Yeti wins Drive Best SUV under $40k

[bobski]

I take everything from drive with a grain of salt, but still nice to get some runs on the board for the brand.

2011 DCOTY Best SUV under $40,000 winner Skoda Yeti

[onyertod]

Skoda Australia must be a happy place right now. Well deserved.

[Transporter]

Hmm, but the Tiguan was only 2WD and manual.
I don't want to speculate too much, but if the Tiguan in that competition was diesel with DSG, who knows ?
Anyhow, it's good to see that the Yeti took the first place.

[bobski]

Sometimes they can't get the cars they want to test?

[K1W1]

Sometimes they can't get the cars they want to test?

In which case they should not include them if they don't meet the test criteria.

[Jake02]

Hmm, but the Tiguan was only 2WD and manual.

Only new drivetrain to the range, thus the only one they tested.

[RSwag]

Only new drivetrain to the range, thus the only one they tested.

C'mon Jake, that's a tad naive don't you think?

VW Australia own and run Skoda Australia, they choose what vehicles are put up for testing and in what configuration. Drive merely review that vehicle as per it's category, the facelift of the Tiguan interior/exterior was enough for them to offer up any of the engines/transmissions for review.

Wheels within wheels Jake, VW offered up cars from both brands to get the desired results with plenty of "hint hint wink wink" from drive.

It shiws a positive however, VW Oz have been ordered to put a rocket under Skoda in Oz and they are hell bent on making the Yeti the holy grail. My opinion they would have found much more traction by putting the same energy in the Octavia range 16 months ago, then with the Superb and allowing the Yeti to compliment the range.

But apparently I know nothing?!

[Jake02]

C'mon Jake, that's a tad naive don't you think?

Car of the Year awards test only new models that are released in that year. Yes the Tiguan had a facelift but it's purely cosmetic and it doesn't change the car in any way (meaning the original's positives and negatives remain). The only non-cosmetic thing is the new base drivetrain, hence them testing it. If you look at the category for the Superb (family car or similar) there are millions of comments complaining that the Commodore wasn't included and yet, it's no different to the VE Series II facelift introduced last year and there is the justification for not being included. Still naive?

And RSwag, answer me this, how could the Yeti not win a comp against the Kia Sportage, the Tiguan and the Nissan X-Trail? It is a far superior car to all of those and I don't care what anyone says about value because I think it's great value for such an excellent vehicle. But I hope your prediction RE: the 'holy grail Yeti' is correct - itt is the car Skoda has needed for a while!

[K1W1]

It shiws a positive however, VW Oz have been ordered to put a rocket under Skoda in Oz

Do you have a reliable source for that info or is it just supposition?

Car of the Year awards test only new models that are released in that year.

If you read the article you will see that that statement is not quite correct in the case of the Drive awards at least. They say in the article that the previous years winner in each category is invited back the following year. In the case of the SUV category it was the Kia that won last year and the Yeti only beat it by one vote in 2011.

[bobski]

As I said, a grain of salt. Magazines like wheels/motor generally give far more information about how they judged the cars in anticipation of backlash, rather than a subjective opinion like Drive. Usually the mags also explain why cars weren't included, eg, they didn't win last year, couldn't be supplied, catch fire when turning left etc.

It's all good advertising and another example of Skoda going from strength to strength. If only they had enough stock!