Just home (North London) from picking up our second hand yeti from Meadens in Sway (Hampshire). We found a low milage well spec.-ed 1.8 Elegance in light blue.

First impressions from a Longish drive home were good. What follows is inevitably compared with our old car - an old (e39 for those who this means anything) much loved (serviced every 6 months) BMW 523i which died after 14 years and 170k miles in my family by emptying its auto box of oil though the oil radiator on the M4 last weekend. Also my offloading experience is "proper" land rovers on farms and hire cars on volcanos.

1. Cabin is a nice place to be not quite as good as the old BMW but as nice as as e.g. an Audi A4 and much airer.

2. Really nice to drive on A and B roads - amazed by how flexible the 1.8 is - I had to double check it was not a diesel.

3. Even on Winter Tyres (which Meadens did not tell me about when I bought it) a very quiet car - again almost as good as the BMW.

4. Stereo is as good as the one on the BMW and the integration with the Sat Nav etc. impressive.

5. Sat Nav (Columbus) very intuitive - as good a the Garmin I am used to, but I will miss the speed limit notification (indeed I may need to drive with that as well - see below).

6. Gearing - even though its only a 1.8 I felt that the gear box (particularly 5th and 6th) was a bit short. It happily accelerated up the steepest hill on the M4 back to london in 6th when the BMW would probably have sifted down. I wonder if the box is the same used in the 1.2... I think 6th could be geared to 30 or even 33 mph per 1000rpm and the car would be better. However i'm sure this make it a better off road and city car.

7. Motorway driving - will take some getting used to - a slightly odd combination coming from the BMW - which felt solid and planted at any speed. The Yeti is relatively jittery but it is soo willing, and soo quiet, plus with a driving position that bit higher than normal, that its very easy to go rather faster than you intend. Eventually I ended up driving on the cruise control because of this.

8 The major controls are really good - indeed as good and any modern car I've driven. I will miss the weight of the BMW - particularly steering and pedal weight, but that is a fairly odd preference. The hand brake is also slightly oddly placed - I'm sure I'll get used to it (already thinking of it as a quirk rather than a fault). I'm not a great fan on the controls on the steering wheel and cruise control - they feel a bit plasticy and not as intuitive as the BMW, having said which, I have driven for many years and am very used to, however I think the absence of a speed limiter on the cruise control is an omission (this car could really do with one).

9. Parking - front and rear sensors and the visual display on the sat nav really really good. I felt able to shove it in a tiny space at home in North London on day one.

10. Turning circle - amazingly good for a 4x4 - when is the London Taxi conversion coming out?

Overall - what a flexible car! - its really very good at everything I've asked it to do soo far. On my vast experience thus far I would recommend pretty much anyone except if they do a lot of long distance motorway driving - then you need a diesel Audi or BMW.

First run, with a lot of pottering about on country lanes before about 100mile on the motorway (sometimes driving faster than planned) = 33mpg.

Thanks for the detailed post interesting observations.

Hi lepidocrocite, glad you're getting a good experience for the yeti.

Hope you get MANY happy miles from your new toy. :yes:

Good post-this will be helpful to ofhers thinking of buying a Yeti. It would be interesting to hear how you get on with it in the weeks and months to come.

I too had e39's. a '98 523i Touring and a '99 530d Touring.

I sold both when they reached 150,000 miles.

The e39 was much quieter than the Octavia which replaced it, which was noisier than the Yeti. Yes they are also more planted in a less jittery way than the Yeti. But the Yeti is okay for it's class. You should compare to a quash cow or the sportage/i35. The a Yeti is a £14,000 car. The 5 series was a £30,000 car.

I really liked the balanced feel of the e39's. a drivers car. I know what you mean about the cruise control, but the VAG one in the Yeti is fine when you get used to it.

The Yeti is the best long distance car I have ever owned. 10 hours driving and still feel fresh at the other end!

The fuel economy isn't brilliant on any at high speed. Drop the speed to around 60/63 on the motorway and my CR140(ish) diesel gives around 48mpg. Drops to around 42mpg at 70mph.

I would recommend looking at the Yeti Projects (mine is the Candy White Tonka Toy) at Beti the Yeti. She also started life as a 1.8tsi 160bhp. She still is a 1.8tsi........check it out :lol:

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I would suspect that some of the "jitteriness" could be put down to the winter tyres fitted. It may be quite different with standard road tyres on it.

