[vb-saan]

Originally Posted by noopster

Did the much-awaited "monsoon checkup" offered free by VW.

That was quite an interesting grooming session. Thanks for sharing

Originally Posted by noopster

A matter of a few hours, and everything executed quite efficiently. When I asked if everything was ok, the SA commented that the car is being maintained well, which made my day.

Good to hear it from them right? I know how it feels.

Originally Posted by noopster

It looked a little dull at the service centre, not too many cars being serviced.

I personally like it that way. Your car will get all the required attention. I used to love the atmosphere in the Ford ASC before the arrival of Figo. Earlier it used to be like gourmet burger place, but now it’s like McDonalds

Edit: Noticed that the cleaning systems are also German (Kärcher). We recently bought a vaccum cleaner from them

[charthom]

Originally Posted by noopster

First of all: a big relief- the service experience at VW Pune seems a lot superior to the sales experience

Nice to note this.Generally the service of VW seems better than the sales. It is better than the other way around.

oil check, coolant check and top-up, wiper fluid top-up (well not really, just 30 ml of it), wheel check, exterior wash, interior vacuum- that's it. And of course they'd let me know if something was amiss.

Net expense: NIL

This is quite extensive a check! For free!! Honda,are you reading this?!

A matter of a few hours, and everything executed quite efficiently. When I asked if everything was ok, the SA commented that the car is being maintained well, which made my day.

No surprises here!!

Incidentally, it's exactly six months since I brought Fraulein home (and started this thread). Happy half-birthday!

Hapyy Half birthday to your liebe Fraulein. And your thread is still as fresh as her after 6 months.Thanks for the treat.

[Swanand Inamdar]

Now, isnt that a good experiance! The monsoon checkup does have more than I thought! One question though- Why only 30ml of washer fluid? Or is that the soapy thing that they add?
You could have asked them for free logos as a bakshish for maintaining the car as per their standards .

[noopster]

^^ I asked. They quoted 4,000 INR for the set. Told them to keep it.

[mdsaab]

Originally Posted by noopster

^^ I asked. They quoted 4,000 INR for the set. Told them to keep it.

Good on you mate, the de-badged look is the way to go.
BTW check out the snap, where the ANHC was de-badged on the Hooked thread. Only for a short while though, but worth a look anyway.

[krish11]

Hi Noops, This is my first post on TBHP and I wanted to post it on your thread and thank you. Your ownership experience and the details in your posts about the A/T version of the Vento were very useful in making the decision to go in for this car.

I am a 4m old Vento-ite. A no fuss A/T which has clocked ~5K business and pleasure miles.

My daily drive includes a suffering grind of 30 min in terrible inching traffic – let me correct that - 30 min of casually resting the left arm on the arm rest – no clanging gears – no half clutches – just brake on & brake off ! It is wonderful how easy it becomes when you have the right machine for the job !

And let loose on the highway, have clocked 154 kmph without a sweat before being reigned in. Btw, any idea what’s the max speed a Vento A/T has touched on our roads ?

I hope to start my ownership thread soon and share my views – some drool, some droll and some not so satisfying reports on the *** experience.

I also wanted to report a behavior of the A/T. I normally move the gear to N when standing at a traffic light for >1minute. When you want to move on in a hurry and quickly slot the gear to D and accelerate – there is a bit of a jerk experienced. However if you do it at normal speed, it seems to take fraction of a second to slot the gear perfectly, the car then accelerates smoothly. Do you notice similar behavior in your car ?

[mdsaab]

In Bold.

Originally Posted by krish11

Hi Noops, This is my first post on TBHP and I wanted to post it on your thread and thank you. Your ownership experience and the details in your posts about the A/T version of the Vento were very useful in making the decision to go in for this car.
You bet Noops is the official VW AT spokesperson.
I am a 4m old Vento-ite. A no fuss A/T which has clocked ~5K business and pleasure miles.
Congratulations. Got a chance to sit in Fraulein. And she is gorgeous inside out.
My daily drive includes a suffering grind of 30 min in terrible inching traffic – let me correct that - 30 min of casually resting the left arm on the arm rest – no clanging gears – no half clutches – just brake on & brake off ! It is wonderful how easy it becomes when you have the right machine for the job !
Aah, so your a member of our club. Just sit back and enjoy the ride. well almost
And let loose on the highway, have clocked 154 kmph without a sweat before being reigned in. Btw, any idea what’s the max speed a Vento A/T has touched on our roads ?
I will leave this one for Noops!

