[Santoshbhat]

Comparing Yeti to the Fortuner is like comparing apples and oranges. The two are quite different from each other. THe Fortuner is a rugged SUV belonging to the old school of SUVs, whereas the Yeti is a softroader. It really depends on the kind of usage you want to put it to. If you are going to drive in the city more often and do not intend to do much offroading then the Yeti is the one to go for , since it is the better car to drive and will be easier to park. The Yeti's interiors are far more richer and superior when compared to the Fortuner. As GTO said, the Fortuner's interiors are very similar to the Innova. Spacewise the Fortuner may be bigger per se , but I found the Yeti to be the more comfortable of the two when seating four. But being an Innova owner you may find the Yeti short on space if you intend to carry more no. of passengers.

As far as A.S.S is concerned, Toyota is miles ahead from Skoda. Reliability wise again the Toyota will be far better.

[Rameshdude]

Great comparison GTO. I am also in a similar dilemma,but between yeti and captiva. Captiva has a limited edition model,extreme.it has red and black interiors and also with sunroof. How would you compare with these two? At present, Captiva on road is about 3L more. And yeti is planning to come out with a sub 12L one too. Would like hear your opinion on these two.

[GTO]

Originally Posted by gautamkhadse

I don't know if you would find my suggestion any valuable , NItin , but have you considered the TATA Aria

I wouldn't consider the Aria as an upgrade for an Innova owner. Except for the additional features, there's not much else an Innova owner will be impressed by.

Originally Posted by nitinbose

When you say the long term reliability of Skoda is below average, till what km would you be able to drive without serious maintenance/repairs?

The troublesome Lauras I know of turned into devils after 40000 - 50000 kms (much like the complicated Mercs too).

Originally Posted by tsk1979

GTO, great comparison, however you missed one thing, after sales service.

Thanks Tanveer. Added.

Originally Posted by download2live

One thing however. Will you be selling off our one year old Innova? If thats the case than financially its reckless.

True that. All the more so as the thread starter has the "V" variant.

Originally Posted by ghodlur

Can you also put up the price comparison too.

Well, the base Yeti is nearly 5 lakhs cheaper than the Fortuner. And the fully-loaded about 3.5. If you keep the price differential in mind, the cost of ownership will probably be in favour of the Yeti over a 5 year window (remember, even Skoda diesels have good resale).

[nitinbose]

I'm surprised that Skoda service has still not improved. I've been reading some posts dated as early as 2009 with the same issues. I'm wondering how skoda is maintaining a market share with such poor support.

[Santoshbhat]

Originally Posted by nitinbose

I'm surprised that Skoda service has still not improved. I've been reading some posts dated as early as 2009 with the same issues. I'm wondering how skoda is maintaining a market share with such poor support.

I guess the problem lies in the amount of or the rather the lack of localisation that the car maker is able to achieve. Localisation helps to bring down costs of spares and parts drastically and also lowers the leadtime for sourcing of these parts. This is where car makers like Toyota, Honda and Hyundai have been able to score over companies like Skoda whose cars share a lot of parts with VW and sometimes Audi (I find lots of little areas in my Laura which carry the Audi's 4 rings or the VW symbol). High probablity of these being imported which means 1) they are expensive 2) If not in stock will take ages to arrive. As a result the service centre ends up having dissatisfied customers. Maybe now with VW coming on the scene, it will help Skoda to bring down cost of their spares and provide better service.

[n.devdath]

Nitin,
Since space is not a constraint for you, I would recommend the Yeti over the Fortuner with the 4 year Skoda shield. Also, not all Skoda dealers are alike. Moreover, if you are not satisfied with the car/ASC, you can sell it after or when your Skoda shield is about to expire anyway.

The Yeti is a more complete package for your requirements when compared to the Fortuner.

[nitinbose]

@n.devdath: That's a good suggestion, but because skoda's bad reputation could be widespread, wont that affect its resale value adversely?

Apparently, its quite interesting to note only 2-3 motor companies offer good ***. It seems they would be in hand and glove with other manufacturers/dealers to offer poor service, so that they can enjoy a monopoly.

This is just like BSNL offering rather inferior service as compared to Airtel or Vodafone.

Everything seems a sales game!

Here is the funny conversation I had with Skoda:

skoda: Good afternoon sir, you had requested for a test drive of the skoda yeti, when would you be purchasing the yeti?
Me: In 2-3 months time-frame, but first I must test-drive and understand its features and benefits/advantages.
skoda: Ok Sir, then you can call us by August when you are going to purchase the vehicle.

