Well two weeks into Yeti ownership and rather earlier than I expected I got to press that Off Road button.

A very early Sunday morning start saw 4 of us head out of Manchester in the cosseting confines of the Yeti towards Delamere forest to help marshall the two Hell runs being held. The ‘Hell run’ is held both in the North and South of England and involves trail running and negotiating bogs. If you don’t like mud then this is not a race for you shall we say! One chap did it in a Mankini. It wasn’t pretty….

A bright but somewhat nippy morning saw us parking up in a huge and poorly drained field. Obviously the organisers were concerned too as a prefab roadway had been built into the middle of the field after which presumably you sank or swam!

Being one of the first on the field and with a thick carpet of frost I didn’t bother with ‘the button’ just kept the revs constant and a high gear and parked in a convenient spot out of the way. It was quite plain however that as soon as the sun appeared that the fun would commence.

For the rest of the day we manned the drinks station and the radio traffic on the PMR’s soon confirmed that the 2000 competitors in the first race (who had all parked in the same field) were in trouble. A couple of Discoveries/Landies owned by the organisers spent all afternoon towing them out.

It was therefore with some trepidation having finished the mammoth clearing up process that ourselves and the other marshals headed back to our cars. Instead of a pristine green field that had greeted us in the morning we were greeted with a patch of the Somme. More or less last to our car everyone else was already stuck, in the process of getting stuck or being pushed. One car had made it to the prefab road only to skew sideways on it and become grounded. A Mondeo being pushed by 3 women suddenly found traction and promptly deposited its pushees flat on there faces in sticky glutinous mud. Didn’t laugh, honest.

We all piled into Snowy and I pushed the Off road button. I had parked on a downhill slope so selected 2nd more or less straight away and burbled imperiously through the gloopy mire. Some mild sideways moments later (we ignored the prefab road entirely) we exited onto a ‘proper’ road to rapturous applause from all onboard. Despite standard Dunlops (I get my winter tyres fitted this affy) the Yeti was the only one to exit the swamp. I would like to claim some credit as a driving god but have to say it was all down to this incredible car. Whether I needed to press the ‘off road’ button I don’t know but it certainly gave me confidence.

Had I been in my old Alfa GTA I would probably still be there now! Though we were aware that the Landie crews were on there way to perform another rescue mission.

What an incredible car, a huge departure for me in ‘type’ but it has already become part of the family.

What a great report! Thanks for sharing it, and giving us ALL a confidence boost just as the weather turns malignant!

Well done that YETI.

Thanks Freshacre

Didn't mention the colour scheme of my new Yeti. It once was gleaming Candy White.....

Actually rather proud of it, it's more Cappucino now.

OH I loved that report! And no I did not laugh at the thought of the "pushees" fate... Honestly... hehehe, erm, no. In fact that REALLY made me laugh.

But back on topic: wow with summer tyres and all the Yeti did it with the help of THE button.

Hi Fluffy,

as George eluded to a great report;

Monster 1 : Traditional family transport 0

Regards,

Tim.

Thanks Tim. It was situations like these that were becoming all too familiar in the Fluffy household that forced the change from the 'sporty' end of the car market to the SUV/Softroader/Whatehaveyou.

Besides the obvious mobility advantages I didn't realise what a relaxing experience Yeti ownership would be. Seem to be a lot more laid back or 'chilled' as the current saying goes. 42mpg showing as an average and my wallet is breathing a sigh of relief too, the old Alfa (a 3.2 mind) avearged about 22mpg - on a good day!

Well Fluffy,

Got the bang for your Bucks then?

You would probably have done just as well without the button, just a little take it easy attitude would have done it.

Now since you already got it re-coloured, one wonders why a few 4 wheel drifts were not attempted? You did know you could get out, so what the heck - show-off time.

Edited 8 November, 201015 yr by Agerbundsen

Now since you already got it re-cooured, one wonders why a few 4 wheel drifts were not attempted? You did know you could get out, so what the heck - show-off time.

Indeed: +1

BUT next time you do do this again get some pics taken please! (And not just of the pushees in the mud! - sorry, could not resist!)

I was tempted to do the odd donut but thought that would be just rubbing it in Think your probably right Agerbundsen about the button, probably would have coped fine without it but I was just itching to press it - had to be done.

As for taking pictures, think I would have been lynched!

