Hi All, greetings from a new Skoda owner from misty Helsinki. I got my Yeti in late June and now the odo shows a little over 5000 km .... I have to say I am impressed. I've been a VAG fan from my first car which was a 1965 Beetle 1200 cc but have to admit that I never thought to meet a car like the beast. It was love at first seating.... My Yeti is a 4x4 with 140 hp diesel DSG, with most of the extras ticked in. The last purchase was a retrofit Webasto in anticipation of next winter - if it follows the pattern of the last two ones, all extra heat is going to be needed.

The only negative thing I have encountered with my new friend was the unexpectedly lond delivery time - from beginning of February to end of June - the delivery time was even extended by 9 weeks during the process... However, compared to my previous car which was Golf Mk V with 122 hp TSI and DSG, the beast is a step forward and definately upwards (even literally) : )

Hello - Welcome to Briskoda

Hyvää päivää Polar Bear,

Ahhh... beautiful Finland. Just got back from staying with my girlfriend's parents in Kauhajoki which, contrary to belief by those living in Helsinki, isn't full of hill-billies! :p

Love Finland and the Finnish people, so it's good to have you on board.

M.

Welcome to Briskoda.

Davy

Hyvää päivää Polar Bear,

Ahhh... beautiful Finland. Just got back from staying with my girlfriend's parents in Kauhajoki which, contrary to belief by those living in Helsinki, isn't full of hill-billies! :p

Love Finland and the Finnish people, so it's good to have you on board.

M.

Thanks to you all for a warm welcome - especially you Mat who have a good taste in picking girls friends It's nice to be here and hopefully I can bring something into the conversation - at any rate I'm currently on the reciving side for Skoda info.

By the way - my som was just here and showed his new toy - he received his long waited Fabia today - Now there are two Yetis and one Fabia in the family...

Welcome, Polar bear. I am about to order my first Yeti. May have to use some kind of greyimport to cut some cost. Am now looking at imports where the cars are delivered through an english dealer. But Yetis through this dealer are impossible to configurate with Webasto. How did you find the Webasto-kit, and how much did it cost? Are you satisfied with the installation? -GDY

Welcome, Polar bear. I am about to order my first Yeti. May have to use some kind of greyimport to cut some cost. Am now looking at imports where the cars are delivered through an english dealer. But Yetis through this dealer are impossible to configurate with Webasto. How did you find the Webasto-kit, and how much did it cost? Are you satisfied with the installation? -GDY

Hilsen till Norge GDY,

I was originally thinking of getting the factory fitted Webasto but it would have postponed the delivery of my Yeti for at least 3 months (said my dealer) thus decided to retrofit one.I consulted some of my more experienced friends about how to install Webasto and the only advise was "do not try it yourself" - it is not impossible however but requires a certain amount of enthusiasm, kmowledge, tools, good place to work....

I think the best way to start would be to go to http://motorvarmer.webastonorge.no/ and look for either a seller or a fitter depending on which route you decide to choose.

I found it rewarding to call several sellers - the total gain was a couple of hundred euros as difference in price. We had two Webastos installed at the same time a 4kW Thermotop Evo for my wifes 1.2 TSI and a 5 kW Thermotop Evo for my 140 HP TDI - the TDI has a bigger coolant volume which is compensated by using a more effective heater. The prices for these installments were EUR 1.550 for the 4kW and 1650 for the 5 kW version. The price includes remote Telestart T100 HTM for both units.

According to the info from the dealer the retro Webasto does not fully understand Skoda's air conditioning systems like Climatic or Climatronic - the fan speed, blowing direction and temperature settings have to be adjusted manually a you park the car (fan speed to 3/7, direction max to window and temp to max) - this (I have been told) will give you the best result.

This all is still theory...we have not (un)fortunately yet have had below zero temperatures here so I can not tell how well Webasto operates in winter conditions. The trial runs have been succesful - just to test that the thing works - and it did : )

If you install Webasto to you car you might also need to be prepared to charge your battery during winter - especially if your daily trips are short. A rule of thumb is that if your travel time is shorter than webasto runtime you should charge your battery regularly to avoid starting problems. I installed Defa battery chargers to both cars - http://www.defa.com/doc/23000.1262677728.GBxDEFAxMultiChargerx1204.pdf - to overcome this.

There will be more Webastory as soon as the weathers turn towards winter...hope this helps

Thank you, Polar Bear, for sharing your experience regarding retrofitting auxiliary heaters in the Yetis.

As the temperature drops, I hope you will follow up on how the Webasto works. Please feel free to continue in the Yeti Owners section, there are more than me interested in retrofitting aux heaters