Good write-up though.

I would suspect that some of the "jitteriness" could be put down to the winter tyres fitted. It may be quite different with standard road tyres on it.

Good write-up though.

The ride is less jittery with the 215/60 R 16's on my Yeti. When you compare the ride with an e39 the Yeti is twitchy/jittery. The suspension is 'cheap' compared the the e39, which when it came out, was the class leader and had an excellent chassis. The Yeti cannot compare.

I frequently think that the shocks don't damp properly, as they get caught out on certain speed humps, whereas the e39 didn't suffer the same problems. As I said above. The e39 was a £30,000 car compared to the £13,000 Yeti. (Base models).

The ride is worse on the 17" rims as far as I'm concerned. :lol:

Sent using whatever device I'm using at the time.

The e39 also isn't an SUV!

And I've never been in one anyway. Beemers aren't very popular around here.

Compared to the Freelander the Yeti has an excellent ride and handing.

The e39 also isn't an SUV!

And I've never been in one anyway. Beemers aren't very popular around here.

Compared to the Freelander the Yeti has an excellent ride and handing.

I know the e39 isn't a SUV. (Nor is the Yeti according to Autocar, it's a Crossover :lol: let's not go there!!!!)

The Freelander 1 is a better comparison to the Yeti I agree, and I haven't driven one of those either. :lol:

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Ps i agree the Yeti does have excellent handling. The ride is just about acceptable.

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Glad you enjoyed the ride home and thanks for the review. You can program an audible warning via the Maxidot which goes off when you exceed the speed you've set in there. Mine is set at 80mph (true speed probably a few mph less).

Stewart

Great review. Always good to do a post like this on day one as after a few days you get used to a car and forget about all these interesting "foibles". One that grates me every time I use it though is that daft cruise control. Urgh. It is GHASTLY. Utterly ghastly.

But I've moaned about it before in this special thread related to Yeti pet hates.

http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/209301-your-yeti-pet-hate/

Great review. Always good to do a post like this on day one as after a few days you get used to a car and forget about all these interesting "foibles". One that grates me every time I use it though is that daft cruise control. Urgh. It is GHASTLY. Utterly ghastly.

But I've moaned about it before in this special thread related to Yeti pet hates.

http://www.briskoda....-yeti-pet-hate/

I agree I'm not VAGs biggest fan of the cruise control method/position however having the set/resume away from the steering wheel I guess VAG may have thought that there may be less chance of hitting the resume button if it was not on the steering wheel when parking as it could make airbag deployment a tad too easy

For info:

Vauxhall/Opel use exactly the same cruise control mechanism and controls. It appears to be a standard Hella (??) product.

For info:

Vauxhall/Opel use exactly the same cruise control mechanism and controls. It appears to be a standard Hella (??) product.

Hella must have designers more used to designing stuff for Martians.

Quite - drove in the rain yesterday, will also take sometime to get used to the wiper control as well.

Also looked up the 1.8 compared with the 2.5 in my old car - slightly more torque and slightly less power so I'm now convinced that the 6th gear is too short.

Great review. Always good to do a post like this on day one as after a few days you get used to a car and forget about all these interesting "foibles". One that grates me every time I use it though is that daft cruise control. Urgh. It is GHASTLY. Utterly ghastly.

But I've moaned about it before in this special thread related to Yeti pet hates.

http://www.briskoda....-yeti-pet-hate/

I don't think that in all the years I have had, and extensively used, cruise control I have ever used a switch to turn it off, just a quick touch on the brake pedal achieves that.

Only ever owned Skoda's with cruise control, so I suppose it's what you get used to but I like the set-up and the way I can use it; rocker switch on the end to engage and adjust cruise and I often disengage using the switch at the top, particularly on a motorway and I know I leaving at a given junction, again my driving style, let the laws of physics slow the car down first before considering the brakes.

Oh the Yeti diesel engages cruise better than the petrol Fabia 1.2TSI, which always gives a little kick from the engine.

TP

I don't think that in all the years I have had, and extensively used, cruise control I have ever used a switch to turn it off, just a quick touch on the brake pedal achieves that.

YIKES!!!!!!! And in all the years of driving I can also tell you that is the last thing to do on a motorway. You try to NEVER use your brake lights on a motorway as just one person touching theirs causes little ripple effects and tailbacks as everyone behind then also brakes... Please if you have a manual car press the clutch but not the brake.

