With less than 5000 km's on the clock I am now booking the love of my life in for another warranty service and I am beginning to feel that I may have made a mistake in buying a Yeti, a feeling I desperately didn't want to have.  My first car, a 40 bhp VW Polo Classic sedan was a hoot and bullet proof (we all have a soft spot for our first car).  My second car, a new Audi A3 was a shocking problem with more recalls and reliability issues than I care to remember.  The nail in the coffin was a broken AC unit at less than 5 years of age and a $4000 replacement cost!  My last 4 cars have been 2 Fiat Punto's (pretty reliable) and then 2 Mazda 3's (faultless and joyful ownership experiences).  So after 10 years away from VW product and after reading for 2 years so much about the Yeti I decided to head into the VAG stable again and coughed up more money on a car than I have ever spent, including the A3.

Initial warranty issues included a Columbus Sat Nav which would freeze when using Point of Interest and a rear window which similarly froze.  The dashboard can also rattle on rough road surfaces like nothing I have known before.  Very noticeable when otherwise the car is pleasantly quiet.  I cannot fault the dealership who willingly reloaded the Sat Nav software with an update and replaced the window rubbers which fixed that problem.  The dash rattles went unresolved though.  Now this morning I got caught at the traffic lights with a handbrake which I couldn't release as the surround within which the handbrake handle travels had popped out of its runners and folded up onto itself.  I attach a photo of the crumpled offending part.

I am desperate to support Skoda, and in all other respects I adore the car.  It's just perfect for me in so many ways and when it works strikes a lovely balance of apparent quality v's cost.  We've had some lovely adventures already.  I apologise for this being so long winded, I needed to vent.  Some one please tell me that it's going to be OK and that I need not have waited for the Mazda CX-5 to come out!

It's a mechanically good car, and many here have had problem free ownership experiences. I have had a few niggles, but nothing serious. It sounds like you just need to get a few teething issues sorted and you should have a pleasant ownership experience overall. I know problems like this right from the off can easily blight your opinion of a car and have you looking for faults, but you may find that once you get these sorted you will have many years of mainly trouble-free ownership. Skoda customer services seem quite willing to help compared to many I have dealt with.

There are so many things to love about the Yeti, give it a chance and I'm sure you'll get over it and fall in love with it again. Failing that, at least the residuals are excellent.

As far as the rattles, I have a few little ones (mostly due to the hard suspension I reckon) - but the main offenders are the little chrome rings on the speedo and rev counter when the car is cold. Try giving them a good push if they are rattling and see if that stops it. I need to give mine a little shove every now and again. If that doesn't sort it, make the dealer fix it for you.

Edited 29 February, 201214 yr by carnivorous

I think Yetis don't like being caged all that way in a SHIP on WATER from Europe to Oz! So they want a bit of revenge first when they get to their first owner. Trust me once sorted you won't regret buying the Yeti. There have been lots of rattles reported on the first 2009 cars but none since then to the extent you are alluding to. Grrr. Annoying. I hope you get it sorted.

It is possible that the rattle comes form the loose fastening tape on the transmission tunnel, the plastic around the transmission are held by fastening tape form the transmission tunnel, all you need to do is removed the trim around the gearbox and access that fastening tape underneath.

I had a post on it sometime ago, but I couldn't find it

2 Mazda 3's (faultless and joyful ownership experiences)

That is all

Good luck with the Yeti.