Several months ago my 2014 Yeti went into the main dealer to replace the outboard rear seat belts, as they'd frayed. This was completed under warranty and was the second time I experienced this failure - my 2012 Urban suffered similarly after ~2 years. The outermost rear seats are in regular use and the spring intended to keep the receiving part flat tends to push it's way through the webbing, causing it to fray.

When I dropped the car off the EA189 Emmisions Update was mentioned and I was initially cautious, given the negative feedback I'd read on here (involving similalrly engined Tiguan's). I was assured my local main dealer had seen no such issues (following the update) and I elected to have it applied.

On collecting the car it initially seemed unchanged. Over the next few days however I noted a changed in engine note when accelerating, which in a petrol engined car I would have described as "pinking". Outright performance appeared relatively unchanged, although there appeared to be a very slight fluttering / misfire, more noticeable on a light throttle. I re-fuelled the car and became aware the fuel economy was noticeably less. I was also increasingly aware the engine appeared to begin developing power / torque approximately 300-500 RPM further up the rev range. This lead to me often driving in a lower gear, than before the update.

Fuel economy is admittedly an obsession of mine and my Fuelly account now covers in excess of 100K miles, covered in 3 Yeti's (x1 1.2 TSi, x1 110 BHP 2.0 TDi 2WD and my current 140 BHP 140 BHP 4x4). I went back over the preceding years economy and found what appeared to be a fall in fuel economy, following the EA189 emissions update. I matched the fuel economy over the preceding months (Dec, Jan, Feb and March) with those from 2015, 2016 and 2017.

I also became aware the car was actively regenerating the DPF on a much more regular basis. I downloaded the full version of the VAG DPF app (Android) and it became apparent the DPF was becoming 100% full after around 80-90 miles. It was regenerating as normal and the resultant ash load was still low. I'd previously only been aware of occasional active regenerations, but following the update, these were occuring every few days. I cover ~20K miles yearly and tend to favour "branded" fuels (Esso / Shell), with the occasional tank of V-Power Nitro+, in an attempt to keep everything clean / ticking over. I'd assumed the worsening fuel economy was a direct consequence of the increased fuel injected to facilitate frequent active regeneration?

As the car is approaching the end of the manunfacturers warranty I was pondering options - keep the car long-term, sell it (it was advertised on here for several months, with no interest, despite being the cheapest 140 TDi 4x4 currently onsale) or possibly part-ex. I test drove several alternatives - Yeti (150 BHP TDi and 1.2 TSi), Octavia (150 BHP TDi and 1.4 TSi) and Superb (190 BHP TDi and 1.4 TSi), but to my surprise found I actually prefered my existing Yeti! The newer 150 BHP diesel was a little dissapointing. I'd expected it to be a significant improvement on my 140 BHP TDi, but it seemed no quieter and certainly not noticeably quicker. I was also concered the Ad-blue dosing system in the Yeti was very much an after thought, which may prove problematic in the long-term. The Superb is a nice car, but somewhat too large and the Octavia was simply boring. I didn't get the opportunity to try the 1.4 TSi in a Yeti (L&K), but had effectively ruled this out given the awful colour of the interior and costs associated with the top of the range vehicle.

I decided to seek advice outside the VAG dealer network and visited my local mapping specialist. I'd used them previously and found them to be knowledgeable and helpful. They told me they could offer 2 options - roll back the map to a state before the EA189 emissions update, or a stage 1 perfomance map, again based on the pre-emissions update map. Following due consideration (invalidating the remaining few months warranty, increased insurance costs, probable lack of goodwill contribution from Skoda, in the event of a failure) I decided to opt for the stage 1 option.

Following the remap the car is absolutely transformed. There is considerably more power / torque throughout the rev range and it's especially noticeable it begins pulling from lower revs and continues pulling (virtually) all the way to the red-line. I've owned several mapped cars (Revo'd Roomster 1.9 TDi and Mark I Octavia vRS - these were mapped by my local Skoda main dealer, Mark I Octavia 1.8 T 4x4 Combi - mapped by Jabbasport when new) and have found this map to be more subtle than the Revo / Jabbasport maps, but nontheless has made the car a much more enjoyable drive.

I've only re-fuelled a single tank since the remap, but early indications are the fuel economy has at least recovered to pre-update levels. The active regenerations are also now much less frequent. I now plan to keep this car long-term and hope I don't fall foul of some future change in the law regarding this emissions update.

I'm hopeful the Yeti continues to prove reliable in the long-term, but am somewhat reassured as the re-mapped 4x4 Octavia is still within my immediate family and has proved astonishingly reliable, despite running considerably more (+38%) power than it left the factory with (for the last 15 years).

I'll update this thread with my on-going fuel economy and will feedback any issues, as they arise.

Edited by Avant on 16/04/2017 at 18:32