Questions on the Towbar

[Blue103TDIDSG]

Hi
I'm in SEQ and have ordered my Yeti - well, paid a deposit and should pick it up next week
Could NEVER place an order then wait 4 or 5 months !! Would always have to be one ex stock. Too impatient
Is "new" not registered but to get the extra 2 years warranty, they sell it as a "demo".

We were told that the biggest component in the cost of the towbar was labour. These days, a dollar saved is a dollar earned, so "negotiated" for the towbar to be supplied in the boot "in a box" at cost price (haven't been advised what that actually is yet) and will fit myself. Will also pay for it separately to keep it out of stamp duty. I'm an oldfart and $1600 for a towbar just seems, well, impossible. Likewise for the electric cable at $260 [edit Make that $578.20+GST !!] - gone are the days of just looping into the tail light loom. [sigh]

Seems everything these days is "complicated" - Don't get me wrong, not a winge - just an observation
On this same subject though, love all electronic gismos that the car has as standard. In fact didn't find out all that it had until after we decided to get it. The wife's car is an 2010 SX Lancer hatch and it has stability control and traction control. Struth - it is a billy cart by comparison with ABS, LSD, EBD, Hill ascent & decent, Hill hold, front/rear power distribution, parking sensors, auto tinting mirror(s), auto headlights and wipers and my favourite - heated external mirrors. Not needed much here in SEQ but VERY handy on that rare day when the outside mirrors do fog up..

But I digress - Yes - The Towbar
Research seems to indicate that the OEM unit from Skoda will in fact be a BestBars NZ made, sort of copy of the Westfalia unit - found out when I emailed them for a price - they said I would have to get it from Skoda or my dealer.
Q1 Is this so and does anyone have it ?
Q2 If "yes" any chance of a photo(s) ? Not much available from BestBars web site
Q3 With the goose neck removed is it behind the bumper , so with the cover in place, is completly hidden ?
Q4 Does anyone have the Westfail unit ? Again if "yes" any chance of photo(s)
Q5 Is the Westfaila unit available in Oz ? Got a price from UK but it is 620 pounds with freight

Research also seems to indicate that the Oz Yetis have the 1D7 Towbar prep as standard.
Guessing main reason is that it comes with a cooling fan upgrade which would be "wise" for the hotter areas of our great country, whether it is used for towing or not. Makes BIG differance to fitting the wiring loom for the towbar - only have to work in the rear section and nothing up to the front end as it is already there.
Q6 Can this be confirmed ?

Finally, been looking but still haven't seen one on the road yet.

Thanks in advance

Chris

[joel0407]

Bump.

Looking like I'm ordering my Yeti Westfalia Tow bar from Iron Bull Tow bars.

My Yeti wont arrive until Jan/Feb 2013 but I'd like to have an idea before then.

Happy Days

[Blue103TDIDSG]

Joel

The Westfalia towbar looks like this
Towbar Video - Skoda Yeti Westfalia Detachable - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHBFVTWgSyo)
and is completely hidden when removed

The Ironbull one seems to have the quick release unit visible when the goose neck is removed
skoda yeti towbar (http://ironbull.com.au/skoda-yeti-towbars/134-towbar-skoda-yeti.html) (drawing)

On the Ironbull unit the tang on the goose neck is horizontal, where as the tang on the Wesyfalia unit is vertical
Please let me know if this not correct
Meantime I will continue to try and find a Westfalia "look alike" - or genuine

Had another look at our car today and took a photo of the build data sticker in the spare tyre well
It does have the 1D7 towbar prep fitted.
U bute - a lot less work when I fit the towbar myself

Also looked at all the other Yetis or is that Yetii ? on the lot, the 2WD's and the 4x4's
All have the cut out panel and clip in cover as seen in the Westfalia video
So seems all Oz Yetis have the towbar prep

[mark t]

Hi

After looking around, the Ironbull towbar seemed like the best option, and so far I'm happy with it. I went with the 'smart bar' -$75 more than the 'eurobar' the difference being the release system is better, and it is fantastic.

The release unit does hang down compared to the westfalia, which, for me, is the only negative, but as I understand it, this is necessary as the australian regs require the attachable back-up chain (the europeans don't).

Jeff from Ironbull fitted it at my place, it probably took him 3 hours, $900 all up - IIRC,

He said he could import and fit a genuine westfalia, but pointed out that it wasn't legal.

"So seems all Oz Yetis have the towbar prep" - mine did

[Blue103TDIDSG]

Mark

Thanks for your reply - I have been on this a while now and still learning
I wondered where the safety chain attached on the Westfalia unit - easy - it doesn't
You can land a Westfalia unit here for approx AUD$875 - you then have to fit it -
Ah well there goes that idea -
In the old days you would just weld a bracket to connect the chain to
Liability issues now mean you have to get an engineer to OK it to be legal - too expensive
[edit: Westfalia towbars DO have a cleat for the fitting safety chain]

I like the idea of not seeing the towbar when the tongue is not fitted
Part of our "deal" was that they would supply a towbar at cost outside of the actual car purchase
The cost price to the dealer of the OEM, which is actually a NZ made Bestbar is $1029.
comprising $636 for electrics and $392 for the towbar. Retail is $1478 + fitting

If I could ask a question on the electrics

Presumably Jeff fitted his electric kit and from memory he charges $260 for it

Did you have to take it to a dealer to have the car reprogrammed so it knew that a towbar had been fitted ?

