[ajay_satpute]

Originally Posted by noopster

VW salespersons usually don't know what they're talking about, pardon my bluntness. Also, since you asked THEM to upgrade the HU, it would be rather silly if they say even authorised dealer upgrading the HU voids warranty!

Apparently lifetime value of the customer is lost on these idiots.

One man's screw-up is another's opportunity, so I decided to stop by VW West Pune (BU Bhandari) which is on my way home. And was pleasantly surprised by the following, which I have never in nearly a dozen visits to Vidyut, experienced:

• A warm "Welcome to VW" sign at the entrance
• Being warmly greeted by an attendant at the entrance
• The greeter immediately asked for my name, number and preferred car(s). This info found its way into a register as well.
• I was led to a waiting are where there were comfortable sofas, full glasses of water to drink and a number of auto magazines (latest editions) to read.
• A salesperson came over, greeted me warmly, gave me a step-by-step demo of the vehicle I showed interest in, answered my questions honestly and to the best of his ability, redirected difficult questions to his seniors etc.
• I checked out the Vento IPL, got a demo of its HU (my primary objective!) and for good measure the Passat as well.

A huge +1 to the experience at VW West (BU Bhandari).

I was at the showroom on Saturday for a long 2 hours. The experience was just faboulous.

First when I entered the showroom, one lady wrote down few basic details from me such as Name, Mob No and which car. Then in about a minute (less than 60 seconds), one charming and FRESH looking sales person came to me and greeted me.

Then we had a discussion about Polos and Ventos and he knew everything. Almost all of my queries were answered promptly. I was there with my father initially and he immediately offered a nice seat for my father followed by cold water. Shocks after shocks for me!

He asked me which all cars you want to test drive. He also said I am here only for you and I have all the time in the world. You can take a test drive till you are satisfied. This was on Saturday evening when there are long queues to take TDs of various cars and the sales team is loaded to the brim with queries.

So I went on a test drive of Vento Petrol. All the time during TD he was providing sensible and useful information from the technicalities of the car to the Finance options available with them. Usually, they are allowed to take the car for TD only upto Pashan circle and take a U turn. But I requested him that I need to go a little further to pick my wife and daughter. I told him it will be nice if they also get a feel of the car. He immediately accepted my request and we went and picked my family and returned to the showroom.

At the showroom, while he was writing quotation and other stuff, we were roaming around the showroom adoring all the cars parked inside. He came back with all the info packed in a nice VW envelope.

He then played around with my daughter for a while putting her in the driver's seat of Polo, Vento, Passat, Beetle. On a lighter note, when my daughter sat inside the Beetle, he asked her which one do you like dear, the Polo or the Vento or the Beetle. My daughter exclaimed "BEEEETLE". So he told her to tell her dad (thats me) to buy the Beetle for her.

Man! I am completely flabbergasted with this experience. I have been to the other VW dealer in Pune and all customers including me are treated like piece of xxx and the sales team there don't care a bit for your concerns and queries. "Take it or leave it" attitude. I would recommend to purchase any VW vehicle from Bhandari showroom to all prospective buyers.

[AnkitPrashar]

Originally Posted by subodh

Guys i have a question:

Is it the system that is bothering you guys or is it the sound quality that is a bother?

If the system in itself is a bother, then i can understand the change, but if the sound quality is a bother, then just plain change in system is not going to change anything. For better sound quality, you have to go in for change in the speakers and more over component speakers as this car has no provision for fitting the oval speakers. I was initially looking for changing only the speakers but then went in for the complete package with helix component speakers, marshall amp and the HU. For me the system is not so much of a bother as much is the sound quality.

Just to add to the above, I have been using Witson for almost 6 months now.
The system does have its pros and cons and i think in the end it all depends on what usage one is looking for.

