Still dreaming of the arrival of our SM, but two questions for the experts. Can't help thinking of things as the approxiamate arrival time gets nearer - too old, too excited.

Is there an option for a coolant pre-heating element from Skoda?

Also, can a diesel Eberspacher be fitted without interferring with the electronic gizmos?

1/ Not that I've seen in the UK

2/ Probably, but it won't be cheap. Have you looked on their website? I doubt it will be listed under Yeti, but general vehicle.

1) Yes, but not available to the UK market.

It involves several design changes at the factory, including a different washer bottle I believe (smaller) to make space for the pre-heater.

2) I asked an eberspacher dealer about fitting one to our Yeti as an aftermarket fitment.

After 15 minutes of poking around he didn't think there was space to fit one as the engine bay doesn't have an obvious space for it. The only possibility was behind the front bumper and that would have resulted in a damaged unit every time the bumper got nudged. And he wasn't convinced it'd go there anyway!

This was for a petrol.

As it takes less than five minutes or two miles to get warm and for the heating to work very well we gave up on the idea.

For info, the smallest eberspacher water heater for a car is 220mm x 86mm x 160mm.

The smallest Webasto I could find was 218mm x 91mm x 147mm.

Plus you need space for the pipework etc...

Also, can a diesel Eberspacher be fitted without interferring with the electronic gizmos?

A Webasto heater package is available as a Skoda factory-fit optional extra in Nordic countries at a price of c.£900 for some models, not the 1.2Tsi or 1.8Tsi engines with rough road packages. You could follow up through: http://www.webasto.co.uk/home/en/html/homepage.html

Mike

Is there an option for a coolant pre-heating element from Skoda?

Also, can a diesel Eberspacher be fitted without interferring with the electronic gizmos?

Yes, in some countries a factory fitted Webasto can be ordered. At least for the diesel powered cars. The remote control is said to work at a distance of up to 1.5 km. I have tested mine successfully at over 800 metres :-)

The Webasto is interfaced to the CAN bus and shows up in VCDS, as well as the Columbus screen much the same way as the heated seats.

You can also set the time to start in Maxi-DOT. The manual on/off button is located in the same position as the one for the heated windscreen, so you can not have both.

If you would like to have one retrofitted I would recommend a trip to Germany as the prices there seem very reasonable. At least when using eBay to compare with local prices.

An alternative which is quite popular here in Norway is an electric block heater connected to the mains supply. It works very well, especially when paired with an interior heater. Check out this site: http://www.defa.com/en/html/fp/main/

Is there an option for a coolant pre-heating element from Skoda?

Also, can a diesel Eberspacher be fitted without interferring with the electronic gizmos?

It seems Skoda dealers in Germany can now fit a diesel heating system to a Yeti as an aftermarket accessory at an inclusive fitted price from 799 Eur. See attached pdf file. I would think these are genuine Skoda parts that any determined dealer in the UK would be able to source, albeit doubtless with some delay and hiccups from SUK en-route.

Service_Winteraktion_2011.pdf

That's not a bad price actually when you look at the factory fit cost.

A cheaper alternative if it's just cabin heat you want would be to fit the electrical PTC heater in the heater matrix in the cabin.

If you want it to heat the engine so it isn't having to run from cold and to decrease the fuel consumption then a diesel or simialr pre-heater is your only option really.

Shame they don't do an electrical heater for the air coming into the engine surely that would help things?

Phil