What on Earth is a Skoda Yeti? I was given the chance to find out - and I was about to be very pleasantly surprised!
This new genre of family car... the ‘crossover’ has brought to light the fact that, even though a vehicle can’t be all things to all people, it can certainly offer a little bit of everything in generous measures.
I have just spent an extremely enjoyable week in the company of a shiny new Skoda Yeti.
With this car, as with any if I really wanted to, I could simply make a side-by-side list of all the pros and cons and leave it at that. However, this car is worthy of far more and deserves much praise where it’s due.
The thing that struck me when I first saw it was its shape. It’s quite a box on wheels. There’s heaps of boot space, not just front to back, but upwards as well. There’s no coupé roofline to contend with, so the available space is huge. The rear seats can also be easily removed and rearranged according to taste. One can be removed and the others can be slid from side to side to allow plenty of arm room or handbag room if that’s your bag! Alternatively, they can all be taken out to make room for the horse if your trailer isn’t up to it.
With a sunroof the size of a small town there’s a lightness and sense of space that you rarely see in any car apart from convertible versions. Combined with the climate control it makes the whole driving experience quite fresh and uplifting.
The Yeti drives well, although again referring to the first paragraph, this is not a high performance sport saloon, it is ‘a crossover’. So if I really wanted a car to thrash the pants off and which would stick to the road like glue, I’d have chosen something purpose-built like an Audi TT or a Reliant Robin instead. Emulating previous LeMans 24 heroes isn’t my cup of tea, so I was quite happy to see how it could propel Mr Average Dad, his Better Half and assorted offspring garnish around the potholed A, B and other roads of rainy Blighty.
It does it all remarkably well too! It’s quiet and comfortable at town speeds, the gearbox is positive and chunky and the seats are comfortable. If pushed, it is possible to detect a bit of a bounce and wobble, but this isn’t a car I ever felt the need to push. It is a very smart and sensible car with oodles of sensible gadgets and extras to keep what is left of the little boy in me happy. When on the open motorway, it isn’t the quietest car, but then again it is a long, long way from the noisiest car I’ve driven recently. What I would say is, if you want a quiet car, then sacrifice size and practicality and get a saloon car that is designed to be quiet. It has the added advantage of 4-wheel drive and a switchable off-road mode for those particularly lumpy, slippery places. (or the A9 in March!)
A jaunt from our offices in Cardiff up to the Big Smoke and back showed me how completely at ease this car is when cruising all day at legal speeds. Once the cruise control was clicked on and the appropriate music was entertaining the eardrums, the journey was effortless and luxurious. There was even some additional entertainment thrown in by the wiper system, which appeared to have developed its own form of ‘Wiper Tourettes’, suddenly and for no apparent reason putting the wipers into full speed and then stopping again when it wasn’t even raining. The intermittent wipe does have a rain sensing feature, but I’m sure on this occasion it was controlled by some attention-seeking alien with a sense of humour.
The Yeti is a car I thoroughly enjoyed living with and, taking into account Skoda’s staggeringly good build quality and reliability, I’m sure it will offer fantastic value for money for someone with a family who wants a big, well-built, luxurious, practical and fun car.
Nigel Crawford
March 2010 |
The Ford Kuga
