Aye, the height of the Yeti could be an issue for a shorty…either take a box to stand on or towball mounted rack.

Are you certain you need to drive so often to ride your bike though? I thought Cumbria had cracking trails on the doorstep – if you need to drive then fair enough but is the bike carrying duties the main priority?

(I'm still thinking Berlingo over the Yeti due to price savings but still have huge carrying capacity – it's also rather handy off the main roads and does not too badly in snow/ice – however, it does now sound as though you are sold on the Yeti, enjoy it…should be a good laugh)

DickBarton in my continuing quest for a new car I went to the Citroen garage last night and the salesman said 'its not into groupstock yet' (secondhand/prev Berlingo) but we do have a Berlingo van you could drive to get a feel for the car…. 😐 😕

The Yeti's got the engine I'd want – the VAG 2ltr TDIs are superb 😀

1.4 TSi A3? Thats the Turbo/Supercharged jobbie isn't it?

Ah, the great ill-informed breeze through the thread. The Audi 1.4TSi is turbo-charged only. Audi don't use the turbo/super charged version that VW use elsewhere.

Having actually driven a 1.4TSi A3 (and more than just a test-drive-round-the-block; my other half has one as a company car) it's OK. It's no rocketship, but feels fine for everyday driving. There isn't the urge of the 2.0TDi (which she had previously) but in many ways it's more pleasant to drive in a petrol-v-diesel kind of way. We don't get close to the mpg figures though (whereas we did in the TDi). Note that the most recent A3 2.0TDi has vastly reduced CO2 emissions so can have significant benefits now as a company car (so much so that the new 1.6TDi looks kind of redundant).

I don't get on with the driving position in the Jazz, but then I tend to sit in a funny way. The internal flexibility of the Jazz has always really impressed me though. Fiesta is a class smaller but supposed to be a very good car. No idea about the Yeti.

I have a Nissan Qashqai 2.0 Diesel, loads of extras and 60k miles in 2 years and no issues, should be some deals about at the moment on new

The Quashqai's diesel is part Renault?

I have been looking at the Yeti, it is a great car for the money. VAG engine & transmission, well-specced, very good use of space inside. If you are buying as a company vehicle it is also very good value on BIK. I'd look at towbar racks, or just open the back door and use that as a step to reach the roof.

hora – Member
The Quashqai's diesel is part Renault?

It is but they don't have the problems with the all new 2.0dci that they had with the 1.9dci.

My biggest problem with bikes on the roof vers in the boot is that if you have been for a muddy ride when its not raining unless you wash the bike first you end up with it covering the car where as to put it in the boot just requiers putting a sheet or the like down first.

Go for the Yeti. Just be aware that they're not all 4WD models, there are 2WDs in the range too.

owenfackrell agree. My fear of having a dirty bike ontop of your car is any small aggregate/stones etc say lodged in your front mech or tyres that drop onto the roof over time! Boot everytime- there are some impressive professional boot liners available as well 😀

I've been looking at Skodas and wonder if the Roomster is more practical than the Yeti – just not so good looking? I have the brochures for both and the varioflex seating sounds good, as for space the Roomster seems to have a touch more in the boot.

The Yeti has removable seats – would be interested to know if a bike will roll straight in with one of them out. Would be easy enough to rig up some protective tarp to keep the rest of the interior clean.

http://www.parkers.co.uk/cars/gallery/?model=1803&img=archive/Skoda/Yeti%20%2809-%29/DSC7606_028_hi.jpg

Or, as said, there's the roomster which I think has a higher roofline.

1.6 tdi focus? you have chosen a pretty bad list of cars for a mountain biker? the yeti could be good but i can garentee its not right for you? to small and the 4wd will not e that usefull?

The Yeti has removable seats – would be interested to know if a bike will roll straight in with one of them out. Would be easy enough to rig up some protective tarp to keep the rest of the interior clean.

Depends on the bike.
I have the Touran but a large/19in bike so is too big to go in with wheels on and seats down or out.
Bike does fit across the boot, behind the seats, just need to cover rear mech. I use a bike cover from high street poundland =£1 😆
Can get 2 bikes across back/boot of car. Not tried shoving seats forward to get 3 in, usually just take a couple of seats out.

It would be the Yeti for me with a tow bar of you don t fancy using a step(lots do, think Range Rover!!)to put bikes on roof. Wife says it will be another Touran for us tho, 2 grandkids and parnets to haul around so "need" the 7 seats.

Any other Golf based VAG car – Octavia, Golf, Leon etc. All based on the same bits as the A3.

Seems a bizarre shortlist though – Jazz and Yeti I would expect to be fairly cheap, but not an A3…

The 1.4 twin charged engine is a belter… Easily taken to 200bhp and cheap tax bracket. I had an a3 2.0tdi sport s line with flappy paddles as a courtesy car for a few weeks – as diesels go it was great, plenty of oomph but I just don't like diesel ( and IMO the paddleshift was a waste of time on the diesel engine )