118TSI Yeti

[RSwag]

The Age have a write up on the 112tsi today and it is completely underwhelming. The shine seems to have one of the hero of the brand, they dont say its a bad cat but final comment was similar to "Skoda is like Jan Brady, it's there but no one seems to notice it". Not exactly inspiring words for a prospective buyer.

I think the writer also pointed out that it's priced above others such as CX5 but has less features standard. And if the handful of moments that are attached to the article so far are an indicator this release won't even make a ripple in the pond.

I also read the GoAuto article on the CX5, it touched on supply and the demand so far. They stated that they have sold roughly 3 times the amount of the model than they had predicted. They wouldn't give a figure but stated that they had originally planned for 1,000pm and I'm sure we can all join the dots.

How can they smash their ambitious target of 1,000 units per month in the 2 months since launch with a vehicle that is a direct competitor for the Yeti but the Yeti can barely do 10% of that original target. Clearly their is a massive audience that Skda are unable to attract, I wonder why?.............(rhetorical, I know exactly why for reasons previously outlined)

[woofy]

RSwag, there is a really simple answer to that. The CX-5 is a pretty good looking car. The Yeti gets described by most people I know as that "odd looking car". The Majority of people in Australia like the Japanese styling, so much so that Holden pretty much copied the Mazda 6 wagon with their sportswagon.

[RSwag]

RSwag, there is a really simple answer to that. The CX-5 is a pretty good looking car. The Yeti gets described by most people I know as that "odd looking car". The Majority of people in Australia like the Japanese styling, so much so that Holden pretty much copied the Mazda 6 wagon with their sportswagon.

Arrggghhh, the sports wagon looks nothing like the Mazda 6 wagon, not that I can see anyway. I know you are not a novice when it comes to automotive matter in this country but I do think you are somewhat delusional when it comes to the Skoda brand here, or least the penultimate optimist.

My firm belief is that every brand has a staple product that magnatizes the majority to consider, look and ultimately buy. Holden have the commodore, Volkswagen have the Golf and Mazda have the 3. What these staples do is create the majority volume in sales and then drag people, friends, family, colleagues in from the peripheral to consider other models in the line up.

For Skoda this staple is without a out the Octavia, let's face it the 90tsi at mid 20's on road should be killing this mid size wagon sector but it's not en a contender. In fact i believe the Octavia as a whole model line up has been declining in numbers over the last quarter, if this is accurate it is a complete disaster.

Looks don't deter people, think of ugg boots and crocs, marketed well the appearance can and should become a part if the products attractant.

[woofy]

Arrggghhh, the sports wagon looks nothing like the Mazda 6 wagon, not that I can see anyway. I know you are not a novice when it comes to automotive matter in this country but I do think you are somewhat delusional when it comes to the Skoda brand here, or least the penultimate optimist.

My firm belief is that every brand has a staple product that magnatizes the majority to consider, look and ultimately buy. Holden have the commodore, Volkswagen have the Golf and Mazda have the 3. What these staples do is create the majority volume in sales and then drag people, friends, family, colleagues in from the peripheral to consider other models in the line up.

For Skoda this staple is without a out the Octavia, let's face it the 90tsi at mid 20's on road should be killing this mid size wagon sector but it's not en a contender. In fact i believe the Octavia as a whole model line up has been declining in numbers over the last quarter, if this is accurate it is a complete disaster.

Looks don't deter people, think of ugg boots and crocs, marketed well the appearance can and should become a part if the products attractant.

I would beg to differ, the Mazda 626 was a pretty popular car when it had the Porsche designers working on it in the 90s, as well as the Astina which was very popular. They then went back to a more conservative design and it wasn't until the Mazda 6 and the RX-8 came out with styling that Mazda became popular again. The 3 was almost the last car to be released, by then you were seeing 6s everywhere you looked. They then update the 6 first and it completely killed sales overnight so much so that they dropped the price within months. It was the same car essentially and yet the new shape/design wasn't selling so well.

The masses will always buy something that is appealing, I can think of plenty of really crappy cars that sold well due purely to being eye candy. The second highest imported car now after Mazda is Hyundai and most of that has come since the new styling. And its not hard to see where Holden copied Japanese style trends, but if it helps, I know a little birdy who works in the design bit where its no secret which design houses they were copying. From memory there is an article when the Sportswagon was released where they talk to the quite young main designer, its no accident a big wagon, went to a much smaller wagon and the flared guards and small qtr windows.

Dare I even mention what was arguably the best car Ford ever made the AU that completely died, took Falcon from the number one spot to the point where even when they tried to fix the looks, it pretty much had put people off for good. Seeing as it was the number one selling car and it was its strange looks that people hated, I would say thats a pretty good sign that the majority of car buyers in Oz vote with their eyes, seconded only by their wallets.