For me the witson is doing a pretty good job. My main aim was to get that OEM look which was something i could not get in pioneer HU and other double din HU (and by OEM look i don't just mean a proper fitting by means of a face plate , the overall design looks OEM for me). Secondly i have been using MMI on it quite regularly, it works flawlessly, the music mutes while the directions are being spoken out and i don't need to have another gps device hanging off my windshield. In case of Pioneer HU, i think you do need to buy the GPS separately, which then makes the whole setup a bit too costly.
Now as far as the sound quality is concerned, yes it may not be sounding as good as a pioneer or kenwood, but in all honesty a lot of it is down to your speaker setup. Once u get the speakers powered by an amplifier, your HU won't be doing much of the work to spoil the sound quality. So for sound quality i would highly suggest investing in a good pair of front comps, amp and a sub!.

My HU costed me about 20k with shipping , while a pioneer HU with GPS or a Caska would be around 40K. I invested that 20K in a pair of Rainbow comps, a kenwood amp and then after 6 months i went ahead and spent a bit more and got myself an ID12 v3 sub. Its fair to say that the sound now is miles better than the stock speaker setup. So to cut the story short, for a good sound setup invest in speakers and amp(okay if you are really those audiophile types then trust me u wont be buying any double din touchscreen HU either!!).

But alas, the Witson is Chinese with no Indian after sales support. Phone book browsing through Bluetooth is a fail, other than that i am completely satisfied considering the amount of money i have invested!

[noopster]

5000 km up! Took me 3 months and a week to achieve this, not bad. This time I waited till the odo clicked over before announcing it. Had jinxed it just before 4K and got scraped by the Alto . Am not superstitious, but as the great Nils Bohr put it "I have been told it works whether you believe it or not"!

Pune in summer is an ideal time to check out AC efficacy. Haunted by stories of bad air conditioners in Skodas, I was a little apprehensive. My original TD was not very promising because the SR didn't know how to use the Climatronic and it kept blowing stale lukewarm air throughout the short drive!

Once I got the car quickly figured out how to use it but this winter was pleasant and till very recently hadn't got a chance to truly test the unit. With temperatures touching 40 deg C in April, managed to do just that.

My strategy is simple:

• Roll down all the windows as I approach it parked in the sun. This is a neat trick in the Vento's key fob. Keep Unlock pressed long and it rolls down all 4 windows. Allows fresh air to circulate and cool the cabin before driver and passengers get in.
• Switch on AC. Default is "Auto" (22 deg C). Change the temperature setting to "Lo" (don't know how much this is, but it comes below 18 deg C and is the minimum setting on the climatronic)
• If nobody in the rear seat, target the blast at face and feet (separate switches for each). This helps cool faster.
• Around 3 minutes of this with the windows rolled down and 5 more minutes with them up cools the car significantly. Press "Auto" to get temperature back to 22 deg C.
• Unless I am stuck in traffic, it stays on "Auto" which has default "Fresh" air setting. VW warns that keeping the car in Recirculate mode too long will result in driver fatigue and drowsiness- have noticed this myself. Only when stuck in a jam or surrounded by smelly belching trucks do I change it. Cooling improves but at the expense of freshness (not applicable to Mumbai where the car was almost always on Recyle).

The AC takes a toll on FE. Obviously maintaining a car at 22 deg C is a lot easier when the ambient temperature is 25. My mileage has gone down to around 9, from 10 or so earlier reported.

Still dilly-dallying on the ICE. There is a vacation coming up- sadly Fraulein is not invited and will sulk in her parking space while the missus and me get some much needed mountain air and alone time . More updates and a travelogue after I return end of next week.

Edit: Absolutely no regrets opting for Candy White. The beige interiors also help no end in keeping the interiors cooler. My Swift heats up insanely compared to this.

[dot]

Originally Posted by noopster

This is a neat trick in the Vento's key fob. Keep Unlock pressed long and it rolls down all 4 windows. Allows fresh air to circulate and cool the cabin before driver and passengers get in.

That is indeed a nice feature to have. I tried on the Scorponok's key. Hehe, it was a futile press. Dream on Mr. dot.

[noopster]

@dot, I am now wishing it had a feature where I could remotely activate the AC and wait outside for 5 minutes before going in! Human wnat is limitless, what?

BTW, are there any cars in India that offer this feature?

