Thank you every body!! As I really want the roof and would also like the DAB-only the L&K makes sense. I'm coming to the view that Black will be the colour-I saw one at Prospect Letchworth with the panoramic roof and Gobi and it is sensational. I think the 1.8 makes sense for my mileage and the saving on the purchase price will pay for quite a lot of VED and MPG.

I'm being quoted £23,500 with a trade in at an estimated late May date of 16,250. I will negotiate from that -an extra year of warranty and the MDI would be useful and the big change since spring 2010 is the very good guy at Letchworth seems keener to deal!

They are an excellent outfit and I'd like to deal again there.

If you've seen black and you like it so much, go for it! A forum is essentially just a load of people offering their own views or opinion. Colour is a personal choice. :-)

Who's the guy? David? (Older Scottish guy?)

Stewart Montier is the chap concerned-a pleasant and civilised guy.

Stewart Montier is the chap concerned-a pleasant and civilised guy.

Ah ok, don't think I've spoken to Stewart. David is also very good and not scared of a decent negotiation session.

From figures quoted on this thread and others it really does seem that the Yeti is achieving some outstanding second hand valuations ahead of the three year anniversary of those extremely long waiting lists. In so doing it is reducing hugely the single biggest cost of ownership at a stroke!

Had mine 2 years, ex demo so December 2010. Low miles but when I bought it having your choice of features involved up to 6 months wait.

Mileage now lower than it used to be-around 8000 P/A.

Some questions for the joint wisdom of the forum.

I'm pretty sure it will be an L&K and manual.

1.8 or 170? I have seen the dpf light 3 times in 2 years and don't mind going for a little blat to clear it but I suspect for my mileage there will be no saving on fuel cost over 3 years sufficient to outweigh the capital cost of the diesel.

Does the 1.8 get the bigger brakes?

Colour? Presently thinking Black-saw one yesterday in Elegance trim and looked wonderful- or storm blue, but not seen one, any decent images?

I have and enjoy my MDI-is it standard on an L&K, -or even available?

You thought about Pacific blue??

You thought about Pacific blue??

According to Skoda's configurator it isn't available on the L&K.

Possibly the same place you get your information such as haldex interval oil change?! ;-)

The information I was given was by Sinclair Skoda, who changed my Haldex oil at the last service!

Try a search on here, possibly the superb 2 section. 4 years or 100,000 miles (although I've also seen 120k mentioned)

That isn't what you said earlier; you just said 4 years!

If it isn't bold or capitals... It's red. Yes, four years is what I said. Correct.

Graham and Yeti_Man I wonder if you would hold your private dispute elsewhere? It does seem rather to have de-railed my attempts to gather ideas and opinions about my planned purchase. I'm sure nether of you meant to and I wouldn't dream of taking sides but I would appreciate some editing from both.

John

Err... Now I'm a tad confused. I have just been looking at the service schedule (very sad I know) for my 170 oil burner and unless I'm going blind (a possibility) stupid or both (a very high possibility) reference to the service schedule for the Yeti on pages 10 to 12 for a 2012 model other than the 'toothed belt and tensioner' replacement in the section 'In addition every 180,000 Km ' on page 11. I do not see a time factor for replacement in the 'Every 4 years or 60,000 Km' section on page 10 although I can understand why it may be prudent to change it after 4 years or so.

Maybe TP can help?

Not aware of reading of a time limit on the newer second generation CR engines either. However common sense would say to change the belt within say six years on lower mileage cars.

Will have to reacquaint myself with the service book

TP

You thought about Pacific blue??

Pacific blue isn't an option in the L&K, only candy white is available from the solid colour options.

Personally I like steel grey, hence that's the colour we've ordered our L&K in (TDI CR 140 DSG)

Very close, 47mpg average here.

Where did 40 come from, must be given some stick!

Indeed - I don't think I can have done more than a handful of journeys that were that low mpg. Mine's 18k a year, mostly A/B road commutes but some motorway. Not much in-town pootling to be fair but I don't mine using all the power when safe and appropriate/funny.

Graham and Yeti_Man I wonder if you would hold your private dispute elsewhere? It does seem rather to have de-railed my attempts to gather ideas and opinions about my planned purchase. I'm sure nether of you meant to and I wouldn't dream of taking sides but I would appreciate some editing from both.

John

Apologies John, I just felt that putting his text in bright red added nothing positive and that it was done to only try to highlight someone else possibly being at fault. I've read a number of things on a number of vag forums to indicate that 4 years is the manufacturers time limit on the belt. It usually only comes to light when Skoda uk are asked directly and supplied a valid cr170 vin number. Dealers don't always get this stuff right and can be out of the loop as new service regimes/changes come into effect. This is one example of such threads:

http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/231511-cambelt-renewal-09-vrs-with-cr-engine/

I'm not sure what else I can add. You seem happy with the L&K spec (its what I'd buy if I was buying now) in Black and from Progress in Letchworth. The engine choice, at least from a financial consideration, is going to be most relevant to how long you intend to keep it I'd guess. Either way, you won't go far wrong with it being installed in a yeti! :-)

At 8k miles per year I would say buy the engine you prefer, at that mileage the cost of ownership calculation probably makes little or no difference. It's a big investment and I expect you will be keeping it for a good couple of years, so get the one you enjoy driving the most. Personally I do around 10k a year and have recently been buying petrols. I have an A3 and a Superb both with the 1.8 TSI. Very happy with this engine, good compromise of acceptable economy and easy to access performance plus no DMF, DPF, Cambelt etc to worry about.