I hope to start my ownership thread soon and share my views – some drool, some droll and some not so satisfying reports on the *** experience.
Would love to hear your views too.
I also wanted to report a behavior of the A/T. I normally move the gear to N when standing at a traffic light for >1minute. When you want to move on in a hurry and quickly slot the gear to D and accelerate – there is a bit of a jerk experienced. However if you do it at normal speed, it seems to take fraction of a second to slot the gear perfectly, the car then accelerates smoothly. Do you notice similar behavior in your car ?

Regarding this AT at the signal scenario.
This is common and happens with all AT's what you need to do is when shifting to D from N. Keep the Brakes depressed. Make the change into D. Pause for around 2 secs and then lift the brakes to crawl forward. Or accelerate which ever you need at the time. Try this out and let me know if you still experience any jerk. apart from some who share our roads.

[noopster]

Hi krish,

Originally Posted by krish11

Hi Noops, This is my first post on TBHP and I wanted to post it on your thread and thank you. Your ownership experience and the details in your posts about the A/T version of the Vento were very useful in making the decision to go in for this car.

Thanks- that is lovely to know! Welcome to the Vento AT club.

I see my spokesperson mdsaab has already tackled most of your queries leaving the simplest one for me

And let loose on the highway, have clocked 154 kmph without a sweat before being reigned in. Btw, any idea what’s the max speed a Vento A/T has touched on our roads ?

About the same. There is a swet stretch on the expressway where I have managed 160 (speedo) before sanity reigned and I reluctantly eased off the throttle. Mind you, this is with perfect visibility, dry conditions and all senses on full alert

I hope to start my ownership thread soon and share my views – some drool, some droll and some not so satisfying reports on the *** experience.

Sad to hear...I was hoping the after-sales would be superior to the pre-sales experience. BTW check evilshantanu's thread- he has done some comparison between the 2 dealers in Bangalore and seems to have found a sweet spot.

I also wanted to report a behavior of the A/T. I normally move the gear to N when standing at a traffic light for >1minute. When you want to move on in a hurry and quickly slot the gear to D and accelerate – there is a bit of a jerk experienced. However if you do it at normal speed, it seems to take fraction of a second to slot the gear perfectly, the car then accelerates smoothly. Do you notice similar behavior in your car ?

I think so- I had asked Rehaan about the jerky takeoff/grinding noise when slotted into D from N and he said it was due to the torque of the engine and the AT. From personal experience I feel this only when the brake is lightly pressed. To minimise this effect depress the brake firmly.

I sometimes miss an MT in Pune because of the long stretches of highway and easy access to high-speed roads (e-way, Lavasa etc.) But then I do a trip to Mumbai suburbs and it becomes worth it! I can imagine how blissful this car is to drive in Bangalore!

[charthom]

Originally Posted by krish11

I normally move the gear to N when standing at a traffic light for >1minute. When you want to move on in a hurry and quickly slot the gear to D and accelerate – there is a bit of a jerk experienced. However if you do it at normal speed, it seems to take fraction of a second to slot the gear perfectly, the car then accelerates smoothly. Do you notice similar behavior in your car ?

Originally Posted by mdsaab

Regarding this AT at the signal scenario.
This is common and happens with all AT's what you need to do is when shifting to D from N. Keep the Brakes depressed. Make the change into D. Pause for around 2 secs and then lift the brakes to crawl forward. Or accelerate which ever you need at the time.

Originally Posted by noopster

Hi krish,
From personal experience I feel this only when the brake is lightly pressed. To minimise this effect depress the brake firmly.

@krish11-are you stopping the car on hand brake at traffic?Then even I have experienced this.As mdsaab and noopster correctly advised- keep the foot brake firmly depressed and shift to D-this jerk will not happen.

It is something like the equivalent of trying to slot the gear without depressing clutch and brake sufficiently. The gears might clash and you get a jerk. Hope you guys agree!

[Guna]

Originally Posted by krish11

I also wanted to report a behavior of the A/T. I normally move the gear to N when standing at a traffic light for >1minute. When you want to move on in a hurry and quickly slot the gear to D and accelerate – there is a bit of a jerk experienced. However if you do it at normal speed, it seems to take fraction of a second to slot the gear perfectly, the car then accelerates smoothly. Do you notice similar behavior in your car ?

Are you referring to the jerky launch when you press the accelerator in a hurry? This is due to the torque converter which momentarily multiplies the torque when demanded (with sudden input).

