Panoramic luxury in the Skoda Yeti Urban

The Skoda Yeti Urban is great fun to drive

The Skoda Yeti Urban is a hard car to describe. It doesn’t fall into the usual ‘good looking’ categories, like stunning or sleek or beautiful, yet it is beautiful in its own way.

The Yeti is my favorite Skoda. I loved the GreenLine version when I drove it last year, and the Yeti Urban is basically a special edition model, with all the usual Yeti features, plus some more.

While it’s unlikely that many will ooh and ahh over its rather squat and solid looks, you definitely wouldn’t describe the Skoda Yeti Urban as ugly either.

Skoda has gone for a minimalist look for the interior of the Yeti Urban

Inside, Skoda has gone for the minimalist look, which some may say is dull, but I think actually suits this SUV, which isn’t at all dull to drive.

With a dark cloth interior and a clear and uncluttered instrument panel, Skoda has achieved functional minimalism.

The leather steering wheel also had a lovely feel and a clean look to it, with only the audio and phone operating from it. Cruise control, meanwhile, is activated from a stalk off the steering column.

I liked the no nonsense touch screen audio unit, which houses the radio/6-CD, the SD slot and the Aux port. There’s no USB, unfortunately.

The door lock/unlock button, unusually, is in the centre console and it took me a bit of time to locate it when I first sat into the car.

The Urban model I was driving also had auto wipers and auto lights, air conditioning, electric front and rear windows and rear parking sensors.

When you’ve finally surveyed the cockpit and located all the essentials, you might look up – and then you’ll see one of the main additional features of the Yeti Urban – the beautiful panoramic sunroof, of which the front section opens. This is a standard feature on this model.

The interior of the Skoda Yeti Urban is extremely versatile, with the Vario-Flex Seating Solutions offering various cargo options

Ostensibly a five-seater, the Yeti Urban can be turned into a four seater as the middle rear seat can be pulled down and used as a double cup holder or arm rest. Much bigger than a ski hatch, pulling down the rear seat leaves the boot very much opening into the cabin – which could be handy for a trip to IKEA.

There’s also quite a big gap between the rear parcel holder and the back seats.

I wasn’t a fan of the front centre storage box, which I left open as it got in my way changing gears. I thought it was a bit on the small side as well.

Traditionally, one of the main selling points for the Yeti was the amount of luggage space it provided and this is no different in the Yeti Urban.

The boot in the Yeti Urban is quite large, even with all five seats in operation.

However, there are oodles of seat configurations, ranging from a two seater to a five seater, to maximise either luggage space or passenger comfort. The seats are easy to maneouver, with a pull lever on each seat back.

The Yeti Urban also has lots of little storage cubbies for smaller items like bottles and sunglasses, with an elasticated section on each of the front doors to hold things in place.

It also has a ticket holder on the windscreen, a nice touch from Skoda, which, as a city driver, I found very handy.

17″ Annapurna alloy wheels come as standard on the Skoda Yeti Urban

The real selling point for me with the Yeti Urban thought was in how it drives. The test car had a 2.0-litre diesel engine with 110bhp, with five-speed transmission.

As the Yeti Urban it is a front wheel drive urban car, we decided to test it on urban routes, taking it around Dublin city, through various side street short-cuts, shopping centre car parks and on the M50 motorway.

It’s a beautiful car to drive, with a lovely eager engine, very responsive and loads of poke. It’s easy to manoeuver as well – a nice handy size, so narrow no-footpath side streets and car parks weren’t a challenge.

At the lights, it was powerful and fast and on the motorway, it was great fun working through the gears to reach 120kph. As you’d expect, cruising at motorway speed was no bother to it.

Although not a GreenLine version, the Yeti Urban was also very fuel efficient.

Overall, I loved the Skoda Yeti Urban. With strong, rugged looks, a versatile interior and the panoramic sunroof offering a bit of luxury, the Yeti Urban is a car that I think will appeal to families and younger drivers alike. I could quite happily drive it all day, every day.

The Skoda Yeti Urban is available now, with prices starting from €25,495.

Tech Spec:
Engine: 2.0TDI, 81kW, 110bhp (2WD)
Acceleration: 0-100km/h in 11.6seconds
Maximum Speed: 177 km/h
Combined fuel consumption: 5.4 l/100km
CO2 emissions: 140g/km
Annual road tax: €225 (Band B)

Visit skoda.ie or the Skoda Ireland Facebook page for further details.