My annual mileage is now down to about 8k, hence my decision to order an L&K 1.8 petrol as a replacement for my 170 diesel. I'm sure the overall economics are favourable in terms of daily running costs. As for trade-in/replacement values, as we all know it's the 'money to change' that matters as opposed to what the dealer may appear to be giving for a particular car and so I take with a pinch of salt claims that a diesel will be worth more than a petrol or vice versa (anyway, you'll have paid more for the diesel in the first place) - and given how fuel prices are going, who's to say that in a few years' time the differential betwen petrol and diesel will not be so huge as to make petrol the more attrractive option once again? Talk of cambelts and DPFs is way beyond my technical expertise, but I have to say I've had no DPF problems at all (have never even been aware of a regeneration) in 25000 miles of driving my 170 diesel.

Oh, and by the way, I've gone for Candy White since (although I really like the Muscavado) I almost immediately wished I had been brave and gone for that first time around as I have no doubt that it's the colour that best suits the styling of the Yeti (and it saves that ridiculous surcharge for other colours!). Again, although I really like the Gobi interior, I agree that the Onyx is probably more practical on a daily basis (especially now that our grandson is growing!), and I'm happy that the sunroof will lighten the interior sufficiently.

As others have said for 8k a year the maths of ownership go either way. The diesels will always out sell the petrol but there will always be a market for the petrol model and supply will always be less on this model.

The problem with the maths is once you have brought the car you do not metally feel £1,000 up vs. the diesel. I have just sold a 30mpg petrol and with it drinking 50% more fuel than the diesel it does wear you down over time if you think about it. You spend 80 to 90% of you time in traffic, both models have the go to overtake with lots of low down torque which is great. What I found was you end up changing up earlier, not using the petrol to it's ability so it gets to 30 not 25mpg. Also at the weekend when you should enjoy the car you start to think about the fuel and end up using a second car and defeats the object of owning it.

I would choose the 170 diesel for this reason. I think there is a true 15mpg like for like driving at same speed comparison. The petrol sounds nicer but everyday that if forgotten and not special enough for the real world cost of motoring which is only going one way.

As I have commented elsewhere, a lot of the manual v auto or petrol v diesel debate depends on where you do your driving. I seldom have to drive in stop/start traffic where I live, and even 'short' journeys to the nearest large supernarket involve a round trip of some 35 miles. So I feel that 8000 miles a year, including an annual trip to the south of France and back, mainly on motorways, and similar trips to visit the grandchild in Milton Keynes, will definitely favour the petrol engine. But in the end, if you're having to count the pennies so closely to decide between a new diesel or a new petrol car, you probably can't really afford either!

But in the end, if you're having to count the pennies so closely to decide between a new diesel or a new petrol car, you probably can't really afford either!

Luckily I don't have to make the decision on the economics but wanted to consider them as part of the decision. The only Yeti engine transmission I do know about properly is the 140 manual. Overall a revelation as -other than hired vans-I had no diesel experience at all. I've had a similar petrol engine before in a Seat Tfsi.

The diesel approach is very appealing but at the mileage and type of driving I do it isn't as good as it should be-hence a maxidot mpg over 700 and odd miles around 35mpg and having had occasions where the exhaust warning light has needed a brisk dual carriage way expedition to clear.

A short daily commute, shopping runs and teenage taxi service are the realities of life.

My 170 has done an average of 41 (brim to brim calc) over 8000 miles (in just over eight months) . Most days are just a short commute where the engine doesn't get the chance to warm up. The school run and teenage taxi service are longer, but I have no regular trips over 20 miles, so the mpg is kept low.

We've just got back from a few days in Lincoln, with the journey there at 60-65mph getting 47mpg (converted from the maxidot figure) but the trip back today sat on cruise at 70 only got 40mpg.

I had a diesel Octy before and liked the way it drove, but looking at the figures others get with the quicker warming 1.8 petrol it might have made more sense for me. On longer trips (days out, Briskoda meets, etc) it gets a more respectable 45mpg or so, but not frequently enough, unfortunately.

Graham and Yeti_Man I wonder if you would hold your private dispute elsewhere? It does seem rather to have de-railed my attempts to gather ideas and opinions about my planned purchase. I'm sure nether of you meant to and I wouldn't dream of taking sides but I would appreciate some editing from both.

John

+1

John,

I think you're moving inexorably towards the petrol model - knowing your 'sporting' bent, I reckon you'd just need to make a simple mod to include the 170 brakes?

Sorted?

Robin,

You've hit the nail on the head!

Remind me of the outcome of your Eibach fitment.............

John

Now also have Whiteline uprated rear ARB too!

'Planted' is how I'd describe it

Sorted for me now, I think?

I suspect my next one could well be petrol and DSG as my mileage is now <7k/annum.

Still, no plans to change for a while - why should someone else benefit from my pampering and low miles?

If it was me buying the 1.8tsi and doing the minimum amount of 'enhancing' for the biggest performance improvement, I'd go with three upgrades personally...

Shark Performance stage 1 remap (around 205bhp and 210lb/ft torque)

OE 312mm disks, Ferrodo DS2500 pads and ATE Super Blue fluid

Anti roll bar upgrade

:-)

As one of my Italian friends says "exacto". He thinks that is the English word.