When I bought my Touran the ball centre was just outside the top limit of the range. I cntacted VW and was told the regs state heights refer to a loaded vehicle.

To sum up, a new car sitting high on the springs, the inability to easily load 600kg into the car, and a van that has settled slightly on the suspension add up to a high nose on the van. After a year I found things had settled and the outfit was neutral.

 

Colin

Just back from my first trip with my new Yeti. I can confirm that with the factory fit Westfalia it tows slightly nose down when you make full use of the 80 kg noseweight. I was relieved because I thought the 46.5 cm height was a little high but as eribaMotters suggests, when fully loaded the heights are just fine.

 

FYI my caravan is a lunar Quasar 642 (2007) with a quoted hitch height of 44 cm and MTPLM of 1250 kg. Both legs of the trip were done in very windy conditions but the car towed well and returned 32.5 mpg. Also of interest - I found the hitching up/electrical connection very easy and was surprised that the reversing lights work. I don't have ATC on this van but read elsewhere that the factory fit electrics also power that. Haven't really missed the split charging TBH.

Hi everyone, long time no post.

 

In the 9 or so months that we've owned our Yeti we've managed to put 20k on the clock - all purely social driving! Generally it's been great, but sadly our towbar and the associated electrics have started playing up.

 

A couple of weeks ago I got a bulb failure message warning stating that the nearside brake light had failed. Then a few minutes later supposedly the third brake light blew, then the offside brake light, the reversing light, the nearside headlight and the nearside driving light along with the number late lights. None of the lights are defective, apart from the nearside indicators, which flash in the cabin, but not outside the vehicle where they are on continuously. Sometimes. All the indicators flash at twice speed inside the vehicle. Again, only sometimes.

 

It's currently in Silbury Skoda who are trying to discombobulate the myriad list of logged errors. They are at the point of shipping it to MSB in Darlington, presumably so it can be shoved up the service manager's behind.

 

Fun!

Good luck Andy

Good luck Andy.

It looks like the batstard job that the original dealer fitted (???) hasn't beggared something up big style!!

Thanks everyone!

 

Well, it's off to MSB tomorrow for them to sort. I've declared it unroadworthy so we'll be trundling around in a Fabia Estate for the next week or so. Hopefully it'll have roof rails so I can still get down to the beach for a surf.

 

Apart from the towbar issue, we're utterly in love with our Yeti & I wouldn't have anyone be put off by our experience. I could have circumvented all of this by insisting on a factory fit bar from the outset - from trawling various different forums it's not just VAG (you should read some of the sagas on the Tiguan and Audi Q5 forums!) who have issues with aftermarket bars.

I've heard of someone with a new BMW 4x4 who had a dealer fitted non-approved electrics (relay by-pas system) that has burnt out part of the loom. BMW have taken the car away and given him a new model after the dealer refused to deal with it. I'm told the bill to the dealer from BMW UK is now over £75K!!!

Well it's been in the garage since last Wednesday. Just had a call & apparently the car control unit is faulty. Unfortunately this part is on back-order from the factory & we can't expect a replacement to arrive until the 20th.

 

Thankfully the fabia estate we have is big enough for our stuff & the 1.6 diesel has a satisfying shove. The interior may be a tad communist, but it's not a bad drive at all.

FIXED! 

 

Though they failed to tell me to bring the second key down to have it coded to the replacement control unit.  

Just a bit of info - got a new caravan this week (Lunar Lexon 470 max weight 1265kg) and can confirm that the factory fit towbar powers up the ATC no problem. This van also goes slightly nose down thankfully.

Well it's been in the garage since last Wednesday. Just had a call & apparently the car control unit is faulty. Unfortunately this part is on back-order from the factory & we can't expect a replacement to arrive until the 20th.

 

 

That sounds interesting about the control unit. My Yeti has a fault on the tow bar fog light. I managed to isolate/identify the problem when I discovered no power to the relevant pin. Local dealer confirmed the problem and suspects a faulty unit. It goes back in Sept 15th for inspection/repair.

 

Colin

Just a bit of info - got a new caravan this week (Lunar Lexon 470 max weight 1265kg) and can confirm that the factory fit towbar powers up the ATC no problem. This van also goes slightly nose down thankfully.

 

Happy new 'van .... you'll enjoy the Alde heating, it is awesome!

 

Re the towbar I notice that the brochure for the Octavia (and the Yeti too I think) no longer has the note re lack of potential for split charging next to towbar prep  option / factory bracket option.  I did read in the Caravan Club magazine that Skoda were planning a fix to this issue from mid 14 on so maybe, just maybe this issue is a thing of the past.  No guarantee though!