Skoda Yeti 4x4
Skoda’s updated Yeti with a strap-on bicycle on its roof arrives to a watery welcome in Srinagar
IT WOULDN’T HAVE missed your attention that most first drives invariably have Rajasthan in the location credit. With their great hotels and roads manufacturers inevitably (and unimaginatively) rush to Udaipur, Jodhpur, Jaipur or Jaisalmer when a new car has to be presented to the media. So much so that despite the myriad charms of the numerous palace hotels familiarity has bred contempt; while shooting the Ciaz outside Jaipur a villager even recognized us from the i20 drive a month back.
And so when Skoda invited us to Srinagar to sample the updated Yeti, I had to pull strings to depute myself for the task at hand. It has always surprised us that despite running out of new and interesting locations for test drives manufacturers have studiously avoided one of the most picture-perfect destinations in the country so top marks to Skoda in choosing an offbeat location for an SUV that’s as offbeat as it gets – a perfect start to our offbeat special issue. After all how can you not have fun writing about Gulmarg and Sonamarg, particularly in an SUV with a cycle strapped to the roof? Mother nature however had different ideas. We landed in Srinagar on the day the rains kicked in good and proper. A quick lunch, a lengthy presentation and we immersed ourselves into the chaos that is Srinagar’s traffic. I have lived in Mumbai, driven in Delhi and have been in rush hour wars in all major cities in the country but the volume and aggression we encountered on Srinagar roads is a different breed of intense. The rains of course weren’t helping and the water logged roads were ominous signs of what lay in store but it had been bright and sunny just two days ago (the state was on the verge of declaring a few districts as drought hit!) and nobody had an inkling of what was to follow.
How can you not have fun driving around Gulmarg and Sonamarg?
Luckily I wasn’t in the driver’s seat as we inched out of Srinagar, giving me time to explore what’s new on the inside. There’s a new steering wheel from the Octavia, an updated touch screen stereo (no navigation or parking camera and still with the old interface meaning Bluetooth pairing can only be done via the display between the dials), six airbags, ESP and keyless entry while the varioflex rear seats (the centre part can be chucked out to
make it a four-seater, and the seats slide and recline) are retained. The boot remains, well, small and quality is top notch. Rejigging the range has also meant there’s only one fullyloaded Elegance trim for the Yeti, available in 4x2 and 4x4 drivetrains, both with the manual gearbox. The Yeti is natively front-wheeldrive, the fifth generation Haldex differential sending torque to the rear as and when slip is detected. The diff is not only 1.4 kilos lighter but also delivers a lighter clutch pedal action with none of the sharpness that made the earlier Yeti so easy to stall.
The motor is the same 2.0-litre diesel that is detuned to 108.5 bhp on the FWD variant. We are driving the 4x4 that gets the full-fat 138 bhp, making light work of lugging the cycle up to Gulmarg. It’s a fabulous engine and once we get out of Srinagar the road is fabulous, especially the last 20km climb to Gulmarg from Tangmarg. The manual gearbox is a delight, the engine is superbly powerful (100kmph takes around 10 seconds), massively torquey and very efficient (17.7kmpl is claimed) with tightly controlled NVH levels.And the SUV takes in bends like no SUV ought to.
Over wet roads the Yeti was an absolute joy to throw around. There’s hardly any body roll to speak of (though the downside is suspension that is stiffer and less compliant than on the Octavia), grip is terrific and the Yeti can be hustled with such vigor that an enthusiastically driven Laura TSI had to finally give up and let us pass on the way up to Gulmarg. Few SUVs drive as well as the Yeti and it can also offroad rather well – far better than its size might suggest. The 4x4 gets an off-road mode for the ESP and ABS along with hill-descent control and an electronic differential lock.
All the hustling means we are at the Highland Park hotel overlooking the Gulmarg golf course in double quick time where the photographers warm and dry themselves next to the fire and we gulp cups of kahwah, a traditional Kashmiri green tea infused with saffron, cinnamon and cardamom that gives it a wonderful aroma. And with the last sip you get a mouth full of crushed almonds that has you rushing back for more.
To avoid having to deal with rush hour traffic on the way back into Srinagar we hang around in Gulmarg (literally meadow of flowers) and head back by sun down. Which turns out to be a bad idea.
The rain gets heavier and 25km outside Srinagar there’s a line of cars parked up on the side of the road, the flood spill channel (created after the floods in 1905 to relieve the Jhelum river and regulate its water as it flows through Srinagar) having submerged a bridge and there was no way to the main NH1A. Luckily an alternate route was found and after a 2 hour detour over roads that were probably breathtakingly scenic we found ourselves back on the Baramulla-Srinagar highway and the Lalit Palace hotel in Srinagar for dinner.
