Yeti vs Yeti Outdoor

[trixtrains]

My previous car was a 2003 1.8 Renault Scenic (the car that invented folding removable rear seats?) and it was time to replace it with another tall spacious load carrier.       

 

I took delivery of a new Yeti SE 2WD on March 7^th, having placed an order in late October 2013 with Crawley Down Group (via Carwow). I had to choose the car spec from the old brochure as full details of the 2014 FL weren’t available. I did this to secure a 2014 car at a discounted 2013 price and with Skoda's 0% finance and free servicing.

 

What wasn’t clear at the time of order (to me anyway) was the difference between the Yeti and Yeti Outdoor. I thought the Outdoor was 4WD and the Yeti 2WD. Now I realise that both can be had as 2WD, and the difference between them is in body styling. The most obvious being black body mouldings and sills on the Outdoor and different alloys. There are no side body mouldings at all on the Yeti SE (how odd) - you have to go to Elegance spec to get them.

 

I’ve grabbed pictures of the different fronts to highlight the differences. Any comments about the different designs and reasons to choose between them?

 

 

PS: My car is a Yeti 1.2 SE (2014 FL) with heated front window, satnav, mats, spare wheel and metallic paint (£17.5K). First impression – lovely – but why is the speedo calibrated to 160mph? It means that the important 20 - 40mph part is tiny.

[BossFox]

Shame you didn't realise, but it's all specified on the Skoda website and the Yeti brochure.

 

If the speedo only shows even numbers, so a mark but nothing else for 30, 50, 70 (Which are quite important) it's always been like that.

[P6bJOHN]

I've a Yeti 1.2 Se Dsg indoor? ie not Outdoor on order. I don't want an ersatz 4x4 so I didn't want the fake off road trim and I find black trim a pita when polishing. Simpsons at Preston had a white Yeti SE with colour coded side protection strips in their showroom when I ordered (19/2/14) and the sales man said it was standard, but at that time I don't think they had a clue what came with what.

[simonmc]

I ordered in November, took delivery in February: "indoor" SE. At the time, I had looked on the Skoda website so I knew the published differences and 2WD vs 4WD, but the salesman told me "The Outdoor is 4WD only"... what he should have said is "4WD is only available in Outdoor trim" since, as you found, you can get 2WD in both normal and Outdoor.+

 

Personally, I'm fine with the non-Outdoor trim but, like you, I would have thought side protection mouldings should have been standard.

[awfabia]

I,too, had a 2003 Scenic. I was impressed with it's comfort and practicability, however LESS impressed with reliability!

Now a Yeti-man I have reliability, too!

It would seem that some aspects of specifications are a bit of a mystery until the car arrives....

[Paul52]

My previous car was a 2003 1.8 Renault Scenic (the car that invented folding removable rear seats?) 

 

My 1965 Renault 16 had a folding, removable back seat (the backrest folded up into the roof, secured by straps and hooks attached to the grab handles above the doors. It also had fully reclining front seats and inertia reel seat belts - all cutting edge stuff for 1965 although not so much by the time I bought it at around 12 years old. (It also had galloping rust, but that was pretty common in those days!!).

 

Enjoy your Yeti, its a great car. And I also was a bit concerned about the limited markings on the speedometer before I got mine. You very quickly will get used to it.

[Nick P]

Regarding your observation about the speedo, you can enable a large digital speedo on the maxidot screen in between the dials. We're totally happy with this work-around.

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[Yetiowner]

Regarding your observation about the speedo, you can enable a large digital speedo on the maxidot screen in between the dials. We're totally happy with this work-around.

Sent from my GT-I9505G using Tapatalk

how  do you do that?

[Llanigraham]

You have to find someone with the VCDS system, not a dealer, and get them to change the settings so that your car thinks it is in Australia. However others have found on the newer cars that it doesn't always work and that you may use some other functionality of the maxidot display. 

 

Personally I find it quite easy to remember that 30mph is just under 50kph, and 50mph is 80 kph, and use those

[Nick P]

I prefer "Rest of World". I've never seen it not work though. But I've definitely forgotten the required order of vcds change and subsequent maxidot settings changes a couple of times and thought it wasn't going to work.

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[Llanigraham]

I think a few found "rest of world" didn't work on their Yeti's

[kenfowler3966]

You have to find someone with the VCDS system, not a dealer, and get them to change the settings so that your car thinks it is in Australia. However others have found on the newer cars that it doesn't always work and that you may use some other functionality of the maxidot display. 

