Hi all,

My son-in-law is expecting a Skoda Yeti 2.0 diesel 4x4, delivery is expected now end of February (car goes in production mid-February). Anyway, myself having a Freelander Td4 I am very curious to see it in real life, with no-one peeping over my shoulder I mean. We have done already a short testdrive with it but not worth to mention but last month we had, in Brussels, an automobileshow (this year only a small fair, just commercial and recreational vehicles, not the normal cars, that's for next year) so I went to the Skoda stand and asked for a road testdrive with a Yeti, the driver (I found out after the test) took me out in a 1.6 CRD of 105 hp and straight from the beginning I thought "Oh my God, what did I do", no matter how sharp the corners were, the guy never drove under 100 kmph (roughly 66 mph) and most of the time it was up to 120 kmph (some 80 mph), also like a lunetic he showed me how well the brakes worked, on a straight road he suddenly blocked the brakes completely and swung the car to the left of the road followed by a swing back to the right, as if he was avoiding an obstacle, really crazy, in all the corners, (which I approached in mind at a certain speed if I drove the car) he did it in reality at double that speed and it was a pity, he said it was dry, as now the ESP never clipped in .... I'm not being scared in a car so far but that day was different. Afterwards I found out the guy was a professional pilote since 1981 and that he participated already a dozen times in the "24 hours of Spa-Francorchamps", he also has his own driver's school both on track and for winter conditions as well as an economy course he teaches, that explained it all, but boy, I was really impressed by the Yeti. Unbelievable. Good luck and congratulations to all the Yeti owners with such a good car.

Good, isn't it?

Think you could have done the same in the Freelander?

I replaced a Freelander Td4 with a Yeti 4x4 and am SO pleased with it. The handling is so much better, and my fuel useage has reduced by about 20%!.

Go on, you know you want to!!

Well, that's nice to take the trouble to tell us about your frightening time in such detail - thanks. It makes us all even more proud of our mechanical friends - albeit Yeti owners seem to be a devoted lot anyway. Its true, the Freelander is a different sort of animal, as were my other Landies. I think what is outstanding about the Yeti, that we all warm to, is this all-round ability, without too much compromise anywhere.

I suspect this road test report shows more of the SM capabilities than the recently well discussed one carried out on Top Gear

I remember going around an F1 track with a professional driver and it was in an old 911 Turbo. I was as scared as you - no more - since you could feel that engine in the back twitching the whole car trying to throw you off the track! At least you felt secure in the Yeti!

Hi all,

My son-in-law is expecting a Skoda Yeti 2.0 diesel 4x4, delivery is expected now end of February (car goes in production mid-February). Anyway, myself having a Freelander Td4 I am very curious to see it in real life, with no-one peeping over my shoulder I mean. We have done already a short testdrive with it but not worth to mention but last month we had, in Brussels, an automobileshow (this year only a small fair, just commercial and recreational vehicles, not the normal cars, that's for next year) so I went to the Skoda stand and asked for a road testdrive with a Yeti, the driver (I found out after the test) took me out in a 1.6 CRD of 105 hp and straight from the beginning I thought "Oh my God, what did I do", no matter how sharp the corners were, the guy never drove under 100 kmph (roughly 66 mph) and most of the time it was up to 120 kmph (some 80 mph), also like a lunetic he showed me how well the brakes worked, on a straight road he suddenly blocked the brakes completely and swung the car to the left of the road followed by a swing back to the right, as if he was avoiding an obstacle, really crazy, in all the corners, (which I approached in mind at a certain speed if I drove the car) he did it in reality at double that speed and it was a pity, he said it was dry, as now the ESP never clipped in .... I'm not being scared in a car so far but that day was different. Afterwards I found out the guy was a professional pilote since 1981 and that he participated already a dozen times in the "24 hours of Spa-Francorchamps", he also has his own driver's school both on track and for winter conditions as well as an economy course he teaches, that explained it all, but boy, I was really impressed by the Yeti. Unbelievable. Good luck and congratulations to all the Yeti owners with such a good car.

Did you get the name of the driver - would be interested to know who he was

Did you get the name of the driver - would be interested to know who he was

Sorry, forgot that name and in the meantime I threw the flyer away I was handed over.

I think his christian name was "Rodolphe" or something, he was born in Ostend but was a French speaking guy. His driving company is something like: Driving For Safety but abbreviated, thus something like dfs, if I remember correctly it was a four-letter abbreviated name. (four letter name I mean). Sorry I didn't take note better.

Did you get the name of the driver - would be interested to know who he was

The Stig maybe?

The Stig maybe?

No, not the Stig, the guy was dressed all in black, with a black helmet as well where the Stig is always all in white .... :D :D

Btw, yesterday I had a look at the post: "If you are about to order a Yeti - things to think about" on this forum, I saw the links to get the owners manual etc.. so I copied it and started to read the owner's manual. Frankly, if I saw all this before buying the car it is possible I'd walk away. Only the number of possible warning lights (guess some 20) in the left hand rpm (or is it speedo on the left?) dial scares me off. The Freelander is something different, besides the trip distance and the total distance and a basic single row of control lamps down there's nothing else to see or to do. I've never had a car which decided for me how long the headlights would work when coming home nor when I have to do the maintenance (service the car) nor how cold it is outside nor that the passenger rearview mirror will tilt down when in reverse etc..... (the manual has 272 pages, can you believe that ??). All these features are fine and helpful but I hope nothing will go wrong with all this. (Where is the time one had just two controllights, oil pressure and batteryload status. Life was so much easier then.) :rofl: :rofl:

Edited 7 February, 201115 yr by willo

Willo,

you've not sat in a Freelander 2 then? That is almost as complicated as the Yeti!! And then they stuck the "stop start" system into it!!

