Yeti less cuddly after its facelift but still a winner

You can sum up the work done to update and refresh the Skoda Yeti as a shopping trip with two stops: one at the Botox clinic and one at Great Outdoors, for some hiking boots and a North Face jacket.

Facelifts, as any celebrity will tell you, are tricky. One step too far and you risk turning a Sandra Bullock into a Jocelyn Wildenstien.

Thankfully, Skoda seems to have realised that the Yeti was already a generally excellent car – 281,000 global sales since 2009 would seem to confirm this, although that's a fraction of what the rival Nissan Qashqai has sold in that time – and has therefore kept things down to a reasonable minimum.

So there have been some tweaks to engines and the optional four-wheel-drive system, some cabin-trim changes and, most noticeably, a new look to the front and rear.

It’s this part that I think is the weakest point of the Yeti’s makeover. It now has a more clearly corporate Skoda face, with blocky, square headlamps, inset LED daytime running lamps and a subtly winged grille.

I quite liked the original, with its little inset round headlamps. The new one looks somehow less cuddly (can a Yeti be cuddly?), but the change is so subtle that few owners will probably notice.

Inside, aside from a new three-spoke steering wheel, little enough has changed, but then little enough had to change. The quality still seems impressively high, verging on Audi-level good, and the Yeti is still impressively practical.

There’s plenty of space in the back, and just about enough room to squeeze three child-safety car seats across the back seat. Those back seats can be folded, tumbled and even entirely removed, and the boot has a capacity of at least 405 litres.

There’s also a reversible boot floor, with a carpet side and a wipe-clean plastic side, for dealing with mucky shoes, dogs or what have you.

The key engine for Ireland will doubtless once again be the 1.6 TDI 105hp Greenline version, which remains in band A4 for motor tax (119g/km, €200 a year), but Skoda is keen to emphasise that the Yeti isn't just a poseur's soft-roader: if you equip it right, it can do some serious mud-plugging.

So, after equipping us with a 140hp 2.0 TDI with Haldex four-wheel-drive (its unit is now lighter and faster-reacting), Skoda sent us out on a tricky, mud-strewn off-road course with cross-axle bumps, steep drops and climbs, and even a narrow log bridge hung across a precipitous ravine.

Not once did the Yeti feel uncomfortable or as if was going to get stuck. “Indomitable” is the word that comes to mind.

There’s also now an Outdoor version, which includes underbody protective panels and a slightly more rugged look than the standard Yeti. Mind you, suspension height and ground clearance are identical to those of the regular version, so it is just a case of posing in Millets.

The good news, with winter coming – brace yourself, Game of Thrones fans – is that a 4x4 Yeti is now more affordable, thanks to the fact that the 110hp 2.0 TDI engine can be had with all-wheel-drive at a price that's €3,400 lower than the previous cheapest 4x4 version of €28,220, with annual motor tax of €390.

The cheapest Yeti of all is the turbocharged 1.2 petrol TSI Ambition front-drive, with an entry price of €24,490; that may actually be the ideal choice for Yeti-craving city dwellers.

There are other additions, including a reversing camera and an optional parking assistant, but essentially this is just tinsel on an already well-decorated tree.

The Yeti was excellent before. It’s excellent still, and a car curiously well suited to Irish conditions.