[noopster]

2500 km up. Nothng much to report except that AT tedium has set in and I use the manual mode a lot more these days . Last night my friend who is equally car-mad came back from the UK and sat in my car and was giving me grief for buying an AT, so I had to show him dinn I? Put it in tiptronic and revved it up right to the redline. Engine sounds a bit funny when you do that. He was all till I laughed and said that's not how I usually drive, am just getting back at you for picking on my lovely slushbox.

Trip to Aurangabad coming up shortly- will update after that!

[dot]

Road till Aurangabad is super slick, 4 laned and divided. Ah, so delicious.

[motorhead5]

Missed this thread for some time now. You new seats are pretty neat. Guess it worth the money spent.

Like others have suggested, you may want to remove that extra wrap on the steering. It would look better without that.

Dont you have a plan to fix the logo back?. I am really scared now. Its just matter of time, i know

Looking forward to hear more after a long drive..

[Akki_5]

Originally Posted by mxx

Thats because S mode is never meant for cruising.

The S does shift into 6th in the DSGs but that is at speeds of 150/160+ kmph. Your car looks lovely. IMHO put the logos back! I have used m-seal to fill the crevice when the logo is attached in it's slot, that way, it's pretty difficult to drive-in a screwdriver to lever it off!
Anyways, no plans to spice it up like my Laura?

[noopster]

Originally Posted by dot

Road till Aurangabad is super slick, 4 laned and divided. Ah, so delicious.

Join me man! Why so serious?

Originally Posted by motorhead5

Missed this thread for some time now. You new seats are pretty neat. Guess it worth the money spent.

Like others have suggested, you may want to remove that extra wrap on the steering. It would look better without that.

Dont you have a plan to fix the logo back?. I am really scared now. Its just matter of time, i know

Looking forward to hear more after a long drive..

Thanks motorhead5. I don't plan to stick the logos back on: there is a kind of freedom I can exercise now parking on the street etc. that is just not possible with the fear of someone molesting your car. I know the leather on the wheels looks bad in photographs but the fact is when I am driving it is pretty much visible only to me and I do appreciate the additional grip. Will look around for some better quality options but for now she stays!

Originally Posted by Akki_5

The S does shift into 6th in the DSGs but that is at speeds of 150/160+ kmph. Your car looks lovely. IMHO put the logos back! I have used m-seal to fill the crevice when the logo is attached in it's slot, that way, it's pretty difficult to drive-in a screwdriver to lever it off!
Anyways, no plans to spice it up like my Laura?

I would love to! Have you tried the VAG on a Vento? Can you enable DRLs and stuff on this baby? Lemme know- would be awesome.

[mdsaab]

Autos with tip tronic and paddles are so much fun. When youre tired they do all the work. And when in the mood you can shift as per your will. The best of both worlds. Yeah have heard the vento petrol doesnt like to be on the red line. But with tiptronic you may as well try it out. Btw what does your friend have to say now?

[noopster]

@mdsaab- my friend announced tha he is buying the petrol MT if he is staying on in India!

Last-minute drive into Mumbai over the weekend. I "hypermiled" over the expressway stretch Pune-Mumbai, and this is the result:

21.7 kmpl over an 87 km stretch (Sai HP petrol pump just before e-way to just before JNPT exit), average speed:66 kmph, total driving time 1:19.






I actually nursed it upto 22.5 kmpl, the best I have achieved till date. AC on 100%. Drove the wifey crazy, she laconically pointing over every car and truck that was overtaking us .

Traffic in Mumbai on Saturday morning was quite light and we had only to go up to Prabhadevi, so were spared the usual suburban crawl. Return on Sunday had even less traffic and, bar the idiot truck drivers who clog up the fast lane at Lonavala ghat, could have achieved much better average speed and mileage overall.
End of trip stats: 308 km @ average 47 kmph consuming 14.5 kmpl. Not bad eh?!!





Took some random night time snaps as I waited for the ladies to pick up groceries on the way back:

[dot]

Originally Posted by noopster

I "hypermiled" over the expressway stretch Pune-Mumbai, and this is the result:

21.7 kmpl over an 87 km stretch (Sai HP petrol pump just before e-way to just before JNPT exit), average speed:66 kmph, total driving time 1:19.

I actually nursed it upto 22.5 kmpl, the best I have achieved till date. AC on 100%.

