Hi there, 

 

Any young families of four around? 

Just trying to find honest views of Skoda Yeti 1.2 Outdoor for families. Thank you. 

Had a Yeti on lease for 2 years, went back few months ago.

Mine was a 1.2 petrol DSG SE spec

 

Very practical car for families, various combinations of positions with rear seats, plenty of storage cubby holes. 

Boot a good size and being square will hold just about anything (even bought a tumble dryer and just slid in (with seats folded)

 

At the time we had it, we had 2 dogs (and one teenager not 2 young children) and it was great.

Our situation has slightly changed (now only one dog, and daughter off to university next year). so decided to buy a smaller car (Arona) for longer term, would have happily stayed with Skoda (our second car still is), but there was no direct replacement for the Yeti on sale (one is being launched at Geneva show in March, but unlikely to be available until Autumn 2019 and we couldn't wait 15-18 months).  The Karoq is longer and not great where parking spaces can be tight so wasn't a suitable alternative.

 

You should be 100% happy, The 1.2 tsi engine is surprisingly good.

If you want a warts and all view, my only gripe was the rear cloth seats could look a bit grubby if children grind in chocolate biscuits or mud, but if you get one with leather seats will be lot easier to wipe clean.   No doubt some sarcastic reader will reply why do you let your children eat when not at dining table, or go in for modern idea of between meal snacks,  but be real.   The good news is using one of those carpet shampoo bottles with the brush in the lid soon sorts the problem.

 

Equipment wise, well equipped, some of the features rarely (or in some cases never) got used.  So is actually slightly over equipped and had I had to pay for them as options, wouldn't have bothered.

 

 

 

I can't talk about the engine, as we had a 2.0 TDi, but when we had our Yeti we had young kids (they were 4 years and 18 months).  We chose it because it was high up, practical and good value.  It delivered on all counts and for the 5 years we had it was our family transport everywhere, from the school run to Normandy.  Being high up means strapping kids into seats is easy on the back.  The boot took all the daily paraphernalia (including a rather large off-road buggy), the rear seats were moved and removed in various configurations to accommodate kids and luggage/DIY/IKEA purchases.  Plenty of legroom in the back for a the kids' legs (little ones tend to stick straight forwards).  As they got older we took it camping and got everything we needed into the boot and a topbox - we later added a towbar and trailer, which was luxury.

 

The only child-related issue we had was one of them kicked one of the rear heater controls and moved it beyond its normal working position, but I managed to wiggle it back into place without having to dismantle anything.

 

We were all a little sad to see it go (the sadness tempered by the Volvo XC60 that replaced it!).

And to address the post above mine (posted as I typed) - ours had the optional Alcantara interior which shrugged off all kid-related residues with ease.  We used a seat protector under the child seats and there were no indentations or marks when the seats came out at the end of our time.

I have been very pleased with my Yeti, but with a young family I would have found it stretched for space. Previous car was a VW Touran which we owned for nearly 10yrs whilst the boys were growing up. Looking back it was the perfect vehicle for this time in our lives. It has a comparatively small footprint, is huge inside, rear seats are removeable [I took the two out of the boot],  good range of engines, drives well, low depreciation etc. We camped every year, towing a trailer tent and subsequently small caravans through France, ran trips with eldest to university etc. You should give one a look.

 

Colin