[SUVolens]

Just finished a round-trip to Himachal and noticed the following on the way back:

1. The otherwise excellent brakes have taken on a late bite and results in a very jerky retardation. Feathering the pedal to cause gentle slowdown from speed, is drastically disabled. This resulted in a very jerky highway drive whenever traffic turned up ahead.
2. With an outside temp of 27°C on an average, running the ac at 22° Auto, didn’t have a desired cooling inside and whichever window the sun came in through, made the occupant hot till the ac was turned down to Lo. This has previously not been the case and an earlier trip in Rajasthan, ac at 23° Auto with 35° outside, everything was pleasant inside.

I took the car to VW Noida yesterday with the following results:

1. Hooked up to their AC gas recirculator machine, it turned out that I was down on a significant amount of gas that the machine put back in. A brief drive afterwards made me feel only marginal improvement in cooling. I made the technician take multiple ‘vent readings’ and something curious happened. In the earlier part of the day, with the workshop temps being lower, the grill temp stubbornly stuck to 8.7° and above. Did the same again after gas refill (8.9° in fact). I know the German cars can’t match the Japanese or Koreans or even Indians for cooling where some are reported to reach 4.5° at the grill, but this was making me sweat prematurely
Just as the day wore into midday, the tech suddenly yelled out to me - “Sir! Dekhiye!” The grill temp was dropping fast and it had already gone below 7°! He pulled an explanation out of his hat that I had long suspected - the sensor does react to hotter ambient temps and the hotter it gets outside, the better the cooling inside. It’s the way home ac’s work too. Or maybe it the way our bodies perceive the difference. One down, one to go.
2. Hooked up to the OBD, the tech showed me there were zero faults in the brake area - esp the brake pressure etc. He said he could get the discs cleaned but I was in a hurry to get back and also couldn’t fathom how cleaning a disc would result in a better brake pedal modulation.. Surprisingly, on the return through normal urban traffic, the brakes didn’t feel as grabby and seemed to be as familiar as before. I was wearing my usual driving sandals instead of the sports shoes I used on the highway. Could that have been a factor? Maybe..

VW Noida didn’t charge me a penny on the entire day’s work and I got back a car that was washed and shone from the rain mucked state I turned it in. I can’t fault them on customer satisfaction at all so far.

[audioholic]

Originally Posted by stringbh

Just one thing which I am trying to understand (still experimenting): In cruise control mode, the 2-cylinder mode activates briefly and disappears while encountering road undulations or while climbing (guess, it has to work harder), stays on much longer while decelerating. It seems I can keep the 2-cylinder mode active for a longer time, when I carefully modulate the acceleration input manually (not easy).

From my experience, retaining ACT mode requires very fine modulation of accelerator and anything more than 5% input will bring back four cylinder mode. When there is an incline or any power demand, if we are manually applying pedal input we are doing it reactively, which means we even wait until the speed drops before applying pedal input. The cruise control system does it proactively by sensing the change incline and smaller drops in speed and immediately increases throttle opening. Since it is controlled by the ECM, it can do smaller but more frequent changes to throttle position. But it's end goal is to maintain set speed and not to prolong ACT which is opposite to us manually controlling. Hence this difference in behaviour.

Some Commercial vehicles I have seen have a different cruise control tuning which will not be so proactive but instead have a speed threshold like 3-5kmph which means if there is an incline on the road, the cruise control will not immediately apply power but gradually increase it even if it causes the set speed to drop by the threshold. This will aid FE in case of a scenario like a small hill climb where the lost speed while climbing will be automatically recovered during the descent. It also works while driving cars. Just cancel cruise control when you approach an up ramp and resume when you reach the top or descent.

[RaiAnish]

Originally Posted by Sid13

Hello could you please comment the month and make of your virtus. Also was the sw update given on request or did vw call you for the same.

Kindly share some details about the ac and engine performance before and after the update.

Hey, apologies for the delay in response.
Mine is a Sept 2022 make and registered Virtus. The software update was done after a I received an email + SMS from VW. However, I think they should do it upon request anyway because that's how I got my auto up/down window sorted. Provided you already have that software pre installed from factory ?

I keep my AC in Lo mode and it works fine now. If the software updates don't solve your issue, please ask them to check for Oil and gas levels in the compressor as discussed earlier somewhere in this thread.

