[84.monsoon]

I think VW priced this too high and missed an opportunity to make the car more accessible at the lower end of the price spectrum - the lowest variant is a full 70K costlier than the Taigun was at launch, for not significantly different feature content.

So now VW and Skoda have completely exited the sub-10 lakh segment by retiring the Polo, Vento and Rapid. They will miss "catching them young" by offering a car accessible to the young, first time car-buying professional or entrepreneur. I still think they could have launched Virtus at a sub-10 lakhs starting price for a Trendline variant, similar to he temporary availability of the Kushaq Active Peace variant. This would have been a great way to get a big step up in volumes and mind-share. Now:

• All four MQB-A0-IN products for the foreseeable future have been launched, hard to create the kind of excitement in the brand that comes with the opportunity of a brand new car launch, just by launching cosmetic tweaks for the next 10 years as they did with Polo and Vento
• The initial excitement dies and the somersaults by Skoda and VW in terms of deleting features and increasing prices every couple of months takes a grim hold on customer perception
• Parts shortages ease and other cars in the price range such as Creta & Seltos become more easily available
• New launches by Maruti and Toyota in the mid-size SUV segment arrive into town
• Niggles and quality issues with Skoda/VW interior materials persist

With all these headwinds, the volumes may soon settle down to 7-8 K per month or less across all 4 products. The group will struggle to achieve the volume targets promised to HQ to secure the investments needed for MQB-A0-IN.

[RavisankarSD]

I am a proud VW owner and always worship this German marque. Mine is 1st gen 2013 Vento with 1.6TDI engine, clocked 110k and gracefully aging. There were some major breakdown which is it’s known trait and after fixing that it never let me down. Always keeping me happy w/o much bigger hassle.

Coming to Virtus, VW understood that India still has sedan lovers in the era of SUV freak, showed a good improvement as part of Sarvottam which is VW 2.0 strategy. overall it is more practical(1.0TSI) and nice looking car. Exquisite character line, stunning colours, luxury saloon like front with neat embedding the headlamp, will definitely improve the footfalls. I know from acquaintances owing TSI - Turbo Stratified Injection, whose performance always brought smile in their face. Driving pleasure is something that is beyond doubt.

However, some downsides are not making the price more appropriate. At this price range I was expecting fully independent multi-link suspension similar to Jetta 2.0TDI & 1.4 TSI. I have not visited in person the show room yet, however I heard many VW lovers forum typical German “Thud” is missing, VW claims it is designed keeping pedestrian safety in mind.

Coming to sales. prioritisation for delivery seems to be arbitrary. Accessories is matter of customer discretion, I think still VW has to work out a lot to attract Indian costumer, we have growing car discerning customers, who nowadays evaluates the car based on many parameters like NCAP, warranty, after sales service besides the primary factor called “Budget”!!!

[kaushiksudra]

Originally Posted by Rachit.K.Dogra

Can anybody help me in understanding the variants split up!!

Yes. The GT variant has only one engine & gearbox combo (1.5L TSI EVO with 7 Speed DSG). There is no difference in features apart from the visual elements on the exterior and interior to the 1.0L Topline Variant.

Originally Posted by vpbops

Today cancelled the booking of 1.5 GT in palace cross Bangalore.

Agree to the part that the quality is not as how it used to be. But in no means I felt it substandard. The cost justification is something personal. City was never in contention as I owned the 2007 Civic and buying a City would be a downgrade. I'm not sure if this is a good replacement, but a fresh product will put a smile for a few years than the ageing design of City.

[tsi_niks1989]

Originally Posted by vpbops

[*]Checked with my family and Friends who drive Vento, they say the Virtus is not even close in terms of built[*]22.4L for a newly launched model is way too priced with so much cost cutting wth quality[*]will be going with Honda city , i don't know if i did the right thing . But didn't want to take any chances :([/list]

Have checked out the Virtus now multiple times in showrooms, can say it is not having the same exterior build as Polo/Vento. BUT it is not as bad as is being told by many fellow members, doors are having decent amount of weight. Front doors have that reassuring thud which used to exist in earlier cars, the rear is lighter.

Fit and finish inside is of better quality than Slavia. Materials used could have been of better quality but it is no way less than what the competition is offering.

Comparing the Honda City, the doors are lighter compared to Virtus/Slavia, interiors look premium but the infotainment system looks like a Chinese tablet from 2015 which always used to hang or perform badly. The user interface looks dated. The rear and lane camera available are good for safety purpose but the cam quality is pathetic, yes Virtus/Slavia are no better in this department but still has a better quality than atleast city.

Then comes the drive quality, which even the smaller 1L TSI in the Virtus feels always eager to go (till 80-100 speeds). Beyond say 110 it sure moves slow compared to the 1.5 TSI which is an absolute gem of an engine to be available in any car below 20L ex showroom.

Now coming to the price, I feel the GT has been priced correct if they do not increase this price for atleast 3 months. If we see today, car prices have almost increased 1.5 times to what used to come 5 years before, even a micro SUV like Tata Punch is coming for close to 11.5L for top variants in some places .

VW/Skoda should try to iron out issues related to AC, EPC, door rattles asap to stay relevant in the market.

[sunikkat]

Originally Posted by RavisankarSD

However, some downsides are not making the price more appropriate. At this price range I was expecting fully independent multi-link suspension similar to Jetta 2.0TDI & 1.4 TSI.

Honestly that is too much of expectations. MK3 Octavia TDI at ~ 30+ lakhs OTR did not offer independent multi link rear suspension. None of the other cars in the segment are offering too. I would have been more happy if they had provided rear disc brakes at this price point (atleast in 1.5), not that the current brake performance is bad.

