Drive in Snow and How does the Yeti handle in Snow?

[mhjonesuk]

Once I got used to it my 1.2 was ok, better than my Galaxy anyway. After yesterday's adventures on my snowy hill, I think that I may have it sussed to an extent. I went out on frozen, icy snow this morning and found I could take the hills easily as long as I took a run up, the asr means that you can use the throttle without having to worry about wheelspin. if I bogged down, only once getting into the drive I turned off the asr and wheelspun it up easily enough. I did have a few problems trying to take hills straight from a junction as they were very icy and ended up slipping back sideways towards the main road. It was just a matter of finding the smallest incline and hitting it right. For the record my tyres are standard goodyears with 13000 miles on them and about 2mm on the fronts so they need changing.

Mark

[jan25]

Be careful!

Driving technique is premier.

Technology is always secondary - helpful, but always secondary!

[Terfyn]

My understanding is that the ABS and ASR only limit wheel spins (ABS let the wheel spin for control braking). If I had diff lock, I could put power onto one of the front wheel that isn't spinning and hopefully pull me out.

That is precisely what the ABS system does. It locks the spinning wheel and the diff then transfers drive to the other wheel, which, hopefully, will not spin. Diff lock just locks the two wheels together so they both will spin.

Another tip for the 2D brigade - always put your rear wheels into any soft or snowy areas, hopefully the fronts will pull you out. I have had to help one or two drivers who stuck their front wheels into a ditch and had no drive to pull them back on to the road.

[Peter a Proud Yorkshireman]

Took a 140 DSG Elegance for a test drive yesterday with Neil from D M Keith Huddersfield. Did a bit of motorway and some open pennine moorland roads with good bends but no snow but went steady as some ice about. Brilliant.

We then went down to the narrow road around Scammonden Dam (the wall is part of the M62) which was completely covered in 2/3 inches of snow with a lot of ice underneath. The car coped superbly with the conditions and uphill and down hill the technology was great including crawling down a fairliy steep ice covered section and then getting us up a very steep hill with bend est 1 in 6 or 7 and all on normal tyres. Thankfully nobody coming in the opposite direction or I might have panicked.

Terrific car and will be ordering one! Just wish they could get the sunroof thing sorted as I do like plenty of light in my car>

Edited 28 November, 2010 by Maffa

[Fluffy destroyer of worlds]

Well I tootled off to Harrogate for the weekend Friday afternoon and had an uneventful trip up the M62 over the border into Yorkshire. I had expected at least a bit of the white stuff but nothing. Safely ensconced in our weekend retreat we woke up Saturday to a moderate fall of snow. Certainly no test for the Yeti as we travelled up to Fountains Abbey for a walk over to Simon’s seat.

Yesterday saw us nailing the last of the Christmas shopping in Harrogate, by 2:30 however things started to get serious, snow was falling heavily and sticking and it soon became apparent that the roads were starting to grind to a halt. We rushed back to the Yeti – unfortunately a good hour away, and threw the shopping in the back. Cleared about two inches of snow off and set out.

Now we had copious amounts of winter gear right down to a snow shovel plus of course a Yeti with shiny new winter tyres about as well prepared as you could be given the circumstances. When there was nothing in the way we made good progress however the further out into the sticks we went the more apparent it became that this would be a stern test of even the Yeti.

Mercedes C class was the mobile roadblock of choice – or rather immobile! I think the 3 and 5 series BMW owners had stayed at home to avoid embarrassment. I had latched on to a new Discovery which also appeared to have winter boots on and this in turn was following an Audi Q7 which had summer slicks. Discovery man (a local) was stopping at each stricken car we passed and offering help, whenever it was asked for I nipped out to and got pushing (thank god for heated seats!) it wasn’t long before there was only the Yeti, Disco and Q7. At this stage I hadn’t bothered using the off road button, the Yeti was seemingly oblivious to the appalling conditions and I didn’t want to fix something that wasn’t broke. All this by the way was taking place on the Ottley road (wherever that is). The Q7 fell by the wayside, its driver had had enough and stopped with his hazards on, again Disco man made sure they were all right and we ploughed on.

We came across some very steep hills both up and down and for these I engaged the offroad button. I think Disco man was doing the same as we both seemed to chug up dale and down dale at a very even pace. It’s a weird sensation, like having a giant marshmallow under the throttle pedal. You don’t seem to do much at all going down hill it just sorts itself out, just steer really. I had a ‘moment’ on what turned out to be a roundabout. It was one of those mini variety and I hit the dimple in the middle (it was covered in snow) and gracefully pirouetted round it pointing in exactly the direction of choice. The roundabout signs were covered in driven snow I had thought it was just a give way until we realised what we had driven over. I did of course make ou that this was deliberate as the Fuhrer was already agog at my god like driving skills....

