«BLOOD» ENMITY / Skoda test drives

"Blood" Enmity

It is curious what nickname people will give this car. It is impossible to guess in advance — the imagination of our people is boundless! And I am not saying this just for the sake of it. Nowadays quite unusual names are appearing: "Tiguan", "Qashqai", and now "Yeti". For those who do not remember, that is the name of the snowman — a creature that hides from people and lives somewhere high in the mountains. Apparently, the manufacturer wanted to emphasize the unconventional character of the car, and a sonorous name is also important. Marketing! Looking ahead, I will say: it was with snow that I had problems during my test. In the meantime, taking advantage of the fact that the dealer center has a decent and almost empty lot (there is plenty of parking space for customer cars), I decided to have a photo session, as they say, without leaving the checkout — otherwise, due to the dirt on the streets, the car simply would not turn out photogenic. Outside, the huge headlight-eyes and the massive rounded middle pillar, very similar to the Rumster's pillar, immediately catch the eye. Its motifs are also guessed in the general contours of the body. But inside — it is pure water from VW. Here no one started to be clever: they took the interior as is, naturally, along with the instruments and the quality of materials. Although the ability to transform the interior is closer again to the Rumster. In general, the impression is that the Yeti is a cross between the Tiguan and the Rumster. After all, it was the VW Tiguan that became the blood brother (and at the same time, probably, the "enemy" as a competitor) for the Yeti, acting as the donor of the "cart". Visually, the interior seemed to me somehow more cramped than in the VW, but according to the showroom manager, it repeats the dimensions of the Tiguan centimeter by centimeter. The multifunctional display in the center understands commands from the touch of a finger — Touch Screen technology. Data from the parking sensors is also displayed on it, and very correctly and clearly. The four-spoke steering wheel fits comfortably in the palms and is well loaded with functions. Clear informativeness and sharpness (only 3.5 turns from lock to lock) again refer to Volkswagen settings. As for transformation: the rear seats, consisting of three independent parts with separate longitudinal adjustment, not only fold down but can be removed entirely. True, in this case, a flat floor will not work — there will be a step.

I get behind the wheel first. We go to the standard hippodrome, where a specially equipped area for cadets of the Kazan School of Higher Driving Skills awaits us. Literally from the first meters, it is impossible not to notice the liveliness of the engine. Moreover, as if obeying some unknown instinct, I forget that test cars do not always have an automatic transmission, and I simply do not shift gears. The other two participants are strangely silent, not understanding what I am doing. Oops! I quickly corrected myself and shift to a higher gear, and the display lights up with the number of the selected gear and a clever arrow hints that it is worth shifting even higher. This is how the car hints at an economical driving mode. The six-speed gearbox has a sporty short lever and an equally short throw; informativeness suffers a bit due to the unusual number of gears, but then that same screen comes to the rescue. I mixed up the gears: instead of third, I hit fifth and... did not notice — the engine stubbornly pulls and does not think of giving up. It is super elastic. The suspension operation also pleasantly surprised me, and only at the end of the test did I realize that it is "aluminum". By reducing the weight of unsprung masses, the manufacturer achieved a comfortable ride and good handling. The sharp, not at all "SUV-like" steering also contributes to this. And this is on low-profile R17 tires. And if you install standard ones, the ride will become even softer. Yes! In this regard, the Yeti is a typical VW. I repeat, I have already said this. The area met us with smooth ice with patches of wet asphalt.

All-wheel drive is implemented through the connection of the Haldex electronic clutch when the front wheels slip. Under normal conditions, a measly 4% of the torque goes to the rear axle, but if necessary, this figure can rapidly grow to 90%. And this, by the way, is very noticeable on ice. With the stability control system turned off, the car behaves quite adequately. It slides sideways, and by working with the gas and steering wheel, it can be easily placed on the desired trajectory — easier than you would expect. Whether due to the competent distribution of torque across the axles or the weight distribution of the car itself — I do not know, but it is a fact. Rather the former, because you can feel how either the front or rear axle grips harder, helping the driver. After that, we drove on the snow to the off-road discipline, and here I became the "snowman", stupidly burying the car up to its ears. I over-revved and dug in — the most common mistake of a "newbie". If on the Prado we stupidly gassed our way out of the snow trap, using all sorts of lockers (the car is not a "crossover"), then here I dug in. But not for long. Realizing that we were hanging on the belly, we found a digging stick, jacked it up, and I tried to remove the snow from underneath. The bottom is almost flat, nothing sticks out, and you can safely scrape without fear of tearing something off. Having gotten dirty in the wet snow, we still jumped out from the placed bricks amid general hooting and joy. That is what the Yeti is like.

