

Another update on Autocars long term test 1.2 Yeti yesterday. Seems they had an airport drop off to do and much to their surprise (full complement of passengers) the Yeti managed to squeeze everything into the boot. Top marks.

The Quashqai (spelling sorry!) used on the return journey could not manage the same feat. Bag ended up sharing a passengers knees. Pah!

They are still getting low 30's mpg wise and have come to the conclusion that a diesel would probably have suited them better. All in all though it's plain that they rate the car highly though I can see caveats of 'New small turbo engines in large cars don't work economy wise' when they finally sum it up.

You have to taper this with the fact that all Autocar drivers - even the photographers (whose car this is) seem to drive with lead wellies on.

I totally agree about the drivers foot comment, the DSG seems to hesitate / bog down when you have been bimbling about at lowish revs and want to speed up a bit, and you are a bit heavy on the accelerator, it's fine if you accelerate gradually.

Mark

I agree too. When I first got the car it used to really upset me, but know it hardly ever seems to happen. I haven't really done anything to overcome it, so I'm assuming either the gearbox has learned my style or, more llikely, its taught me how to avoid it, although I'm not aware of having changed anything about the way I drive!

Mike

...They are still getting low 30's mpg wise and have come to the conclusion that a diesel would probably have suited them better. All in all though it's plain that they rate the car highly though I can see caveats of 'New small turbo engines in large cars don't work economy wise' when they finally sum it up.

You have to taper this with the fact that all Autocar drivers - even the photographers (whose car this is) seem to drive with lead wellies on.

Might also be that they get free fuel with the job.

And of course one wonders whether the 1.4 will prove more economical in practice?

Cheers

Plus as well they will be trying to break it in order to write the piece, poor build quality, unreliable etc, as this would no doubt make better reading for some. Glad to see they haven't managed to break it yet!!

That Stuart Price from Autocar must be on his first ever job at a car magazine or in fact in his life. He goes on about only being able to unlock the driver's door (two clicks Stuart?! Ever heard of that?!) and how he is now so happy that he found in the menus how to change this. Then in the very next paragraph he moans that the car goes "blipp blipp" when he locks it! SAME MENU STUART - to switch this off! Wake up! Why does the editor of a magazine like this let such rubbish be printed by someone that is so obviously inexperienced with cars?!

Why does the editor of a magazine like this let such rubbish be printed by someone that is so obviously inexperienced with cars?!

Inexperienced Editor?