Discussion
Look forward to it. Love Tunisia, that's where my profile pic was taken.
Scoobydrew95 said:
That looks absolutely fantastic! Was there absolutely nothing you could do to aid clearance of the tyres?
Didn't really want to do more than a 30mm vertical lift, and spacers maybe could have done an extra 5mm at the front - but really it was only on full lock and in reverse you'd get any scrubbingThis thing is bloody awesome, and I'm looking forward to reading about the Tunisia adventure!
Somewhat, apropos - what are Yetis like in terms of NVH?
It's on my list as a possible replacement for my girlfriend's car, which is a Volvo C30 Lux. It's pretty damn good in the NVH stakes and I'm keen to not go backwards in that regard.
Somewhat, apropos - what are Yetis like in terms of NVH?
It's on my list as a possible replacement for my girlfriend's car, which is a Volvo C30 Lux. It's pretty damn good in the NVH stakes and I'm keen to not go backwards in that regard.
Edited by TheJimi on Tuesday 5th December 13:33
TheJimi said:
Somewhat, apropos - what are Yetis like in terms of NVH?
They are reasonably well refined, i don't know about vag group cars really other than coming out of that old Passat, i think Skoda plastics are a bit cheaper than in other vag group but the engines are the same, a5 platform is basically the golf, a3, yeti, various others. Good suspension, comfy seats, good HVAC, not much road noise (until you lift it 30mm and put on huge knobblies and a snorkel)What a fantastic thread OP. I have a 2011 Octavia Scout which is going down a somewhat similar route. It's amazing how capable these things are, and Skoda have done so well with them.
How are the driveshaft angles looking with that lift? I am super tempted with a 40mm lift but I need to check driveshaft angle first.
Make sure you keep on top of Haldex servicing - do you have the Haldex 4 or 5 in the Yeti?
Lastly, if you need any advise please ask - I know these pretty well and worked for the group for over a decade.
How are the driveshaft angles looking with that lift? I am super tempted with a 40mm lift but I need to check driveshaft angle first.
Make sure you keep on top of Haldex servicing - do you have the Haldex 4 or 5 in the Yeti?
Lastly, if you need any advise please ask - I know these pretty well and worked for the group for over a decade.
Russ_16v said:
How are the driveshaft angles looking with that lift? I am super tempted with a 40mm lift but I need to check driveshaft angle first.
Make sure you keep on top of Haldex servicing - do you have the Haldex 4 or 5 in the Yeti?
Lastly, if you need any advise please ask - I know these pretty well and worked for the group for over a decade.
Hi Mate,Make sure you keep on top of Haldex servicing - do you have the Haldex 4 or 5 in the Yeti?
Lastly, if you need any advise please ask - I know these pretty well and worked for the group for over a decade.
The angles on the drive shafts not greatly affected - only a marginal change, no issues at lock either way
Haldex 5 - we did a oil and filter service on it before heading off for Tunisia
With about 10 or so days to go before the event the organisers sent out the maps, gpx files and waypoints files.
At first I was slightly perplexed at how best to manage the files but a quick text to my contact at the event - Andy - an english speaking expat in Spain (the tour company is Spanish) resulted in a long phone call with clear, in depth instructions on what software they use, what the options were and basically how best to do it. What it boiled down to was you wanted a big clear screen sat nav for the navigator and a smaller one for the driver (for two person crews). As I was going with my mate Wil this was the option we went for.
You'll hear me rabbit on and on about how great the organisation is on this trip - which it really is. No, it's not a cheap trip, but the organisational support goes above and beyond let me tell you. More on that later.
Anyway, I settled on using an iPad Air 3 with Cellular function and GPS chip that I found in the warehouse, and downloaded the free "2nav" App and then upgraded it to the full version for 10 euro. I added a 19 euro map of tunisia and got to uploading the GPX files and way points. I also had my bike garmin which I added just the plain route and not the waypoints for as a second reference point.
Tada!
Basically, depending on what vehicle class you are, you have one of about three routes (one for lightweight 4x4 - us, one for full size - our friends in the Shogun sport, and a RAID category for the hardcore cars and the seasoned pros)
The waypoints are all there to keep you on course but are also quite often linked to speed requirements, time limits etc all things that will get you penalties if you disobey them. You must pass a waypoint directly within 50metres and stay within 200 metres of the defined track at all times else you get points. That kind of thing.