Skoda are great cars, but look how many people mention the oddness, or quirky, even two of the recent articles posted here that's almost the first words they say. I would say if the soon to come Octavia looks anything like the L-concept it will pick up and do fine lookswise, as for whether Skoda can market it well and keep the dealers from rising the servicing costs to make a buck like they are all doing lately is another story.

[aware]

Caradvice Review here: Link

It sums up saying that the 112 is the pick of the Yeti range. I'd seriously look at the 112 now that it has been released when I go to replace my Forester in 3-4 years. I hope this is a good move strategically for Skoda. It'd be ecstatic to see Skoda grow to be a much larger competitor in the Australian Market - whether that happens is unknown. They are heavily focused on AFL and Cycling now, but whether that works as well is also unknown. (Anyone on their Facebook page will know that nearly every post from Skoda is about AFL or Cycling)

---------- Post added at 05:15 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:12 PM ----------

Skoda are great cars, but look how many people mention the oddness, or quirky, even two of the recent articles posted here that's almost the first words they say. I would say if the soon to come Octavia looks anything like the L-concept it will pick up and do fine lookswise, as for whether Skoda can market it well and keep the dealers from rising the servicing costs to make a buck like they are all doing lately is another story.

Spot on.

[pologti18t]

Caradvice Review here: Link

It sums up saying that the 112 is the pick of the Yeti range. I'd seriously look at the 112 now that it has been released when I go to replace my Forester in 3-4 years.

It won't even be around in 3-4yrs.

A very positive review

http://www.themotorreport.com.au/53823/2012-skoda-yeti-112tsi-manual-and-dsg-first-drive-review

[bluey]

Seems like much better value than the 103TDI and would definitely be the Yeti I'd buy (in fact I think my parents are considering it).

Street prices on in-stock TDI Yetis are pretty good at present, since there are a few listed around $36k driveaway.

Presume the 112TSI 1.8L was chosen because the 118TSI 1.4L would have marketing image problems in the Yeti lineup. VWA still wants to maintain differentiation between Tiguans and Yetis.

Somehow, the 112TSI Yeti has 8.4sec 0-100km/h compared with a 132TSI Tiguan at 8.3 sec, when the Tiguan has more power and torque but a 70kg weight handicap. Yeti also uses less fuel. To me that puts the petrol and diesel yeti's about equivalent - the usual diesel price premium vs lower running costs for premium-petrol engines with better performance.

In the UK, Yeti is #2 for low depreciation! Named: Depreciation winners and losers | News | Auto Express

[Copperhead]

Is anyone aware of any reliability issues with this engine? I had more or less decided to buy a petrol Yeti, but reading through the Octavia section of the forum there was some discussion about problems with the 2.0L (same EA888 family). I didn't want to intrude on someone elses thread, so I'll move here,

woofy
"I must have missed them. He reckoned the new engine in the current RS, GTi and it stablemates is so bad that they are expecting new versions to appear in this years models with new rings/pistons. Also that they are fully booked up for engine rebuilds for 6mths (Audi dealer in syd). I haven't seen anything that obvious around."

Brad responded to my question there with

"I have a 2007 build 1.8TSI M6. Uses 200ml of oil in 15,000km. Has averaged 6.8L/100km over the last 93,000km. It's had a Bluefin remap since2009. It's a wonderful, smooth, torquey little engine. Love it. Would buy again.

Run it in properly & use 98ron & you'll get more than the advertised 118kw."

Is this the same engine as used in the Yeti? or is it EA113?

This Yeti will be for a single car family in the country, so reliabilty is my number one priority. It's replacing a 20 year old Nissan Pulsar
(N14 with SR20 engine), that has been absolutely faultless over that time.

If I'd be better off with the diesel, or something else entirely, I'd appreciate any advise.

Thanks, John.

[Jake02]

If the budget is able to incorporate the 103TDI then I'd certainly consider it; its economy is amazing. The 103TDI engine is probably close to the most-used engine in the VW Group (it ranges from the Audi A1 in the UK all the way up to Q5s, A6s, etc), and I've not heard many reliability issues from it (and it's been in service for so long you think they'd have fixed them); rather the DSG and DPF itself. I'm sure others could shed more light on that however.

[zach]

my brother is getting a 112 with DSG and metallic paint as options quoted $37k which seems steep to me. anyone got better deal in vic to compare?

[Jake02]

my brother is getting a 112 with DSG and metallic paint as options quoted $37k which seems steep to me. anyone got better deal in vic to compare?

The 112TSI DSG's RRP is $35,690 so $37k doesn't seem too bad to me. But that probably wasn't on-road.

[zach]

thanks Jake02. $37k is including ORC. I told him to aim for RRP for on road price so not too far off.