140 hp tdi 4x4 gear ratios

[TheOtherGuy]

Hi I'm sure this gets asked all the time but i can't find a straight answer. We are looking at adding to our skoda stable with a 4x4 yeti that will primarily be used as a tow car. Because our drive is quite steep and loose gravel we have in the past always sought out a low box transmission but nowadays that basically means something either huge and heavy or old and numb either of which are not going to be good on fuel. Hence why a yeti, thing is before we rush off and swap for one it might be prudent to get an idea of where the ratios are, in other words is first gear fairly low and good for low speed manoeuvres and giving a good lump of torque for getting a trailer moving or is it more for emergency starts in the traffic lights grand prix? It seems that there's a lot of potential options in the vag gearbox family with there being so many final drive and main set combinations available,  so if someone could point out the most likely ones that would be great. 

 

Many thanks for your help in advance. 

[freedie]

If you go for the 170 [which is probably best for towing with its bigger brakes.. if you see what I mean(!)], the figures I have are 1st gear 3.77 on a final drive ratio of 3.875. Hope that helps?

[TheOtherGuy]

So with the application of maths that means it is a racing box, hmm, interesting. That is for the 170?

[Brijo]

Try https://www.briskoda.net/search/#gsc.tab=0&gsc.q=yeti towing

 

Well worth browsing

[TheOtherGuy]

It  will be for livestock in the dales so lots of hills and no zooming about being a heroic driving god, hence in the past using land rovers and jeeps but honestly whilst they can tow more weight in one go if they are getting at best low 20 mpg loaded up it is almost more economical to go twice with less weight  at 3 times the mpg in a more comfortable and sensible yeti, if you know what i mean,  that and its a much nicer thing to use the rest of the time its not working so hard . The thing is we also have a Jimny for the serious farming which is a lot lower geared and is physically capable of doing what we need because of its low range box but it is limited by law in what it can do on the road and the additional 700kg a yeti is rated for is quite significant. What would be disappointing would be to get a yeti and find that with all its power all it did was dig holes in the drive or stall turning onto the road, having had a discovery td5 that was prone to doing the same in high range it is not something we should be aiming for repeating. Yes these are very specific requirements and they place some serious limits on our options but the cost of altering our infrastructure to ease the pain would be eye watering. 

[PirateSyrett]

3 hours ago, TheOtherGuy said:

Hi I'm sure this gets asked all the time but i can't find a straight answer. We are looking at adding to our skoda stable with a 4x4 yeti that will primarily be used as a tow car. Because our drive is quite steep and loose gravel we have in the past always sought out a low box transmission but nowadays that basically means something either huge and heavy or old and numb either of which are not going to be good on fuel. Hence why a yeti, thing is before we rush off and swap for one it might be prudent to get an idea of where the ratios are, in other words is first gear fairly low and good for low speed manoeuvres and giving a good lump of torque for getting a trailer moving or is it more for emergency starts in the traffic lights grand prix? It seems that there's a lot of potential options in the vag gearbox family with there being so many final drive and main set combinations available,  so if someone could point out the most likely ones that would be great. 

 

Many thanks for your help in advance. 

 

Hi there! An interesting question and one we've lived in the real world.

 

We have a Yeti 170 4x4 and a SWB Shogun, both of which we use to tow our 9.5 metre/ 2050kg boat trailer, both have manual gearboxes. 

 

The Yeti laughs the 2 ton tow weight off (once you've got it moving!) provided the car is ballasted with people and kit to around its maximum axle weights. It's an astonishing tow car with its only limitations being that the torque comes in a little too high and the clutch lacks progression - though as our car now has 20,000 miles under its wheels this is starting to improve. It used to be like a hair trigger! So the Yeti will happily sit at the speed limit all day with 2 tons on the back, but doesn't like steep slipways.

 

The Shogun's the exact opposite. Great when the cars light, the road's steep or the journey's slow. But it tows the boat giving 18mpg whereas the Yeti does it at 24-25 mpg.

 

If I were to try to squish these 2 cars capabilities together then I'd probably go for the 170 DSG because the auto box manages the clutch better - or a new shape Tiguan with its 2500kg tow weight.

 

Hope this helps.

 

 

Edited 4 June, 2017 by PirateSyrett

[kenfowler3966]

Wouldnt the off road button help as it limits the revs and helps the car move away on poor surfaces or heavily loaded as when towing?

As diesels develop max power at low revs this seems ideal and should stop wheels spinning too much and digging in?

[TheOtherGuy]

Is this a universal feature of the 4x4 ones as it sounds very useful? Or is it just on certain variants? 

[PirateSyrett]

1 hour ago, kenfowler3966 said:

Wouldnt the off road button help as it limits the revs and helps the car move away on poor surfaces or heavily loaded as when towing?

As diesels develop max power at low revs this seems ideal and should stop wheels spinning too much and digging in?