.... and with a bang, they put the phone receiver down!

Whereas the sales person from Nandi Toyota visited me the same day, gave me a test drive and explained everything in detail. He is also doing a good follow-up.

[mayankjha1806]

Originally Posted by n.devdath

Nitin,
Since space is not a constraint for you, I would recommend the Yeti over the Fortuner with the 4 year Skoda shield. Also, not all Skoda dealers are alike. Moreover, if you are not satisfied with the car/ASC, you can sell it after or when your Skoda shield is about to expire.

With due respect i disagree.

I am not sure how the resale value of skoda is but i wouldnt buy a secind hand skoda close to shield expire date knowingly well the a.s.s spares would cost me a bomb

[nitinbose]

@mayankjha1806: I was thinking on the same lines. How about the resale value, say after 5 years?

[nilanjanray]

Nitin, we are commenting, but what are your needs? Have you done an analysis of which features matter most to you, and probable usage scenarios? That should automatically give you the answer, and perhaps also throw up more alternatives.

I am back after a 3500 km roadtrip in the Fortuner, in which I covered terrible roads as well as drove in the night on not so safe highways, cruising at high speed. The reliability + capability of the Fortuner enables you to do things that you might not do if you are apprehensive about getting stuck in the middle of nowhere. But if you don't need the space or toughness of the Fortuner, and plan to stick to city driving plus occasional highway drives (not going too far off the beaten track), then the Yeti is a better fit.

[n.devdath]

Originally Posted by mayankjha1806

I am not sure how the resale value of skoda is but i wouldnt buy a secind hand skoda close to shield expire date knowingly well the a.s.s spares would cost me a bomb

Second hand Skodas do sell in the market and hold decent resale value as well though not as much as a Toyota.

Also, the question was to buy a new Yeti and not a pre-owned piece. Coming to spares, yes Skoda spares are expensive but the replacement intervals too are different. In fact, there are Laura owners on TBHP whose have clocked more than 50-60k kms on the so called earlier unreliable PD Lauras and are reasonably happy.
Anyway, we are digressing at the moment so, l pause.

[Turbanator]

I'm wondering how skoda is maintaining a market share with such poor support.

have you heard story of a child - who wanted to touch the burning candle - One child tried touching the candle but was told by her mother that this will cause burn & he refrained , Second one did not heeded to her mother & went to touch - his hand was burnt & he never touched the candle again & Third one touched the candle despite warning , got his hand burnt once & still tried again later on thinking that this time it won't burn , so man we are country of over 100 Million & many guys think that the problem of Skoda is not going to happen with them , there are enough warnings & its up to you to heed or try ...

I used to own an Innova and still miss the Second seat comfort ( captain type ) in all of my cars but was always pissed off whenever a policeman will stop the car & demand papers - thinking it to be a Taxi .
Go-ahead with Fortuner you will not repent - pickup the silver color - change the front Grill & the car should be appear like a small LC .

[zipperone]

The numbers speak for themselves. The fortuner has a 3-4 month waiting and the Yeti you could get a discount on if you asked nicely. Go ahead and buy a Fortuner, you will not regret it now and will be glad when it continues to serve you year after year. No doubt that the Toyotas hold much better value than the Skodas as they grow older.

[vb-saan]

The choices you mentioned are really narrow, and actually cater to different sensibilities. And from your responses, you are really swayed towards the Fortuner. So if you are not really fixing on the Fortuner, I will suggest re-assessing your requirements and throwing in a few more options. For e.g; Even the X1 base variant works well with your 80% city run.

[nitinbose]

Hi Everyone,

Let me thank you for your responses. Many of you asked me on my requirements, so here it is:

I would want an SUV which would be self-driven and I would be the only person traveling in it. The usage would be 80% city driving and 20% highway/off-roading.

I would like a reasonable resale value, say after 5 years, I would expect around 60% of the initial value. I would also like the maintenance and repair costs to be within my acceptable limits, say about 3K max., per normal services and can spend about 25K in 3Years for some repairs, if needed.

The service should also be reasonable, even if there are some delays in obtaining the spares, it should not go to months and obtain duplicate spares or poor quality workmanship, or unable to troubleshoot some issues.

So which of the two would be ideal?