Up at 5 the next day to get some filming in the bag but the rains had, if anything, increased in intensity and we had to put our cameras away. Word coming in was of a flood alert in the state
Over wet roads, the Yeti was an absolute joy to throw around. There’s hardly any body roll to speak of, and grip is terrific
but journalists tend to be the most dismissive of media reports, and in any case we Indians have a wonderfully fatalistic outlook to life – if my time is up my time is up, so what the hell.
Putting the semi-waterproof and extravagantly white Skoda jackets to full use we loaded up our Yeti, realized there’s not much in the way of boot space, commandeered a backup car, loaded that up and headed for Sonamarg. We had the whole day to ourselves, one of the most beautiful locations in the country and a wonderful little car/SUV at our disposal.
It is hard not to fall in love with the Yeti even though personally I bemoan the papering over of the quirky front end styling with the large dinner-plate size fog lamps taking a big bite off the headlamps. The styling is now more elegant, more in keeping with the Skodafamily look. More mainstream. Maybe it will address criticisms of the Yeti looking too girly. Indian Yeti’s also get the off-road package which includes silver-finish bash plates on the bottom of the front and rear bumpers, two- tone roof (black with some colours, white and silver with others), bi-xenon lamps with LED day time running lights, roof rails and three new alloy wheel designs (all 16 inches). The rear gets C-shaped taillamp graphics but that’s about it. Overall the effect is not too different from the older Yeti but it remains a very attractive car, so long as you don’t want the Fortuner’s domineering SUV-stance.
The Yeti will also come with a range of accessories including the cycle that is made in India by TI cycles, localization helping bring its price down to the region of Rs 30,000. And thus equipped we splash our way out of Srinagar, take in the majestic Dal lake, hit the Srinagar-Ladakh highway, stop off for pictures alongside the raging Sindh river and get to the breathtakingly beautiful Ahsan Mount Resort for lunch. By 10am.
With so much time on our hands we thought of heading to the Zoji La (that connects Ladakh) but were told the incessant rains had closed the pass three days ago. We thought we’d test out the mountain bike but it was too cold and wet to bother. We went into Sonamarg but despite the many Sumos it seemed rather deserted. And so we huddled in front of a heater, had an early lunch of some of the most wonderful trout and lamb, warmed our feet in electric blankets and pondered over the Yeti’s second coming.
Skoda insists that it is not looking at any great volumes for the Yeti, which is a good thing for as much as I like it I can’t see it doing any better than the first time round. Price was always the issue and at Rs 20.53 lakh (ex-showroom in Delhi) for the 4x4 (Rs 18.99 lakh for 4x2) this remains the Yeti’s biggest problem. At this price you can get an automatic rear-wheel-drive Fortuner. And for a third of the price you will soon get the all-wheel-drive Renault Duster that is worryingly excellent. And the Yeti still doesn’t get an automatic transmission, which defies all logic.
Few SUVs drive as well as the Yeti and it can also off-road rather well – far better than its size might suggest
With those thoughts we head back to the airport, nice and early to avoid any of the previous evenings drama, come across the first major signs of flooding and get absolutely brain-fried with the chaos at Srinagar airport (security check outside the airport, security check before entering the terminal, rude counter staff, more security checks, extra baggage identification on the tarmac and mad crowding). I doubt the crowds were people trying to get out of Srinagar but you could see signs of worry. In the departure lounge news channels played out pictures of flooding and early rescue efforts. Landslides had shut the road to Jammu, and the pass that crosses into Ladakh was also shut. A fellow journalist who was going to drive to Leh had to abandon plans and get the last seat on the flight to Delhi.
As the final departure call was announced I said a silent prayer and gave thanks, but others were not so lucky. That night the Doodh Ganga, a small river flowing through Srinagar burst its banks, and over the next week Srinagar, and the whole state, was inundated with hundreds killed and missing, millions displaced and the administration collapsing under the worst flooding the state has seen in living memory. By the time you read this floodwaters will have receded but it will take years and thousands of crores to repair the damage, and more pressingly winter is around the corner.
It seems vacuous to hope for another test drive opportunity in J&K but tourism has always been the lifeline of the state and now, more than ever, it will need people to visit this wonderful place and get the wheels of the economy turning. Till then our prayers are with our friends in the state and we hope life soon returns to normalcy.