Hi folks, 

 

Well, after much searching for a Yeti replacement for my wife we've ended up with a new Fabia.  Wanted to like the Kamiq but that went out the window following a test drive.  Karoq too expensive for decent spec.  VW T Cross and T Roc likewise.  Seat Arona and Ateca don't like Seats.  The Yeti is a tough act to follow.

 

The Yeti is a Petrol Blue 2.0 Tdi 115hp SE Drive 17 plate and the Fabia is a Maple Brown 1.0 Tsi 95hp SEL.  Both 5 speed manuals. 

 

Anyone else made such a change and if so how did you find it ?

 

Thanks all.

 

PS : we've had 2 previous generation Fabias and they were great.  Both diesels though.

 

 

I went to look at a yeti and ended up with fabia! Now looking to get a yeti ... just can’t part with fabia. It’s been reliable, comfortable to drive, good handling, I have the green so lots of compliments, but the practical yeti is screaming out to me. I have three dogs and they are banned from the fabia, I bought a smart car from them to go in instead. I ideally just need a practical family car instead of running two cars.

Two Yeti and I loved them, both 2l diesel 2wd and towed light caravans beautifully.

All the shouting about diesel and my own reduced milage made me look around for

a small petrol with plenty of room. I had driven a lot of Fiestas and liked the breed

immensely but I saw the Mk 3 Fabia monte carlo estate in the show room specced by

a buyer that backed out and available. I am a boy racer at heart and the1l tsi motor

sang its syren song 110 x 6speed and an attitude! I was hooked.

It swallows a 6 berth tent, camp beds porta loo, tv, fridge, kitchen  and cooker, the soft

stuff goes in a top box and it still growls through traffic like a great white on a mission.

Brilliant small car that thinks it is bigger. Dislikes; no heated windscreen and crap headlights,

the mensa test radio/ phone connection and I had to buy and fit my own mud flaps.

The Fabia is growing on me.

 

 

Edited 9 July, 20205 yr by gumdrop

Has anyone gone from a Yeti to a Roomster?

 

I keep looking at them and wondering, they look to have similar if not more usable rear space and I think might have the same flexiwhatevertheyare rear seat system.

 

I know the looks are an acquired taste.

 

I like the high driving position and handling of the Yeti, I like that its a lot shorter than the Octavia estate but it comes up short on load space although being flexible with the seats out its still quite good.

 

I really dont like the poor fuel economy by comparison, the 4wd will have an effect for sure but I think the main one is the frontal area, unlike my Octavias its barely more economical on a run than stop start in town.

 

Which all leads me to considering the Roomster, a strange animal that I did not even know existed till I followed one, I dont need or want a big car now, am not carrying huge loads frequently but would like the flexibility to do so, the Yeti gives me all this but I keep wondering about the Roomster.

 

Has anyone owned both to make a valid comparison in use?

I went the other way - from Roomster(s) to Yeti. 

 

I love my Yeti and there is no other car currently available (from any manufacturer) that I like more.  But I consider my Roomster Scout 1.9tdi the best car I have owned in fifty years of motoring.  It was comfortable and flexible, and it would take all my camping gear.  It also moved a split base double bed, mattress and two bedside cabinets in one trip.  It also had the fixed pano roof, which I miss dreadfully.  Sadly, the return of an old knee injury forced me to part-exchange my Scout for another Roomster with DSG.

 

My Roomster SE 1.2 DSG was a nice enough car but I found the (softer) driver's seat far less comfortable than the Scout and I was unable to drive it for more than half-an-hour before the discomfort became unbearable.

 

One of my biggest criticisms of the Yeti is that the spare wheel lies on top of the floor and takes up an enormous amount of boot space.  The spare wheel on the Roomster is let into the floor and takes up no boot space.

 

If Yeti and Roomster Scout were still available new, I would choose the Roomster in a heartbeat.

