85 Days of Yeti ownership...

[James I]

...the story so far!

So having had my Yeti for about 85 days now I can report that all seems well, I have done 12,000 miles, maxidot average mpg is 43ish. This has been for combined motorway, A road and towing once or twice, the engine seems much more free revving now than when brand new but the clutch has developed a slight judder when cold, this disappears after moving off for the first time (my Audi and Passat did this too, Maxidot is suggesting a service at 18,000 miles so that should be this side of Christmas and I will ask about the clutch then.

I have had one other small issue, this is when the radio comes on but the screen does not! Turn the ignition off and it the visual display comes back on, it has done this twice.

I have topped up the oil once with half a litre but no other fluids. I have also noticed the odd rattle starting but this seems to be the rear seat belts when my children leave them twisted with the metal piece touching the side of the seat.

However I do have one small concern, the Yeti seems to be wearing all four tyres at the same rate! I am down to an even 5mm across every tyre! is this normal?

So to sum up so far, a few very minor gripes but I am very happy the car.

[Wardy]

Blimey, that's some mileage in 85 days! What's your annual mileage - about 35k?

[JCP]

Gosh, you get around a bit-at that rate about 48k a year. As a matter of interest how long do you expect to run your Yeti?

[James I]

Blimey, that's some mileage in 85 days! What's your annual mileage - about 35k?

Between 35k and 40K, I use the car for work, so far this week I have been as far down the country as Dartford and Newmarket, and as far north as Keighley, I am home based so every day is a journey. Good for Nectar points though!

I swap my car every three years, so the yeti will be on it's way in August 2014 with well over 100K miles on it.

[Bobdog]

Glitches with the radio display seem quite common (I've had a couple) but they seem to clear up pretty much by themselves. I liken it to a computer screen that sometimes freezes; turn it off and on again and bingo. I also found the tyres wore fairly evenly, but fronts a little more than backs. I rotated front and back at 10k miles and replaced at 22k. There was probably another 2k of tread left, but I wanted to get the 'winters' on just in case.

12k miles in 85 days? You're really going for it!

[James I]

Glitches with the radio display seem quite common (I've had a couple) but they seem to clear up pretty much by themselves. I liken it to a computer screen that sometimes freezes; turn it off and on again and bingo. I also found the tyres wore fairly evenly, but fronts a little more than backs. I rotated front and back at 10k miles and replaced at 22k. There was probably another 2k of tread left, but I wanted to get the 'winters' on just in case.

12k miles in 85 days? You're really going for it!

Mileage will settle down I hope, things are manic with work at the moment and my weekends are quite busy too! I must have the only Yeti that has done more miles than an Octavia mini cab

[Bobdog]

Mileage will settle down I hope, things are manic with work at the moment and my weekends are quite busy too! I must have the only Yeti that has done more miles than an Octavia mini cab

Careful, or the thought police will have you!

[The Plumber]

Hi James,

currently running my 4th Haldex equipped motor and the tyre wear front to back has always for me been within 1mm at most. Nearly 8000 on the Continental summers (before switching to winter Hankooks) and they all had 6mm left.

Regards,

TP

[James I]

Hi James,

currently running my 4th Haldex equipped motor and the tyre wear front to back has always for me been within 1mm at most. Nearly 8000 on the Continental summers (before switching to winter Hankooks) and they all had 6mm left.

Regards,

TP

It must be the norm for tyre wear then, will make replacing them an expensive hobby I used to get 22K from fronts and at least 55K from rears on my old A4, but never mind I can forgive this as I really like this car.

[bilun777]

I've just swapped my wheels front to back to even the wear at 12500 miles.

The fronts were about 1.5 m.m. more worn than the rears.

I'd estimate around 30,000 miles down to the wear limits.

I'm planning on fitting all season tyres for next winter, if I can avoid a flat tyre.

My brothers Yeti has had 2 flats since new ,only 3 months ago.

guess which one of us has the optional spare wheel....

[James I]

I have no spare wheel! Has anybody fit runflats?

[Wardy]

I have no spare wheel! Has anybody fit runflats?

Don't do it! Ruin the ride and I doubt they'd help you in your position, with that daily mileage. If the car's fully loaded you can be down to 50 miles max in the event of a puncture on a runflat. They're a daft idea.

Just pick up a proper spare wheel.

[James I]

I had a spare in my Audi but never used it in the three years and 120,000 miles that did, it never got a puncture, I suppose I have cursed it now and I should get my coat :(

[Llanigraham]

Tyres are funny things, aren't they?