 

Yes, you're absolutely right. It's a neat feature because it also stops you rolling backwards.

 

We've never had an issue with wheel spin even on the steepest slopes and we've always managed to get the rig moving, but a more progressive clutch (or lower first gear!) would really help. On the Shogun you can feel the clutch bite very early but it doesn't fully engage until the pedal's moved 3 inches or so. The Yeti's clutch is getting better, but feels much more like an on/off switch with little travel with which to balance slip. Consequently it's much easier to stall - but then again not really a surprise at the weight we're asking of it!

 

The 170's a truly great car to live with when not towing too :-)

[TheOtherGuy]

Thanks that is telling me I might have to look elsewhere. 

[TheOtherGuy]

Ok so I have been reading about the emissions recall fix thing and to be honest it along with the calculations of the gearing have put me off. If the torque is as suggested more in the upper rev band coupled with a racing gearbox it is not a good combination for our use. The search continues, thanks for your help. 

Edited 7 June, 2017 by TheOtherGuy
Predicted text

[grayson]

Not sure I'd call the gearbox exactly racing spec in my 170- normally change up to second at very pedestrian speed . Whereabouts in N Yorks are you ? If nearby you can have a look at mine- I am in Thirsk area

[TheOtherGuy]

Using the information above it calculates out at about 140mm linear per wheel  for every engine rpm or 112m per min at a tick over of 800 rpm which is actually higher than our torque monster crd cherokee and that is way over geared in high range but compensates by having both low range and low rev torque in abundance. 

 

Thanks for the offer of a play, will bear in mind if we decide to pursue the idea. 

[logiclee]

Have you considered DSG?

 

The 2.0 diesels with DSG have multiplate wet clutches that will happily slip in 1st without the worry of increased wear.

 

I've towed 1500kg for thousands of miles with four different vehicles with this gearbox.

 

Lee

[TheOtherGuy]

I would but management are singularly opposed to the idea despite protestations to the contrary. 

[PirateSyrett]

2 hours ago, logiclee said:

Have you considered DSG?

 

The 2.0 diesels with DSG have multiplate wet clutches that will happily slip in 1st without the worry of increased wear.

 

I've towed 1500kg for thousands of miles with four different vehicles with this gearbox.

 

Lee

 

+1 on DSG for heavy weight towing.

 

Experience allows us to push the envelope and tow more than 2 tons with our Yeti but it would be much easier with the wet clutch DSG box.

 

Our next Skoda (or VW) will almost certainly come with it.

 

 

[dieselyeti]

On 6/4/2017 at 20:17, kenfowler3966 said:

Wouldnt the off road button help as it limits the revs and helps the car move away on poor surfaces or heavily loaded as when towing?

As diesels develop max power at low revs this seems ideal and should stop wheels spinning too much and digging in?

The off road button has nothing to do with what you mentioned. It is for descending steep slippery slopes and controls the speed individually braking each wheel.

[kenfowler3966]

1 hour ago, dieselyeti said:

The off road button has nothing to do with what you mentioned. It is for descending steep slippery slopes and controls the speed individually braking each wheel.

Surely that is the hill desent function?

[PirateSyrett]

2 hours ago, dieselyeti said:

The off road button has nothing to do with what you mentioned. It is for descending steep slippery slopes and controls the speed individually braking each wheel.

 

Agreed - but it also limits revs to 2500rpm, changes the 4x4 settings to improve traction and engages hill hold control too. 

 

All good stuff! :-)

[ejstubbs]

The off-road button does not engage hill hold control. That "feature" (not a favourite of mine) is permanently active if fitted. The off-road button does engage both the hill descent control and the engine over-speed limiter, amongst other things.

[kenfowler3966]

Never mentioned "hill hold"?

 

However this is a great function and almost essential with dsg as ordered for my next car.

My extended test drive was in a Monte Carlo dsg which did not have hill hold and needed hand brake applied to safely do a hill start.

Not something I have had to do in my Yeti for 7 years 

[Llanigraham]

5 hours ago, dieselyeti said:

The off road button has nothing to do with what you mentioned. It is for descending steep slippery slopes and controls the speed individually braking each wheel.

 

The off road button does a lot more than that! 

That is just the "hill descent control" function.

[freedie]

I can absolutely assure you that the Off Road button enables a whole lot more than Hill Descent control (despite the dashboard check light diagram!)

[Llanigraham]

45 minutes ago, freedie said:

I can absolutely assure you that the Off Road button enables a whole lot more than Hill Descent control (despite the dashboard check light diagram!)

 

Goes to prove that some people don't read the Handbook. It is all explained in there.

[muddyboots]

I find first gear in my 170 frustratingly low if you're wanting a quick getaway - you're at redline and changing up ridiculously quickly.

I imagine though, coupled with the dulled throttle response and rev limit of the Off Road Button, that's a Good Thing if you're towing?