 

 

Yes me too. Skoda wanted to do another Roomy but VAG said no apparently because the new version was too similar to the far more expensive German Caddy. My particular Roomy had the old 1.4 non turbo lump but I would still have it today if it were not for the blind Mondeo taxi driver who crushed it beyond repair. Why on earth VAG insist on over speccing and thus over pricing the Caddy which thus fails to sell well, I cannot imagine.

Edited 13 July, 20205 yr by Eccles
omission

 

A similar predicament to Eccles: we have a cherished 07 Roomster (2 1.9 TDi) that has just been scoured down the offside (big time - we had nowhere to go) and we expect a write-off verdict. What to get instead? We had already been considering a Mk3 Fabia Estate to replace my Mk1 but keeping the Roomster for me to camp in at folk festivals - if they get going again next year, that is - but everything is now up in the air.

 

What I like about my Mk1 Fabia (the burbling 1.4 TDi) is the ability to load a guitar hard case horizontally behind /in front of the wheel arches (depending how you look at it) thus using the full width of the boot. I think that might also be possible in the Mk3 if the caddy slot-ins are removed. It will only go in the Roomster boot on the diagonal - only a nuisance if there is lots more kit to load.

 

We chose the Roomster in 2007 because our daughter played the cello and we could get 4 people seated in comfort with the cello case neck resting on the flipped centre rear seat. We also appreciate the totally flat floor with the seats tumbled or removed - not the case in the Yeti.

 

Anyway, whether replacing the Roomster or early Fabia we don’t want extra width, just the impossible - a new Roomster!

I am back in the Octavia 2 for a couple of weeks while in the UK and can better appreciate the good points of each.

 

I miss the boot length of the Octavia, the flat loading floor when front seats removed and the spare wheel under the boot floor. I like the driving position and dynamics of the Yeti, its nice being shorter when parking but it will be the lack of load space that will cause me problems in the long term although I really like the variflex rear seating

 

The more I read about the Roomster the more I wonder whether it could be the best of both worlds for me?

 

My useage is quite binary, just myself and never any rear seat passengers or all the load space being used, I think the lack of length in the Roomster will be compensated for by the extra height which will also be good for sleeping & camping.

 

But how would a Roomster compare to both an Octavia and a Yeti in those use patterns? I prefer the Yeti for everyday driving and its shorter length, the seating height etc, will the Roomster be more like driving a small hatchback (I have never driven a Fabia) and not as comfortable or airy? Does it drive like a bigger vehicle?

 

All comments welcomed especially areas that I wont have considered.

I did some searching for the luggage space dimensions of both cars and also the front seat height because I like the driving position in the Yeti, a comparison site for wheelchair users had the best dimensions.

 

At the rear, styling aside the two vehicles are almost identical in terms of the carrying capacity and dimensions, only a few mms between them.

 

At the front the seat base height & hence driving positions were almost the same, the big difference is the Yeti has a much higher dimension from seat base to the top of the door opening which is obvious when you look at the vehicles side on.

 

I am not tall so no problem with the lower height for getting in and out, I would say the driving positions are similar but in the roomster you would be peering forward through the windscreen of a saloon car like I do in the Octavia but in the Yeti you feel like you are sitting upright and can look up at the sky, I dont think the Roomster seating position is any less upright but the view forward is not so airy and the headlining lower, you are sitting in a small saloon compared to a small SUV.

 

Its been interesting but the Roomster offers me no advantages over the Yeti that I can see, I'm sure if I had known about them before and owned one I would have stuck with it, they had been off my radar for years and I followed one somemonths back simply to work out what it was!

Edited 16 July, 20205 yr by J.R.

Well folks we've picked the Fabia up and so far it's not doing it for us.  Had it 3 days and missing the Yeti already.  Also, I think we made a mistake with the colour - Maple Brown.  Looks great in direct light but dull as ditch water under the cloudy skies we've had recently.  On a positive note the interior is really nice.  Gutted.

Edited 16 August, 20205 yr by JossyB

On 17/08/2020 at 07:34, JossyB said:

Well folks we've picked the Fabia up and so far it's not doing it for us.  Had it 3 days and missing the Yeti already.  Also, I think we made a mistake with the colour - Maple Brown.  Looks great in direct light but dull as ditch water under the cloudy skies we've had recently.  On a positive note the interior is really nice.  Gutted.

