Well after 13 years of Yeti ownership I am reluctantly moving on. I’ve had 2 Yeti’s, the first was an Elegance model 1.2 TSi DSG bought new in 2012 and the second bought new in 2017 when I learnt that Skoda were discontinuing the Yeti. Another 1.2 TSi DSG in SEL Drive trim with all the extras. That Yeti is coming up for 8 years old so reluctantly time for a change. Without a doubt in over 60 years of driving the Yeti was one of the best cars I have ever owned and both have been utterly reliable.

So many months ago the search for a replacement started in earnest, my requirements (I thought) were fairly basic - could be a bit bigger but had to have a light bright interior with light leather seats, an automatic but not a pure EV and good to drive with a high seating position for my older bones! Simple I thought, how wrong I was, it seems almost all cars nowadays have funereal dark interiors with black headlining and black seating and dashboard. Volvo (XC40) used to make it with a beautiful pale interior, no longer, now it’s black unless you get the very expensive top of the range model. Same with Skoda, VW, Mazda and most other makes -WHY?  

The cars with light interiors were few and far between, tried and liked the Lexus LBX but my wife found the passenger seat uncomfortable after 20 minutes or so, looked at Honda’s and eventually visited a Mini showroom where they had one of the new Mini Countrymen, in one trim level it had a pale interior, pale headlining and could be spec’d with pale leather (imitation) leather. Test drive was illuminating, very comfortable ride and excellent performance and most of the niceties I wanted with a higher option level. So on Monday I am swapping my Yeti for a new Countryman. I will be sad to see the Yeti go but I have reconciled myself to the fact that there will never be a proper replacement for the Yeti, why Skoda lost their uniqueness and just cloned VW models I will never know.

However, now looking forward to getting to know the Countryman and all its modern tech!

So after 13 years it’s goodbye to everyone on this forum, it’s been a source f information and fun for the past 13 years -good luck for all you Yeti owners. You’ve got one of the best cars ever made - as a past Editor of AutoExpress told me.

Don't go Expatman, you can still be part of the forum here and I'm sure I speak for everyone here in saying you're correct, the Yeti was just THE BEST.

@Expatman

What MINI Countryman is it, a 1.5 hybrid? 

Nice fast acceleration...

Very grabby brakes (too grabby), i no longer use brakes really as used to as i one pedal driving EV,s mostly now using regen braking.

Having no Paddles or a gear shifter to decelerate was just not something i can live with.

 

I hope you that was a good long test ride on different roads.

Last week i had one for less than 24 hours.

The 25 mile drive home was enough to have me back in agony.

The seat was rock hard compared to the leather seat in my MINI hatch which might be low but a joy for long trips. (& sitting in the car while charging.)

Instead of taking it for a nice long run before taking it back as it could have been with me for 2 days i took it back the shortest route the next morning.

 

Terrible seats. Cheap rubbishy starter, gear / drive selector, no paddles for reducing speed without needing to use the brakes, a hard crashy ride, and the worst thing the centre touch screen and controls almost out of reach of my finger tips. I have my seat quite far back.

That meant the B pillar blocked view to my right at T junctions or off set junctions.

Edited 22 September, 20241 yr by Ootohere

11 hours ago, Expatman said:

Well after 13 years of Yeti ownership I am reluctantly moving on. I’ve had 2 Yeti’s, the first was an Elegance model 1.2 TSi DSG bought new in 2012 and the second bought new in 2017 when I learnt that Skoda were discontinuing the Yeti. Another 1.2 TSi DSG in SEL Drive trim with all the extras. That Yeti is coming up for 8 years old so reluctantly time for a change. Without a doubt in over 60 years of driving the Yeti was one of the best cars I have ever owned and both have been utterly reliable.

So many months ago the search for a replacement started in earnest, my requirements (I thought) were fairly basic - could be a bit bigger but had to have a light bright interior with light leather seats, an automatic but not a pure EV and good to drive with a high seating position for my older bones! Simple I thought, how wrong I was, it seems almost all cars nowadays have funereal dark interiors with black headlining and black seating and dashboard. Volvo (XC40) used to make it with a beautiful pale interior, no longer, now it’s black unless you get the very expensive top of the range model. Same with Skoda, VW, Mazda and most other makes -WHY?  

