It's new company car time and having struggled through the snow during the last 2 winters in a Mondeo estate I'm wondering if a 4x4 is the way to go.
For the same cost as a very nice Mondeo or Passat I can get a 170bhp Yeti with 'everything'.
What would you do?
Yeti everytime!
Where do you live or drive that makes you have to struggle through the snow?
Its been snowy here for about the last month, my front wheel drive nissan copes fine.
Yeti.
The 170 BHP engine is a corker and throws my Octavia up the road at an alarming rate.
The new shape Mondeo is a cracker too though and very very capable car. Illegal speeds on the motorway just creep up and you'd hardly notice. Big car though. probably best suited to motorway duties if you're that way inclined.
Motorway duties is the thing, drive 4000+ per month but live at the top of a big hill and literally have parked a mile from my house for all of December due to my Mondeo spinning out on anything greater than 5 degrees
Take the allowance, and buy your own car?
Yeti, great cars, I'd have one in a second.
Yeti for me.
Just get a set of winter tyres. It has transformed my Mondeo and I've tested it out in some tough snowy conditions.
Allowance isn't a choice. Any 4 door 2000cc diesel upto £25000, can spend more but will be deducted of salary over 3 year life of car. I've looked at 4x4 Audis and Volvos but very pricey compared to Skoda (which gets faultless reviews)
Let's not go down the winter tyre/company car/insurance thread
the new shape mondeo is the worst car I've ever driven in snowy conditions. On the positive side it is even longer than the old model as well so lots of bikes and riders fit in. We've also had loads of electrical problems with the company fleet modeos so personally I'd go for the yeti.
Pimp tha Yeti bruv!
Mondeo is a better drive in the dry though.
Could you not get an octavia 4wd as another option? I bought my old man a 2.0 petrol one recently for getting to his place in the lakes as his 5 series was so useless at it. nothing but praise so far.
Tazzy- you don't have to tell me about the electrical problems, change at least 1 fuse per month but as Nonsense says, the drive in the dry is superb. Do you buy a car based on 2 bad winters and 3 near death experiences?
Yeti for me, though you'll wait 4 months at least for it to be built!
looked at yeti for my company car astonishing value for money and excellent spec ,only downfall is the boot was relatively small for my needs but hey its a breath of fresh air in the car park next to the mondeos,lagunas,etc.i believe that like the octavia estate i got there is a long lead time (octavia took 6 months to arrive from time of order).
guy at work had similar choice, but not such a need for 4x4. He got a fully loaded Superb Estate - lovely car
Ben- mine developed an ace fault where under breaking or turning sharp corners the engine turned off taking the power steering and associated abs etc with it the bloomin thing nearly killed me twice and it spent over a month with ford. Apparently they'd never seen it before, until two other fords in the fleet did the same thing. It's a shame because they are a lovely drive ( as long as it's not icy!!)
I am thinking about a 4x4 Octavia estate myself - I like the look of the Yeti but need a bigger boot (been struggling with the Grand Vitara for the last 2.5 years so need a change). I had been planning a van, but having second thoughts with the weather conditions and having to negotiate around the smaller roads of the Lakes, Dales, North Lancashire and Scotland all year around.
Capt kronos you can get 4 motion vw transporters in t5 (53 plate on) guise you know...
It's a shame because they are a lovely drive ( as long as it's not icy!!)
I dont quite understand all these reports of poor in the snow etc. I find that I can feel the car move etc but I prefer that to it having no feeling at all as the previous Citroen and cant say that I have found it worse than any other car I have driven.
Would agree on the electrical faults though my alternator packed up after 4 days and took Ford a week to get a replacement and they werent even willing to provide a replacement vehicle bearing in mind the car was 4 days old!
EDIT: You get a lot of car for your money with a Skoda though. One of the guys at work just got the Seat Exeo estate as well which also looks good VFM
"Capt kronos you can get 4 motion vw transporters in t5 (53 plate on) guise you know..."
Any links to any on sale?
It's a no brainer. Yeti!
Yeti
Deffo
Got one late last year been great in the recent weather, nicely spec'd, great on the motorway and has a bike rack 🙂
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Yeti CR170 Elegance due in couple of weeks from August order....deliveries likely to speed up now as second production line set up.
Not as roomy as Octavia, and probably not as economical at 70+ due to 'brick' shape.