 

Personally I find it quite easy to remember that 30mph is just under 50kph, and 50mph is 80 kph, and use those

I have used my tomtom sat nav to calibrate exact speed versus kph readings and I use that in speed limits.

 

86kph is exactly 50mph for use in average speed motorway works.

119kph is an exact 70mph (at which point the speedo says nearly 80mph!!)

etc.

No doubt slightly different in each car depending on how accurate the particular speedo is.

 

What always gets me though is that even though the speedo is considerably out, the odometer is always  the same as the sat nav to within one tenth of a mile on 100 mile trips! so the speedo could be made to be spot on but is deliberately optimistic.

Indeed I seem to recall a thread on here as to how to get the speedo to read more accurately by adjusting the VCDS settings? (Similar to the changes needed if a different roling diameter wheel is fitted to the car deliberately by the manufacturer?)

Edited 24 March, 2014 by kenfowler3966

[Llanigraham]

Ken.

The speedo drive ratios are fixed and cannot be altered by VCDS. The only way would be to alter the actual gears that "drive" the sensor. 

The thing that got changed was probably the fuel consumption figure, I think programming it at 105 not 100

[Nick P]

Yeah I reckon you're thinking of the fuel consumption fudge factor too.

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[Frenchtone]

But if its done by sensor and signal cable rather than mechanical drive then surely it can be set up in VCDS, smiths do an electronic speedo which has to be manualy set up to give an accurate reading(as used in kitcars)  - I realise this is different but one would think the signal to the speedo could be varied - probably by said VCDS - I don't know, never got involved with it!!

[manxskoda]

I got my Yeti done to maxidot MPH through VCDS and must admit it was one of the best things I have had done on the Yeti. The only thing I find is that when it was done on my keys, if I use the Wifes keys it doesn,t show the Maxidot MPH on them, so I presume you should have both keys programmed.

Tony

[Llanigraham]

But if its done by sensor and signal cable rather than mechanical drive then surely it can be set up in VCDS, smiths do an electronic speedo which has to be manualy set up to give an accurate reading(as used in kitcars)  - I realise this is different but one would think the signal to the speedo could be varied - probably by said VCDS - I don't know, never got involved with it!!

 

'Fraid not Tony.

The speedo drive is fixed and is not alterable within the ECU. That is part of EU Regulations when the car is first tested.

[Frenchtone]

ok corrected off to the corner then!!

[Gnomeface]

'Fraid not Tony.

The speedo drive is fixed and is not alterable within the ECU. That is part of EU Regulations when the car is first tested.

Most cars compute the road speed and distance covered from the ABS wheel sensor signals these days - speedo cables are a thing of the past (I presume that this applies to Yeti as well).  The electronic programs then send a signal on to the speedo, which can be calibrated separately either within the electronics or within the instrument depending on design.  The speedometer is not allowed by law to under-read at all, hence the reason why it is inflated slightly by the electronics, but the mileage is true.

 

I have an OBD2 gauge hooked in to my other car and it gives a true speed readout - at least, it's as true as it can be bearing in mind slight differences in tyre rolling radius - so the correct information is available although not normally displayed.  That readout agrees exactly with TomTom but is noticeably less than the speedo reading, around 3mph at 30 and 6mph at 80.  What is interesting is that the displayed cruise control speed agrees with the speedo (which makes sense) but other speed-related functions work off true speed. For example the speed limiter cuts in at around 164 mph on the speedo not the 155 in the book, according to drivers in Germany, and the speed above which the wing mirrors won't fold is about 5mph higher on the speedo than the manual states.  I must hook the OBD2 gauge into the Yeti and see what interesting stuff is on the canbus link.

Edited 24 March, 2014 by Gnomeface

[phil235]

Going back to the original post (interesting though the digression between has been), I ordered in mid-Oct from Rainworth Skoda (via carfile.net) and Steve Cantrell (excellent salesman) sent me pdfs of the FL specs and options, so got 2wd S Outdoor 1.2 on 4 March.  Why Outdoor 2wd?  No, not posing in green wellies;  just that SWMBO is the main driver and all protection is welcome.

 

Re.  his PS:  "Why is the speedo calibrated to 160mph?"  Same reason as his V-rated 17-inch tyres are rated at 168mph??

[phil235]

Re. last post - sorry, meant W-rated tyres on SE and above.