Hi Everyone,

I am a happy Yeti owner in India, for the past 6 months.

Being an avid Auto enthusiast and an engineer by education, there are some suggestions that I have given to Skoda India for some specific changes for product improvement. Thought I should share with the Briskoda group also and have your views on these aspects.

1) Headlights - the standard headlights on the Yeti are single optic headlights with H4 bulbs. These headlights are not very effective in the Indian driving conditions due to oncoming traffic with HIgh beams. The original H4 bulbs in the Yeti were from GE Hungary, which also have very low output levels. I changed mine to Philips H4 Premium (same wattage 50/55 W) and the increase in light levels and aiming is better by at least 30%. If possible, the Yeti headlights should be Twin optic based, with separate reflectors for dipped and high beams and both bulbs being on simultaneously in high beam mode.

2) Tyres: The standard tyres fitted on the Yeti in India are Goodyear excellence 215/60 R16 and these are road based car tyres with a very soft compound. In India, as road conditions are not good (lots of potholes on the roads) these tyres are also very prone to sidewall damage and cannot bear the Indian road conditions well. Also, these are typical car tyres and not SUV tyres and have zero off-road capability. Additionally, the 60 profile of the tyres does not absorb road imperfections enough and the bumps and shocks are transmitted to the cabin quite a lot. I would recommend if the Yeti could come with at least 215/65 R 16 tyres, which will better absorb the bumps (65% profile) and also are available as SUV tyres in all major brands in India - Michelin Latitude Cross, Yokohama Geolandars, Bridgestone Dueler etc - which are tyres better suited for an SUV like Yeti and only with these tyres, will the Yeti be able to take on the terrain that it is capable of ! I would request if at least some of the Yeti buyers could get this as an additional option (can be fitted at dealers at extra cost) for people who want to go more offroading. This will also help increase the ground clearance from existing 180 mm to around 191 mm due to higher sidewall profile of the tyres. High speed handling and cornering capabilities would not be affected much, and the positives on better ride quality would far outweigh the loss.

Also, proper AT tyres on the Yeti will also help the overall image of the Yeti as a capable offroader.

3) Suspension: The current suspension setup is optimized for high speed handling on good roads (typical for European cars, as the roads are much better there). However in India, with this setup the ride can become a little bone jarring at slow speed. I would recommend a softer suspension setup (softer coil springs, with higher degree of movement) for India to improve the comfort levels on the Indian roads.

4) AC effectiveness and idling speed: I noticed some odd behaviour from the AC in different circumstances in Indian traffic. The AC is normally effective in smooth freeflowing traffic on highways. The problem starts with bumper to bumper traffic. Here what I have noticed is that when the car is in stop-and-go traffic, the idle speed of the engine with AC on and with engine cold is around 900 rpm. However when the engine is warmed up, this speed is regulated to around 800 rpm by the ECU. At this idle speed RPM with AC on, what happens when we release the clutch, inspite of accellerator input, the engine rpm drops very briefly to around 775 rpm , which triggers an anti-stall response from the ECU and one of the actions of this is to cut the AC compressor off from the engine to reduce the load and the AC compressor remains cut out for close to 1 minute (probably to allow gas rebalancing time before restarting). It is during this one minute that the cabin becomes hot due to exterior temperatures being around 45 Degrees in India in summer. The solution which I can recommend for correcting this is an ECU reprogram which will change the behaviour of idling with AC on. I would recommend settings of:

Engine with AC off (engine cold) : 900 rpm Idle speed

Engine with AC off (engine warm ) : 850 rpm Idle

Engine with AC on ( engine cold) : 1000 rpm

Engine with AC on (engine warm) : 950 rpm

Changing these idle speed settings in the ECU will also help resolve any stalling issues that many other users are also facing in India and also help resolve the AC effectiveness issue that some users in India which have also been posted on the internet by Yeti buyers.