Felt ever so guilty just cruising past everybody, I am NOT an experienced offroader but knew enough to keep the revs even and in a high gear, I knew stopping would potentially be trouble.

I do have one issue, I am at work now with 4 VERY dirty Dunlops. I desperately need to clean them before they come off this afternoon for the winters to go on. My mother has agreed to store them in her garage, don't think she would be best pleased, more soil on them than in her garden!

Edited 8 November, 201015 yr by Fluffy destroyer of worlds

Thanks Freshacre

Didn't mention the colour scheme of my new Yeti. It once was gleaming Candy White.....

Actually rather proud of it, it's more Cappucino now.

great report fluffy... and interesting to hear of your "respray"....you don't mention how your Yeti's interior looks now though... Gobi - > Muddy?...

great report fluffy... and interesting to hear of your "respray"....you don't mention how your Yeti's interior looks now though... Gobi - > Muddy?...

I was thanking my lucky stars I went for the rubber mats and boot liner. They were an easy clean when i got home, too dark to clean the rest of 'Snowy' though. Very impressed with the rubber boot liner, quality item.

It's been said before but I can but confirm. The boot light is pathetic!

Going to have to do something about that.

Boot light, sir?

One for the Wife's Fabia, one reserved for my impending? Yeti!

Vast improvement and no fault code!

Boot light, sir?

One for the Wife's Fabia, one reserved for my impending? Yeti!

Vast improvement and no fault code!

Now that looks the business! Thanks for posting that. It says though a left and right light? Does the Yeti have two lights or only one on the left?

Merlinman, you are a wizard of the highest order

Yeti has a left light. All it seems to do is to draw attention to itself. I has absolutely no effect on anything else from a light perspective whatsoever!

You can fit them either way

You can fit them either way

Eh?? You mean you can fit both?

Sorry Johann - either way round! (my bad)

Sorry Johann - either way round! (my bad)

Hehehe No worries!

Though I have to say if the box comes with two lights I'd love to wire the right one in somehow as well... Maybe we need to start another thread to keep this one on topic.

So back to topic: Fluffy: have you now washed the Yeti yet? If not take some pics of it as is please! I'd like to see a Cappuhite Yeti!

Snowy is going to remain very dirty, what's more he will be doing it in a T5 Heathrow car park from tomorrow as we are off to Nice as the Fuhrer is doing the Nice marathon.

I will of course be ensuring the local bars and restaurants are up to scratch, certainly not running.

Might treat myself to one of those boot light upgrades though, only been a couple of weeks but I have already roundly cursed the pathetic light output. I even got myself a little wind up torch and put it in the boot as a work around.

Couldn't find it though it was too dark.....

An excellent report, and you did all the right things, especially starting in second.

You do realise that if you had tried to do a "doughnut" you would have then got stuck!

Now, when are you going to enroll with 4x4 Response in your area?

No photos though! :(

Boot light, sir?

One for the Wife's Fabia, one reserved for my impending? Yeti!

Vast improvement and no fault code!

Thanks.

What an excellent site.

tom

A great report :-) Skoda have done a great job with the 4x4 system on these cars - even with road tyres they do the job nicely!

Well, I now have a set of Matador Nordicas on my Annapurnas all set for winter. Ordered on Saturday from my friendly local tyresmiths Sheldons, they were fitted with great care and attention yesterday afternoon.

The Yeti caused some consternation amongst the fitters. It was the first they had seen and boy, were they impressed. They whipped off the standard Dunlops and discovered a 4 inch posidrive screw neatly self sealing slap bang in the centre of the N/S front!!

As I will be off to Heathrow shortly and I didn’t go for a spare or spacesaver option I very much wonder what might have happened had I not chosen to fit the winters now. Could have meant a missed flight and one very angry Fuhrer…!

Anyway all fitted £460 and potential puncture expertly repaired I am all set for whatever winter can throw at me. They even bagged up the Dunlops so they wouldn’t make a mess of the boot and interior (still a tad muddy from Sunday’s escapades).

I have also ordered that boot light upgrade so will theoretically have a spare (uprated) unit by the looks of things. First I have to work out how to transfer 42 Euros to the company concerned because I foolishly thought Nat West On line banking could cope with that kind of thing (it can’t!!).

Anyways, off to Nice now. Hope the weather is a tad more clement than it is here, there was snow on the Snake pass yesterday.