[sam2007$]

Great news! Global NCAP ratings of Virtus and Slavia are out. Both spectacularly secured 5 Star ratings as expected.

Sadly, Maruti continues to lag, 2 Star for Alto K10 and 1 Star for WagonR.

[ATTACH=VWVirtus-SkodaSlavia-factsheet2023.pdf]2436938[/ATTACH]

[the_dark_knight]

Planning some "Simply Clever" touches on Virtus highline.
Many features exclusive to Slavia (equivalent ambition variant) are of great use and I am planning to visit Skoda workshop for below parts:
1. Sunglasses holder on roof
2. Side pocket below light controls
3. Ticket holder on windscreen

Other upgrades in mind:
1. Bonnet insulation
2. Door damping (mainly for thud, hopefully it will help with sound quality of infotainment)
3. Speakers on Virtus seem to be a level or two down versus the ones on Vento.
4. Boot mat

[mtnrajdeep]

Originally Posted by mtnrajdeep

What mileage does Virtus GT give on highways? Is it possible to do a Bangalore to Hyderabad drive in 1 full tank?

Thanks to all who responded earlier. The car really surprised me with the mileage. Got a whopping 17.5 on the trip with full tank range being 780 km. This included some 15-20 minutes of idling also while I took a short nap.

I didn't exceed 4000 rpm as I am still in running-in and didn't cross 120kmph.

[SUVolens]

I took my GT back to VW Noida yesterday since I distinctly felt a problem with the brake pedal modulation - slight depression doesn’t retard speed as effectively as originally experienced and as a result, in traffic, the braking is really jerky when the brakes bite suddenly at a higher pedal depression. My car’s on 3300 kms only and the workshop techs did everything from scraping the front pads and rotors, hooking it up on the diagnostic system (no faults reported) and even TD-ing it against a newer Virtus GT. It was so frustrating that I could feel the sizeable difference in pedal action between the two cars and even the works manager himself couldn’t! I had to come away with their assurances that there’s nothing wrong since ‘the system says so’. Aren’t there any seat-of-the-pants mechanics surviving any more? Anyone else here face a similar issue on their GT/1.0?

[SUVolens]

[quote=mtnrajdeep;5525428]

I didn't exceed 4000 rpm as I am still in running-in and didn't cross 120kmph.

Attachment 2437500

How’re you getting this display? Did you code your car?

[audioholic]

Originally Posted by SUVolens

I took my GT back to VW Noida yesterday since I distinctly felt a problem with the brake pedal modulation - slight depression doesn’t retard speed as effectively as originally experienced and as a result, in traffic, the braking is really jerky when the brakes bite suddenly at a higher pedal depression.

I guess thats the Hydraulic Brake assist coming into action after a certain degree of brake pedal being applied. When HBA kicks in, it adds brake pressure to the system to decrease stopping distance. This gives you a non linear feel over the brakes especially if you press brake almost halfway and then maintain constant pressure thinking that the car will slow down linearly, but it slows down faster than you expect. This can be changed by the VW guys using their diagnostic tool. By default HBA is set to normal which can be changed to early or late based on your preference. Just convince them to hook up the PC and go to adaptations for ABS/Brake. They can find the setting there.

[mtnrajdeep]

Originally Posted by SUVolens

Attachment 2437500

How’re you getting this display? Did you code your car?

I enabled a few settings through VCDS. Though I don't completely recollect what needs to be updated for these display changes

[Kosfactor]

Originally Posted by SUVolens

I took my GT back to VW Noida yesterday since I distinctly felt a problem with the brake pedal modulation - slight depression doesn’t retard speed as effectively as originally experienced and as a result, in traffic, the braking is really jerky when the brakes bite suddenly at a higher pedal depression. My car’s on 3300 kms only and the workshop techs did everything from scraping the front pads and rotors, hooking it up on the diagnostic system (no faults reported) and even TD-ing it against a newer Virtus GT. It was so frustrating that I could feel the sizeable difference in pedal action between the two cars and even the works manager himself couldn’t! I had to come away with their assurances that there’s nothing wrong since ‘the system says so’. Aren’t there any seat-of-the-pants mechanics surviving any more? Anyone else here face a similar issue on their GT/1.0?

