[JoshMachine]

With the weather nowadays taking a "hot" turn, I couldn't have thanked the NSV Laser sun shades enough, for warding off the heat.

The temperature today in Pune was hovering around 38 degrees (and it's just mid-March) in the afternoon

Had to take the family out in the afternoon but the shades proved very effective in keeping us cool inside the car.

Thought to reiterate the effectiveness by producing couple of pictures again:-





taken from the complete set of pictures and details posted here earlier.

I had bought them almost 5 months ago sometime in Nov'18, but they are being truly tested now and yes, I can say they are very good.

[JoshMachine]

*Weekend getaway to Shrivardhan, Konkan*

Visited Shrivardhan, Konkan over the Easter weekend.
Passengers on board: In-laws, wifey, daughter with me doing the the saarthi duty.

Onward route on Saturday, while starting from Warje, Pune to Shrivardhan:-



Took us about 5 hours e2e for this onward journey including stoppage time.

But on the way back, came via a different route on Sunday:-



And this time round for the return journey, surprisingly, it took us just 5.5 hours e2e travel time, inspite of the increased distance by about 50-odd km. And to add, the stoppage time was more on the return journey due to lunch breaks.
This vindicated our decision to take a longer route but with better road conditions. More on that below.

The onward route from Warje till about Garudmachi resort, located just after the Tamhini ghat starved us of 2 solid hours, thanks to very horrible road conditions. Rather, I should have said lack of any roads at certain places.
The route thereon till Mangaon was comparatively motorable.

Stopped for tea/breakfast:-



The roads between Mangaon and Mhasala are again in a sorry state of affairs with concretization being undertaken almost along the entire stretch with no planning whatsoever for additional service roads etc.

We had planned to go through Mhasala city but were forced by the local police to take the Mhasala city bypass road due to election rallies in the city.

And this bypass was kind of the final nail in the coffin as far as the onward travel was concerned.

All around, there were heaps and piles of red soil. If a vehicle passed by, it would create a red fog and you had to literally stop your car to let the dust settle.



So, when we finally reached the resort, the car was covered in multiple layers of red dust:-



It pained me to see the car in such a condition and so gave it for a quick water wash-down.

Sanity restored to some levels:-



The resort itself was very good, and the well-manicured lawns and beautiful gardenscape made our tiring journey, worth the wait:-



We had made advance reservations, anticipating that booking was going to be a challenge in view of the long weekend. And we were right, the resort was fully booked.





After a sumptuous lunch and an afternoon siesta, off we went to the beach, which was at a 5-7 mins driving distance from the resort:-



The Shrivardhan beach, as the locals say, is perhaps one of Maharashtra's best kept secrets - what with the super clean shoreline devoid of the chowpatty stalls (which are not allowed on the beach per se) and the beautiful waters along the 3 km coast:-





The administration has constructed walkways, which allow you to just relax and spend some quality time:-



As the sun set over the nearby hills, managed to click this surreal shot:-



Had dinner at a local home-stay place, but the food quality was not that great.

The next morning, we awoke to some surprisingly pleasant cool weather:-



And we went to the beach again.

This time round, the weather was much pleasant as compared to the previous day's hot afternoon climes.

All over the beach, we found these wonderful galaxy-type creations:-



..which, I found out later, were the creations of the "sand bubbler" crabs.

We headed back to the resort and later on, we visited Harihareshwar temple.

Couldn't resist trying out the lip-smacking raw mango slices, sprinkled with chilli powder:-



It was time to return back to Pune, so we made some enquiries with the locals/taxi owners etc. and decided to follow a longish route, which took us via Kolad and Pali right upto the Mumbai-Pune expressway and thereon till Pune.

To our delight, the road conditions on this return circuit were much better:-









There were couple of road stretches, where we felt as if we were the only folks driving but that was for a temporary duration somewhere before Kolad.

Rest of the journey was fairly uneventful inspite of road diversions on the National Highway.

Reached home in the evening, with the solid Vento proving (time & again) to be a very reliable highway workhorse!
Whatever came in its way, it addressed all challenges with aplomb.

Next day, booked an appointment with my friendly neighborhood car care expert.

And lo and behold, the Knight in Shining Armor ready for city duty again:-



With the odo now showing 65,000 km -



adding that extra bit of celebration in the journey of my fantastic ownership with the Vento!

[GrandTourer]

Originally Posted by JoshMachine

*Weekend getaway to Shrivardhan, Konkan*

Visited Shrivardhan, Konkan over the Easter weekend.
...
The roads between Mangaon and Mhasala are again in a sorry state of affairs with concretization being undertaken almost along the entire stretch with no planning whatsoever for additional service roads etc.

We had planned to go through Mhasala city but were forced by the local police to take the Mhasala city bypass road due to election rallies in the city.

And this bypass was kind of the final nail in the coffin as far as the onward travel was concerned.

All around, there were heaps and piles of red soil. If a vehicle passed by, it would create a red fog and you had to literally stop your car to let the dust settle.
...