With all that set up on the iPad, it was time to hit the road and meet our friends in Dover - en route to Marseille for the ferry the following day
Arrived at Dover in good time albeit now enjoying fuel consumption down in the mid 30s. Ride and road noise was now something we were used to, and not too worried about.
En route to our overnight stay somewhere south of Troyes in the fading light and the first (of many) fuel stops on the trip. Our friends thirsty Shogun Sport has only a 60 litre tank so sub 200 miles between fills..!
Next morning and en route to Marseille - a view of our setup before adding the Stella III tracker unit in Tunisia.
Arrived at the port of Marseille (anyone that thinks Dover is a s
thole needs to come here) and having a look around at some of the competition. Most of the Panda 4x4s were coming from Italy on the Genoa ferry
Finally boarding the ferry (took over 2 hours!!) and a nice Citroen DS plus some suspect looking load practices on some of the outbound traffic....
Settling into to the 26 hour crossing to Tunis onboard the CTN Carthage - a very tired old ship - we christened it the ashtray of the seas owing to the fact that you can smoke inside in Tunisia so it was quite fumy...!! But I do love a cross channel ferry, and it was good to get to know the organisers and some of the other competitors.
After getting off the ferry in Tunis we were supposedly being met by an insurance rep who subsequently didn't show up, so we rendezvoused in a dodgy car park up the road to meet a guy that the organisers use for sim cards - for 20 euros we were given a sim card that included 42GB of data and 150 minutes of calls within Europe/UK, much cheaper than the rip off rates from uk suppliers. Also with modern phones it's great being able to retain your UK number for whatsapp/imessage etc whilst using the data on the Tunisia sim card. Travel is so much easier now.
We then had to wing it without insurance to the hotel (naughty I know..) as frankly it was a sthole area in the middle of the night and we were all tired. The hotel was in Hammamet - about 40 minutes drive away, where we had two nights there so as to get the technical checks out of the way in a spare day and get the Stella 3 installed in the cars - as well as getting insurance.
The trip was laid out like this:
The next morning and a wander around the hotel car park and a taste of some of the other vehicles. There were circa 20 Pandas on the tour, mainly from Italian teams. There was even a garage on the tour as well that set up a mobile workshop every night for Panda owners.
We needed insurance so got chatting to the organisers who hooked us up with a guy from the Tunisian equivalent of the AA. We explained we had no insurance so he said no worries, follow me, let's get lunch and go and get insurance. What car are we taking, he said. We don't have insurance, we said. No worries, let's take the Yeti, he said!
After a quick lunch (80p) with our new friend, we found the insurance office above a petrol station and got some insurance - about 30£ for the week.
We filled up with diesel (around 45p a litre) and Paul petrol (around 60p a litre) at the same petrol station. What a bargain..!
Stickered up, stella 3 installed, classification checks done, signed off and ready to go!
A couple of nerve easing beers and an early night - the first day stage included a long trek down a beach and given I had never been off road in the Skoda, let alone on sand, we basically did not know how it was going to go. The ultimate test was basically the first stage... We had made some friends already - a father and son team from Maidenhead, a father and son team from Belgium and a couple of Romanian guys in a Dacia Duster. As the trip would progress our friendships would develop and a much needed support network would be built...!!
At first I was slightly perplexed at how best to manage the files but a quick text to my contact at the event - Andy - an english speaking expat in Spain (the tour company is Spanish) resulted in a long phone call with clear, in depth instructions on what software they use, what the options were and basically how best to do it. What it boiled down to was you wanted a big clear screen sat nav for the navigator and a smaller one for the driver (for two person crews). As I was going with my mate Wil this was the option we went for.
You'll hear me rabbit on and on about how great the organisation is on this trip - which it really is. No, it's not a cheap trip, but the organisational support goes above and beyond let me tell you. More on that later.
Anyway, I settled on using an iPad Air 3 with Cellular function and GPS chip that I found in the warehouse, and downloaded the free "2nav" App and then upgraded it to the full version for 10 euro. I added a 19 euro map of tunisia and got to uploading the GPX files and way points. I also had my bike garmin which I added just the plain route and not the waypoints for as a second reference point.
Tada!
Basically, depending on what vehicle class you are, you have one of about three routes (one for lightweight 4x4 - us, one for full size - our friends in the Shogun sport, and a RAID category for the hardcore cars and the seasoned pros)
The waypoints are all there to keep you on course but are also quite often linked to speed requirements, time limits etc all things that will get you penalties if you disobey them. You must pass a waypoint directly within 50metres and stay within 200 metres of the defined track at all times else you get points. That kind of thing.
