Used Skoda Yeti 2009-2017 review
7
The Skoda Yeti crossover is a member of the fastest-growing niche of vehicles, where it’s chunky charms still shine in an overcrowded segment
Published:
19 June 2025
- Introduction
- Design & styling
- Interior
- Engines & performance
- Ride & handling
- MPG & running costs
- Verdict
- Reliability
- Introduction
- Design & styling
- Interior
- Engines & performance
- Ride & handling
- MPG & running costs
- Verdict
- Reliability
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Jacked-up hatchback or compact SUV? Whichever way you view the Skoda Yeti, there’s no denying that the Czech marque’s segment-blending family car is unique, even if it did borrow its engines and parts from the vast stores of the Volkswagen Group.
Its funky silhouette and quirky dimensions captured Europeans’ imaginations when it first arrived in 2009: more than 700,000 were sold before production came to an end in 2018.
And long after its demise, this cheerful chariot still holds up as a reliable and appealing family wagon – especially as it can now be bought for as little as £1500. That’s a bargain price for a crossover that’s more refined than a contemporary Dacia Duster and more pleasing to drive than a Nissan Qashqai.
The Yeti’s Volkswagen Golf underpinnings ensured that it drove more like a hatchback on the road despite its SUV looks, with surprising agility, grip and balance.
The steering is accurate, the body is kept well in check and there’s a pleasing sense of togetherness and predictability to how the Yeti handles, be it in town, on a rural back road or down a motorway.
It can be caught out by the odd short sharp intrusion, but the ride is generally comfortable, so you and your passengers – and even the St Bernard lounging in the 416-litre boot – won’t feel aggrieved.
There’s plenty of flexibility to the cabin too: you can slide the rear seats fore and aft to increase boot capacity, fold them almost flat, or remove them completely to create essentially a small van. Head and knee room are generous enough for adults in the rear, too, and there are endless storage cubbies for your offspring to hide sweet wrappers.
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Materially the Yeti has a robust and durable feel inside, while the dashboard is logically configured and the switchgear is easy to use. Four trims were available from launch – E, S, SE and Elegance.
All versions are well equipped, but we would aim for at least an SE for its dual-zone climate control and rear parking sensors, or an Elegance for its bi-xenon headlights, leather trim and heated front seats.
SE L and posh Laurin & Klement trims were added in 2013, then in 2014 the Yeti was treated to a facelift, which improved its looks with a sharper front end, improved its interior and introduced more kit.
You can pay around £6000 for a nicely maintained, 75,000-mile pre-facelift Yeti, but it’s well worth forking out the extra £1000-£2000 for a post-facelift car.
There’s a broad range of engines to choose from, each available with either a six-speed manual or a dual-clutch (DSG) automatic gearbox. On the petrol side, there’s a 104bhp 1.2-litre TSI, a 148bhp 1.4 TSI (a rare find in the classifieds) and a 158bhp 1.8-litre TSI.
The 1.2 is the ideal companion for town driving and will return about 50mpg day to day. But you’re more likely to end up in a diesel, as the majority of examples were fitted with the bulletproof 2.0 TDI engine, which was offered with 108bhp, 138bhp or 168bhp.
Aim for the 138bhp or 168bhp and you will have a diesel Yeti with plenty of low-end grunt and four-wheel drive. A 4×4 model will still do around 45mpg and the extra driven axle is handy for towing or negotiating a muddy field.
Strap on a set of winter boots and you will find the Yeti could even be the ideal car for climbing into the Himalayas to search for its namesake.
Or you could just use it to go to the tip, and it will be good at that too.
Verdict
Model tested:
Rating: 7
Used Skoda Yeti 2009-2017 review
Segment-blending Skoda nails the family car brief with space and practicality – and throws in a good dose of driver engagement, without sacrificing on comfort
Good
Chunkily styled
Tidy handling
Comfortable ride
Bad
High cost of some models
Not the most practical option
Interior feeling its age
DESIGN & STYLING
Pros
Chunky, van-like styling makes it compact but practical
2014 updates gave it a much needed refresh
Cons
Not as easy on the eye as rivals with more traditional SUV aesthetic
The Yeti’s compact size, pleasing mix of cheeky and chunky styling and outright longevity made it an instantly recognisable model on UK roads.