Great pictures.
Shrivardhan happens to be my maternal hometown. Haven't been there for quite a long time because of the road conditions, believe it or not.

Had you written about the plan here in advance (or I might have missed), someone could have warned you about the road being non existent between Mangaon and Mhasla.
A better route is to go a little further on the Goa highway to Lonere and then take a right and reach Mhasla via Goregaon. The roads are in a much better condition there.

As for the bypass, it is better not to venture there. Since you had an MH12 car, the police were able to force you to take the bypass. They don't do that with locals. And it's not entirely their fault. Mhasla is notorious for creating bottlenecks right in the middle of the city if two big vehicles happen to come from opposite directions, which is most of the time.


The Shrivardhan beach is just wow... :sly:
I think it is one of the only beaches in Konkan that has been kept clean. Especially compared to my paternal hometown of Murud (whatever happened there).

Glad you enjoyed the weekend and the drive back.
Let me applaud you again on the pictures. :thumbup:

[JoshMachine]

Purchased the Add-On Warranty recently, at a good discount of almost 20% on the listed price, so the final amount came to INR 17596.
This is valid for 1 year/20,000 km whichever is earlier, ofcourse.

And since this is the 4th year after purchase of the car in 2015 (back then, the scheme was 2 yrs standard + 2 yrs extended), I will be able to buy a total of 3 more Add-On warranties, including this one.

The inclusion of one important item (marked in orange) is perhaps the reason why buying the warranty makes it worthwhile:-



Fortunately, the journey so far has been quite wonderful, I must say. The last 4 years have been without a single hiccup on the gearbox front

With the odo now about to reach the 75,000 km mark, will be shortly posting the servicing experience.
No major complaints to be addressed, but the suspension seems to be making a groaning sound whenever I make a slow U-turn of sorts. Could be the link rod or tie rod ends.

[baridbej]

Originally Posted by JoshMachine

Hope you find this post useful!

Hi. This is good details indeed. Seems to be good product but could you please help by letting us know the price for the same.

MOD NOTE:- Please quote ONLY the relevant bits of a post. Quoting a full, long post inconveniences our mobile readers.

Please proof read your post prior to submission. We advise you to read the Forum Rules before proceeding any further.

Thanks!

[JoshMachine]

Originally Posted by baridbej

Hi. This is good details indeed. Seems to be good product but could you please help by letting us know the price for the same.

Yes, it is indeed a terrific product
Last year, I had got it for INR 5,900.
However when one of my friends purchased it last month for his Vento, the asking price was INR 5,700.

[JoshMachine]

Service update +75000 km milestone

With the odo reading 74,117 km, I decided to go in for the servicing routine at BU Bhandari, Wakad center, Pune. The "INSP" (due for inspection) warning indicator had started beeping on the MID long ago around the 73k km mark itself.

Like all OEMs, VW too has a standard 75000 diesel maintenance service package, which includes the customary checks and replacement of filter elements (air, pollen, fuel etc.).
VW has, for long, been advocating usage of the fully synthetic Castrol EDGE Professional 5W-40 oil, and that has held its own very well between every 2 servicing intervals of about 15,000 km, corroborated by sustainable good levels of fuel efficiency, good throttle responses etc.

I had 2 key complaints to list down to the Service Advisor -front right suspension noise during U-turns (not for regular turns, though) and the gear lever toggle switch becoming hard at times.

As I had mentioned in one of my earlier posts, I had suspected that the link rods wear and tear could be the potential reason behind the suspension noises. And my hunch was proved right. The 2 rods had to be replaced, costing INR 5198.

With other routine stuff like brake fluid + oil + all filter elements replacement etc., the total "parts" bill came to INR 15,262. And the "labour" bill came to INR 6,002 (with the 75k package alone eating INR 3,824).

With the 5th servicing costing INR 21,265, the total amount for all 5 servicing routines in the last 4 years adds up to INR 67,781, translating to an average servicing bill of INR 13,556. Sounds pretty reasonable, I would think.

And this time round, since the vehicle was delivered back inside of 2 working days, I was glad that the dealer met its promise of rapid turn around.

Alas, this happiness was short-lived.

One fine morning just a few days later, I was surprised to see the temperature fault indicator glowing red on the MID:-



And this, with the temperature showing just 35 degrees!

The very first thought that came to my mind was that something was wrong with the temperature sensor itself. So, I switched on/off the car couple of times just to see if the sensor gets re-activated properly, but to no avail. The warning indicator wouldn't go away.

The next thought was that it could be something related to the coolant or the coolant tank sensor itself not registering the correct temperature.

Opened the bonnet. Checked the coolant tank. And lo and behold, look what I found:-



The coolant level (you can see the white reflection inside the tank) had dipped below the "min" level by a significant margin
Immediately, I looked down below the car to see if the coolant had leaked from the tank or if there was any leakage around etc. But I couldn't see anything.