Does the sat/nav screen show a trailer fitted when you connect one ?
(I believe it usually does)

Do the rear fog lights and rear parking sensor get disconnected when the trailer is connected ?

Thanks in advance
Regards

Chris

PS how's the Yeti going ??

[mark t]

Chris
Jeff supplied the electric kit, $260 sound right. I have to take it to Skoda at some stage to get the code reprogrammed to accept the tow bar, so at the moment no, I have to hit the rear park sensor mute button when reversing, otherwise it works OK. I'll get it done at the first service, due very soon. BTW I thought the rear parking sensor would be a bit of useless bling, but have come to find it very useful.

The yeti is going great thanks, I love driving it, goes everywhere I want it to including a fair bit of bush track and paddock work - getting about 850 kms to a tank- double the economy of my previous car, a Forester. DSG is great. Bluetooth, yep. No problems.

Cheers.

[BJ75]

Does the sat/nav screen show a trailer fitted when you connect one ?
(I believe it usually does)

Do the rear fog lights and rear parking sensor get disconnected when the trailer is connected ?

Don't know if this helps, but on the factory fitted BestBar units, both these questions are a yes.

If I had my time over, I would have waited several months for Hayman Reece to come out with a Yeti compatible unit along with electrics. Sure, the BestBar vertical titan hitch is partially hidden away (although nowhere near the degree that the UK/Euro Westfalia unit is hidden away), but if you want to hook up any of the popular/decent bike carriers, they all require a horizontal hitch.

I got a right angle adapter made up that does the job. But it probably doesn't look as neat.


Sent from my Xoom using Tapatalk 2

[Blue103TDIDSG]

. Sure, the BestBar vertical titan hitch is partially hidden away (although nowhere near the degree that the UK/Euro Westfalia unit is hidden away),

Thanks BJ75

Ok re the bike carrier - won't be a prob for me as all I ever tow is a box trailer - and only occasionally
That's why I would like the towbar to be "hidden"
Does your comment above mean that the original cover that is in the bumper needs a cutout to allow some of the towbar to poke through ?

[BJ75]

Does your comment above mean that the original cover that is in the bumper needs a cutout to allow some of the towbar to poke through ?
Yes, it does. Being factory fitted this was already done for me. I am almost certain the hole is cut to the exact dimensions required for the Westfalia unit. They (the dealer) nicely provided the cover plate that goes over said hole - which is completely useless with the BestBar units, since there's no physical way the cover will ever go back into place with that receiver, the part the chain hooks onto, and the plug, all sitting proud of the hole profile.

Having said that - about it sitting proud - it's still far less obvious than most Hayman Reece style horizontal ones I see getting around. From behind, the most obvious thing you can see is half the plug. Not that I care that much - like I said before I'd happily have the ugliness of a visible horizontal receiver for the reduction of hassle it causes me for bike carriers.

Oh, speaking of the plug ... another gripe: it's some euro style round pattern that doesn't match anything in Australia. It comes with an adaptor (to turn it into the flat rectangle plug) but it'd be nice if it went straight in. If you've got your own trailer I guess you could modify the cable on it to suit. Maybe helpful to those who don't like lending their trailer to people?

I'm going to build a light/indicator unit for my bike carrier at some point - both to increase rear visibility of my lights etc, but mainly so as to have something to plug into the electrics while it's on there and full of bikes, so that my reversing sensor doesn't constantly beep while reversing with bikes in place. When I make said unit, I'm going to get the male part of this euro plug for sure.

-- EDIT ... sorry, I got sidetracked and over-answered your question. A simple 'Yes' would've sufficed.

[Blue103TDIDSG]

I'm going to build a light/indicator unit for my bike carrier at some point - both to increase rear visibility of my lights etc, but mainly so as to have something to plug into the electrics while it's on there and full of bikes, so that my reversing sensor doesn't constantly beep while reversing with bikes in place. When I make said unit, I'm going to get the male part of this euro plug for sure.

-- EDIT ... sorry, I got sidetracked and over-answered your question. A simple 'Yes' would've sufficed.


No, quite the opposite
Thanks BJ75 for "over-answering" much appreciated the detail.
Helped me make decision that the Bestbars unit is "out" - definitely want that cover in place when not in use

Jeff from Ironbull Towbars is looking for some other import similar to the Westfalia that will be "legal" here in Oz.
Turns out that his shed is 5 mins up the road from where I live, so went and spoke to him yesterday - very helpful.

In passing, he mentioned that the reason we have to get the dealer to tweak the electrics on the car is so that the stability program(s) will know that a trailer is being towed by the connection of the trailer lights - apparently it changes the way the stability program(s) work as well as shutting off the rear sensors and fog lights.

What started out as (I mistakenly thought) would be a fairly simple exercise in finding a towbar has turned into a saga as big as Ben Hur.

Will post the results if and when I finally find something that will work

[edit]
update here http://www.vwwatercooled.com.au/forums/f157/fitting-tow-bar-wiring-yeti-tow-prep-81962-5.html

the legalities of using an imported tow bar here, post #15 http://www.vwwatercooled.com.au/forums/f157/fitting-tow-bar-wiring-yeti-tow-prep-81962-2.html