 

That is very sad, but I am only too aware from personal experience with a couple of (non Skoda) cars that it happens despite research and test drives.

 

I'm contemplating getting a brand new Fabia Combi to replace my 2003 runabout Toyota Echo/Yaris and  it will compliment our 2014 Octavia combi.

This is the Australian market so we do not get anywhere near the variety of small car options you get in the UK but a 1.0tsi manual Fabia Combi seems to be about the best value and most versatile car available here.

Fortunately I had a loan Fabia for a week in 2018 and was really impressed by it so I hope to avoid your disappointment. 

 

 

On 16/08/2020 at 23:04, JossyB said:

Well folks we've picked the Fabia up and so far it's not doing it for us.  Had it 3 days and missing the Yeti already.  Also, I think we made a mistake with the colour - Maple Brown.  Looks great in direct light but dull as ditch water under the cloudy skies we've had recently.  On a positive note the interior is really nice.  Gutted.

 

I've had a newish Fabia and a brand new Kamiq as courtesy cars whilst my Octavia SE is being serviced and neither the Fabia or Kamiq were a patch on Octavia. Okay they were both quieter than my 1.6Tdi but for solidity and quality, the Octavia is far better. Sometimes its better to stick to what you know.....

Update folks, Fabia traded in for a new Karoq SE Drive 1.0 TSI manual.  Happy again.  Great car.

After 33 months and 27,500 miles in a Karoq I don't think my wife would be happy if I bought her a Fabia with it's much lower seating position.

Yep, that was the main issue shyVRS245 - ride height. 

Really interested in your experience with the Karoq. I have a 2012 Yeti which has been fantastic for my bad back because I can sit upright on a seating wedge without banging my head on the ceiling. It replaced my golf which replaced a Passat and is a far better car than either of them. Can you tell me what you think about the headroom in the Karoq. Only parting with the yeti because it’s diesel and I will be inside the ULEZ next year. Sure the room steer  would have the headroom but I’d prefer to be a bit higher up. 
 

thanks. 

Cynthia, we've had 2 Yetis since 2015.  Both were 2.0 Tdi manuals (115bhp).  We would have gladly kept either one of them long term but both suffered from the paint blistering on the doors.  I still think the Yeti styling beats the Karoq but there's more to it than that.  The interior has a quality feel with a great ride height.  Loads of room in all respects.  The 1.0 Tsi manual (also 115bhp) doesn't feel wanting.  It pulls well, is quiet and has been returning 45-50 mpg.  It's a really comfortable and relaxed place to be.  To sum up, it's a much more refined car with mainstream modern SUV looks.  The Yeti still stands on it's own and we will always love them !

9 hours ago, Cynthia said:

Really interested in your experience with the Karoq. I have a 2012 Yeti which has been fantastic for my bad back because I can sit upright on a seating wedge without banging my head on the ceiling. It replaced my golf which replaced a Passat and is a far better car than either of them. Can you tell me what you think about the headroom in the Karoq. Only parting with the yeti because it’s diesel and I will be inside the ULEZ next year. Sure the room steer  would have the headroom but I’d prefer to be a bit higher up. 
 

thanks. 

We have had our SEL Karoq since January 2018 and the alcantara seats look, feel pure luxury and passengers often comment how well made the interior is even compared to friends more expensive Mercedes and Volvo SUV's. Noticed tonight after nearly 28,000 miles there is no visible sign of wear on any of the seats including the driver's seat. There is plenty of headroom either in the front or the back and we are 6 feet and the wife is a tall 5 feet 10 inches. The boot is a practical and generous 500 litres and even the gearchange on our manual is very nice to use certainly as good as my previous manual a Vrs Octavia. Can't say anything bad about the car and we plan to keep it at least 10 years and it looks and feels it will age well.

Thank you both for your responses- it’s great to have such positive feedback. Going to the Skoda garage Monday and really looking forward to it  . Thanks cynthia