5) Doors' creaking sounds: I have observed that in India, all the four doors creak quite loudly when going over road surface undulations. I found out that these creaking sounds are due to the top side rubber-felt door seals on all the doors. A temporary solution to stop the creaking sounds is to spray a little rubber-protecant spray (from 3M) on all rubber-felt door seals - This stops them from creaking for 7-8 days. However, as soon as the seals are dry again, they start creaking again and the sounds get quite loud and irritating. I would recommend changing the top felt rubber door seals on all the doors to a much softer type, which should not creak - I have owned many cars in the past and currently also own a Honda Civic and inspite of being 3 years old, the doors never make such sounds- the seals on the doors are of a much softer and supple type. Even on the Yeti, change of these rubber door seals should rectify this major irritant.

6) Outside rear view mirrors: The field of view of the OVRMs is very limited and is not sufficient for viewing the traffic. The only way to improve this is to go for either bigger side mirrors or to increase the convexity of the side mirrors. (I believe that this has already been done on the VW group cars in India (with a dotted line separating the higher convexity zone of the mirror). The same solution should also be implemented on the Yeti in the interest of safety to improve the view of traffic in Indian conditions.

7) Seats and comfort: The current seats in the Yeti are OK, but a little hard and uncomfortable. It would be great if you change over to a little softer seats - it will also help improving comfort of the riders by absorbing road imperfections better.

Looking forward to views from other members of the forum..!

Thanks!

I suspect what you need is an entirely different set up for the Indian market. Cars in the US are floaty, cars in Europe tend to be firmer to suit the roads. One car does not cover all continents and road types. It may be that with the emerging size of the Indian market that Skoda will at some point start a plant out there and the set up of the cars will suit Indian roads and needs. Skoda at the moment are predominantly a European manufacturer and the Yeti suits the roads over here.

The "world car" does not always work the world over. Extra dust sealing, bigger AC compressors for warm countries, bigger batteries for cold contries and such like used to be the norm when launching a car in Africa or somewhere other than the home turf. But with global production these days they seem to think one size fits all - when it clearly does not. Your suggestions shoud be easy to implement however and I hope Škoda India is more receptive to improvements like this than Škoda UK appears to be. Good luck.

Thanks Edmund and Johann,

I believe that the Yeti had been customized to some extent for the India market.. the good thing here is that it is locally assembled from Completely-knocked-down kits and this also gives a lot of scope for localization of components and customization. Another good aspect is that the same plant in Aurangabad in India is also used for Audi (Q5, A4) production, which helps maintain quality standard at high levels.

I really hope that Skoda India listens to our feedback..! I guess the company's attitude is similar in most countries and it is very difficult to get their attention on these aspects. However, there is always scope for product improvement and they have certainly made a lot of changes to the ECU firmware and product design.

One aspect I forgot to add in my wishlist is to have a larger bootsize! (seems unfeasible though with the current dimensions).. only hope in future maybe the Yeti Maxi..! :p

One aspect I forgot to add in my wishlist is to have a larger bootsize! (seems unfeasible though with the current dimensions).. only hope in future maybe the Yeti Maxi..! :p

You and me both!

One aspect I forgot to add in my wishlist is to have a larger bootsize! (seems unfeasible though with the current dimensions).. only hope in future maybe the Yeti Maxi..! :p

Slightly off topic, but I have fond memories of the (Austin) Maxi.....a design ahead of its time very badly implemented......

Back on topic:

Re the wheel size and tyres, that sounds like a good idea even for the UK with all our very badly pot holed roads....I miss the 215/60's of my winter tyres and would love to have them as standard, even 215/65's with the increased ground clearance. Can we recalibrate the speedo via VCDS?

Somebody, I can't remember who, from india is planning on fitting the larger tyres to his Yeti for a long expedition across India......There is a thread on here somewhere. (Unless it was the OP)

An absolute must is some kind of barrier between rear seats and boot space so you dont get the leather armrest scuffed with things from the boot !

Secondly why cant we have the european sun visors with 2 in one for front and side windows, and can they make them larger !

Thirdly automatic folding side mirrors as standard (even my fiesta had these !!)

Fourthly some led daytime running lights option where the small decorative inserts go

There !

An absolute must is some kind of barrier between rear seats and boot space so you dont get the leather armrest scuffed with things from the boot !

Secondly why cant we have the european sun visors with 2 in one for front and side windows, and can they make them larger !

Thirdly automatic folding side mirrors as standard (even my fiesta had these !!)

Fourthly some led daytime running lights option where the small decorative inserts go

There !

Here are some LEDS for You. Milotec