Skoda launches the Yeti – (N)ice to see you!

Well, it is Saturday, and It’s been a long week (we were writing news stories at 3am on Tuesday, for goodness sake!) so excuse the obvious puns.

It’s a bit of Geneva catch-up weekend, making sure we’ve covered all the Geneva launches worth mentioning. And although we brought news on the Yeti pre-Geneva, as expected Skoda showed the Yeti and gave us more info.

Based on the VW Tiguan, the Skoda Yeti is really a sub-4×4 – a ‘SmallRoader’ if you like. But it’s none the worse for that, and to our eyes it’s a good deal more appealing than its somewhat bland VW cousin.

The boxy styling with big (ish) wheel arches works well, and the odd lighting arrangement at the front, although initially jarring, actually grows on you very quickly. And it is well bolted together, with a real quality feel to the inside. As a funky, rufty-tufty, urban crossover, runaround thingy, it’s a damn sight more convincing than Skoda’s recent Fabia Scout offering. At least the Yeti can walk the walk it purports to offer.

A decent range of engines is offered for UK Cars, with a pair of petrols ( a puny 1.2 litre with 2WD and 105bhp and a more appealing 1.8 litre with AWD and 160bhp) and three diesels (although, like Mercedes and the A Class, it is the same engine – a 2.0 litre – in various states of tune) offering 110bhp, 140bhp and 170bhp, with a 2WD option on the 110bhp.

With UK Car prices expected to start at around £13k, the Yeti should go down a storm. Again, Skoda has managed to morph a VW product in to a more appealing car for less money. Good trick!