Its 2014 updates did nothing to dilute the effect; although the large driving lights which were previously seperate of the main cluster, similar to the Nissan Juke, were absorbed into a new headlight.
There was also a new strip of LED daytime illumination, and the fog lights below were shuffled around, but the real differences were the distinguishing characteristics of the Outdoor version, which got a slightly more rugged look courtesy of beefy black bumpers and side skirts.
Otherwise, the Yeti ploughed down much the same road as before; the boxy, van-like rear end, for example, remained – not as easy on the eye as the sloping rear rooflines which adorned many more of its rivals, but a tribute to a more traditional SUV aesthetic and great for judging parking distances.
Little had changed mechanically, either. The Yeti’s 2014 update saw Skoda trim its engine lineup, with an 108bhp 1.2-litre TSI petrol engine and a 2.0-litre TDI diesel in two guises producing 108bhp and 148bhp respectively, the only options available. There was no three-cylinder, turbocharged, 1.0-litre unit, despite the engine finding a home in quite a lot of the Skoda range at the time.
The all-wheel-drive Yetis were highly popular, and, from 2014, got Haldex’s fifth-generation clutch system. This replaced its predecessors hydraulic resevoir with an electric pump – speeding up response times and lowering component weight slightly.
There was also a rough road package (added underfloor protection) and an off-road button which retuned the traction control and ABS for slippery ground.
INTERIOR
Pros
Neatly configured and easy-to-use dashboard
Plenty of head and leg room in the back for adults
Folding and removable seats adds versatility
Cons
Seats could offer more support and more adjustability
Rolling refinement could be better
Thanks to individually sliding (not to mention removable) seats the Yeti was flexible enough to offer adequate leg and elbowroom for two adults, and headroom was plentiful thanks to that squared-off rear end.
Up front was equally spacious. The driver and passenger seats suffered from a lack of lateral support, though, and some taller testers complained of difficulties in finding a comfortable driving position in relation to the steering wheel, which adjusted for rake and reach but would benefit from a broader range of movement in both respects.
The Yeti came with a decent amount of standard kit
Otherwise, the Yeti’s cabin was a good place to be. The Volkswagen Group’s presence could be felt in the basic dashboard architecture and control layout, and the standard colour touchscreen on higher trim models enhanced the dash’s appearance and ease of use. Even despite its age, it certainly didn’t feel dated against the Nissan Qashqai, Seat Ateca or Ford Kuga’s dashboard, but compared to the Volkswagen Tiguan’s, they were a world apart.
The broad windows and tall windscreen, meanwhile, let in plenty of light as well as affording excellent visibility. In terms of storage, the boot’s minimum capacity was decent, and if you got the rear seats out of the way, it was very good indeed thanks, in part, to that squared-off rear end.
Cabin noise was well insulated at any speed, though with the optional roof bars included wind noise was noticeable over the usual diesel drone at a motorway cruise.
There were several trims to choose from when the Yeti first launched – S, SE, Monte Carlo and SE-L. Opt for the entry-level model and you will get 17in alloy wheels, parking sensors, heated front seats, heated windscreen and a touchscreen infotainment system complete with sat nav, DAB radio, and Bluetooth connectivity as standard.
Laurin and Klement trim, as well as SE Drive and SE L Drive, trims were introduced later in the Yet’s lifecycle, with the latter equipped with unique 17in alloy wheels, silver roof rails, textile floor mats and a full leather upholstery.
ENGINES & PERFORMANCE
Pros
Oil burner offers decent performance and economy
Entry-level petrol has enough pace and refinement
Cons
1.2 TSI is a bit laboured when it comes to overtaking
Even in its base 1.2-litre TSI form, the Yeti was a competent companion. The car was easy to drive in most conditions, and didn’t overburdened its small petrol engine.
Beyond 2000rpm there was a reasonable amount of torque, and the six-speed manual gearbox offered up a typically decent, lightly fettled shift action and well-spaced ratios. Overtaking was more laborious than elsewhere in the range, but by and large it made for a well-mannered urbanite.