The cars with light interiors were few and far between, tried and liked the Lexus LBX but my wife found the passenger seat uncomfortable after 20 minutes or so, looked at Honda’s and eventually visited a Mini showroom where they had one of the new Mini Countrymen, in one trim level it had a pale interior, pale headlining and could be spec’d with pale leather (imitation) leather. Test drive was illuminating, very comfortable ride and excellent performance and most of the niceties I wanted with a higher option level. So on Monday I am swapping my Yeti for a new Countryman. I will be sad to see the Yeti go but I have reconciled myself to the fact that there will never be a proper replacement for the Yeti, why Skoda lost their uniqueness and just cloned VW models I will never know.

However, now looking forward to getting to know the Countryman and all its modern tech!

So after 13 years it’s goodbye to everyone on this forum, it’s been a source f information and fun for the past 13 years -good luck for all you Yeti owners. You’ve got one of the best cars ever made - as a past Editor of AutoExpress told me.

The Yeti is certainly a difficult, if not impossible, act to follow!

 

4 Yeti's in total for me and nothing has subsequently quite covered all the bases, despite clear technological and mechanical advances. 

 

I hope the Mini is a worthy replacement 👍

Enjoy your new car, a logical choice I think !

 

For us, Yeti no.8 is only a bit more sophisticated than our Yeti no.1 was back in 2011. My Impreza Turbo is 24 now , but like the Yeti still is totally enjoyable to drive.

 

It's how it makes you feel when you drive it - I'm sure there's lots to love about the Countryman and you will like the sophisticated bits !

Edited 22 September, 20241 yr by Prezafab

2 hours ago, pinkpanther said:

The Yeti is certainly a difficult, if not impossible, act to follow!

 

4 Yeti's in total for me and nothing has subsequently quite covered all the bases, despite clear technological and mechanical advances. 

 

I hope the Mini is a worthy replacement 👍

Spotted this earlier - I can certainly see the attraction from a styling perspective👍

 

Great to see cars on the road which differ from the endless bland and boring options. 

 

Saying that I've no clue regarding Mini, as despite owning well over a 100 different cars that is one box I'm yet to tick😃

 

 

7 hours ago, Ootohere said:

@Expatman

What MINI Countryman is it, a 1.5 hybrid? 

Nice fast acceleration...

Very grabby brakes (too grabby), i no longer use brakes really as used to as i one pedal driving EV,s mostly now using regen braking.

Having no Paddles or a gear shifter to decelerate was just not something i can live with.

 

I hope you that was a good long test ride on different roads.

Last week i had one for less than 24 hours.

The 25 mile drive home was enough to have me back in agony.

The seat was rock hard compared to the leather seat in my MINI hatch which might be low but a joy for long trips. (& sitting in the car while charging.)

Instead of taking it for a nice long run before taking it back as it could have been with me for 2 days i took it back the shortest route the next morning.

 

Terrible seats. Cheap rubbishy starter, gear / drive selector, no paddles for reducing speed without needing to use the brakes, a hard crashy ride, and the worst thing the centre touch screen and controls almost out of reach of my finger tips. I have my seat quite far back.

That meant the B pillar blocked view to my right at T junctions or off set junctions.

Well this proves that everyone has their own view on motors! 

The Mini Countryman is a petrol car, it drives like a petrol car, sounds like a petrol car and goes as far as most petrol cars on a tank of fuel, replenished in minutes. It maybe a mild hybrid but to all intents and purposes it is a petrol car.

In terms of test drives I tested all the cars I tried on the same route, a route I drive on everyday and has a great mixture of very bad surface parts, speed bumps, normal urban driving and faster dual carriageway parts. The Countryman performed well on on all sections, certainly not hard or “crashy”  suspension, in fact surprisingly smooth and refined. Brakes were just - well - brakes!  performed as well as current Yeti without any hint of grabbing or anything untoward. Of course it’s not an electric car or full hybrid so why would you expect there to be any possibility of “one pedal” driving?

