[harsha.muvva]

Originally Posted by rejeen

Thanks Harsha. Congrats on getting the HL in your color of choice (I wasn't that lucky). Do check the tyre pressure and alignment too, just to be sure. Waiting for your ownership thread to be up to read more about the experience.

The Cochin dealer is yet to confirm availability of Ext. Warranty for the New Vento. I think it is not updated yet on the VW site. Please confirm once you receive the documents from VW so that I could also follow up with the dealer.

Thanks for the wishes, i did check the air pressure and shocked to find out that it was 45psi.So filled 33psi in all four tyres,the results are satsifactory.

i have received the document for extended warranty,it costed me Rs.17,691 and the validity is 4 years/1,00,00 kms now.Hope this helps

Regards,
harsha

[Rajeevraj]

Originally Posted by drnarenderdutt

I also test drove vento dsg. However I had a few concerns.
2. Engine is still noisy specially when turbo kicks in. A quiet cabin is one of my priorities.
3.When you stop at a red light, either you shift gear to parking position or keep brake depressed all the time. In case there is a mishap or near collision, car may keep crawling if driver is injured or confused and does not keep constant pressure on the brakes after initial braking. Their executive informed me Jetta has this feature that if the car comes to a complete stop once, it will not move till you hit the gas pedal.

Like in a manual car, the right thing to do is to move to N and engage handbrake. Moving to P is not advisable at signals. In P the car is held by a parking pin (maybe not the right term). But if you are rear ended in such a situation, the push forward can result in the gear box getting fried.

Originally Posted by Rahul Rao

Pulling the handbrake also gets the car into neutral, so for long stop lights you can just use the handbrake with the car in D, as soon as you get a green and release it the gear is engaged, and you start crawling forward at a low speed.

Rahul

Definitely not the case in the Vento. I have a Vento TSI and it does not shift to N when it comes to a complete stop. This Auto Hold is available probably only in the higher segments like Jetta and Passat.

[PatienceWins]

Nice review. Wish you a great ownership experience.

I am glad that Vento has come up with an automatic in the segment. A good choice for german engineering.

I was disappointed to see that Vento with manual transmission does not have a dead pedal or space to rest the left foot next to the clutch. In automatic, is there a dead pedal or enough space to rest the left foot next to the break?

[Rajeevraj]

Originally Posted by PatienceWins

I was disappointed to see that Vento with manual transmission does not have a dead pedal or space to rest the left foot next to the clutch. In automatic, is there a dead pedal or enough space to rest the left foot next to the break?

No dead pedal even in the refreshed Vento AT. But plenty of space to rest your foot.

[ishlinea7260]

Just talked to Volkswagen SA , the new Polo comes with a dead pedal in the manual transmission.
So not providing a dead pedal in an automatic transmission of Vento variant is a grave oversight.

[rejeen]

The ODO now reads 1920KMs. Have been thru some very bad roads and the following are the new findings from the drives.

The good:

• Car is steady at very high speeds on good roads and curves.
• Mileage seems to be improving. 2nd tankful also gave exact 14.2KM/l while I wasn't expecting the same.
• Steering feel is better than I initially thought, at high speeds.

The Bad (These are very hard to live with)

• AC doesn't chill the cabin when outside temperature is high. It just manages to keep the temperature low enough to be comfortable sitting inside.
• The high beam doesn't have sufficient spread and throw. Found it hard while speeding on highways and also while climbing up the ghat roads. Need to check if this can be bettered. Any similar experience?
• The ground clearance is really a problem on bad roads

[ishlinea7260]

Originally Posted by rejeen

[/list]The Bad (These are very hard to live with)

• AC doesn't chill the cabin when outside temperature is high. It just manages to keep the temperature low enough to be comfortable sitting inside.
  
• The high beam doesn't have sufficient spread and throw. Found it hard while speeding on highways and also while climbing up the ghat roads. Need to check if this can be bettered. Any similar experience?
• The ground clearance is really a problem on bad roads

1.That's might become an issue later on during summers, since its November now and still you find the AC to be not that effective.Also ban to sunfilms wont help matters either.