The Yeti’s entry-level engines are not as sluggish as the figures might suggest
However, it was not the most popular Yeti. That honour befalled the top-spec 2.0-litre TDI engine mated to the part time all-wheel drive system. The Haldex setup added no perceptible weight to the transmission or clutch, and given that it defaulted to front-wheel drive, it didn’t feel noticeably different to its cheaper sibling.
The oil burner was significantly less effort though. It offered decent performance even when fully loaded which, allied to decent economy and CO2 figures, gave it appeal for anyone looking for a longer-legged workhorse.
At the other end of the scale, the entry-level 108bhp 2.0-litre TDI engine was the best option if frugality really mattered to you.
Volkswagen’s DSG ‘box was available across the range, including the 1.2-litre TSI, and reduced driver work load even further at the expense of CO2 emissions – along with a smidge of driver involvment.
RIDE & HANDLING
Pros
Agile handling with little body roll
Steering is accurate and consistently weighted
Cons
Can struggle over short, sharp intrusions
Fixed ride height limits go-anywhere capability
You would have been forgiven for expecting the Skoda Yeti to drive with limited agility. The reality, though, was that it would change direction quickly and predictably, and with surprisingly little body roll.
The van-like seating position, however, discouraged you from driving it like a conventional car. But once you’d got past this, the Yeti delivered a decent balance of front and rear grip and eagerness to turn. As with the performance, it was not the Yeti’s outright ability that impressed us most, but the overall feeling of togetherness.
The Skoda Yeti drives far better than you might expect it to
The electric steering, although not tremendously feelsome, was accurate and its weighting was consistent. It made piloting the Yeti, whether in town, across country or on the motorway, a natural and untaxing process.
Similarly, the suspension responded with an accuracy that made the Yeti easy to place through faster corners, and the roll rate was nicely matched to the speed of the steering.
But had Skoda focused on agility to the detriment of comfort? The short answer was no, although with some qualification. For the most part the Yeti rode very well, and at speed it remained level and composed. Over short, sharp intrusions there was a little more firmness.
It wasn’t uncomfortable but there was less suspension movement than you might have expected, especially given the notable amount of space between the Yeti’s wheels and wheel arches.
Its basic competency continued off road. Where fitted, an off-road function gave a softened throttle response for more control on loose surfaces, but no amount of button pushing would adjust the ride height so it’s slippery surfaces for the Yeti rather than deep mud and ruts.
However, with your ambitions kept suitably in check, the Skoda was difficult to upset. Where a loss of traction was concerned, the baseline ability of the Haldex was high and standard hill descent took the potential bother out of troublesome declines.
MPG & RUNNING COSTS
You can pay as little as £1500 for a used Skoda Yeti, but this will tie you to older examples which have covered well over 100,000 miles.
A budget of around £6000-£10,000 will give you access to tider cars and a broader range of engines and trims. You’re also more likely to get your hands on a facelifted car, too.
The running costs will be on a par with a normal hatchback
As for economy, the entry-level 1.2 TSI petrol should return around 50mpg day to day, while the four-wheel drive 2.0 TDI disel will do around 45mpg.
VERDICT
Verdict
Model tested:
Rating: 7
Used Skoda Yeti 2009-2017 review
Segment-blending Skoda nails the family car brief with space and practicality – and throws in a good dose of driver engagement, without sacrificing on comfort
Good
Chunkily styled
Tidy handling
Comfortable ride
Bad
High cost of some models
Not the most practical option
Interior feeling its age
The Yeti was not an insignificant achievement. Popular though the segment might have been, very few crossovers were genuinely likeable upon introduction – but the Skoda certainly was.
While its rivals continued to become more car-like – in shape as well as ethos – there was still something pleasingly utilitarian about the Yeti.
The Yeti is easy to drive and has a comfortable ride
The accuracy and honesty with which it goes about its business was a big part of this appeal. By giving it a credibly agile chassis it had made a car that was nonetheless good to drive, but also easy to pilot and comfortable, too.
Nevertheless, the shortcomings – recognisable from the outset, and hardly dulled by the now considerable weight of the competition – could not be entirely ignored. For a segment which prides itself on extra practicality, the Yeti’s compactness did work against it. It was also not the most exciting, modern-looking prospect to sit in.
However, as an amalgamation of established VW Group hardware, it was pieced together about as cleverly and distinctively as one could hope
