KarenThis summer one of our adventures was to a campsite in North Yorkshire. To help us on our way, Skoda asked if we wanted to take one of their lovely Yeti Outdoor cars with us – how lucky is that?!
We were sent a Skoda Yeti Outdoor Elegance 1.2 TSI. My husband was a bit disappointed when he realised it was a 1.2 litre engine but I think he was pleasantly surprised by it.
Question: is it big enough for family camping?
We have a Skoda ourselves – a 2ltr Octavia Estate diesel – and we love it. Our Octavia is brilliant for camping and I was a bit worried the Yeti wouldn’t be as roomy.
So we put it to the test.
So yeah – everything did fit! Even with a full sized spare under the boot. There was one more thing to put in the car after these photos were taken and that was the dog. She spent the entire journey asleep in the passenger footwell. She’s not exactly a laptop, though she isn’t huge. She was comfortable enough but I think if I was any taller than my perfect (what?!) 5’2″ height, the dog may have been uncomfortable!
Throughout my series of reviews for Skoda, I have been consistently impressed with the quality of each car. I don’t need to tell use jargon worthy of BBC’s Top Gear; my role is to talk to you about whether or not you can fit a family of five into their latest model – and then if there is room for shopping as well. I’m talking about the practicalities. The important stuff.
Though the average mpg for this car is 46.3mpg we managed a pretty decent 38-ish. I don’t think that’s bad at all considering the amount of weight that was in the car and the roofbox. Camping requires a lot of stuff. Stuff … and beer.
Best features
I personally like the driving position in the Skoda Yeti. Higher up than many of the other cars on the road but you don’t feel as though you’re navigating a boat (we had a Mistubishi Outlander for three weeks and I was frightenened of it!).
The sat nav and radio system, once I spent five minutes getting to grip with it, was great. There were no arguments over who was having their chosen CD on with a 6 CD changer. Actually if we’d have run out of those we could’ve just hooked up the phones and played Mp3s. You can even play a DVD when the car is stationary, which came in handy when we were pitching the tent in a thunderstorm. At least the kids were dry and happy – which is more than I can say for my husband who put the awning up on his own when I abandoned him!
When I test drove some Skoda Yeti cars earlier in the year, the hill hold control is something that was difficult to get used to . Everyone is different though and my husband found it useful in the rather dramatic Yorkshire countryside!
There is a very handy feature on modern Skoda models, which is one that advises the driver regarding the right gear to be in. I’m guilty of reaching quite high revs before changing up but the Skoda Yeti (and the other newer Skodas I’ve driven) show a number and an arrow (either up or down) which give gear advice. This of course helps to improve the car’s overall fuel consumption and therefore save you money. Win!
and finally…
I’m eternally grateful to Skoda for letting me try out their lovely car. Off the back of my first review I went out and bought the Octavia which I think goes to show how much I love them. I would (and do) thoroughly reccommend an Skoda to anyone who is looking to buy a new (or even used) car.