Eventually with a friendly wave Disco man turned off into his country retreat (a mansion with leccy gates!) and we started to reach the edge of the snowfall. We avoided Leeds entirely and ended up getting the M62 somewhere after Bradford. The M62 was fine – surprisingly, bloody cold outside the warm confines of the Yeti though.

A 90 minute journey had taken over 3 hrs but Snowy had proved his worth. Filthy dirty and covered in snow we got some very odd looks in Manchester (still no snow) but I had proved to myself that a Yeti on winter tyres is a very good place to be in such conditions, very very impressive, I’m hooked.

[ju3]

We had a blizzard here in Oslo yesterday so I went out to test the car.

I have 1.2 fwd with all 4 winter tires. Continental Conti Viking Contact 5. 205/55 - 16.

I was driving around small roads ,testing the car on uphill start.

Well ,

when it was icy road with no snow I did have problem to gain traction. No matter how up the uphill was.

It was bad traction on all occasions. And I tried around 10 different uphills with stop in the middle and go.

Tractioncontrol kicks in really early. I dont even notice wheel spin but then suddenly see blinking traction lamp.

Neither one time I got stuck but it was a strugle to gain traction and move.

(I have not tried to turn tractioncontrol off but I know that this could help on some occasions)

On roads and uphills covered with snow I had no problems at all. Some spinn of front wheels did happen but it was almost negligable.

The traction was really good here.

Driving downhill on icy road ,abs also kicks inn early but I managed to stop the car on all ocassions at reasonable distance.

Driving downhill on snow covered roads was good. No problems there. I could stop like on a dime.

Taking icy roundabouts (we have a lot of those here) was fun. Front wheels would slide sideway and if I dont let the gas pedal off it would slide outside the road.

Again in snowy roundabouts no big problems but slide of front wheels did happen few times.

It is really easy to throw back end off the car. It dont take to much effort. You dont even have to touch handbrake. Just turn fast and there you back end goes.I guess this is cause back is rather light weight.

This was fun ,I was making 180s on a parking lot like crazy.

There is no build up of snow in wheel arches. (I experienced this on some previous cars).

There is build up of snow on back end of the car. By the time I got home back end was totally white. Could not see the glass ,numberplate ,3rd brake light was invisible, but the main brake lights were visible...

So to rate my experience from yesterday I would say (from 1 to 10)

icy roads Yeti gets 5.

snowy roads Yeti gets 8 or 9.

Now this have much to do with tires also. My tires are new. And score second best on different test here in Norway. Whats strange is that in few test they say that tires perform better on icy roads the on snowy roads. I found opposite to be true. You figure...

[EdmundBlackadder]

Fluffy - great review and one I am mirroring every day at the moment. I am running standard Skoda fit Dunlops and whilst I would rather have winters on the Yeti is proving magnificent. We have 18" of snow here and the Yeti is ploughing on through snow and over ice with a minimum of fuss. I have the occasional wobble but the car soon corrects itself. I have NEVER felt as though the car would not keep moving which is key in all of this. I am still driving slowly with extra caution on bends, laws of physics and all that as people keep reminding me, but the Yeti still feels sure footed. Whilst most cars are wisely parked up on my estate I can keep moving. I suspect I may be doing shopping runs for people soon!

On a serious note this experience, and last years with a 2WD car, has led me to believe that I am highly unlikely to ever go back to 2wd again. As long as Skoda keep doing minor tweaks to the interior to keep the car interesting I suspect this may be the first lease car I keep coming back to. If anyone had doubts about the cars ability in British snow and ice then I can happily say DO NOT WORRY. Trust in your Yeti.

[Fluffy destroyer of worlds]

Edmund - I too have the Dunlops, now safely in my mothers garage. They do seem unreasonably good in wintry conditions, you are not the first to mention this. I opted for Matador Nordica's on the std 225 Annapurna rims. By no means a 'premium' choice (a narrower rim and either Contis or Dunlops winters would be ultimate I think) but still did the business yesterday.

This is my first 4wd as well and in a mere month has really sold itself as a feature. If global warming means our winters are going to follow this pattern then I can't see myself going back to front or rear wheel drive either. I think the increasingly sophisticated Haldex offered by VAG is the way to go. Having your cake and eating it as they say. And I love cake...

[BigHusky]

Good review Ju3, this cold snap and snow here in the UK must be the norm for Scandananians.

The snow here is melting a little and has become very soft and slippery.

I 've been pushed out of a very remote car park next to the cliff tops ( I was 1st in) yesterday morning. Also driving this morning I had to have my 2WD Yeti pushed out of snow 4 times!

All the weight training I do paid off this morning as I pushed a Volvo estate car up a icy hill this morning. The women driver was shaking, and said she had been stuck for 20 minutes, no-one bothered to stop and help out!