[mdsaab]

I feel it is the jerk before the torque converter is engaged fully.
So you need to give it that 1~2 secs after you shift to D from N.
before you are ready to move off, Jerk free.

[krish11]

@ mdsaab, Noops : Thnx for the welcome to the AT club. I guess it is a small but rapidly growing club.

@ charthom, guna : This is what I usually do - when I have to wait at the signal, I move the gear to N and put on the hand brake. When I need to get going, press the brake pedal, release the hand brake and then slot the gear in D and accelerate. The jerk happens when I accelerate immediately after slotting the gear in D, however, if I wait for a second or so and then accelerate - there is no jerk.

At all other times the gear changes are smooth and almost not noticeable. One trick with the AT that I absolutely love to do is to line up alongside a “competitor” at the signal – and on the green light let go – even if the competitor car is better powered, the AT’s quick gear changes leaves the competitor trailing by a comfortable margin. Our oldest boyish desire to race – enhanced by a precision engineered AT box.

The A.S.S experience has not been good at all with Palace Cross Workshop in B’lore – the one that evilshantanu went to. But more on that later on once I have resolved my issue with them.

[dot]

Originally Posted by krish11

This is what I usually do -

The jerk happens when I accelerate immediately after slotting the gear in D, however, if I wait for a second or so and then accelerate - there is no jerk.

Then there is no issue. As folks have pointed out, the jerk comes as the car is not ready to move yet.

Originally Posted by krish11

even if the competitor car is better powered, the AT’s quick gear changes leaves the competitor trailing by a comfortable margin.

Yes this is a very good advantage with an AT; another one being the ability to keep the gap between the front car to a bare minimum during bumper to bumper traffic. Gap reduction results in pesky two wheelers not coming in your way, or elbowing out opportunists.

[mdsaab]

Ok reading through your sequence, here is one thing that you could change which will help ensure no more jerky startoff's.
So you stop at a signal and it's more than a minute till green.
so you decide to relax. you shift into N and pull up the handbrake.
The Traffic light is counting down.
When it reaches 7 seconds to green.
Depress Brake pedal.
Shift to D First
and then release the handbrake.
By shifting into D first, you are allowing the car to get ready while you release the handbrake. and this will ensure no more jerky starts.

[noopster]

A rare shot of my beauties side by side, shot this morning in my company's parking lot. Tried messing with the contrast and midtones etc. to make it look better since this was shot on Blackberry cam.



Nothing much to report. The pristine whiteness of Fraulein sufers badly during the monsoons - can't do a thing about it! About 8300 km under her belt now.

Now that she's broken in, I have a fair idea of what's hot and what's not in this baby. Was daydreaming the other day about what I'd like to change in my car purchase. I started off the exercise to buy the Vento with a similar thought process, of course then keeping the Swift in mind. Flashback:

Originally Posted by noopster

Some time ago, I swore that I would buy something that was the EXACT opposite of what my current car is.

Meaning:
- a sedan instead of a hatch
- an AT instead of manual
- a diesel instead of petrol
- with alloy wheels instead of without
- a USB-powered ICE instead of a CD player
- Pale/bright coloured instead of dark, etc. etc.

In hindsight I got the light-coloured AT sedan all right but neither USB ICE nor diesel powered .
Time to make the next list then! Keep in mind that this purchase is probably 4-5 years down the road by which time the Swift will almost certainly have been retred to some funny farm (but you never know...!)

Here goes:

• D segment for sure: am thinking around 25-30 lac OTR, give or take. Could be more (hopefully)
• Either SUV or sedan, not sure which. That price segment is hotting up and I for one am keeping a keen eye open.
• It MUST have a sunroof. This request is from my daughter but I'd be lying if I said it didn't excite me either.
• Manual transmission (if SUV) or 7/8-speed DSG (sedan).
• 2 litre plus engine, around 180 BHP. Most likely a diesel but could possibly be a petrol V6 if I can afford it!
• As insanely gizmoed as it will allow (unless of course the electronics mess with the engine)
• Luxe brand: ideally a Jag or Bimmer or Audi. But commonsense may prevail and the likes of Hontoyota or Skoda/VW may also be in the reckoning. Or perhaps the new-to-the-party Frenchies.

If I apply these criteria to today's market, I have a surprisingly short list to choose from. BMW X1, Skoda Superb, maybe the Nissan Teana and Honda Accord V6. At a stretch, the 320D CE or A4 (but not in the engine I want). Can't help but think that waiting is a better option: in 2016 the choice set may well be more delicious!