If it existed, where would you go to see the mysterious yeti, aka the abominable snowman? Tibet? Closer to home? How about the desert of central Australia?
Recently, a dozen Yetis could be spotted out the back of Alice Springs. What’s more, there was no mystery about these ‘creatures’. They were examples of a new compact sports utility vehicle from Skoda on a shakedown by the Aussie motoring media.
The ‘dirty’ dozen, all 103kW diesel 4x4s, drove out of Alice along Larapinta Drive before going bush to join the Finke River, said to be the oldest in the world, and site of the desert race for serious off-roaders every Queen’s Birthday weekend. Between the bitumen and the destination, Boggy Hole, 20km away, lay a track of river smoothed small-to-medium sized rocks and intermittent sand traps (literally), both giving the Yeti’s substantial underbody protection a severe workout.
With all-wheel drive split predominantly to the front, only 1800mm of ground clearance and rolling on road tyres at normal pressures, any loss of momentum in the soft sand brought the Yeti to a sickening stop. Neither the fourth-generation Haldex clutch shifting power back and forth between front and back, nor the limited-slip differential on the rear axle doing likewise from side to side was up to the sand-sapping task.
Any attempt to power the wagon out of trouble had the overheated DSG squealing, while the wagon just dug in deeper until it sat defiantly on the sand up to its axles. There was nothing left but to sit it out in the queue of ‘beached brothers’ until Skoda techs arrived in real four-wheel drives to tow us out one by one. In the meantime my co-driver and I took to opportunity to suss out the unique VarioFlex seating arrangement in the Yeti.
A genuine five-seater with a decent amount of luggage space, the Yeti’s three separate rear seats can be folded up to the front seat backs, increasing cargo capacity. In this position, with the flick of a couple of levers, any, or all, of the three can be taken out completely, increasing the cargo area considerably from 310 litres to a maximum of 1665 litres, enough to take a pram or bike.
With the centre rear seat only removed, the outer rear pair can be slid inboard to increase shoulder width, while hooks set into the side walls are able to anchor baggage firmly in the back. The rest of the interior owes much to its German origins, with instruments and controls familiar to any Audi/VW regular. Generally, from the driver’s seat visibility all round is adequate apart from the three-quarter rear view which is obscured to some extent by a solid C-pillar set-up.
Skoda, a Czech ‘mate’ of Audi/VW, has borrowed the DSG double clutch transmission, along with most of the mechanicals, from the German giant and puts it all together in its own factory in eastern Europe. The Yeti is built on the Audi A5/Skoda Octavia Scout platform, and like a clutch of four-wheel drive wagons these days, is offered as a front-wheel drive in the entry-level model powered by the 77kW/175Nm turbo-powered petrol engine from the Fabia.
The 4x4 variant has taken the 103kW turbo-diesel motor from the Octavia and Superb with maximum torque of 320Nm giving it two tonne braked towing capacity. A combined urban/highway fuel consumption figure of 6.6 litres per 100km is claimed for the six-speed manual and 6.7 litres/100km for the DSG.
With plenty of sand spewing wheel spin and ongoing engine stress our DSG ‘Finke’ figure hovered around the 10 litres/100km mark. Disc brakes are fitted all round with the front ventilated, while power steering is speed sensitive. Airbags – two front, one knee, two front side and two curtain front/rear – passive – have helped the Yeti to earn a top five-star EuroNCAP safety rating.
Key features of the Yeti 4x4 103TDI include 17in alloy wheels (16in spare), eight-speaker audio with 6CD stacker, Bluetooth phone connectivity, multi-function computer, auto lights and rain-sensing windscreen wipers and silver roof rails. Satellite navigation is an option and there are four contrasting roof colour options a la Mini.
Despite the stop/start nature, the journey was completed in relative comfort and the desert scenery, according to the coastal dwellers among us, was particularly appealing. In less severe situations, a suite of aids including off-road ABS braking, ASR and EDL , plus hill start assist and hill descent control are capable of taking much of the stress out of driving.
All in all, the Yeti is a versatile, value-for-money, go-almost-anywhere compact SUV. Just keep it a way from soft sand (and presumably deep snow), where it can become abominable. The Yeti is on sale now from $26,290 for the front-wheel drive 77kW TSI petrol six-speed manual to the 103TDI six-speed DSG 4x4 at $37,990.
MODEL LINE-UP AND PRICING*
Front-wheel drive
Yeti 77TSI 6-speed manual $26,290
Yeti 77TSI 7-speed DSG $28,590
4x4
Yeti 103TDI 6-speed manual $35,690
Yeti 103TDI 6-speed DSG $37,990
(*Dealer and statutory government charges not included) |
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