Final motoring question from me for a while. They look good, te reviews are good and they’re darn cheep to lease. Anyone got any actual experience? Particularly interested in hearing about the smaller diesels, and also how bikes fit. Anyone stick them in upright or use the internal bike rack?

i tend to find that small diesels in big cars are worse on fuel than the bigger engined. My mate has a 2.0l diesel and it’s brill on fuel, takes a good hiding from his boys and is impeccably built. I’ve considered one myself to be honest

They only do the 105bhp 1.6 and 110bhp 2.0 in 2 weel drive versions, otherwise I’d go for the 140bhp one. I don’t really need 4wd. The 1.6 is very economical, but the 2.0 is cheaper to lease.

I have a Greenline II diesel on lease. I chose it for the much-vaunted big boot space, primarily for getting bikes in the back easily. Turns out, though, that I really need to either remove both wheels from the bike, or take the rear seats out out of the car, to get a bike in. That’s okay for longer distances, but a minor pain for shorter ones. I had a Golf before the Yeti, and that was just seat back down, one wheel off, in and away. The internal bike rack looks like a good idea though, for longer journeys.
I like the car generally. As much as it’s possible to like one of those money-eating fume-spewers…

Mate has one, he loves it & it seems well nailed together.

TBH it seemed a bit cramped to me and the boot quite small, but I’m 6’3″ and drive a Mazda 6 estate so am perhaps viewing it from that size car?

Hello, my first post here so hope it works!
I just received a new Yeti last month and love it. I cannot comment on the diesel as I have a 1.4 petrol, but I believe there is a 6 month waiting list if you want a new diesel. I have just installed the internal bike rack, (£100 new on ebay, or over £200 from skoda), you can fit 2 bikes inside. Removing the back seats is a 2 minute job, then the bike is fixed at the front forks and strapped down around the rear frame or seatpost.

yeti1 by John Ritchie 1967, on Flickr

yeti2 by John Ritchie 1967, on Flickr

I can get two bikes into my civic, with back wheels on using 4 bungees, and with three seats still intact. those pics from jr2 make it look like a right hassle to get the bikes in, and leaving no space for nothing else…

I think you only need to remove one seat in the Yeti to get 2 bikes in with rear wheels on, so 4 seats still useable.

I can fit 3 bikes, 3 people and all their gear using a Clio with a bike rack. Cant really see the benifit of trying to put the bikes in a car. Van yes but not a car.

Fuel cost innit.
On the motorway having 2 bikes on the roof increases my fuel consumption by at least 15%.
That’s pretty expensive these days.

Im lucky i get 72mpg without the bikes and 68 mpg with them on the back.

Funny I was following one of these down to the sailing club this morning and thought what a great little car it would be with a VW logo on it.

Stevewhyte

Bikes in car reaps great benifits in winter , salt spray crucifies your bike – pistons and seals etc

My neighbour has a yeti for a disibility car , i like its look now its growing on me – but then i nearly bought a citroen blingo

I just bought an ex-demo. No towbar at the moment, so it’s middle seat out, one wheel off, one bungy works well but bikes will be going to the towbar rack once it’s fitted.

I have the 2.0 D 2WD, 110 BHP. It’s certainly a lot livelier than my old 2.2d x-trail. Very nice to drive, nowhere near are roll-y as the x-trail. I’d have liked the 4WD but wasn’t prepared to wait to get one built.

It’s very well put together, has a great driving position, is comfy, does about 45-50ish to the gallon and is pretty practical with all the seat options. What it isn’t is big. Based on a golf chassis. Rear Sill is quite high as well.

Revo will breathe on the ECU (maybe not if you have a lease) for £300 to get you a bit more power. It’s the same engine (I think) On the 110/140/170 but 170 has bigger brakes.

Cant really see the benifit of trying to put the bikes in a car.

How often do you hear of a bike falling off a rack or colliding with a car park sign? Or being stolen off a rack?

How often do you hear of a bike falling out of the boot of a car?

I think you’ll find the answer lies in these two questions for most people…

How often do you hear of a bike falling off a rack or colliding with a car park sign? Or being stolen off a rack?

