So after a long wait of close to a month, I picked up my silver Venue DCT SX+ today.
My previous car was a Honda City iVtec automatic which I've been driving for 9 years now, so all the impressions/ opinions that I have of the Venue, are going to primarily be made with the Honda in mind.
The peaked excitement levels of getting the new car have lead me to a joyride of more than a 100km in just a few hours, in and around Mumbai! So, let me take this opportunity to share my thoughts about the car, and shine light on whether the YouTube reviewers have got it right.
1. NVH
The engine has run for less than 150km.
- Compared to my City, the car vibrates a bit more on idle. I understand that 3 cylinders have gotten smoother etc. But this engine on idle is still not as vibe free to the butter smooth 1.5L 4 cylinder engine. However, once the car starts moving, no complaints whatsoever.
- The AC compressor and cooling fans come on and off with minimum drama.
- The suspension does its job silently and only the sounds of sharp bumps filter through. Road noise and wind noise is well controlled too. I've taken the car upto a 110 and I expected additional wind noise, but no. The car is better insulated in entirety, than the City.
2. Suspension
-The suspension is good! Yes, when you're the only person driving, the suspension feels taut. I won't say stiff, because the damping is so well calibrated. Vertical motion after speed breakers and long undulations is brought under control immediately. Also, with the car fully loaded with people and some luggage, the driving signature of the car doesn't completely change. I remember how scary loading up the car used to get in my old car. Suspension used to bottom out and rebound and it felt like the shocks had given up. The character of the car totally transformed there.
But here, yes ofcourse you can feel the additional weight and there is more
give in the suspension when its loaded, but there is enough suspension travel and the shocks do as good of a job as they do when the car is unladen.
I'm very happy with how the suspension has been tuned. I wouldn't have it any other way.
Also as I've mentioned earlier, the suspension doesn't create much of a racket either.
3. Engine + Gearbox
My previous daily driver was a 5 speed torque converter + NA 1.5 iVtec.
Because of the TC, the low-end response was immediate. The car used to respond the second you stepped on the A pedal.
While pulling away, the slushbox let the revs rise to about 2.5k rpm and after that, you got a direct-drive feeling when the clutch (or impeller/ turbine) locked up. Also at that point the NA engine was also in it's comfortable power band.
The power delivery in traffic was great, and the TC really supported you when you had just a second or two to make it into a gap. However, I've driven the manual version too, and it felt like the TC really robbed the car off flat out acceleration. Also, gear shifts were perceivable even on moderate throttle inputs.
Also, in traffic, it used to hold on to 1st gear longer than I would have liked, and I found myself regularly upshifting from the paddles when I didn't want the unnecessary engine braking.
In the Venue, it's a completely different experience. First being that the engine is small but turbocharged, and the other being the DCT.
And yes, there is lag.
In stop-go traffic and after crawling away from speed breakers, you can definitely feel the lack of urgency in this car.
Firstly, unless you're below 4-5kph, the gearbox doesn't like shifting into first gear. It LOVES being in second.
Thus in these situations (2nd gear), ~5-15kph is really slow because it takes this much time for the 2nd gear clutch to fully engage. Also even in stop-go / creeping traffic, the gearbox chooses to slip the clutch in 2nd rather than shift into first. I'm sure doing this must cause some unnecessary heat.
Owing to this tendency of the gearbox and small turbo engine, the car gets into it's stride only after 2.5k rpm. And at this point, you're already doing 25+kph.
So unless you're above 25ish kph, the car doesn't respond.
BUT, once the car is in it's power band, it pulls. (I've not been very hard on the throttle and I'm trying to ensure I don't cross 4k rpm for maybe 500-600km)
Even if you have a moderately heavy foot, the shifts are imperceivable and the gearbox always upshifting into the turbo spool up range, so there are NO complaints post 25kph.
However, if you're too gentle on the throttle, you might find yourself in a higher gear and the engine not ready with the turbo.
Overtaking is absolutely effortless and you're only riding the torque wave from the turbo at less than 4k rpm. There is absolutely no need for wide open throttle here (unlikely in my Honda). You'll find yourself at silly speeds even without crossing 3.5k rpm in any gear.
I only realised that I've crossed 120kph after the speedo console started bombarding me with beeps and caution messages. It's that effortless.
So, contrary to a lot of the driving impressions and reviews, the gearbox isn't tuned all that much towards efficiency.
I too felt during my test drive that the upshifts came too soon. But, that was a test drive, and I was driving much more aggressively than I do on a daily basis. So unless you're driving on 10/10 of the car's potential, the gearbox isn't all that eco-tuned. Also you can also take control manually if it's too sedate for you. So I suggest that when you do take a test drive, drive the car like you own it. Drive it the way you would drive it daily, and there are NO problems really.
Also, I'm sure the engine isn't really ready to give me legit fuel efficiency readings, but in my ~45km drive from Andheri to Marine Drive and back, the display showed me a figure or 12.9 km/L.