It dug into wet, dense snow all the way to the ground and got out after brief manipulations and with the help of the Off Road function. Graphically, it also combines the hill descent and ascent assist system, which corresponds to reality! But, unfortunately, we could not test them; they say that during descent it works even with the gear disengaged and, moreover, can slightly increase the speed from the set 4 km/h with a light press on the gas. The track showed how good the engine is, and I was glad for Skoda once again. Still, it is an interesting brand. It not only took the best from VW but is also assembled at VW plants in Kaluga. Confident traction from 60 km/h in fifth gear without much effort, but sixth is usually economical, and it makes sense to use it on long straights, as well as cruise control, which, by the way, is already ready to work from 40 km/h. The middle box, which easily turns into an armrest with five fixed positions, will help reduce fatigue on a long journey — you can comfortably lean on it, while your left hand rests freely on the door armrest. Sound insulation is good; the rear passenger begins to hear the noise of the wheels at speeds above 70 km/h, but it is not annoying, and we talked the whole way without raising our voices. Anton (the showroom manager) asked a reasonable question about the car's shortcomings. It stumped me, honestly. I had to find fault with the rear seats, and I would probably slightly increase the load on the brake pedal. They do their job well, but the pedal is light to press. Every time I ask myself the question of who this car will displace, and it turns out that first of all it will be a competitor to the same Tiguan. So it turns out that their blood brotherhood breeds enmity.

Even the most serious SUV can "lie down" in deep snow or get stuck in mud — and we once again saw this from our own experience. Our first two attempts to storm the snowy virgin land were successful, but the third turned out to be unsuccessful: the car sat firmly on its belly, and the wheels helplessly spun in the air. We were to blame ourselves, so we had to pull ourselves out. We put a found board under the jack, lifted the car, put broken brick under the wheels — and here we are free! Even this unpleasant episode added to our respect for the car: the snow was wet and heavy, but we managed to get out quite quickly.

Before that, we managed to drive the car on the ice rink. When all systems are active, the car behaves extremely safely: the electronics instantly stop any attempts by the driver to hooligan. But with the stabilization system turned off, we really liked the car's behavior. The Yeti handles almost like a front-wheel-drive car, and predicting the trajectory is not difficult at all. Honestly, I cannot recall a single car with such "transparent" handling. Perhaps only the new Renault Symbol can boast something similar. So free riding on ice can give a lot of pleasant emotions.

When driving out onto a regular road, we, of course, turn the stabilization back on: safety is most important. Perhaps I will start describing the car with its shortcomings — fortunately, there are very few of them. The rear seat cushion is a bit short, and the backrest is too low in height. I could not get comfortable, although I tried to fix the situation by adjusting the backrest angle. Alas, I still could not get comfortable. The rear armrest is probably also a bit short — for my average-height arm, it is just enough. And what if a tall person sits in the back? The sound insulation in the back is quite decent, but the suspension is perhaps overly stiff. Well, those are all the minuses. Now about the pleasant things. The interior design and quality of finishing are purely German, the Volkswagen style is felt.

The 1.8 turbo engine is a legendary and reliable unit. Its early versions were installed on the Passat B5 back in the 90s. In my opinion, this is the most optimal engine for an ordinary "civilian" car. It does not provoke aggressive driving and allows for good fuel economy. But if necessary, you can get quick acceleration even from low revs. The elasticity is amazing. The engine power (for the sake of the DSG gearbox) is now reduced to 152 hp. It seems quite a bit, especially against the background of the newest 1.6 turbo (180 hp) or the regular 1.8 (147 hp). However, with the help of chip tuning (including dealer tuning), the power can easily be raised to 190 hp, although this may not have the best effect on low-end torque.

The only drawback of this engine in the Yeti is that it is only available with a manual gearbox. There is also a 1.2 turbo (107 hp at 5000 rpm), for comparison — the Skoda-Volkswagen 1.6 produces 102 hp at 6000 rpm. Judging by the characteristics, the 1.2 turbo should be ideal for the city. As is known, on conventional turbo engines (without a compressor or a second turbine) — the earlier it "spools up" (good low-end torque), the earlier it "runs out of steam" (no explosive character at high revs). It is precisely with an eye to city driving that the 1.2 turbo is made: maximum power at 5000 rpm, peak torque from 1500 to 3500 rpm. Note that the maximum torque is 175 Nm, which exactly matches the 1.8 Honda (at 4300) and Opel (at 3900) engines. Such are the wonders of turbo. By the way, since May 2010, the 1.2 turbo can be ordered with a DSG gearbox.

Now about prices. In the Active trim — 699 thousand rubles, the DSG gearbox will add another 60 thousand rubles to the price. The most expensive trim with the 1.8 turbo and all-wheel drive will cost 1019 thousand rubles. Whether this is a lot or a little — is for potential customers to decide.