2.I thought that Volkswagen had addressed the weak headlamps by adding double barrel ones but sadly that's not the case.Look up Gannu's Polo GT thread, he has just finished adding Morimoto's projectors to his ride.

3.I thought finally after I shift from Linea to Vento I won't have to look for every pothole on the road in order to protect the car's underbody.
Silly me!

[humyum]

Originally Posted by Rajeevraj

Like in a manual car, the right thing to do is to move to N and engage handbrake. Moving to P is not advisable at signals. In P the car is held by a parking pin (maybe not the right term). But if you are rear ended in such a situation, the push forward can result in the gear box getting fried.

Its called a 'Parking Pawl' mechanism and you are right about the pin part. The other name of the pin is 'Pawl'. Constant use of the P to hold a vehicle can put stress on the transmission and should be avoided

and like you said N and handbrake are best.IF you stop at long signals with the brake pedal pressed, with a hot brake pad, you will itch the brake pad material on the disc which will cause brake judder at higher speeds.

[ishlinea7260]

rejeen your last post has made me think over my booking of the Vento.
I had gone today to test drive its sibling , the Rapid TDI DSG.
Went for a 20 min test drive.
My observations.
1.Engine is DEFINITELY noisy, be it at idle or with car running or with the AC on.
They are no match for Hyundai refinement period.
2.The suspension of the Rapid does a real great job in filtering potholes to the cabin
3.Drove the car over bad surfaces, ground clearance was never a concern.
4.Though I test drove Ambition variant equipped with manual AC , I was comfortable with the ac setting at 1,2.Considering I drove the car during noon ,I never found AC to be ineffective.
5.Even explored the audio system.I was dismissing the HU earlier since it is not touch enabled.
But surprisingly I found the SQ quite good,definitely no reason to upgrade as far as SQ is concerned.
6.Since the Rapid comes equipped with projector headlamps, I hope they do a good work of illuminating the road up in front than Vento.


Since there is no TD vehicle available for the Vento I have not yet test driven it.
Now I am in a fix, whether to continue with Vento or go with Rapid.
To add to this confusion, Skoda is offering free insurance.
So here's how the numbers add up.

Vw Vento - 11,30,000 + 38,000(Insurance)
Skoda Rapid- 11,00,000 (With Insurance) If I haggle more I might be able to free up the logistic charges which are roughly 10k.
All in all I will be saving: 78k with the Rapid.
OTOH the new Vento looks like a proper facelift from the earlier model OTOH the rapid looks the same except if one opts for Black package which is real wannabe IMHO.


new Vento owners , kindly share your valuable inputs.

[razor4077]

Congrats rejeen on a great acquisition! This is my favourite colour for the Vento. Very close to being the ideal car for the city, with the convenience of the auto tranny and the good FE. I was hoping VW would spruce up the interiors more in light of the competition, but it seems they didn't. Otherwise a fantastic car, and I wish you many happy and safe miles in it
How's the back seat comfort and space?

[rejeen]

Originally Posted by ishlinea7260

rejeen your last post has made me think over my booking of the Vento.
1.Engine is DEFINITELY noisy, be it at idle or with car running or with the AC on.
They are no match for Hyundai refinement period.
2.The suspension of the Rapid does a real great job in filtering potholes to the cabin
3.Drove the car over bad surfaces, ground clearance was never a concern.
.

I think the rapid is a bit more noisy than the Vento. Could it be because of better sound damping or better build quality of Vento - I don't know.
By ground clearance I was just cribbing about how the Vento's front bumper bottom scratched a few times on really bad ghat roads. Never touched the underbody anywhere.
Suspension of the Vento also does a very good job except the 'thud' sound from the back suspension when you go on uneven surface at a medium to high speed.
The lights are bright enough, just need to see if the throw can be adjusted by some.

Originally Posted by razor4077

Congrats rejeen on a great acquisition!
How's the back seat comfort and space?

