Yeti strips off for 60,000 mile examination

[Kie]

German magazine Auto Bild has praised the Yeti’s build quality after putting it through the toughest long-term test in magazine history.

Auto Bild staff drove a Yeti 1.8 TSI 4x4 for two years, travelling 100,000km (62,137 miles) in the process. They then took it to the Mladá Boleslav factory to have it completely dismantled – right down to the valves in the engine.

After the Yeti had been reduced to a tidy collection of parts, each component was checked for wear and tear. The magazine’s editors praised the condition of the engine, gearbox, exhaust system, chassis and body cavities, and the only imperfection was a small oil stain on a seal. Thanks to this sterling performance, the Yeti scored ŠKODA’s highest ever Auto Bild long-term test score: 1-.

The Yeti didn’t just show its mettle in the workshop; the editors loved the way it drove before it was dismantled. The editorial team’s test log explained why it was so popular: “The engine offers well-balanced power across a wide range of revs. It’s great to drive, and the steering, gearbox and brakes are very efficient too.”

Edited 11 October, 2012 by Kie

[Yeti_Man]

Good to hear! Mines been totally spot on and certainly feels like it will do some seriously big miles with no strain.

[Ootohere]

Doing an average 85 miles a day is a good test and a good result.

Really what anyone should expect and get from a new vehicles in 2011/12

(Any mention of the fuel usage over that period?)

Many Taxis, Police cars, Utilities vehicles will do in excess of that & are readily available to be checked in similar ways.

What often matters is how vehicles that are less often used, wear.

Discs that start to corrode if left un-used for a few days, seals or Callipers that get sticky or leak after low mileage in a few months.

Batteries that can not be left to sit and then start a vehicle if left un-used for 15 days.

(leaving while on holiday type thing)

That is the real world things that many private buyers need to know from the sort of use a 4 year old car shows.

25,000 miles over 4 years can be much harder on a vehicle, or a not so good buy as a high mileage younger vehicle being used and serviced regularly.

george

[Kenny R]

Already posted here....

http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/252471-yeti-durability-test-at-autobildde/

A few days ago.

[rockhopper]

I have bougt many high mileage cars in the past, and with the exception of one, have all been great.

I bought a low mileage one - 30,000 miles in 10 years and it was a pig. (one careful lady owner )

[r999]

As far as I'm concerned this is just another piece of saloon-bar 'wisdom' that is decades out of date.

I have bought:

a two-year-old car that had done 1200 miles;

a two-year-old car that had done 1600 miles;

a three-year-old car that had done 7500 miles;

a four-year-old car that had done 8000 miles;

a five-year-old car that had done 20,000 miles;

plus several one-year-old cars with very low mileages.

By choosing these cars over new ones, I saved around £90,000 and got cars that (because they were very carefully chosen by me and very well looked after by earlier owners) were in almost-new condition. £90,000 would pay to fix rather a lot of problems. All of them were kept for the long term, and none of them exhibited any problems at all that could be attributed to having done too few miles, with the exception of a battery on one car that was replaced under warranty, and a set of brake discs that had to be replaced because of rust sooner than they would have done on a high-mileage car.

Ultra-low-mileage older cars are where the biggest bargains lie, provided you know how to buy them.

[Phil-E]

Ford also did a simialr thing in America with an F150 Eco boost V6 engine to try and prove it's worth against the big 5 litre + V8's on the market there.

It trumped the competition in a drag race with a trailer attached and they also used the engine in another vehicle to do the Baja 1000.

Then stripped it all down.

Phil

[Kie]

As far as I'm concerned this is just another piece of saloon-bar 'wisdom' that is decades out of date.

I have bought:

a two-year-old car that had done 1200 miles;

a two-year-old car that had done 1600 miles;

a three-year-old car that had done 7500 miles;

a four-year-old car that had done 8000 miles;

a five-year-old car that had done 20,000 miles;

plus several one-year-old cars with very low mileages.

By choosing these cars over new ones, I saved around £90,000 and got cars that (because they were very carefully chosen by me and very well looked after by earlier owners) were in almost-new condition. £90,000 would pay to fix rather a lot of problems. All of them were kept for the long term, and none of them exhibited any problems at all that could be attributed to having done too few miles, with the exception of a battery on one car that was replaced under warranty, and a set of brake discs that had to be replaced because of rust sooner than they would have done on a high-mileage car.

Ultra-low-mileage older cars are where the biggest bargains lie, provided you know how to buy them.

