[suhaas307]

Kudos to the Team-BHP team for this fantastic review! I was patiently waiting for it, knowing that one of these days, it'll be ready!

And good going Skoda for getting the price absolutely bang-on! I feared that the expected price-tag would climb to 22-24 lakhs and that's where Skoda would have lost the plot a little bit. But they've got it right, near perfect actually! 20 lakhs OTR Bangalore is still a lot for the top-end, even though it's feature packed. But for 20 lakhs, shouldn't you get electrically adjustable seats, the DSG 'box and a sun-roof perhaps? Or is there an L&K variant on the cards? That one would be interesting!

The Yeti looks great! Very balanced and reminds me of the Mini Clubman because of those wrap-around windscreens! Compared to the Nano - (We must admit, the Nano is awkwardly tall for it's width, even taller than the Santro/Estillo) - so that would mean that the Yeti is tall enough to accommodate 6-footers and that's good news for our family, me included!

The interiors look great. Comfortable and spacious! Although the ride, as you'll have mentioned, is a bit harsh at lower-speeds. The boot is quite large as well. But not by Skoda standards. I expected something closer to 475-500 liters. We've seen that sort of space in the Laura.

Apart from a few features missing, I think that this is the perfect car for someone who would like to upgrade to a Laura but is a but apprehensive about it's ground-clearance, especially if he/she plans quite a number of outings on a regular basis!

Questions?

Do you think that the Yeti will eat into the Laura's sales? Considering that they are priced so closely?

What about the L&K? Is it in the pipeline or is it available at all?

How much of a driver's car is it?

[Rehaan]

Originally Posted by tanwaramit

Mods: We are missing video reviews, kindly see if you can include them, Video of the car; presenter may not be on the camera.

Have you seen our video reviews for the Manza, Fortuner, E-Class, Micra and others ?

LINK

Originally Posted by tanwaramit

I couldnt understand the relevance of 4x4 on the gear knob, can we shift into 4x4 from the gear knob ? Need to understand 4x4 of Yeti better.

Its always on, and there's no low-ratio box to shift into. For all practical purposes it handles everything for you.

Originally Posted by tanwaramit

How much is the back space when the 2nd row seats are pushed totally back ? Can we keep suitcases ?

The picture of the rear legroom shown is with the front seats set to a 5'8" driver's position, and the rear seats all the way back.

As for suitcases, i've just updated the boot image to also provide a better sense of scale :

Originally Posted by tanwaramit

Is there a rear view camera attached to the dash unit ?

No reverse camera. Just the sensors which display a distance read out similar to below. 4 sensors / sections at the front and rear.

Source

Originally Posted by Jaggu

Did you guys get a chance to try out the hill descent control? How does it hold?

Thanks Jaggu. The DSG really needs to a happen.

We only got to try the HDC on a fairly slow/shallow descent, which didn't make it kick in. Sorry i guess we could have dug deeper on this one!

Originally Posted by NFS

I thought the this was a nice feature...

A few members have said this, and perhaps "test drive" situations are a little different from "real life" situations as i mentioned in my earlier post. Will edit the original comment on this feature to be more balanced.

Originally Posted by sanagg1

Incidently I just noticed
GC for Yet=180mm
GC for Nano=180mm

True. But also remember that "GC" is only measured at THE lowest point, and is therefore not a true indicator of handling bad roads or even speed breakers.
For example, the lowest point being the differential between the rear wheels and the lowest point being the exhaust in between the front and rear wheels can be totally different ballgames.

Read this thread for a good discussion on this : http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/techni...-measured.html

cya
R

PS - Will reply to the others soon.

[sydras]

When comparing the Yeti's design traits to those belonging to existing cars, I feel that it has the external characteristics of a Ford Fusion, the back of a Ritz, and the seat modification capability of a Jazz. This may not be of importance but I thought it worth mentioning. Anyone else feel the same?

[anandpadhye]

Originally Posted by bkbkr1212

"Puddle lights are placed in a strange location. When you open the door, they are casting more of a shadow than light"

Puddle lights in my Laura are on the inner wall of the front doors - so I can check the ground before getting down in the dark and traffic from behind can see that I am pulled over with doors open. Not sure how they could possibly serve their purpose if mounted on the bottom of the outside mirrors! Strange!!!

[tachobells]

Ouch, that Nano vs Yeti picture was a shocker. I thought it's bigger than that. So can't expect it to be any bigger than the Swift. Got to book a TD anyway.

[n.devdath]

Rehaan and others:

Let me ask you this: Did you do any offroading/trail bashing with the Yeti?
If yes, how much in can the Yeti accomplish when compared to the T-Fort in off road or trail bashing situations?
80%, 90% or more?

Also, for a family of four, which is a better vehicle? The Yeti or the Aria?

I know I talking a lot of different things here but that is what I m thinking right now.

[bkbkr1212]

Originally Posted by anandpadhye

Puddle lights in my Laura are on the inner wall of the front doors - so I can check the ground before getting down in the dark and traffic from behind can see that I am pulled over with doors open. Not sure how they could possibly serve their purpose if mounted on the bottom of the outside mirrors! Strange!!!

Thanks Anand for the 1st part. I drive a cheapo SX4.
So never had the chance to actually see that one out and could not even visualize that lights on ORVMs can be of this use too.

[Ricky_63]

Originally Posted by ACM

That has to do with the Fuel Effeciency settings, It is set to give higher fuel effeciency and tweaking the start-up setting would impact the effeciency, i guess they rather that people get used to it and overcompensate one time.