How often do you hear of a bike falling out of the boot of a car?

To be honest, hardly ever. And the only reason they do is human error. I had rood mounted carriers for around three years covering litterally thousands of miles, never had an issue. I have a tow bar mounted rack now which IMO is not as easy to use as the roof mounted. Either way, unless you have some sort of people carrier or van, I couldn’t be bothered with the hassel of disassembling my bike especially while dirty.

Horses for courses but I’m willing accept the fuel side (although lets face it if you’re carrying three bikes there’s three peoplet to share the cost) for the convinience.

The inside of my x-trail looked as if it’d been attacked by a crazy man armed with an angle grinder after stuffing the bike in there a few times. Going riding straight from work means bike in car, but my preference is to have it on the rack. Rack is pretty secure, and I just d-lock to the frame if I’m leaving it. Not perfect, but I don’t tend to leave the bike on the rack while I’m not there.

Back on topic, a not very scientific yeti review: http://pickled-hedgehog.com/ there’s a couple of other posts there documenting what a joyous experience buying cars isn’t.

And the only reason they do is human error.

But if you’re knackered because you’ve got up early to go riding, or have been riding for a long time, there’s plenty of room for this. The worst you can do when you’ve got to throw it in the car is forget something…

And in any case, from a theft perspective, it’s much harder to nick a bike locked inside a car than locked to the outside of a car. That (and the faff of fitting / unfitting a rack every time I want to carry a bike) is why I throw mine in the boot.

And in any case, from a theft perspective, it’s much harder to nick a bike locked inside a car than locked to the outside of a car

Yeah, like its hard to break a window, open the door and steal the stuff…… 🙄

I’ve used a rack in the past and have settled on putting the bike(s) in the car as the best option. Why? i) Ease – drop two seat leaves, chuck a tarp from work across the space, drop one wheel off the bike, put it in. Much simpler than dragging a rack out of the garage, fitting it to the car and fitting/locking the bike to the rack; ii) uses less fuel; iii) perception of it dropping off the back. Probably doesn’t happen much, but still has me flapping!; iv) Security – chances of being follwed home when it’s inside are much slimmer, but more importantly I’m not leaving £1500 of uninsured bike hanging off my car while I’m having a shandy after the ride. It is relatively easy to break a window, but then I’d like to think the alarm and deadlocks slowed them down rather more than a flimsy lock on a rack.

For what it’s worth, I don’t really go for the type of internal rack the Yeti’s got – it’s adding more fuss to the process fo getting the bike in the car. Much rather an estate with a big boot that swallows bikes lying on their side.

Back to the OP’s original Q – I can’t really comment on the Yeti but have been massively impressed by my Octavia, so a big thumbs up for Skoda from me. As I usually do on these types of Skoda-related threads – have a look at the ‘Briskoda’ forum and ask your questions there – it’s very friendly and you’ll get good answers.

“The inside of my x-trail looked as if it’d been attacked by a crazy man armed with an angle grinder after stuffing the bike in there a few times.”

your doing it wrong – if your cars that small inside then you need to take the wheels off

i managed just fine with the bikes inside a fiesta , an escort and a hyundai lantra SALOON without so much as marking the interior ….

Yeah, like its hard to break a window, open the door and steal the stuff…

With deadlocked car doors (ie all modern cars afaik) then yes it is quite hard to open the doors even if you break a window.

OP – Roomster? Fabia estate?

I used to use a Thule rack (which failed twice), but now always put the bikes in the car on the back seat, with wheels in wheel bags. Much more secure, better fuel economy and no salt spray forced into all the bearings at 80mph on the motorways in winter. Big blanket on back seat, car pretty much spotless even after many very muddy MTB trips.

I bought a bike bag from CRC and store the bike in that, goes in the car easy enough with the seats down.

glenh – Member
I think you only need to remove one seat in the Yeti to get 2 bikes in with rear wheels on, so 4 seats still useable.

According to the pic above, he’s taken out all the back seats, and folded down the front passenger seat to get one bike in.

The operative word is ‘need’.

