How The Clever Haldex Clutch Transforms The Humble Yeti Into An Off-Road Specialist

A Skoda Yeti probably isn’t the first car that springs to mind when you think capable off-roader. But it really is very good on the rough stuff, and all because of a clever little thing called the Haldex clutch.

Now in its fifth generation, the Haldex clutch is a form of multiplate clutch technology that’s used across the Volkswagen Group range. When fitted to a car it can, quite literally, transform the dynamics of any vehicle.

Take the Seat Leon Cupra 280 for example. Thanks to the use of Haldex technology in the Cupra’s front locking diff, a ridiculous 276bhp is sent through the front wheels with perfection, enabling the car to use all of its power nearly all of the time. The same Haldex technology can be found in four-wheel drive Skoda Yetis which is why, as I found out, they make for great off-roaders.

To demonstrate the talents of this mechanical black art, I was flown over to Pachfurth Driving Camp in Austria to sample steep off-road gradients and skid pans in AWD Skodas. But first, a quick explanation as to why Haldex systems are so special when compared with conventional four-wheel drive systems.

In layman’s terms, the reason that Haldex works so well is because each wheel can be adjusted independently, which allows the wheel with the most grip to be given the most amount power.

Monitoring the car’s behaviour and the driver’s steering, throttle and braking inputs, the car’s ECU determines the optimum amounts of torque for each wheel and, if necessary, sends power towards the rear axle by applying pressure to the rear axle clutch plates. Working in harmony with a mechanical diff located on the rear, this power is then distributed to each side depending on which has the most grip.

The result is a full-time two-wheel drive Yeti that can easily scrabble itself out of trouble with temporary four-wheel drive assistance. This ability to switch between two- and four-wheel drive therefore saves fuel when AWD is not needed and provides the security of all-wheel drive when it is.

In practice, and faced with a 60 per cent decline, the Yeti’s Haldex system controlled each wheel without any brake or throttle input. Even the trip back up the same gravelly incline required little more than a prod of the throttle, the Yeti’s independently controlled wheels working wonders with power being adjusted at each corner.

Away from the off-road course, I later sampled the Haldex clutch on saturated skid pans from behind the wheel of both Skoda Octavia and Superb models. Again, the Haldex systems showed their worth, finding grip when I was convinced there was none.

Interestingly, the clutch system only weighs 6.6kg dry (1.4kg lighter than the fourth generation), so you’re not carrying masses of extra fuel-sapping weight around.

Despite the obvious benefits, however, sales of Haldex-based four-wheel drive Skodas in the UK are modest; 4x4 Skoda Yetis make up 35 per cent of the model’s sales. Across the entire Skoda range, only eight per cent of cars sold come with four-wheel drive.

Remembering the initial premium for an AWD Skoda, these numbers are still a little surprising. For a country that often finds its roads grinding to a halt thanks to sprinklings of snow or downpours of rain, having a car that can adjust to provide significantly increased levels of grip would certainly prove useful. Hats off to the Haldex.