Should give similar milage on road as the new Laura as it has the same engine and should in the long run settle to about 11-13 in city (depending on the city) and 14-18 on the highway (depending on the speed 80s or 100+)



A double tug at any of the door lock latches would release the lock from that door, or a press of the lock button unlocks all doors and would change the amber light to green.

I disagee. I have a 5 year old Octy with 50k on the clock & she does 16+ in the city with 100% a/c on. 21 kmpl on highways . So I do not think it is to do with mileage at all.



Cheers

[carradio]

brilliant comprehensive review Rehaan, as always ! Though I find the exterior quite quirky, I must say that the interiors are absolutely fabulous. brilliant build quality. GERMAN / EUROPEAN !. There was a series in the Auto Bild magazine about a extensive tour of Europe by two Yetis. Really good one. Those yetis didn't look so quirly, dont know why. any BHPian have an idea why? May be the tyres. PS. Just got a Jetta with the same touchscreen audio system. Different background, looks better in the Yeti IMO. But it does not have the parking assist with that display. is it possible to add it on the Jetta?

[fi.robin]

This will give you an idea of how well the underbody of Yeti is protective. In fact even Fabia has similar package. Notice how the exhaust is neatly tucked in. People who have noticed skoda's cabins will complain of the protruding tunnel which restricts the space for 5 passenger at the back. It is all to protect the important parts underneath.

Nice review Rehaan!

Pic from briskoda.net.

[v.anand]

Excellent review Rehaan and team. Terrific effort, who needs auto magazines anymore after the launch of team-bhp official testing reports?

The characteristic interiors of Yeti look, feel and function very similar to Laura but the latter holds an edge in terms of space IMO. Quality of materials and components are very similar, everything feels like Teutonic precision has been painstakingly engineered into them. Rear seats removal and recline adjust is a welcome feature into Yeti.

The engine characteristics of Skoda is way different from others but is consistent within their range. Stalling at start-up is certainly an irritant and it creeps up every now and then, no matter how determined and conscious you are when trying to launch it perfectly. After the purchase of Laura TSI and having got used to this character a fair bit, new problem crops up of over-revving at launch in any other car I drive and hence have to learn back the old technique of pressing less A pedal.

Is this launch function an engineered feature, I would like to know.

[Guna]

Thanks for a very detailed review.
On the comparison with Nano, it's actually nano which is as tall as SUVs and not the other way . In fact in the other picture Yeti looked as big as CRV (expect for shorter length) But the bonnet seems to be quite low which gives it a low slung stance.
B pillar treatment is weird and seem to be a borrowed from it's sibling Roomster. It is strange that the inner plastic trim doesn't follow the profile and leaves the flimsy sheet metal visible.

[v.anand]

Originally Posted by suhaas307

The boot is quite large as well. But not by Skoda standards. I expected something closer to 475-500 liters. We've seen that sort of space in the Laura.

Apart from a few features missing, I think that this is the perfect car for someone who would like to upgrade to a Laura but is a but apprehensive about it's ground-clearance, especially if he/she plans quite a number of outings on a regular basis!

Questions?

Do you think that the Yeti will eat into the Laura's sales? Considering that they are priced so closely?

The boot is smaller because the length of the car is shorter than Laura.

Both coming from VW Golf platform, I feel the Laura is the extended boot stretched notch-back variant of Golf and Yeti is the jacked up and raised Golf, so effectively making it a hatchback on stilts urban vehicle which hints at its compact dimensions.

As far as eating up of Laura sales, I feel there will be cross selling of products, the market of which it will carve out of Laura itself and won't be a sales blockbuster like Fortuner. The advantages of Yeti over Laura being 4X4 transmission, raised suspension and compact dimensions which is such a bonus in city conditions, more appreciated by repeat customers in entry luxury segment than the new ones due to having understood the difficulties in managing the large size due to congested spaces. But then again, DSG option would have been more ideal to make it more urban.

Laura offers more space on the inside, comparatively better drive due to not-so-raised suspension (has been done marginally due to rough road package India demands) IMO, equivalent equipment at a slightly lesser price and last but not the least, though this point is a very minor one in the market space but important in T-Bhp, entry into the famed 1.8TSI engine.

[adimicra]

Excellent review Rehaan!

All the reviews I have read till date about the Yeti gives me the feeling that it is an awesome vehicle. I would definitely have considered it but unfortunately it is way above my budget now.

But I am pretty sure the car will flop big time! In India, people primarily buy SUV to show off or the bossy/macho image and road presence (mind you, TBHPians are not a good sample of the general car buying public in India IMO). They will not spend almost 20L on a vehicle which is a little bigger than the premium hatches and smaller than vehicles much lower in price however good it might be. The Indian car market is not matured enough to appreciate vehicles like this. I hope I am proved wrong because otherwise the car manufacturers will not be enthused in introducing class-redefining vehicles like the Yeti!

[androdev]

Originally Posted by Rehaan

Hmmm. Thats a possibility too.



A single tug does it.

Though i should clarify -- the doors remaining locked is not an issue for passengers inside the car, they can open their door at any time. Its an issue when say the driver gets out of the car and tries to open the rear door from the outside, etc.

cya
R

I have a child-lock on rear doors so I am an expert in opening rear doors from outside Doors are unlocked only when the key is removed from the ignition, merely switching off the engine doesn't unlock any door, not even driver's. Like you mentioned all doors can be opened from inside anytime using double-tug. If the driver wants to get out and open other doors, he either has to take out the key from the ignition or press the central-unlock button. This is a safety measure, otherwise when you switch off the engine at a red signal, your doors/boot get unlocked and others can get in.

The default door locking and unlocking behaviour can be changed by MFD or the dealer using diagnostic computer.