Called up the hotline toll free number of VW (since it was well before start of business hours for the dealer to respond) and got confirmation that the dealer will send in the service personnel at the earliest possible.
And thankfully, they promptly did.

They came in, did their own physical + software inspection by checking some error codes and the coolant etc. and arrived at the same conclusion as I had before, that the coolant level dipping below the stated levels, was the culprit!
They eventually admitted that this was a major slip-up during the service routine itself.

They did the needful by topping up the coolant to the required levels and requested to observe the indicator behavior for the next few days.
Which I did, ofcourse. And fortunately, the warning didn't flash again.
To round off this issue, I gave a strong feedback to the VW Corporate guys regarding the shoddy handling of a critical check.

Moving ahead, I was looking forward to completing another great milestone of my Vento - that of completing 75,000 km.

And then this finally happened, few days later:-



The car had completed 75,000 km in a span of just over 4 years!
And all this while, it has ticked all the right boxes that one can expect from a car, and much more!

As if to reciprocate the elation that I was going through, the Vento responded with this phenomenal fuel efficiency of 28.3 km/liter:-



(This feat was achieved on the Pune-Mumbai expressway, on 15th December, when I was heading towards Mumbai for the "U2" concert. Guess, the Vento tried to keep me happy by doing its own )

The last 4 years have been a great experience with the Vento - what with the makkhan-like DSG + engine combination, the superb ride quality and the timeless design.
I know, I must have used these same set of adjectives multiple times in my ownership thread, but that's what it is, year on year, for the last 4+ years.

A milestone such as this calls for a celebration, ain't it?
Next post will cover few updates, or mini-splurges, shall I say, to make this 75000 km milestone memorable.

[baridbej]

Originally Posted by JoshMachine

Yes, it is indeed a terrific product
Last year, I had got it for INR 5,900.
However when one of my friends purchased it last month for his Vento, the asking price was INR 5,700.

After reading your post I tried getting one in Bangalore. Different dealers have different prices. Can you believe someone quoted me 10,500 for my polo. Anyways I called up NSV guy from the website and got it for 6500 from one of it's dealers... Product is good. Very nice fit and can be easily attached and removed when required.
Thanks for posting this.

[Brigadier]

Congratulations on achieving a fuss-free 75k km milestone. I read your updates on this thread regularly as I have TDI DSG Rapid.
Reading your thread gives me some assurances about the TDI +DSG combo everytime ! The mileage that you have got during your Mumbai trip is really awesome!
Hope you cross the 1Lakh milestone soon!

[JoshMachine]

The 75000 km milestone called for some celebrations - so, went ahead and did some shopping!
The kind of updates which I did, are not your major overhauls but more of rejuvenators . You know, the kind that cheer up the daily commutes and make life bit more comfortable!

First up - the new cockpit look: decorated by the swanky, new, state-of-the-art RCD 340G Plus head unit and augmented by the beautiful art leather Steering Wheel cover:-








Next - the sporty yet classy-looking, totally comfortable, Elegant seat covers:-






Finally - a dash of freshness with my favorite new 3D floor mats:-






Since the new cockpit is so transformative and revolutionary by virtue of the features, safety and the comfort that it provides, I am putting up a separate, detailed review for it in the Assembly Line, along with some additional views and pictures for the other stuff added newly. A couple of pictures now for each update, don't do any justice at all!

[JoshMachine]

Came back from the quarterly "steam" servicing, yesterday.

Have taken an AMC from Eco Clean Cars, they do a damn good job at very reasonable rates.

Smitten-worthy looks, I would say:-

[VWAllstar]

Apart from the arm rest everything looks like a neat job. Not sure if the pic was taken before completion of the arm rest installation job.

I got my covers done from Orchis, Powai and havent seen any other come close to their perfection so far.

The charges were not so exorbitant either and on top of everything else, if you are a team BHp member then you get a 10% discount

[JoshMachine]

Originally Posted by VWAllstar

Not sure if the pic was taken before completion of the arm rest installation job

Yes, that's right. Good catch

I got my covers done from Orchis, Powai and havent seen any other come close to their perfection so far

Looks fab, indeed

[JoshMachine]

Originally Posted by JoshMachine

Since the new cockpit is so transformative and revolutionary by virtue of the features, safety and the comfort that it provides, I am putting up a separate, detailed review for it in the Assembly Line

Done with the detailed review. Thread now posted here. Thanks to BlackPearl and GTO.

Hope you find the contents useful!

[sachin_cs]

It is so assuring to read that you have completed fuss free 75,000kms with the DSG. I have started feeling that VAGs have come a long way from what they used to be earlier. From my experience as well, I have found Skoda A.S.S. in Raipur to be exceptionally better than the Maruti A.S.S. And your car indeed looks so elegant in Night Blue. I always wished that Skoda should have brought the same colour, the lapiz blue they offer, doesn't appeal me & even VW stopped production of this shade lately. Also it's hard to believe that she's 4 years old, I wish you all the happy miles ahead in the great ownership of your German beauty.