Adjust \ inspect the rear brakes, if it has drum brakes in the rear the technicians wont bother to check.

Also check if the handbrake has play, it should not have much play and it should be firm as you start to pull.

[SUVolens]

Originally Posted by audioholic

I guess thats the Hydraulic Brake assist coming into action after a certain degree of brake pedal being applied. When HBA kicks in, it adds brake pressure to the system to decrease stopping distance. This gives you a non linear feel over the brakes especially if you press brake almost halfway and then maintain constant pressure thinking that the car will slow down linearly, but it slows down faster than you expect. This can be changed by the VW guys using their diagnostic tool. By default HBA is set to normal which can be changed to early or late based on your preference. Just convince them to hook up the PC and go to adaptations for ABS/Brake. They can find the setting there.

Now that’s the answer I was looking for! Thanks! Surprised that the VW techs didn’t/couldn’t offer it even when I asked them to recalibrate pedal action via software (that’s the extent of my tech knowledge on modern DBW cars).

Originally Posted by Kosfactor

Adjust \ inspect the rear brakes, if it has drum brakes in the rear the technicians wont bother to check.

Also check if the handbrake has play, it should not have much play and it should be firm as you start to pull.

You’re right - they didn’t check even when I asked them to while the car was up on the lift. However, there’s no play in the handbrake, so I’m guessing they’re fine.

[Dude.9625]

Hey there..!
So this is my first time posting here. I've been lurking around for a while but got the opportunity (read courage) only now.
Coming to the point, my predicament is as follows:
I've been looking at the volkwagen virtus 1.0. i recently visited the showroom and i really liked the way it drives. As it happens the showroom is trying to get rid of its test drive vehicle (1.0 highline AT) and is ready to offer it at a price of 13 lacs. I didn't td that particular vehicle (will soon) so i can't really say the condition the car is in. The odo reading shows 5000 kms(and some change). The showroom is also ready to offer full 4 year warranty from date of invoice (and the svp package too i assume ). My question is do i go for this td vehicle or go for a new car. Also worth noting is that my budget is only about 14 lacs so the most i can get is the base variant. The lack of features don't bother me much(other than the steel wheels, purely aesthetic reasons). Also looking at the Jimmy(love offroading, upgrading from mm550), the grand vitara (sigma), or maybe even the city v (purely for Honda sensing, quoted 15.5 lacs )
Sorry for the long post but would really appreciate some advice (i.e to go for the td vehicle or not )

[CCRider]

Welcome to the forum !!! There are many like you ( including me ) who waited years lurking before starting to contribute

Originally Posted by Dude.9625

but would really appreciate some advice (i.e to go for the td vehicle or not )

No!!! For following reasons
- the odo shows 5k but it may have been 25k ( highly likely) and the dealer may have easily tweaked it
- TD vehicles are driven by many people and abused, so they will be in a worse condition than a well maintained second hand vehicle
- even if the dealer gives you a warranty, you wouldn't want a vehicle that has a high chance of going to the shop frequently for repairs and inconveniencing you. And VW guys have a poor record of After Sales & Service.

[Shreyfiesta]

Originally Posted by Dude.9625

As it happens the showroom is trying to get rid of its test drive vehicle (1.0 highline AT) and is ready to offer it at a price of 13 lacs. I didn't td that particular vehicle (will soon) so i can't really say the condition the car is in. The odo reading shows 5000 kms(and some change). The showroom is also ready to offer full 4 year warranty from date of invoice (and the svp package too i assume ). My question is do i go for this td vehicle or go for a new car. Sorry for the long post but would really appreciate some advice (i.e to go for the td vehicle or not )

Do not buy a test drive vehicle or a media car even if someone offers it to you for free. Such vehicles are usually carelessly treated. At least 5-10 people drives it everyday, 5000kms says a lot in such a case. This figure may not be genuine because odometers can be disconnected or tweaked by a dealer easily. Hence, understanding the true mileage is impossible here. Expect this 5000kms run test drive car to be equivalent to a 25000kms run individual owned car. Dealers normally try to conduct the repairs of demo cars in the cheapest possible way to reduce their costs. I have seen body shop guys at Maruti A.S.S. repairing body damage on test drive cars with shortcuts. Not to forget those people who think redlining is the best way to know the potential of the vehicle while taking test drive.