Some astonishing results! Yes, it requires patience but worth it in some context. On a lighter note, I have a feeling that you might feature in VW ads soon

[noopster]

You bet. ARAI for this baby is 14 kmpl, can you believe that! I was laughing at the Indigo CS adverts on the e-way that said "Pune to Mumbai in 7 litres"- hell I did it in 8 myself!

[souravc]

Originally Posted by noopster

You bet. ARAI for this baby is 14 kmpl, can you believe that! I was laughing at the Indigo CS adverts on the e-way that said "Pune to Mumbai in 7 litres"- hell I did it in 8 myself!

Not only are you likely to be featured in Vento Ads but also for the entire AT engine fraternity I enjoy your updates , keep them coming

[mdsaab]

Seriously jaw dropping mileage there. Plus you always have pics to prove it.
Please pat yourself on the back. Ok so now that you saved a whole lot on petrol, what better way to spend the money saved than on friends right? So where are you hosting the outstanding mileage party? Please tell us we'll be there!
Fabulous for an AT!

[volkman10]

Originally Posted by noopster

You bet. ARAI for this baby is 14 kmpl, can you believe that! I was laughing at the Indigo CS adverts on the e-way that said "Pune to Mumbai in 7 litres"- hell I did it in 8 myself!

Nice update. Puts a rest to the notion that AT's are less fuel efficient than Manual.

Amazing mileage and hope you update on the consistency of this one.

But I guess many would mistake you for being a VW representative!!

Cheers!

[noopster]

Originally Posted by mdsaab

Seriously jaw dropping mileage there. Plus you always have pics to prove it.
Please pat yourself on the back. Ok so now that you saved a whole lot on petrol, what better way to spend the money saved than on friends right? So where are you hosting the outstanding mileage party? Please tell us we'll be there!
Fabulous for an AT!

Am ready to parteh anytime! This week is difficult with all the World Cup fever and all, but next week for sure.

Originally Posted by volkman10

Nice update. Puts a rest to the notion that AT's are less fuel efficient than Manual.

Amazing mileage and hope you update on the consistency of this one.

But I guess many would mistake you for being a VW representative!!

Cheers!

Hehe. I have been a fan of VW since driving my best frend's Passat in the US 10 years ago. We did LA to Vegas and I drove most of the way, sunroof down and everything.
On a more serious note, VW are doing several things wrong in this country. The supply situation has not been managed well at all, the dealer staff are untrained and come across as arrogant and ignorant at the same time. For a long time there was no accessories list available at the dealerships. While corporate PR seems to be on a roll- every launch including the recent IPL one seemigly managed superbly- it would have been nice if VW spent some time and effort communicating effectively to their dealers and by extension their customers.
The Polo and Vento are selling the numbers they are today because of the quality of the product and the brand image enjoyed by German marques in general in this country. If VW takes us- its paying public- for granted, they may find the going not so smooth going forward.

Ok- enough soapbox talk for now . Big trip coming up on weekend- plan to take plenty of pics and post 'em. Stay tuned!

[RemingtonSteele]

@Noopster: Wow! thats a unbelievable mileage!! that too for an AT car!!!
Really, I could never imagine these figure for an AT car, Great work...Congratulations.

Looking forward to some more astonishing mileage figures from your upcomming big trip (but now you cannot surprise us, we know what to expect).
Looking forward to lots of pics too.

[noopster]

@RemingtonSteele- thanks man! I am going to stop being such a mileage-watcher soon I promise!

It's just that EVERYone warned me about pathetic mileage before buying. The kind of numbers thrown about were scary: it didn't help that the TD vehicle at VW Pune showed a mileage of 5.8 kmpl and the sales rep was clueless why this was. Only Sahil bless him advised me (correctly) that I could expect 9 or at most 10 in the city which was the basis of my final decision. Can you believe when I take it to Mumbai I have got as low as 8.6 kmpl?!! These cars are really thirsty in the metrops. But the highway numbers are a delightful surprise.

Incidentally the TD vehicle's mileage was so low NOT because as some have surmised those are thrown around by their users (though that may be one reason). What happens is if the tripmeter is in "1" position (current trip only) the consumption at the start of the trip is always very high- it evens out after the first couple of km. Since the TDs were in Pune downtown traffic, fat chance of it ever coming up to a decent level

The weekend trip is with family and a friend's family. Promises to be fun. World Cup Final with India in it is icing on the cake! Will update next week.