With all that set up on the iPad, it was time to hit the road and meet our friends in Dover - en route to Marseille for the ferry the following day
Arrived at Dover in good time albeit now enjoying fuel consumption down in the mid 30s. Ride and road noise was now something we were used to, and not too worried about.
En route to our overnight stay somewhere south of Troyes in the fading light and the first (of many) fuel stops on the trip. Our friends thirsty Shogun Sport has only a 60 litre tank so sub 200 miles between fills..!
Next morning and en route to Marseille - a view of our setup before adding the Stella III tracker unit in Tunisia.
Arrived at the port of Marseille (anyone that thinks Dover is a s
thole needs to come here) and having a look around at some of the competition. Most of the Panda 4x4s were coming from Italy on the Genoa ferryFinally boarding the ferry (took over 2 hours!!) and a nice Citroen DS plus some suspect looking load practices on some of the outbound traffic....
Settling into to the 26 hour crossing to Tunis onboard the CTN Carthage - a very tired old ship - we christened it the ashtray of the seas owing to the fact that you can smoke inside in Tunisia so it was quite fumy...!! But I do love a cross channel ferry, and it was good to get to know the organisers and some of the other competitors.
After getting off the ferry in Tunis we were supposedly being met by an insurance rep who subsequently didn't show up, so we rendezvoused in a dodgy car park up the road to meet a guy that the organisers use for sim cards - for 20 euros we were given a sim card that included 42GB of data and 150 minutes of calls within Europe/UK, much cheaper than the rip off rates from uk suppliers. Also with modern phones it's great being able to retain your UK number for whatsapp/imessage etc whilst using the data on the Tunisia sim card. Travel is so much easier now.
We then had to wing it without insurance to the hotel (naughty I know..) as frankly it was a s
thole area in the middle of the night and we were all tired. The hotel was in Hammamet - about 40 minutes drive away, where we had two nights there so as to get the technical checks out of the way in a spare day and get the Stella 3 installed in the cars - as well as getting insurance.The trip was laid out like this:
The next morning and a wander around the hotel car park and a taste of some of the other vehicles. There were circa 20 Pandas on the tour, mainly from Italian teams. There was even a garage on the tour as well that set up a mobile workshop every night for Panda owners.
We needed insurance so got chatting to the organisers who hooked us up with a guy from the Tunisian equivalent of the AA. We explained we had no insurance so he said no worries, follow me, let's get lunch and go and get insurance. What car are we taking, he said. We don't have insurance, we said. No worries, let's take the Yeti, he said!
After a quick lunch (80p) with our new friend, we found the insurance office above a petrol station and got some insurance - about 30£ for the week.
We filled up with diesel (around 45p a litre) and Paul petrol (around 60p a litre) at the same petrol station. What a bargain..!
Stickered up, stella 3 installed, classification checks done, signed off and ready to go!
A couple of nerve easing beers and an early night - the first day stage included a long trek down a beach and given I had never been off road in the Skoda, let alone on sand, we basically did not know how it was going to go. The ultimate test was basically the first stage... We had made some friends already - a father and son team from Maidenhead, a father and son team from Belgium and a couple of Romanian guys in a Dacia Duster. As the trip would progress our friendships would develop and a much needed support network would be built...!!
idealstandard said:
All of the bits and bobs locked and loaded and ready to go to Toby my mate and excellent fabricator, with some very vague instructions / ideas.
Even his dremel skills are quite something to admire, and the end result was exactly what I had thoguht we might achieve, a nice job indeed.
OMG that's exactly the kind of fabrication I could use for my car. Looks fantastic.Even his dremel skills are quite something to admire, and the end result was exactly what I had thoguht we might achieve, a nice job indeed.
Does Toby take commissions?
idealstandard said:
Mars said:
Does Toby take commissions?
If you are near Bucks, yes absolutely, I can put you in touch...
This is my new favourite thread on PH! Keep posting OP, I genuinely can't wait to read about your adventure.
I've always had a soft spot for a Yeti having done a few miles in a 2L PD Diesel 2WD one some years ago and the alure of a fettled 1.8TSI as a sensible daily is generally pretty strong.
Also duly noted with regards Cayennes, sand and fuse boxes
I've always had a soft spot for a Yeti having done a few miles in a 2L PD Diesel 2WD one some years ago and the alure of a fettled 1.8TSI as a sensible daily is generally pretty strong.
Also duly noted with regards Cayennes, sand and fuse boxes
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