My wife has a spinal problem so is very attuned to the comfort of car seats, she found the passenger seat to be very comfortable and supportive, as did I, guess it’s a case of some seats suit some people better than others. 

I am not tall and with the seat in a normal position could easily reach the central control screen. There are so many variants on the centre screen but major elements always are in the same place so although I would prefer physical buttons and knobs I didn’t find the touch controls difficult to master. To be honest once the climate control is set and other variables set the only changes I would make on the move would be heated seats! I set the controls on my Yeti and don’t think I have changed anything for months or, maybe, years! Similar with gear changing paddles, my Yeti doesn’t have them but I can shift to “Sport” or change gears using the stick if I want. I think I might have used those functions once or twice when I first got the car, since then I simply put it in "drive" and  go, certainly won’t miss them.

I looked at the new Mini but it was too low for us and the firm ride was not to our liking. But as I said - everyone to their own likes.

 

I will certainly haunt the Yeti forum to see how you are all getting on and, if anyones interested, could post a comparison of likes and dislikes between Yeti and Countryman after a few weeks?

 

@Expatman I expected more of a possibility to have slowing down with regeneration with a mild hybrid or phev as with many others be it through the motor or gearbox and being able to select the level of regen or just select a lower gear. 

I drive DSG,s or any auto ICE vehicle with my one foot pretty munch like one pedal driving. 

With a DSG in town maybe just dropping back into S and only touching the brake pedal to come to a complete halt. 

 

PS

As to the NEW MINI, there is the New UK built MINI Petrols on the old platform 1.5 or 2.0 litre in 3 or 5 door, or the New MINI Electric built in China on the Great Wall Motors platform. They are low, but the seats are lower on the Petrol / UK built cars.

Then the Aceman is the Higher and bigger car but only comes as an EV and only 3 doors.

Edited 22 September, 20241 yr by Ootohere

21 minutes ago, Ootohere said:

@Expatman I expected more of a possibility to have slowing down with regeneration with a mild hybrid or phev as with many others be it through the motor or gearbox and being able to select the level of regen or just select a lower gear. 

I drive DSG,s or any auto ICE vehicle with my one foot pretty munch like one pedal driving. 

With a DSG in town maybe just dropping back into S and only touching the brake pedal to come to a complete halt. 

 

PS

As to the NEW MINI, there is the New UK built MINI Petrols on the old platform 1.5 or 2.0 litre in 3 or 5 door, or the New MINI Electric built in China on the Great Wall Motors platform. They are low, but the seats are lower on the Petrol / UK built cars.

Then the Aceman is the Higher and bigger car but only comes as an EV and only 3 doors.

You will get regen braking with a full hybrid car but nothing appreciable with a mild hybrid. A mild hybrid can provide a small boost to initial set off but it is very small, similarly regen effect is virtually nonexistent. 
I tried a mini EV out of interest and my comments relate to that. 

When you can not select more regenaration you can usually manually select a lower gear, that was what i missed.

As for the Gear Selector, it is the same on the MINI EV,s as with the Countryman. 

(I seriously dislike the New MINI Electric in both power and battery sizes but i did discover where the amount of Regen can be selected in a menu.)

 

The term Fully Hybrid is a misleading one, i take it you mean that as being a PHEV rather than these Mild Hybrids which are Hybrids, Full Hybrid really, just not Plug in and charge.

Edited 22 September, 20241 yr by Ootohere

57 minutes ago, Ootohere said:

When you can not select more regenaration you can usually manually select a lower gear, that was what i missed.

As for the Gear Selector, it is the same on the MINI EV,s as with the Countryman. 

(I seriously dislike the New MINI Electric in both power and battery sizes but i did discover where the amount of Regen can be selected in a menu.)

 

The term Fully Hybrid is a misleading one, i take it you mean that as being a PHEV rather than these Mild Hybrids which are Hybrids, Full Hybrid really, just not Plug in and charge.

Mild hybrid does not have an electric motor capable of moving the car, frequently it's just a beefed up starter motor that just adds a bit of power to the petrol engine on start off. A full hybrid car has powerful electric motors that can move the car without the petrol engine.