High mileage cars are a bargain i would agree in fact the Germans can not understand why we get rid of a car that has 100k+ on the clock because if parts are replaced and the engine is serviced at the correct intervals the car will just keep on going.. i have seen transit vans and Mercedes sprinter vans that are constantly loaded with 300k+ on the clock and still runs as good as the day it rolled out of the factory.. but at the same time you can buy a car with say 32k on the clock and say for example the hydraulic control unit goes on the abs just after your warranty with the selling dealer runs out and your looking at a bill for £3,000 and you can be as careful as u like and research every possible problem on particular models but there's always that chance something like that can happen

Edited 11 October, 2012 by Kie

[Ootohere]

'Saloon bar wisdom' can be one term, & it is often true, but then there is the law of averages when someone buys many cars over years and trades in them.

A nice well looked after car with a low mileage, history, warranty still running is indeed nice.

It usually changes hands at around book price or the careful owner thinks its worth lots.

If you are getting that bargain with 'cash' because cash is king, then good,

if a trader is finding it & you still think you got a bargain, thats great.

A well informed private punter buying well is certainly going to be able to find good cars,

its surely what we all aim for.

If you can get those bargains week in and week out instead of saving £00000's you could make many £000000's,

Lots of cr4p low milage cars about still, so we try to avoid them,

someone buys them tho.

If you dont need to pay others hourly labour charges, they are only cars after all you just fix them..

All that does glitter may not be gold,

but then again, you can polish a turd & sell it.

'I was told that by a man in a Public Bar!'

george

[r999]

It's simple arithmetic, not guesswork about what might or might not go wrong on any car.

Take a car like one I have my eye on at present. New price £56,000; average price at 2 years old: £23,000.

Difference between a new one and a 2-year-old: £33,000

Difference between a very high-mileage example and a very low-mileage one: £5000.

It's age that destroys price far more than mileage. Therefore the huge bargains are in older cars with the lowest possible mileage, provided the condition is outstanding, which on an ultra-low-mileage car it often will be. In this case, pay the £5000 to save the £33,000. (And the figures above also show why this strategy is not one to trade on: it's for buying long-term keepers.)

[Yeti_Man]

It's simple arithmetic, not guesswork about what might or might not go wrong on any car.

Take a car like one I have my eye on at present. New price £56,000; average price at 2 years old: £23,000.

Difference between a new one and a 2-year-old: £33,000

Difference between a very high-mileage example and a very low-mileage one: £5000.

It's age that destroys price far more than mileage. Therefore the huge bargains are in older cars with the lowest possible mileage, provided the condition is outstanding, which on an ultra-low-mileage car it often will be. In this case, pay the £5000 to save the £33,000. (And the figures above also show why this strategy is not one to trade on: it's for buying long-term keepers.)

VW Phaeton?

If is was buying second hand, I'd rather have a high miler that's cruised up and down the motorway all day compared to a that's been driven mainly in town. Traffic lights - brake. Rev. Clutch. Gear. Clutch. Accelerate. Brake. Clutch. Gears. Brake. Clutch....

[Ootohere]

r999,

I can see that @ your price points.

I was really meaning cars around the lower price brackets.

£8000 - £18,000 maybe when new. or when they were ex demo.

& picking them up at around £5000, not paying premiums of £5000.

My bad.

I avoid BMW's, Merc that need that 110,000 mile service like the plaque, and thats even for £2500.

Some wonderful ones to be had if you want a keeper, not if you want a profit.

george

[r999]

If is was buying second hand, I'd rather have a high miler that's cruised up and down the motorway all day compared to a that's been driven mainly in town. Traffic lights - brake. Rev. Clutch. Gear. Clutch. Accelerate. Brake. Clutch. Gears. Brake. Clutch....

As I said, I'm talking about cars such as a 1200-mile 2-year-old. 1200 miles of town driving doesn't wear out a clutch or brakes, unless the driver was a full-on hooligan, and I can spot those. And if I'm foolish enough not to, then I'll pay my few hundred quid for a clutch out of my £33,000 saving and laugh my way back from the bank.

But I shouldn't be trying to change anyone's mind here. It's the widespread myth that high-mileage cars are a more sensible buy that leaves the lovely ultra-low-mileage bargains for people like me.

[freedie]

The word dipstick comes to mind... or am I in the wrong topic?

[Ootohere]

Actually speccing up your over priced vehicles and then having a manual box kills residuals as much as anything,

then driving them out the showroom.

All that speccing up is just the next buyers extra smiles. & gloating down the golf club or saloon bar.

55-60% drop in 2 years happens, high or low mileage.

The bargains are there for anyone, and yes thats people like you.

Are you buying these as Private sales?

What the cheap, nearer low mileage cars problems can be when like my mums doing 10 miles a week in 3 trips to the shop are Cats, or DPF's, just about everything really, plugs, battery, exhaust, steering, discs. hand brake cable..

Tyres even.