Thanks razor4077. Yes, it is a good car for the highways too. Not sure it can be called a spacious car, but very comfortable to seat two at the rear. It is pretty comfortable in the back seat.

[Gannu_1]

Originally Posted by rejeen

The lights are bright enough, just need to see if the throw can be adjusted by some.

Rejeen, try adjusting the screws behind the headlamp to adjust the lateral and longitudinal movements of the reflectors. I am not sure how it is for the double barrel headlamps but for the earlier ones it was like this:



Using a hex. bit/Allen key, the plastic screws are rotated clockwise/counter clockwise which adjusts the reflector bowl up/down and left/right:





This might help you adjust the beam for a better focus/spread.

[coolboy007]

Originally Posted by ishlinea7260

.
All in all I will be saving: 78k with the Rapid.
OTOH the new Vento looks like a proper facelift from the earlier model OTOH the rapid looks the same except if one opts for Black package which is real wannabe IMHO.
new Vento owners , kindly share your valuable inputs.

Engine being noisy in Rapid could be because of that particular test drive car if you compare it to Vento. VW's TDi engines are very clattery and you would always know there is a diesel under the hood, be it at idle, 60kph or 120 kph.
There is no build quality difference between both cars and engine sound should be similar, VW and Skoda keep bringing in software updates to reduce engine noise every 6 months or so.

Suspension set up on Rapid is much stiffer than Vento, both are not corner carvers but Rapid behaves much better over undulations where Vento shows a slight wallowy behaviour owing to its soft set up.

As for ground clearance, the chin of Vento is towards the lower side and you need to be careful else it scrapes, no such issues with Rapid. On my Vento, i had upsided to 195/60 tyres and additional 6 mm clearance meant it hardly ever scraped with 2 on board, with 5 people it does kiss the speed breakers.

Rapid loses out on the interiors (i personally hate the brey choice and the 90's green backlighting) and Skoda is the bigger evil out of both. If you are saving 78,000, go for Rapid. Its a great car and if Skoda people provide good service in your area, there is no harm in going for it. You will also get cruise control with it. VW's service is just slightly better, its no Maruti compared to Skoda.

[rejeen]

Originally Posted by Gannu_1

Rejeen, try adjusting the screws behind the headlamp to adjust the lateral and longitudinal movements of the reflectors. I am not sure how it is for the double barrel headlamps but for the earlier ones it was like this:

Thanks Gannu_1. As always you've given all the details on how to do it.

I think I'm yet to have the courage to do these on my own - may be once the car is a couple of years old. Will ask my cousin who runs a car accessories shop, to help with it.

Recently after dismantling and re-assembling a laptop, I ended up with a few extra screws
Had to convince my better half that those were unnecessarily put in originally by the manufacturer and can be used as spares

[rejeen]

Thought of a quick update.

1. The RoadRunner is now 6254 KMs old.
2. The cruise at 80KM/hr is best in terms of FE and has almost nil engine noise inside the cabin with AC and radio ON at the lowest volume. But only about 20% of my drives are like this - can't restrict myself on open roads or being restricted too much by narrow roads/heavy traffic.
3. No lack of power in different conditions so far. DSG and the engine takes care of delivering efficiently - have been thru the Ghats of Sakleshpur, Highways on Bangalore-Salem and Hasan-Bangalore, narrow roads along Trivandrum - Kanyakumari, a couple of beaches in Kerala.
4. The ride is comfortable due to soft suspension.

It would've been better if,
1. The ground clearance is better towards the front.
2. The thud sound wasn't there, produced by the rear suspension.
3. the interior isn't beige. It's getting dirty pretty fast.

Other notes:
1. Had received my VAG COM cable few months back. Yet to use it though.
2. Haven't collected the spare key from dealer and also the ext. warranty is pending.
3. Thinking of getting the seat covers (Rs. 8K) and car cover from the dealership soon.

The mileage so far (tank full to tank full till auto cut-off).