| Long Term Test | Skoda Yeti 4x4 |
Been anywhere interesting?
A far better question would be where
haven't we been? Obviously there are lots of places we haven't been - Amarillo, for example (we don't know the way there) - but you get the gist.
As you can see from the photographs, it's been snowing a little in Yeti land. Perfect. Our decision to choose a 4x4 Yeti, rather than front-wheel drive version, was officially vindicated on the evening of Thursday November 25 (if memory serves correctly), when the earliest significant snowfall for 17 years fell.
It's funny; a good old whitewash can't whitewash a car's true colours. We know of someone that declared how 'great' his particular brand of pioneering Japanese crossover was in the snow - then the following day was seen driving his wife's car to work. There are no guarantees. We know someone else who has relegated his Toyota RAV4 to the drive in favour of the old family runabout, a 2002 Corsa. Highlight of the month: 'Will you get out of the car park in that?" someone asked him. He wound the window down..."Corsa will!" And off he went. Genius.
Anything stand out?
The amount of diesel we're going through at the moment is staggering. We're certainly using the Yeti more than usual, because it's so effortless over the snow; using a front-wheel drive test car often doesn't seem worth the effort at the moment.
We must say, though, fuel consumption is something we're going to keep an eye on over the coming months - this car definitely isn't as parsimonious as we'd hoped it would be. We'll come back to that issue when the snow melts.
... and for the wrong reaons?
Yeah, actually - the one time that the Yeti
didn't manage to get out of the snow at the first time of asking. That stands out. It was at a family function, and I was parked in ten inches of the stuff, sat atop about four inches of broken ice.
I'd already been in and out of the space three times doing various errands, and was about to leave it for the final time to go home. By cruel twist of fate, four or five friends decided this would be a suitable juncture to poke about the Yeti, asking all sorts of questions. I'd spent some time championing its excellence, with particular reference to its ability in the snow, when one of them, a keen car person and member of some sort of Impreza club, looked at the ground and asked, with mild disdain, "you'll get out of that, will you?"
It was my response that would haunt me later: "watch and learn," I said. They did watch. And what they learned was that pride comes before a fall. I got out, eventually, but only after spraying snow and CO
2 on everyone within 30 yards.
In the immediate aftermath, all five of my so-called friends offered to 'review' my driving skills. Fail.
Where next?
To Silbury Skoda to have some winter tyres fitted. As we've made quite clear, the Yeti isn't struggling over the snow (mostly), but with winter tyres so high on the agenda at the moment we thought we'd put them to the test. Can they really be that much better over ice and standing water? We'll let you know...