£1000- £1500 for a DPF, on the price of a £5000 bargain is rather different than a clutch on a car that lost £33,000 in 2 years,

& you might loose another £15000 in 2 or 3 more years anyway..

george

[r999]

What the cheap, nearer low mileage cars problems can be when like my mums doing 10 miles a week in 3 trips to the shop are Cats, or DPF's, just about everything really, plugs, battery, exhaust, steering, discs. hand brake cable..

Tyres even.

£1000- £1500 for a DPF, on the price of a £5000 bargain is rather different than a clutch on a car that lost £33,000 in 2 years,

What has a DPF got to do with it? What kind of person buys a diesel and then does a few hundred miles a year? Their car, if it exists, isn't one I'll be buying.

Steering that wears out from doing a low mileage? You're making it up. And tyres go bad after 5 to 7 years of under-use, not 2.

& you might loose another £15000 in 2 or 3 more years anyway..

What it's worth in 2 or 3 years is irrelevant if you keep it for 8 or 10.

Edited 11 October, 2012 by r999

[Ootohere]

LIttle old ladies get sold diesel shoppers, so do little old and young people, someone buys them.

cars that do no miles need parts.

Tyres go off in Angus sitting not rolling much, sun a cold & not in 5-7 years.

Steering, yes cheaper cars do suffer when not doing many miles. (wears out, you said not me)

You have a Mini One, you know small cars then,

, it obviously gets driven, because there are plenty that do not and are the worse for it.

Keepers, you hit the nail on the head.

Thats why my New Car purchases are keeper & our low mileage cars in my extended family.

i still have one from, 10 years, 8 years, 6 years and 4 years with low mileages.

Still all like new, with a wee thrash regularly & some good maintenance.

Other new buyers losses are my bargain buys & traders to pay for a nice new car sometimes..

Have you kept many on your list of low mileage ones for 8 or 10 years yet?

You certainly know what you are doing with your cars and buying, 'much cheapness' is the way,

even with 23 grand cars...

george

[r999]

Have you kept many on your list of low mileage ones for 8 or 10 years yet?

The five cars on that list have been with us an aggregate 21 years. The longest has been with us for 10. As I said, they don't break down because of matters that could possibly be attributed to low mileage by their earlier owners.

[Llanigraham]

A 1200 mile 2 year old car, in my opinion, sounds like trouble ahead. Yes the brakes and clutch might still be pristine, but if only used around town it has probably never got up to full temperature, so the acids produced in the engine combustion process have nicely "fermented" over the 2 years the oil has been in the sump.

My last 2 Freelanders were both bought with around 30k on the clock, both 3 years old. Both were dispossed of around 100k miles after roughly 3 years ownership. Dewi the Yeti was bought with 3k miles as an ex-demo model, and will be kept until at least 100k. From current experience, as long as it is serviced as required 100k will be an easy and cheap mileage.

[Ootohere]

Some of us that have been buying used vRS's have bought 12-18 month old ones that have already had replacement 'Short engines' or rebuilds.

(I have bought 2, and really good they are now once sorted.)

There are many Mk 2 VRS's that will have replacement engines before they are out of warranty.

Many more are not really needing 10,000 mile oil changes as owners are putting in 1 litre every 1000 miles or so.

Skoda can expect their Reliability & Customer Service reputation to take a big drop on this model alone.

Seems to be no Rhyme or Reason to how Skoda UK deals with Customers problems & vehicles.

george

[BossFox]

Interesting comments.

My wife's last Yeti went at 18 months with around 5k on the clock.

After six months this one had 1300 miles on the clock.

They get used around four times a week to drive for 20 minutes.

Better keep changing them in case they implode!

[Ootohere]

I imagine someone just ends up getting a nice low mileage vehicle & a good buy.

george

[Its me]

It's what I do, buy cars up to 18 months old, less than 10,000 on the clock in perfect nick, someone else takes a big hit on depreciation and I get a "new car" at a bargain price.

I sell them privately about two years later with around 50,000 on the clock and restart the cycle.....touch wood I've had trouble free motoring that hasn't burnt too big a hole in my pocket for the last ten years.

The difference between selling privately and part ex ing is a massive money saver

Regards all

Juan

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[BossFox]

We lost about £3k on the Yeti trading it in after 18 months and 5k miles.

I thought that was quite good. Variable servicing so never even needed one.

I've spend more on engine tweaks!

This one is a keeper though, once we had that one and had the benefit to decide what spec and options we wanted next time.

[r999]

A 1200 mile 2 year old car, in my opinion, sounds like trouble ahead. Yes the brakes and clutch might still be pristine, but if only used around town it has probably never got up to full temperature, so the acids produced in the engine combustion process have nicely "fermented" over the 2 years the oil has been in the sump.

That's why oils have detergents and VI improvers and are rated to be able to cope with that for 2 years.

However, I've got to go now - leaking roof to deal with. (It's a high-mileage roof.)