But my daily commute isn't too much and I don't really care too much about fuel efficiency.
4. Steering
At crawling and parking speeds, the steering is incredibly light!
So light infact that I've ended up overcompensating for the steering effort and ended up giving more steering inputs than I'd have liked. At slow speeds however, I rather have this than have heavy steering. I'll get used to it.
However, the steering does weigh up at higher speeds. But, though I haven't really taken the car corner carving yet, there isn't much feel. Yes the steering is direct and quick, but I think my Honda provided better steering feel than this one. It's not lifeless like old Toyotas and Hyundais, so I can live with this. Not a deal breaker.
Also there is noticeably more body roll here.
Despite the steering not having reach adjust, I found the most comfortable and perfect driving position in no time!
5. Braking
My previous car wasn't really a benchmark, but this is better. The brake pedal sensitivity is more than Hondas with rear drum brakes, and pedal feel is progressive. However uptil now, my opinions are from driving the car at city speeds. I'll be in a better state to comment on this after driving and braking with a little more intent.
6. ICE and sound system
The Arkamys modes seem to be a gimmick. They're just some cheesy signal processing presets.
However, the output from the speakers is quite potent. I'm not the ultimate audiophile but I like my music.
Here, I've keep the bass and mids flat and booster the treble a little bit. From a flat source, the flat bass from the head unit is enough. Any more bass and the door pads and switches start rattling. So though I'm pretty sure I'm keeping the speakers stock, I might get the doors damped soon. Not too sure if I should get professional damping done, or just get the 3M acoustic solution.
Also, the rear speakers seem to be less powerful than the front ones.
The head unit is smooth and very responsive Resolution and viewing angles are good too!
7. Interior room
All opinions we've read earlier are true. The car is low on space. If space is what you need, this isn't the car for you, period.
But from the driver's seat, you'd never realize that you're driving a small car!
Firstly, in typical SUV style, you can see the bonnet. The car from outside is really wide, and the in-cabin width isn't too bad either.
But, I'm 5'10" and if I get comfortable in my laid back seating position, I can't stretch out and sit comfortably behind myself.
We're a small family and my mom generally sits at the back. Moms generally don't need much space
LOL
But she's happy that there's a sunroof that opens up the cabin and air blowers at the back. She really misses the armrest though.
Other points:
- The air purifier looks like a gimmick. It's flimsily built and doesn't look like it'll make it into 2020.
- DRLs are bright! They dim when the headlights come on. I'm happy with the halogen projector setup. Also high and low beam is integrated in the same projector (bi-halogen? Don't know what that's called) so when the headlights are on low beam, flashing the car in front gets your message across loud and clear! They're out of your way sooner than you know it!
- The wiper spray is generous and covers the entire windshield.
- Sunroof really frees up the cabin. There's both slide and tilt functionality.
- AC unit is effective and easy to use.
- The tyres on my car are MRF Wanderers. 215/60-65 (I'll have to check)/ R16. Grip seems sufficient and the tyres are quiet. Sidewalls aren't too rigid and it does a good job of masking small imperfections.
- I didn't consider any other alternatives. Ecosport is old now, and has never been on my radar. No other car in this segment has a decent petrol automatic.
I hate the CVT gearbox, and the Verna TC isn't an exciting car to me. It's just another sedan.
I did check out the GT TSI but the car seemed too small and too expensive for 11.5L. Also it's a 10 year old car now. I can't see myself buying that today and using it for 5-6 years. The Venue seemed to be the right car at the right time.
- I worry about the DCT's reliability and will buy extended warranty at whatever cost. Also one thing I noticed is that the engine gets REALLY hot! I opened the bonnet to remove the flower garland after 30 minutes of driving and almost burnt my fingers. However, the engine temperature guage still showed that the temperature was perfectly between C and H. Maybe it's designed to run so hot?
- While crawling in absolutely bumper to bumper traffic, it's a good idea to display the transmission temperature on the MID. As the clutch doesn't fully engage during this speed and the gearbox tends to slip the clutch, the temperatures might get hot. On one or two occasions in very slow traffic, I could see the temperature guage rising. It didn't breach the tolerable limits, but I now know that the car isn't comfortable on a hot day with bad traffic.
One technique that anyone with a car with a DSG/ DCT can employ is to try not to incessantly crawl in traffic. Let a considerabe distance build up between the your car and the car ahead, bridge the gap and stop. This will give the clutch enough speed to fully engage.
So this pretty much sums up my day 1 impressions of the car!
I haven't daily driven every car on the planet and most of my impressions are keeping my previous car in mind. Many of you might drive other cars and realize that my impressions don't make any sense, or that the Venue isn't really all that great. Maybe.
But for me, except for space and crawling speed drivability, the Venue has ticked all the boxes!
The mods shall eventually post a proper detailed review, and there are enough pictures of the venue online - so in the meanwhile: