GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN
The original mid-size SUV!
The Skoda Yeti was a capable, wellsized SUV but ahead of its time
BEFORE THE CRETA, BEFORE THE mid-size SUV segment was even christened, there was the Yeti. It was among the first of the breed that is now the fastest growing and most profitable segment of the Indian car market, a segment that Skoda are only now getting into good and proper with the Kushaq. But, like far too many interesting cars, it was ahead of its time. And the sweet spot that it found itself in actually turned out to be no man’s land. On one side there was the Duster and XUV500, on the other the Fortuner and Endeavour, and caught in the middle was this compact little 4x4 that nobody knew what to make of.
Yup, the Yeti had 4x4. Mid-size SUVs today are resolutely FWD but you could option 4x4 on the Yeti and that gave it frankly astonishing capability. Using a
Haldex system, torque could be sent to the rear wheels on sensing slip, and the ruts it could get itself out of would put even lowratio equipped 4x4s to shame. But that’s not what endeared us to the Yeti. What did was the absolutely lovable styling.
Unfortunately it was a time when SUVs had to look macho and intimidate other road users, neither of which the Yeti did. It had the proportions of a tall hatchback and it had the road manners that none of the other SUVs could come close to. This was the first SUV that was car-like to drive, the suspension delivering good compliance and excellent handling. I remember driving the facelifted Yeti (where it lost the cute fog lamps munching into the headlamps) through the mountains in Kashmir on its press launch, the 2-litre diesel comfortably keeping pace with an Octavia driven enthusiastically by the PR head. Oh, it was also on the day that the 2014 floods lashed J&K; on the way back from Gulmarg we had to take diversions to avoid swollen rivers, could only cross Srinagar because the Yeti had serious water-wading capability, and that evening we took the last flight out before the airport shut. And I did all this in a Yeti that, inexplicably, had a cycle strapped to its roof.
Keeping with the lifestyle theme, the Yeti also had the very intelligent Varioflex seating arrangement where the rear seats could not just fold, tumble and slide fore-and-aft but you could also take out the middle section and be left with two captain's seats that could slide closer together for more elbow space against the doors. Unfortunately what Indian SUV buyers cared about though was a third row of seats, which the Yeti didn’t have. It didn’t even have an automatic transmission, something that could have (some what) justified the extravagant `20 lakh pricing for the 4x4.
No surprise very few were sold. And nobody remembers that Skoda were the actual mid-size SUV pioneers. ⌧
4X4 ON THE YETI GAVE IT FRANKLY ASTONISHING CAPABILITY