It's getting embarasing now being in a 4X4 looking vehicle with front wheels spinning in the snow! The winter tyres should arrive some time this week.

In conrast, the last snowfall we had earlier this year, my Mazda MPV had very few problems ( couple of slides at roundabouts). I'm thinking it's down to the fact it had narrower tyres and weighed over 400kg more than the Yeti.

In my opinion on a 2WD 'snow monster' the summer Dunlops are usless in this white stuff.

Edmund, I should be visiting white house farm before xmas, so the kids can see the real Santa (not far from yourself?) I should have more confidence driving through snow with better tyres.

[rockhopper]

Great review Fluffy.

Mike

[EdmundBlackadder]

In my opinion on a 2WD 'snow monster' the summer Dunlops are usless in this white stuff.

Edmund, I should be visiting white house farm before xmas, so the kids can see the real Santa (not far from yourself?) I should have more confidence driving through snow with better tyres.

BigHusky - White House Farm will be magical at Christmas, good choice. It is just a couple of miles away from me, I am at the north end of Morpeth, WHF is at the south end, but I hope the snow thaws as even I would not try it in the current snow and ice as it is down a classic farm track. If you have 2wd then winter tyres are definitely the way, you will be wizzing past me then. When mine are worn down I will change them to all season tyres rather than have standard tyres on as that should make it even better along with the 4wd.

Incidentally in the current weather you get to see which are the more popular 4wd cars as they are the main cars that are moving around, 2wd drivers are sensibly staying at home on the whole. I am definitely seeing more Yeti's here now, lots of Nissan X-Trails and also Mitsubishi's (various ones but all pretty bloomin big) and quite a few Freelanders. As we are in the sticks there were very few Chelsea tractors but those that do exist, BMW's, Audi's, no Mercs at all here, are all staying off the roads. They may be soft road 2wd cars just for show which is why they are not on the roads now. Anyway this is a great advert for Yeti's and also the other 4wd cars that are lapping up the current weather.

[lee67]

more of the white stuff overnight here...and yet again my fwd 1.2 managed a treat'...no slipping straight out, shopping 6 miles away and straight back...normally our street was a no no in the focus( all neighbours cars are parked on main road some 200 yards away)....the yeti got off and on so easy...it so rmeinds me of my previous skoda's which were all great in the snow...oh and im running dunlops too..maybe some of you guys need to go steady on the pedal's

[900000]

Great review Fluffy... Very confidence inspiring. I hope my dealer gets that last rim he is waiting for pretty soon so I can swap my tyres before heading to Scotland between Xmas and New Year.

[RallySimon]

I wont go typing everything again on this thread, but I've just spent last Friday night and most of Saturday driving round in Dalby and Langdale Forests high up on the Yorkshire moors in deep snow and horrendous conditions on the standard summer Dunlops and never had any bother at - hugely impressed with the car's capabilities - this was exactly what I bought it for - you can read in detail what I was doing here if you're interested:

http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/182296-a-yeti-adventure/

Cheers,

[keithclinton]

I have a 2 wheel drive Yeti 1.2S. Came home over the Brecon Beacons in the snow on Friday night and was frightened to death! It had hopeless grip on its Continental summer tyres. On a downhill hairpin it went straight on into the bushes - fortunately I managed to reverse back out. When I got home it wouldn't drive forwards over a 1" high kerb to my drive. I had to reverse on with my son pushing me. When you look at the tread pattern on the tyres you can understand why it's so poor. My 2000 Fabia with narrow tyres coped far better last winter. Even so I think the 4x2 Yeti is a great car - just not on snow.

[hmibennett]

What I think we can conclude from all of this is what has often been said before: 4x4 is undoubtedly useful in snow, as are winter tyres, but in the end a great deal is down to specific local conditions and the skill/experience of the driver.

[My_Yeti]

...and also heavier engine would be useful for a FWD vehicle.

[redcar_reds]

Have used my Yeti everyday since the snow arrived, with up to 12" in this part of N Yorks and its been a dream. The car has just gone on and on even when people have been abandoning their cars, it has just carried on up or downhill with ease. I have used the off road button for a particularly bad hill on Saturday evening when returning home from work in blizzard conditions and it was surprisingly good. It's a strange feeling when the car decides to slow down as it's descending the hill, but it did control the car down and around a notoriously tricky stretch of snow covered road. No winter tyres either just the factory fitted Goodyears.

[Agerbundsen]

Well, this weekend and yesterday provided the perfect testing ground for yeti handling in winter conditions. 20 inches of snow in some places on Saturday and a blizzard with 12m/sec (24 knot/27 mph) wind yesteday and -5°C during the day and lower at night.