I have the 140bhp 2.0l diesel on order. Its a company car and was ordered in Jan, so guess I’ll be waiting another couple of months…

From what I can make out the internal carrier is adjustable so that you can move the fork securing bracket backwards and forwards – jr12 may have moved his back to get his bike in with the front panier rack attached. You can also angle the bikes diagonally across… so yes I understand that you can get 2 bikes and 4 people in if reqd.

@jr12 – did you buy the carrier from a dealer on ebay – or was it a private sale? If the former do you have their name please!!

As i have had one roof rack fail, and another bike stolen from a roof rack – I am going with bikes inside from now on.

Seems it’s not so uncommon then 🙄

Flowerpower, I bought it from twigworthbreakers on ebay.
To clarify a couple of points, yes the fork bracket is adjustable, maybe 8 inches movement fore/aft. I could move it a bit further back but the handlebars would be getting close to the rear windscreen.
I guess you could remove just one rear seat and get 2 bikes in there, but it would be a squeeze getting 4 people in there as well. As it is, with the bike straight lengthways, the front passenger seat would have to be all the way forward to unfold it upright, so the passenger would have minimum legroom, and the middle seat in the rear is very small.. so although 4 people and 2 bikes is possible it would be a squeeze I imagine (bear in mind I have a large frame 29er, so a smaller bike would obviously fit better)

Had a roofrack fail ending up driving along with the bike hanging off the side of the car… I thank my lucky stars it didnt go through the windscreen of an oncoming car. Spent a couple of winters with bikes on a rear mounted rack… this caused more corrosion than on the trails….

Now have a van and they go inside….

Liking the Yeti though… impressive when we had a look.

My mate was told after buying a pair of carbon framed mountain bikes for him and GF that on no account should carbon frames ever be put on a Thule style roof rack as the arm that grips the down tube will cause it to crack. No idea if this is true but somewhat pi$$ed off my mate who had always been v prissy about the inside of his car!

Not sure if this applies to boot racks.

Racks also lead to bike getting covered in flies. Mud is Ok but not flies!

Hi there, I’ve had a Yeti for nearly two years now 1.2 dsg petrol 2 wheel drive. Really nice car but not ideal for carrying bikes inside. I use a Pendle boot rack (its not fallen off yet :wink:) Not as practical as my old Berlingo but few cars are.
Think of it as a Golf with a better view out that drives really nice.

Thanks All. I thought it ticked all the boxes for me, but inside bike carrying does look a right faff.

Bizarrely, when I got some lease quotes it works out cheaper to get a fully loaded Mercedes B Class, which while less benign looking, has got loads more space. My wallet looks like it is now pointing me in that direction.

Bizarrely, when I got some lease quotes it works out cheaper to get a fully loaded Mercedes B Class,

Really? Do you mind me asking who you are leasing through?

Yes, I do mind.

You should be asking him through whom he is leasing.

Always put my bike inside the car and never had a problem with space. Little care not to scratch the car with the pedals and you’re fine.

306 Rallye, back seats down, front wheel off and in she goes.

2005 Fiesta, back seats down, front wheel off and in she goes (road bike too so bigger frame/wheels!).

I have a Mazda 6 estate and can fit two bikes in the boot with both wheels on (back seats down obviously).

The Yeti looks brilliant I think, but less room than a big estate car.

glenh – Member
Bizarrely, when I got some lease quotes it works out cheaper to get a fully loaded Mercedes B Class,
Really? Do you mind me asking who you are leasing through?

It’s through NHS Fleet. I think that they work with a panel of about 8 lease companies, although I’m not entirely sure which ones. I’ve a feeling this is direct from Mercedes. Merc do seem to do some extraordinary lease deals. I guess it’s got something to do with residuals, and something to do with the fact they can punt them out at a premium through their dealer network when the lease ends – assuming they don’t get trashed.

The Yeti looks brilliant I think, but less room than a big estate car.

I’m convinced that front-back space is much less even than my MK1 Leon (and hence Golf, A3, etc), which are built on the same platform. Octavia (also same platform, and certainly not a *big* estate) has much more space, although the yeti probably wins on “boxiness” and ability to whip the seats out, and ability to get bikes etc vertical.