Although the handbook does appear daunting it is a lot better than my old Freelander one, in that it actually tells you about things. What doesn't help is that it covers EVERYTHING even if you don't have it on your car. Mine doesn't have the "coming home" lights, but it's still in the book.

Are you the same "Willo" thats on the LRUK green forum?

Willo,

you've not sat in a Freelander 2 then? That is almost as complicated as the Yeti!! And then they stuck the "stop start" system into it!!

Although the handbook does appear daunting it is a lot better than my old Freelander one, in that it actually tells you about things. What doesn't help is that it covers EVERYTHING even if you don't have it on your car. Mine doesn't have the "coming home" lights, but it's still in the book.

Are you the same "Willo" thats on the LRUK green forum?

Yes, I complained on an earlier thread about 'comprehensive' printed handbooks that cover all sorts of equipment that individual cars don't have. In this computerised age, it should be possible to tailor a handbook to a specific car - as a Luddite myself I suggested printing them off into a loose-leaf folder that could be updated. More advanced specimens of homo sapiens that prowl on this site suggested sending them electronically to iphone thingies and suchlike. Whichever way, it shouldn't be so hard if each section of the manual was coded, and the car is coded .... simples, as those annoying little animals say.

Edited 8 February, 201115 yr by hmibennett

To be honest I would prefer a comprehensive handbook to a few bits of paper that gives very little info, and when something complicated is involved says "refer to dealer"

Btw, yesterday I had a look at the post: "If you are about to order a Yeti - things to think about" on this forum, I saw the links to get the owners manual etc.. so I copied it and started to read the owner's manual. Frankly, if I saw all this before buying the car it is possible I'd walk away. Only the number of possible warning lights (guess some 20) in the left hand rpm (or is it speedo on the left?) dial scares me off. The Freelander is something different, besides the trip distance and the total distance and a basic single row of control lamps down there's nothing else to see or to do. I've never had a car which decided for me how long the headlights would work when coming home nor when I have to do the maintenance (service the car) nor how cold it is outside nor that the passenger rearview mirror will tilt down when in reverse etc..... (the manual has 272 pages, can you believe that ??). All these features are fine and helpful but I hope nothing will go wrong with all this. (Where is the time one had just two controllights, oil pressure and batteryload status. Life was so much easier then.) :rofl: :rofl:

Somebody told me that they don`t put many defect warning lights in Freelanders because they would be constantly on.

Check out the "What Car" reliability survey at:- http://www.whatcar.com/car-news/what-car-reliability-survey-2010/land-rover---renault/250839

and Autoexpress :- http://www.easier.com/75351-skoda-yeti-auto-express-car-of-the-year.html

Somebody told me that they don`t put many defect warning lights in Freelanders because they would be constantly on.

:thumbup: :rofl:

stanjackos,

whilst not attacking your comment, I was talking about the Freelander 2, and the What Car review mentions only the Freelander 1, plus we all know the Yeti is Car of the Year.

However I take a lot of these negative reports about any vehicle with a pinch of salt. I had 2 Freelander 1's over 7 years. Both did nearly 100k each and I had no real problems with either of them, and certainly no more than you would expect with any car on that mileage. It's like Forums; invariably you here lots more from those with a problem, no matter how trivial, than you do from the owner who never has a problem.

stanjackos,

whilst not attacking your comment, I was talking about the Freelander 2, and the What Car review mentions only the Freelander 1, plus we all know the Yeti is Car of the Year.

However I take a lot of these negative reports about any vehicle with a pinch of salt. I had 2 Freelander 1's over 7 years. Both did nearly 100k each and I had no real problems with either of them, and certainly no more than you would expect with any car on that mileage. It's like Forums; invariably you here lots more from those with a problem, no matter how trivial, than you do from the owner who never has a problem.

Willo,

you've not sat in a Freelander 2 then? That is almost as complicated as the Yeti!! And then they stuck the "stop start" system into it!!

Although the handbook does appear daunting it is a lot better than my old Freelander one, in that it actually tells you about things. What doesn't help is that it covers EVERYTHING even if you don't have it on your car. Mine doesn't have the "coming home" lights, but it's still in the book.

Are you the same "Willo" thats on the LRUK green forum?

Yes, the same.

And the biggest problem with cars is that everyone thinks his car is the best, if I look at my FL1 I have to say honestly that it is the car that pleases me the most of all the cars I've had in my life (next month I turn into a 69'er and I've gone to work by car during the 45 years of my career, so I've driven "some" distance/time), the last one before the FL was the Mercedes 190E, 2.0l petrol, beautiful car, I kept it 13 years and did +200.000 kms with it, this to prove I liked it but still the FL has that little more. On the other hand if tomorrow something blows up I can (figurally speaken) throw it in the fartest possible corner. (I'm not married to a brand, prove is that I "never" have had, in all these years, two cars of the same brand so far). Problem with this kind of elections of the year is that these "experts" drive the car a couple of thousand of kilometers and give their verdict, they give sh.. about it for the rest, where a normal person when "buying" the car "has" normally to stick with it for several years.....