Originally Posted by tsi_niks1989

Have checked out the Virtus now multiple times in showrooms, can say it is not having the same exterior build as Polo/Vento. BUT it is not as bad as is being told by many fellow members, doors are having decent amount of weight. Front doors have that reassuring thud which used to exist in earlier cars, the rear is lighter.
.

Agree, the build might be lighter than Rapid / Vento but definitely much better than the competition.

[CEF_Beasts]

And the modifications have begun!

Just an alloy swap, makes the car look so beautiful!





https://www.instagram.com/p/Cen1dlql...d=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

[sunikkat]

Originally Posted by CEF_Beasts

And the modifications have begun!

Just an alloy swap, makes the car look so beautiful!

That looks great. They should have slightly reduced the stance too and would have looked killer.

[Mumbaiker]

Originally Posted by vpbops

• will be going with Honda city , i don't know if i did the right thing . But didn't want to take any chances :(

In the same boat. My dad was totally uncomfortable in the rear seat. The curves in the rear seat are too uncomfortable when 3 adults sit.

Also, why not add a lac and get the city hybrid. Definitely worth a check.

[acquillew]

Checked out the Virtus 1.5 today. The powertrain is extremely refined. Engine is super smooth. The dealership at Lucknow informed us that 40 cars had been booked and were waiting delivery.

The suspension is on the stiffer side. The odd rough patches and smaller potholes do travel inside at lower speeds. Ample legroom in the car on the rear. 5th passenger is a tight fit. I found the seats to be good, with enough thigh support. For reference, I am 6 foot tall and weigh 90 kg. Easy ingress, egress. I did find the test car to rattle on occasions, though I felt that the TD car had overinflated tyres (no surprise). The headlights have decent throw and I feel will work good in cities and highways.

Here are a few clicks from my TD today:

[Abhi_Automobile]

Originally Posted by vpbops

Today cancelled the booking of 1.5 GT in palace cross Bangalore.

• Checked with my family and Friends who drive Vento, they say the Virtus is not even close in terms of built
• 22.4L for a newly launched model is way too priced with so much cost cutting wth quality
• the DSG gear box is another gamble ,, i have read a lot of post in this site and i am not ready to compromise my peace
• will be going with Honda city , i don't know if i did the right thing . But didn't want to take any chances :(

Hey bud. Hope you don’t mind but there is a bit of “He says/she says” behind your decision making. I own a Jetta, and have Vento in the family that I’ve driven extensively. I can tell you that the build of Virtus is NOT inferior to that of Vento. It’s just that’s Virtus is priced higher because it’s a bigger car, with superior engine (1.5 DSG), and VW wanted to position it ‘in between’ erstwhile Jetta and Vento.

Yes, the interior quality is okayish, and the higher variants are priced quite high. However, compare the interiors to City or Seltos, and they are comparable. The only car which has real good interior quality in this segment is Astor. Else, you have to extend all the way to Jeep Compass/Skoda Octavia.

Consider 1.0 AT Highlinw in case you are considering City. Having said that - City is an excellent choice. Congrats!

[GBX]

Originally Posted by vpbops

Checked with my family and Friends who drive Vento, they say the Virtus is not even close in terms of built

Benchmarking quality to cars which are no longer on sale, doesn't make sense. Unless you're looking to buy a second hand Vento, it will be best to compare the Virtus to its contemporaries.

Originally Posted by vpbops

will be going with Honda city , i don't know if i did the right thing . But didn't want to take any chances :(

Ignoring the fact that the Honda has also been accused of dropping quality and features each generation; if you are happy with City level of performance, even the 1L TSI engine will keep up with it.

You'll save a lot of money and not have to worry about DSG issues, either.

EOD, both are great cars. Enjoy your pick whichever it is.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by BleueNinja

I saw the Highline variant in showroom. ... ... ... it gets rotary ac controls which isn’t as premium looking but I will prefer that any day over the touch controls.

Don't think so much about rotary compared to touch: think about manual compared to automatic. It's old-fashioned manual AC, like any old car has had for decades, or climate control. Once you find the right setting in degrees for climate control, you set and forget. With manual AC, you fiddle regularly.

On my Polo, the climate control is set to 22.5, auto, and I only touch those settings when I need to blast cool the car after parking in full sun. I cancel that by pressing auto.

Sure, I would prefer not touch controls too, but I don't think I'd be interested in a car with manual AC. Certainly not an expensive car.

It's a big difference in staying comfortable. Worth far more than many of the other gadgets.

Manual AC is for old, cheap cars. VW should have completely discontinued it ages back.

Say after me: Premium cars don't have manual AC!

[redcruiser]

Originally Posted by vpbops

Today cancelled the booking of 1.5 GT in palace cross Bangalore.
[/list]

Did they charge you any booking cancellation charges.
The Whitefield dealer told that 11.5k is the booking and 3.5k will be the booking cancellation charges.

[vpbops]

Agree to the part that the quality is not as how it used to be. But in no means I felt it substandard. The cost justification is something personal. City was never in contention as I owned the 2007 Civic and buying a City would be a downgrade. I'm not sure if this is a good replacement, but a fresh product will put a smile for a few years than the ageing design of City.[/quote]

agreed

Originally Posted by redcruiser

Did they charge you any booking cancellation charges.
The Whitefield dealer told that 11.5k is the booking and 3.5k will be the booking cancellation charges.

They did not mention any cancellation charges, SA told me i would get the complete refund in a weeks time. May be i will recheck with them just to make sure .

[shrawanohari]

Originally Posted by redcruiser

Did they charge you any booking cancellation charges.
The Whitefield dealer told that 11.5k is the booking and 3.5k will be the booking cancellation charges.

There are no cancellation charges. I got mine cancelled and got the full amount. Better to do send the cancellation request via email.