I replaced my front ones at around 22k, and the back ones still haven't reached anywhere near the wear marks at 30k, and I wouldn't say I hang around. Plus they have done quite a bit off-road.

Re run flats, unless you have the tyre pressure monitors fitted then you would be breaking the law fitting them. Personally I hate them.

[Bobdog]

Tyres are funny things, aren't they?

I replaced my front ones at around 22k, and the back ones still haven't reached anywhere near the wear marks at 30k, and I wouldn't say I hang around. Plus they have done quite a bit off-road.

I guess over the lifetime of a tyre there are so many variables between different drivers; the style of driving, the quality of the roads, bouncing over potholes (or not, and at what speeds) whether there's a lot of steady cruising over long distances in the mileage, or a lot of braking/acceleration and short sharp bursts. Add to that the loads carried by the car, nearly always empty or regularly packed to the rafters, how fastidious we are about checking correct pressures, gettin the tracking looked at etc etc ... all of which lead to very variable tyre wear.

[James I]

I guess over the lifetime of a tyre there are so many variables between different drivers; the style of driving, the quality of the roads, bouncing over potholes (or not, and at what speeds) whether there's a lot of steady cruising over long distances in the mileage, or a lot of braking/acceleration and short sharp bursts. Add to that the loads carried by the car, nearly always empty or regularly packed to the rafters, how fastidious we are about checking correct pressures, gettin the tracking looked at etc etc ... all of which lead to very variable tyre wear.

Most of my driving is motorway and Industrial estates! However I do try and get out to rural locations for Rallying, tomorrow we are going to the Malton Stages starting at Pickering show ground and then into Dalby forest and the like, so should get the Yeti dirty!

[JCP]

My guess -and it can only be a guess- is that driving style is the determining factor in tyre life. Speed must be near the top of the criteria,but I suspect the most important thing is smoothness. The harsher the input the greater the wear.

So, someone who gets lots of miles from a set is not necessarily slow (think of how little a journey time in the real world varies if you try and hurry you may chop a 2 hour run by 10 minutes) but will be someone who accelerates, brakes and turns smoothly.

I would suspect that there would be a good correlation between fuel consumption and tyre wear although to correct for other factors such as environment would be tricky.

[The Plumber]

Most of my driving is motorway and Industrial estates! However I do try and get out to rural locations for Rallying, tomorrow we are going to the Malton Stages starting at Pickering show ground and then into Dalby forest and the like, so should get the Yeti dirty!

Enjoy your day in the North Riding; been raining on and off quite heavily for the past couple of days, so there's no excuse for not getting her dirty

TP

[Bobdog]

I would suspect that there would be a good correlation between fuel consumption and tyre wear

I think there might be such a correlation to some extent, but not perfectly. As you suggest, hard acceleration/hard braking are likely to be detrimental to both fuel consumption and tyre wear. However, I suspect that high speed, smooth, motorway cruising whilst likely to burn fuel is unlikely to be so wearing for tyres ... but I stand ready to be corrected

[James I]

Ok, 126 days now, Yeti is asking for a service, I have booked it into Mitchells near Chester and the car has covered 17k miles, nothing to report except rattles from the dash and centre console, also i have less tread on my tyres than when I posted on this thread for the first time.

[James I]

266 days have passed since i got the Yeti, it is booked in for second service with 36,000 miles on the clock, I have also ordered four tyres, old ones are now all at 2mm and have worn evenly. Bridgestones will be fitted next week.

I have also coated my windscreen with Aquapel, it works great, even in there is a chip in the screen.

No major issues or problems to report, overall mpg on maxi dot is 43.

Really enjoying this car

[threeshoes]

Thanks for that report, James I. It is gratifying to someone like me who has to wait for a while yet for a Yeti.

Chris

[mike 111]

266 days have passed since i got the Yeti, it is booked in for second service with 36,000 miles on the clock, I have also ordered four tyres, old ones are now all at 2mm and have worn evenly. Bridgestones will be fitted next week.

I have also coated my windscreen with Aquapel, it works great, even in there is a chip in the screen.

No major issues or problems to report, overall mpg on maxi dot is 43.

Really enjoying this car

400 days have passed since I got my Yeti 2,820 miles completed.First service due in another 14700 miles or 294 days.I'm a sad old git!.

[James I]

One thing is certain for you lower mileage Yeti owners, if you swap your car before 36k miles, then tyres should never be needed.

[The Hood]

What was wrong with the radio, did the dealer sort it for you?

I've noticed a couple of times when I have turned the ignition off the radio volume has increased a fair bit. The next time the car is started the volume has to be turned down. The Bolero is set to increase the volume in relation to roadspeed I am wondering if the two could be linked.