PHEV’s have a much larger battery that can power the car for many miles without the petrol engine being used. Three different systems entirely.

13 minutes ago, Expatman said:

Mild hybrid does not have an electric motor capable of moving the car, frequently it's just a beefed up starter motor that just adds a bit of power to the petrol engine on start off. A full hybrid car has powerful electric motors that can move the car without the petrol engine.

PHEV’s have a much larger battery that can power the car for many miles without the petrol engine being used. Three different systems entirely.

Totally correct.

 

My 3.0 Audi mild hybrid diesel has the BSG (belt driven starter generator) and  is doing 45-52mpg. My Volvo diesel was a full PHEV and averaged 70mpg over 2 years. The Volvo recouped charge to the battery but didn't have a user decided regen setting like most true EVs do.

 

Definitely post your Yeti vs Countryman findings in due course.

Edited 22 September, 20241 yr by Prezafab

Perhaps I should have added that PHEV can be plugged into a charger to charge the battery - much like a pure EV but with an ICE back up!

You make your choice, you pay your money and BMW / MINI and the DVLA say you have a HYDRID, not a almost a hybrid or a little bit hybrid.

Its just how they roll, and you get a boost when you need it and the car coasts a lot and they get the WLTP & RDE2 results and if you get good real economy then it can't be bad. 

3 hours ago, Ootohere said:

You make your choice, you pay your money and BMW / MINI and the DVLA say you have a HYDRID, not a almost a hybrid or a little bit hybrid.

Its just how they roll, and you get a boost when you need it and the car coasts a lot and they get the WLTP & RDE2 results and if you get good real economy then it can't be bad. 

They can call it what they want, there are 3 variants of “hybrids” - Full hybrid, like Honda Jazz, Mild Hybrid, like Mini Countryman and PHEV (Plug in Hybrid) like some Skoda Octavia’s. These are technical differences not beaurocratic definitions.

39 minutes ago, Expatman said:

They can call it what they want, there are 3 variants of “hybrids” - Full hybrid, like Honda Jazz, Mild Hybrid, like Mini Countryman and PHEV (Plug in Hybrid) like some Skoda Octavia’s. These are technical differences not beaurocratic definitions.

Going on your definitions above then my Self Charging Niro lies between the Mild and PHEV as it can certainly drive on the seperate and proper electric motor.

Oh, and it's got a light coloured roof lining!

No, your Niro is a full Hybrid like this Honda Jazz. 

How is this difficult to understand??

Whatever you've got, I hope it gives you at least half as much pleasure as your Yetis obviously have. As you implied, the race to conformity and blandness means there's not much of a choice out there; now in my early 70s I'm wondering whether I can keep my 11 year old Yeti until age, infirmity or death make driving no longer possible. That's how much I hate changing cars. But, reading it back, none of those three options appeal 🙂. So I keep reading post of what people are moving to and the posts why they should have chosen something else, get more and more confused and decide to keep the Yeti a bit longer....

I recognised your comment about most things are "set and forget". My Yeti has park assist - push a button and it parallel parks for you. Except you have to think ahead to use it and I don't think anythng is foolproof so I've used it maybe half a dozen times, back in the early days and usually just to show off to friends. Other than wind the windows up and down and change the wireless everything else stays pretty much the same month to month.

Enjoy the new car. And don't forget the Yeti was a car where the surprises just kept coming - see the section "I didn't know the Yeti did that..." I think I was still finding new features years into ownership - like the little lever in the console box.

Don't be a stranger to the forum, but understand that as you are no longer a Yeti owner you'll have to sit att he back in the cheap seats - it looks like Graham has put his coat on one to reserve it for you. And I'll also be interested to hear your thoughts on the Mini once you've settled to it.

 

1 hour ago, Expatman said:

No, your Niro is a full Hybrid like this Honda Jazz. 

How is this difficult to understand??

Don't worry, I'm with you on all of this !!! I once tried to explain my previous Volvo PHEV to my other half, and lost !😃

Edited 23 September, 20241 yr by Prezafab

Well, Expatman, so sorry to see you 'go' - and it says a lot that it took such a long while for you to actually get round to it! Your insightful Yeti comments, help and tips will be missed. 