Quirky and different 😉
My last car was a 140 Passat Estate, I bought it new for £21K with a few extras and it went wrong a lot, got rid of it at 50K miles, during one of the breakdowns I drove a Mondeo for a few days, bloody fast, real big, but nasty inside (IMO) bought a new 170 Skoda Octavia VRS a few months back £18K with almost all the extra inc a DSG gearbox, very quick, economical to run and a massive boot (largest in its class I think)
Skoda are great VFM
Forge197- is that pic with seats removed or folded? What type of rack it that? Thanks
the new shape mondeo is the worst car I've ever driven in snowy conditions
I'm a bit perplexed by this. Why? Found mine absolutely fine through all the ice/snow.
Haven't driven the others but I'm very happy with my Mondeo.
Go with the Skoda. I think Skoda have the best build quality of any of VAG cars at the moment - Audi and VW are pretty dreadful and have gone through a spate of terrible electrics (well have on our fleet anyway).
Ford seem to have got the electrics sorted as much as they ever do but the number of Fords you see on the road of all ages with dodgy grounds, blown bulbs or just plain stuck at the side of the road leads me to believe that Ford learn their electrics skills at the Alfa Romeo school of wiring.
Having said that I've just ordered an A6 as its the best of a bad bunch on our list and I wasn't allowed to "down grade to a Superb" (upgrade as far as I'm concerned) due to a stupid company car policy.
The Skoda was more comfortable - more rewarding to drive and a nicer place to be.
As far as snow goes though - have a look at those autosocks - I got a set this year and they are brilliant - I'll warrant my car is one of the worst on the road in snow too
Another thought
I much prefer my saloon to my old estate, I stick the bikes on the back, tow bar was £220 and rack was about £300 (the former being used on a number of cars) so £220 is cheaper than the estate option and means I dont need to drive around in a huge car when not riding.
My Passat also looked a bit like a hearse
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Unlike the new'un (not my car but identical)
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I've been amazed just how good my Mondeo has been in the snow, it did just have brand new tyres fitted a week or so before the bad weather hit though. Certainly had no problems negotiating the steep narrow lanes around here whatever condition they were in.
Get the Yeti, had mine for 4 months now and can honestly say its the best car i've owned and theres been a few over the last 30 years.
Yeti got rave reviews in EVO magazine this year, they even tested it against a Lotus Evora at one point in the snow. Very useful, well made, great value and they said it was fantastic to drive, great engine and a total surprise as most cars of that type are just getting duller and duller.
[i]Allowance isn't a choice. Any 4 door 2000cc diesel upto £25000, can spend more but will be deducted of salary over 3 year life of car.
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Spend the least to get the most.
My last company car was a 2.2i Vectra auto, half the tax of the 530i/d that I was entitled to - plus cash back on my allowance. I just wrote down what I needed: aircon, cd, electric windows, 'family' sized, towbar. Did +70k in 2 years - no problems whatsoever.
b r - Member
My last company car was a 2.2i Vectra auto, half the tax of the 530i/d that I was entitled to - plus cash back on my allowance. I just wrote down what I needed: aircon, cd, electric windows, 'family' sized, towbar. Did +70k in 2 years - no problems whatsoever.
I guess it takes all sorts...I'd rather set about my testicles with a blunt instrument than drive a Vectra out of choice. A truly horrible car that offers nothing to those who care about driving dynamics.
From the [url= http://www.evo.co.uk/features/features/260131/skoda_yeti_meets_lotus_evora.html ]EVO review[/url] that rob mentioned: [i]"...the Yeti is truly multi-talented, an all-rounder of rare breadth and cohesion, even when driven in the company of a reigning eCoty champion.
It does the junior SUV thing without the obnoxious image. It does the family MPV thing without being mumsy. It’s a convincing all-wheel-drive soft-roader that can tow up to 2000kg, which, if you want a more useful unit of measurement, is a decent sized trailer and a trackday sports car of your choice.
Most impressively it bubbles with the enthusiasm, chuckability and infectious spirit of a well-executed hot hatch, yet deftly avoids the pitfall of trying too hard to be overtly sporty. It’s this amazing versatility and bold execution that ensures it manages to feel ‘right’ so much of the time, and is why we’re such big fans."[/i]
BenHouldsworth, Seats removed and it's skodas own though modified with some Thule bits to get support for 20mm bolt thru.
Looks like a Yeti then, test drive booked in 2 weeks, I'll let you know the ridiculous lead time when I find out