Only ever owned Skoda's with cruise control, so I suppose it's what you get used to but I like the set-up and the way I can use it; rocker switch on the end to engage and adjust cruise and I often disengage using the switch at the top, particularly on a motorway and I know I leaving at a given junction, again my driving style, let the laws of physics slow the car down first before considering the brakes.

TP next time you rent a car with a dedicated stalk (like a Mercedes or Audi) or even a Renault with the buttons on the wheel you will realise how daft and counter intuitive our Yeti system is. Even an Audi has a dedicated stalk so there is a system in the VAG empire to use.

Stalk up: increase speed

Stalk down: decrease speed

Stalk forward: Cancel

Stalk back: Resume

And the only time you press a button is when you consciously press "Set". How many times have you inadvertently indicated when you tried to just cancel or set the CC on a Yeti?

Even a child can understand that and never have to look down to see which is which (especially when you are new to the car). But as with anything you get used to living with it. But that alas is not the answer to man bettering himself. If we were just content and never made things better we'd all still be driving Ford Model-Ts.

But back OT: Lepidocricite: have you tried the Park Assist yet?

YIKES!!!!!!! And in all the years of driving I can also tell you that is the last thing to do on a motorway. You try to NEVER use your brake lights on a motorway as just one person touching theirs causes little ripple effects and tailbacks as everyone behind then also brakes... Please if you have a manual car press the clutch but not the brake.

Not everyone would agree. I was always a proponent of never braking unless really necessary. However, two of my bikes are Italian v-twins with huge amounts of engine braking - both the police instructors & the I.A.M. observers I've ridden with recommend a momentary touch of the brakes when significantly reducing speed. The theory goes that such a quick flash of the brake lights simply 'wakes up' following traffic (similar to an 'on your marks' call from a starter) & that it takes a brake light of around half a second or more before following traffic will start to respond with braking of their own.

In my view, if you can't adjust to slowing traffic with the '-' button, the speed reduction required is sufficient to warrant the momentary flash of the brake lights you'd get with the tap of the pedal that disengages cruise - it may not be the sudden slow-down you get with rolling off the throttle on a v-twin bike but there's no harm in the brief indication of your actions IMHO.

Not everyone would agree. I was always a proponent of never braking unless really necessary. However, two of my bikes are Italian v-twins with huge amounts of engine braking - both the police instructors & the I.A.M. observers I've ridden with recommend a momentary touch of the brakes when significantly reducing speed. The theory goes that such a quick flash of the brake lights simply 'wakes up' following traffic (similar to an 'on your marks' call from a starter) & that it takes a brake light of around half a second or more before following traffic will start to respond with braking of their own.

In my view, if you can't adjust to slowing traffic with the '-' button, the speed reduction required is sufficient to warrant the momentary flash of the brake lights you'd get with the tap of the pedal that disengages cruise - it may not be the sudden slow-down you get with rolling off the throttle on a v-twin bike but there's no harm in the brief indication of your actions IMHO.

I can see your logic too and that makes sense. The highlighted bit of course is the qualifier. The minus button should be sufficient... oh to have radar cruise control on a Yeti... (dream ).

... oh to have radar cruise control on a Yeti... (dream ).

Yup, still waiting for my Yeti but I know it's all the car I'll ever want except for adaptive cruise (adaptive cruise + DSG = heaven).

The only other 2 options I would want if available, but which wouldn't be deal-breakers:

• Blind-spot alert
  
• Latest gen. (bay parking, kerb recognition) park assist
  

TP next time you rent a car with a dedicated stalk (like a Mercedes or Audi) or even a Renault with the buttons on the wheel you will realise how daft and counter intuitive this system is. Even an Audi has a dedicated stalk so there is a system in the VAG empire to use.

Thank you for the informative enlightenment but thinking about it, I've only ever hired/rented a van, where possible I drive my own car everywhere. Mind this summer hols will be first, we're going on a very, very long bus tour, including a number of ferry crossings :S

TP

Thank you for the informative enlightenment but thinking about it, I've only ever hired/rented a van, where possible I drive my own car everywhere. Mind this summer hols will be first, we're going on a very, very long bus tour, including a number of ferry crossings :S

I prefer my car too... but in places like the USA or Australia you don't really have a choice! (unless you ship your monster there too?!)