Team-BHP - Skoda Yeti : Review, Price & Pictures

Quote:

Originally Posted by shankar.balan (Post 3356385)

Try this with your Yeti. Put it into first gear and move off from standstill.

Maintain the engine revs at around 1000 rpm and do NOT push down the accelerator. Just feather it as necessary while moving constantly under your own torque and keep the revs at a constant 1000 rpm.

Believe me, you will NEVER need to use the clutch at all, as long as the road ahead of you is clear and not badly obstructed by other traffic which is too close to you. With a little practice, you will get the hang of using the engine's own torque in first or even second gear, without riding the clutch, even in heavy traffic!

Try it! It is a very liberating feeling I can guarantee, especially when you are moving away from a petrol to a diesel and importantly, even when you are driving in high traffic conditions.

I have been doing this for ages and it is blissful, I reiterate, even in heavy traffic.

Therefore, I am never in a scenario where I am riding the clutch and in consequence the clutch and all the other components take lots less stress over the long term.

Enjoy!

This is a technique mastered by people who've been driving 4wd jeeps for a very long time. Using the 1st gear and not touching the clutch or the brakes is a big lesson you learn whilst driving jeeps in difficult situations.

Just on the topic of engaging a gear (or not) when going downhill/down a gradient, I concur that it's better to engage the 1st gear than proceeding in neutral, if one wants to tread slowly.

This is what I always do in my Fabia. Inching forward on 1st gear in a more controlled fashion with engine braking is more expedient and comforting than going down faster on neutral gear (only on the Fabia, I claim).

Quote:

Originally Posted by Red Liner (Post 3356602)

Quote:

Originally Posted by iTNerd (Post 3356454)

A page from the Yeti's manual
Attachment 1198347

Quote:

Originally Posted by akshay1234 (Post 3356254)

Nope its not the hill descent, just the natural engine braking. Do try the said ramps with the off road button tomorrow and let us know if any different.

Correct RedLiner. My Dad taught me this many years ago in the old CJ500 Jeep.

ITNerd & Akshay: I did try the technique in First gear and then went back up the ramp and tried it again in Neutral. It worked both times exactly as you said it would and this time I noticed the flashing green light, which I remember now, from the brief wet/semi-off roading descents I did around 2 years ago in Coorg and then in Ooty.

Clearly it is the ABS system and the car's on board computer working together and helping in the Hill Descent. It feels just like the brakes are alternatively holding and releasing all the wheels so as to have a controlled descent. The amazing thing is that it works equally well in First Gear and in Neutral!

However, I would still only use First or Second gear on these downward gradients. Saying that, the Yeti now gives me even more confidence in its capabilities than I had before!

Thanks guys!

There are 2 things here:
1. Whether hill descent control works in neutral or not - from the manual page, we see it is supposed to and you all have tested
2. Whether hill descent is recommended in neutral - the specific manual page does not seem to mention any recommendation, which I find strange. May be it's mentioned elsewhere in the manual(?)

Obviously the system tries to save you if you decide to go down in neutral. But it will be less stressed if you decide to go down in 1st. After all, what are the tricks/mechanisms at the disposal of the system (just apply and release brakes to control the speed)? What else can it do while you are in neutral? If you are in 1st, it can additionally regulate the fuel supply to restrict the speed(?)

Thanks.
The marked box is really interesting.
So Skoda says:
1. Downhill assist will not work in 4'th, 5'th and 6'th gears(?)Well, OK
2. In neutral the driver does not have to press the accelerator or brake pedal:Shockked:

I can understand the brake part, but accelerator???
Why would anyone press accelerator while in neutral. And if someone really does, nothing will happen anyway (apart from some engine noise) :)

So, that was the clever electronics at work where the Yeti didn't spin up at the hotel entrance (steep climb, right turn & stone chips for masala)

Will try the neutral thing in sometime & update.

The first niggle has cropped up & fret not, its the horn. Only one is working. Will revert back with what the ASC says, probably by Monday.

Quote:

Originally Posted by anandpadhye (Post 3357055)

From my trial, in neutral, with the offroad on, the speed was very slow ~5 kmph. However, on 1st gear and higher, you can rev to increase speed (till 30 kmph) while still activating the off-road mode.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sheel (Post 3357062)

The first niggle has cropped up & fret not, its the horn. Only one is working. Will revert back with what the ASC says, probably by Monday.

You are going to service center for 1 horn? In my case, one horn stops working intermittently. Then it starts working again. I am living with it happily. Trust me it's a feature "electronics intelligently decides when the situation demands 2 horns and activates the second" he he he...

Quote:

Originally Posted by iTNerd (Post 3357066)

So you are saying in neutral the speed never goes above 5kmph (when hill descent is active) regardless of how steep the incline is? Of course, you can not increase the speed on your own as the engine is disconnected in neutral.
What happens "in gear" if you don't press the accelerator? What speed does it restrict to?

Quote:

Originally Posted by anandpadhye (Post 3357134)

....

So you are saying in neutral the speed never goes above 5kmph (when hill descent is active) regardless of how steep the incline is? Of course, you can not increase the speed on your own as the engine is disconnected in neutral.
What happens "in gear" if you don't press the accelerator? What speed does it restrict to?

Let me try to explain, the neutral with offroad is "fixed" speed, while the in gear offroad takes the current speed at which you are taking the slope [ the speed at which the dashboard icon starts blinking ] you can increase or decrease the speed, to increase you have to accelerate, while to decrease the speed you have to apply break, and both way when you release the accelerator or break that becomes the current speed [ for acceleration it has to be less than 30kmph ]

I hope this clears the feature part, its a real good feature and I have used it effectively when I did the Leh- Ladhak in May 2012

My wiper problem was solved quite easily. The rubber part can be slid up or down a little bit before engaging the lock. All they did was to release the lock ,reposition the rubber a little higher and lock it again. Now the rubber reaches the top of the wiper and thus the hard top does not hit against the glass at the fully open position.