Summary: everything works as advertized, but a few surprizes.

The Off-road button was never used and the ASL not turned off.

Trying to make donuts in 12 inches of snow on a large desrted car park was the most surprizing. You could provoke the 4 wheel spin as expected driving in small circles, but the ESP limited the throttle response, so that you could not spin as fast as intended. all 4 wheels turned and were spinnihg, but the speed was limited, so wheel spin was moderated. You could continue spinning and control the direction of the car, but not go as crazy as attempted. Apparently, the ECU does not re´cognize the the fun was intended and managed to keep the car completely controllable - directionwise.

We do not have many hills, so the only hill climb and descent was a small track with a 15% slope, 16" of snow on it with a fewtracks from previous cars. No problems going either up or down.

All the other little situations were:

6 inches of slimy salt and snow mixed to a slippery mess in roundabouts - no problems.

Long country lanes with 2 foot drifts of powdery snow - piece of cake, but some rec´duced visibility, as the powder blows up over the car, so there are a few saconds, where you don't quite know what is ahead - fortunately no buried cars and no huge drifts.

Passing inside a long line of traffic in the turning lane, which was only plowed 3/4 of the width - hard pack snow on the left set of wheels and a 12" pile of snow under the right side wheels for 50 meters - again no problems and full directional control.

Accelerating from a mixture of surfaces from wet tarmac with a thin slushy layer, hard packed snow and everything in between was a breeze.

The Haldex and ESP systems all worked extremely well. The winter tyres are excellent and very predictable.

I do have many years' experience of driving in winter conditions, where there is both snow and very cold conditions - 30+ years in Chicago and New England - so I do understand the limitations and do not try anything completely crazy and irresponsible. Of all the vehicles I have ever driven, the Yeti is clerly the most confident and poised of them all. It does not quite beat the 4WD Chevy Suburban with huge off-road tyres and locking differentials in off-road deep snow, but that was not the intended use anyway.

Did I say the Haldex Rocks?

[Ratz]

I think that braking is the real problem in snow/ice: in this condition both an AWD and an FWD behave more or less the same (a difference might be due to the different weight and mass balancing, anyway). Only winter tires can give you more safety in downhill.

Bye.

[jamboboy]

I'm afraid to say that my first experience of driving a 1.2 FWD in snow has been very disappointing - no grip, no traction - no use!

The road to the house that my old Honda HRV and my wife's Focus mastered with ease last winter defeated the Yeti on Sunday morning and that was before the really deep snow reached Edinburgh.

I know that winter tyres might make all the difference but should you need to upgrade the tyres just to cope with 2cms of snow.

And boy oh boy does the heater take a LONG time to get working on a cold day!

[Agerbundsen]

I'm afraid to say that my first experience of driving a 1.2 FWD in snow has been very disappointing - no grip, no traction - no use!

The road to the house that my old Honda HRV and my wife's Focus mastered with ease last winter defeated the Yeti on Sunday morning and that was before the really deep snow reached Edinburgh.

I know that winter tyres might make all the difference but should you need to upgrade the tyres just to cope with 2cms of snow.

And boy oh boy does the heater take a LONG time to get working on a cold day!

It's the tyres, not the car. The modern summer oriented tyres just simply are no good for the slippery stuff. thread patterns from just a few years ago had some cross blocks, whereas the new ones almost only have circumferential grooves. They just stink in straight braking and traction.

You might get a little better by swinging the car a little on bióth sides of straight to get a little sideways action.

The real solution is winter wellies on all fours.

[rockhopper]

Certainly is. I've just been out in my Polo. sliding everywhere, and that is in Croydon's busy main roads. after 15 mins and 1/2 mile I gave up and slid home.

I've not bothered putting winters on it as I stop using it at the weekend.........I hope

Mike

Edited 30 November, 2010 by rockhopper

[BigHusky]

It's the tyres, not the car. The modern summer oriented tyres just simply are no good for the slippery stuff. thread patterns from just a few years ago had some cross blocks, whereas the new ones almost only have circumferential grooves. They just stink in straight braking and traction.

You might get a little better by swinging the car a little on bióth sides of straight to get a little sideways action.

The real solution is winter wellies on all fours.

Agerbudnsen - I couldn't put it better myself. Snow has abated here a bit, but due to be minus 4 or 5 at weekend. Still waiting for my Falken winter tyres!

You may all find this article from the HonestJohn site of interest - My link

[gp001]

Well I sorry to say that my yeti didnt like the snow one bit . I think the dsg might be the problem as getting the finr balance between power input and good traction is way to fine a balance . My wife's Zafira auto being heavier managed no problem and it has a SNOW button that helps limit power to ensure smooth driving. Right now I think I shall go and try it out again ...see if if its me or the yeti ..