 

I am sure that you will have the sincere thanks of all members of the UK16"SpecialBuildClub for helping to lead the (brief) rebellion against rubber bands.

 

Enjoy your Countryman but, as Paul52 said, don't be a stranger here, among the Yetis! 

Edited 23 September, 20241 yr by Brijo
Typo

..good luck with your new toy. I spent over 12 months trying to decide what to replace my Yeti with..(a tough act to follow). I was really happy with my 1.4 petrol, economy was OK, (40+mpg), performance was OK, (150bhp), and ohhhh so practical. I looked at and test drove lots of other cars, Seat, VW, Suzuki, and Toyota, (Yaris Cross...would have got one, but too long waiting list and my Yeti was strting to give me problems).

...ended up with a Self charging Niro. Very sceptical at first, but love the economy (70mpg), OK space, (not as practical as the Yeti), but very comfy and easy ro drive, (always wanted an auto), and the 7 year warranty helped!! (Must admit the Mini was never on my radar at the time??)

Well, picked up Mini Countryman this afternoon - handover took best part of 2 hours and hardly scratched the surface of all the system toys and how to operate them. Why on earth don’t you get a printed Manual anymore? Okay a pdf file (over 300 pages) is okay but not for quick reference or bed time reading!!

Only driven it home but drive was quiet and very comfortable, if a little sad after saying goodbye to Yeti.

More details after I’ve driven it a bit and got my head around the software.

On 23/09/2024 at 22:29, Expatman said:

Well, picked up Mini Countryman this afternoon - handover took best part of 2 hours and hardly scratched the surface of all the system toys and how to operate them. Why on earth don’t you get a printed Manual anymore? Okay a pdf file (over 300 pages) is okay but not for quick reference or bed time reading!!

Only driven it home but drive was quiet and very comfortable, if a little sad after saying goodbye to Yeti.

More details after I’ve driven it a bit and got my head around the software.

Re the owners manual printed edition, Mini being BMW in a different suit does it not follow that like BMW, if on delivery of your car you wish a printed owners manual, then on request it will be ordered and in my case sent to my home address ... that was explained by the salesman before handover when I asked ... hopefully Mini will be the same!.

 

Hope it helps, enjoy your new car!🏎️

Well it’s been over a month since I exchanged my Yeti for a Mini Countryman. I promised to provide a bit of feedback on the swap.
Undoubtedly the Countryman is quieter, smoother, faster and more comfortable than the Yeti, but as it was designed nearly 15 years later than the Yeti that should be the case. Not that the Yeti was bad, in fact I enjoyed it right to the last, but you can tell you are driving a more modern car.
The size of the Countryman took some getting used to but you adapt amazingly quickly and soon forget it’s bigger, the steering is quick which makes driving it more of a Yeti experience than some competitors I tried. The technology is worlds advanced than the Yeti – if you like that sort of thing! Fortunately the ‘warning’ bongs are well muted and easy to switch off, the lane departure and edge of road warnings are very mild and easily ignored. One thing I thought I would never use is the semi automatic driving mode, once engaged it basically drives the car! It keeps the car within the lane, maintains set speed but slows down and speeds up as the traffic changes. It will even bring the car to a complete halt if the traffic stops then pull away again once the car in front moves off. Obviously no use around town etc. but surprisingly helpful on major roads and motorways.
What do I miss?  I really miss the simple knobs to adjust climate control, turn on/off heated seats and not having an oil dipstick – have to check oil level electronically. Why? A dipstick is much simpler, fail safe and handier than having to delve through levels on the touch screen. The touch screen is a lot better than that on other cars I test drove but it still bugs me that the authorities think it is okay to use a cars touchscreen and not okay to use a smartphones touch screen. How does that make sense?
In summary I have to say that I am pleased with my swap, the Countryman is a worthy replacement and has a certain character to it that other cars I test drove didn’t - bit like the Yeti!

BUT the Yeti will always have a place in my heart as a great car which was always a pleasure to drive. Like many others I can’t understand why Skoda stopped developing the Yeti as it could be a brilliant 2024 car if Skoda had stuck with the development.