[dot]

Originally Posted by noopster

@dot, I am now wishing it had a feature where I could remotely activate the AC and wait outside for 5 minutes before going in! Human wnat is limitless, what?

BTW, are there any cars in India that offer this feature?

Yes, there are. Car manufacturers are already aware of that "want". @mdsaab and me undertook a short and sweet adventure today to find one. The car is BMW 7 series.

[mdsaab]

I like your method of cooling the cabin.
I too roll down the windows to let the hot air escape. NO NO not that hot air, the hot air trapped in the vehicle when it's parked in the sun. LOL!
Unfortunately the civic doesn't have the nifty roll down feature, but good news is that the accord does have it, so maybe just maybe future civic's might join the party.
If we are speaking of wish lists then chalk me up for a sunroof, always wanted one, and am told it's good for letting that hot air escape, the type that's trapped in the car when parked.
And as @dot mentioned the 7 series does indeed have your wished for feature. ah those lucky buggers. well maybe some day.
Yeah the heat does take mileage figures down, but what to do.
I have stopped using the S mode now, and stick to D. it seems to work well fuel efficiency wise.
Good luck with the trip, look forward to a travelogue, Hope you have shopped well for warm clothes.
If you need someone to run Fraulein for a few days, give us a call. Worth a try right!?!

[dot]

Hey, took a TD of colleague's two week old Vento Diesel HL. It was a very timid TD, but the first impression was, detected by my ears.. you know that you are driving a diesel.

[mmxylorider]

Some of the aftermarket remote locking kits come with feature. Scorpio by Keystone (same makers as of Autocop) is one such brand.

Long press of the lock button rolls up the windows and locks/arms the vehicle. Long press of the unlock button will roll-down the windows and unlock the car. I'm not sure if this is for all windows or specific ones.

[mdsaab]

Originally Posted by dot

Hey, took a TD of colleague's two week old Vento Diesel HL. It was a very timid TD, but the first impression was, detected by my ears.. you know that you are driving a diesel.

VW's are known for their noisy diesels. Am glad that @noopster picked the Petrol AT

[noopster]

What a nice Sunday surprise! The Fräulein had an unexpected set of visitors drop in this morning

@Guderian's Admiral was in town for a meet up with his oil-drinking butch buddies, so the AT triumvirate just *had* to go pay their respects.

Messrs @mdsaab and @dot drove down from the East in their respective Civics...


It was a happy meet-up:






@dot was convinced his beloved Skorponok was making funny noises. Here he is getting it checked by the engine expert @Guderian. Me and mdsaab behind the camera sniggering:


Some animated conversation between the boys:


@mdsaab strikes a pose in my ORVM:


...while our ladies cozy up:


A funny moment: Got horse power?


Later, after the Admiral headed off to the Lavasa hills, we stopped at a spot nearby to take some more pics. The May flowers are in full bloom:









Talk about a morning well-spent!

[noopster]

We did some under-the-bonnet checking of each others' rides at the meet-up. By a mile, the winner was @Guderian's Admiral- here's dot drooling over it (no kidding):



My Fraulein was embarrassed- nobody catches out a lady on a hygiene issue! Once back home, the soap and loofah were immediately deployed!

I have the "before" snaps but refuse to upload those for fear of humiliating poor Fraulein


















Good as new! 5600 km up on the odo as of this morning.

[Akshay1234]

Nice pictures All the cars are looking great. Looks like you'll had a nice little meet. But there is one thing I think all of you can improve on, the number plates. Why not get the embossed ones? It will look a whole lot better.

[ventolute]

As always , its a pleasure when Fraulein and Guederian meet up. This time , though you had more company. Excellent pics. Loved the convoy pic and especially the one where Fraulein stands guarded by the two civics on either side.She looks elegant and stands out .
Was hoping I would spot Subodh and his baby too, which evidently translates into pics of his car finally getting posted.

[anilkalvani]

Excellent Pics Anoop. The Fraülein sure holds its place respectably in the melee of The Civic's & The mighty Admiral. Great! Happy mile crunching dude!