[rrnsss]

Originally Posted by madnish30

Also see how well the Vento took a horrible collision from the behind on evilshantanu's car, must commend VW there.

.

Yes I saw that picture and was quite happy with the way the passenger cell was structurally intact.

Are there running in periods for the new VWs. If there is , it will be very hard to abide by especially since I drive exclusively on the highway.

[ninjatalli]

Originally Posted by rrnsss

Yes I saw that picture and was quite happy with the way the passenger cell was structurally intact.

Are there running in periods for the new VWs. If there is , it will be very hard to abide by especially since I drive exclusively on the highway.

Ideally there should be a run-in for any new car, for any brand. Just try to keep the speeds down, below 2500 RPM and don't exert too much on the car for the initial 1000 kms and you should be fine.

And congratulations for the new car - as @madnish30 put it, you have picked a perfect ride w.r.t. your requirements. I completely understand what you meant when you made the statement of Swift running out of breath beyond 130 kmph. This car should make that feeling quite redundant!

[negativeH]

Originally Posted by rrnsss

Only thing I did not like about the vento was that it has a boot.

Oh well!!! you can't get every thing you want.

Well that is what the Polo 1.6 is for.
But that said, Vento is a great car; welcome to the club!

I also had chosen the Vento over the Etios last year when I got mine; mainly because of the drive and the interior quality.

[rrnsss]

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

I completely understand what you meant when you made the statement of Swift running out of breath beyond 130 kmph. This car should make that feeling quite redundant!

My adverse comments about the vento would be

1) The non functional steering mounted telephone and mic buttons . VW could have simply blanked them out.

2) Could have offered fold down rear seats, as I travel with my dog(s).


3) Ideally I would have liked the vento with out the boot, but I have made a compromise there.


The car was so easy to drive at 130 + and is very simple and sedate. You do not feel like you are in the cockpit of a Sukhoi 30 MKI , which is very overwhelming in long drives. Hyundai Verna, Civic, Fiesta seem to be too loud and make you feel like you are inside a toy and not a car. VW has very normal dash and That was very very attractive to me.

I am eagerly waiting for my delivery on wednesday.


A few questions.

1) Should I change tyres? I am a conservative and want safety over speed / mileage etc. What is a good brand tyre for that? I do not want to change the size of the tyres.

2) Where can I get Kagu 3d mats in Chennai

3) I absolutely need bright headlights, what is the suggestion here. If you can give me the brand name and wattage of the bulbs I would be very grateful. Again, I want normal yellow coloured lights. Not the white/blue ones (sorry , not sure about the nomenclature )

4) Should I go in for the extended warranty for the additional 11000 Rs.? I think they extend it from 2 yrs to 4 years.

[pillainp]

Originally Posted by rrnsss

My adverse comments about the vento would be

1) The non functional steering mounted telephone and mic buttons . VW could have simply blanked them out.

I have replaced the stock RCD-310 on my TDI HL with a Kenwood DDX-4038BT, and the phoe button works perfectly to pick up and end calls. Long press brings up the FM/AM radio.

[Hayek]

Just test drove the Vento TDI Highline. Some observations and a few questions.

1. The clutch is really heavy. Yes, I am now used to an AT and this is only the second time I am driving a diesel manual (after testing a Fortuner a couple of years ago) but the clutch was tough, and I doubt we (this car is being considered primarily for my wife) could tolerate it in peak hour traffic.
2. Apart from that, the car was good to drive - decent pick up and not too noisy.
3. Interior quality is great - makes the Honda City (which is the other car we are considering) seem like its from a segment or two lower
4. The test drive car showed a MID indicated fuel efficiency of just 7.8 kmpl. Would be useful to know whether that was due to a relatively short test drive and what the actual fuel efficiency is.
5. To the embarrassment of the sales person who was with us, there was some water ingress through e beading of the front passenger door. Is this a common problem in the Vento?

I plan to test drive the Vento Petrol AT tomorrow. I was also going to test the Vento petrol MT, but was told that it has been out of production since 2011, and new stocks are not expected till the end of August (at the earliest).

Need to take a fairly quick decision between this and the City (with a outside chance of a Jazz being thrown in the mix), so would appreciate owner's feedback on the above two points.

[newtonMeter]

Originally Posted by pillainp

I have replaced the stock RCD-310 on my TDI HL with a Kenwood DDX-4038BT, and the phoe button works perfectly to pick up and end calls. Long press brings up the FM/AM radio.

Does the kenwood also show park distance control/Audio beep?

[souravc]

Originally Posted by Hayek

Just test drove the Vento TDI Highline. Some observations and a few questions.

1. The clutch is really heavy. Yes, I am now used to an AT and this is only the second time I am driving a diesel manual (after testing a Fortuner a couple of years ago) but the clutch was tough, and I doubt we (this car is being considered primarily for my wife) could tolerate it in peak hour traffic.
2. Apart from that, the car was good to drive - decent pick up and not too noisy.
3. Interior quality is great - makes the Honda City (which is the other car we are considering) seem like its from a segment or two lower
4. The test drive car showed a MID indicated fuel efficiency of just 7.8 kmpl. Would be useful to know whether that was due to a relatively short test drive and what the actual fuel efficiency is.
5. To the embarrassment of the sales person who was with us, there was some water ingress through e beading of the front passenger door. Is this a common problem in the Vento?

1. Clutch of the TDi is heavy and would remain heavy . My car has done 28K kms and it still is heavy . If you are used to AT it would seem more so
2. The TDi is noisier than City for sure at idle but while running its good - The City is no comparison vis-a-vis power delivery, the TDi is miles ahead
3. Interior is simple and better quality
4. The MID fig was due to short drive . In my car I get an average of 13 kmpl in 100% city drives ( Chembur to Fort and back via BPT road.. if you know that ruote) . In highways it would be 18-19 kmpl
5. The water outside of the beading should not be a bother .. its not a problem, its more of a quirk. Given that there is a layer of beading acting as a dam between the interior and the water on the edges its fine

Hope this helps

[pillainp]

Originally Posted by newtonMeter

Does the kenwood also show park distance control/Audio beep?

The Kenwood takes a video feed from the reverse camera, but it does not have distance markers. Neither does it show the sensor distance display. However, the reverse sensor audio feedback works perfectly - I just do not know whether it is through the Kenwood or directly to the speakers.

Anyway the Kenwood does not attenuate its output while the sensor audio is active like the RCD-310 does.

[ninjatalli]

Originally Posted by rrnsss

My adverse comments about the vento would be

1) The non functional steering mounted telephone and mic buttons . VW could have simply blanked them out.

Do note the mic button doubles as a mute button.

3) Ideally I would have liked the vento with out the boot, but I have made a compromise there.

What you are asking is for the 1.6 tdi engine in a Polo. Now wouldn't that be an awesome car to drive!

1) Should I change tyres? I am a conservative and want safety over speed / mileage etc. What is a good brand tyre for that? I do not want to change the size of the tyres.

2) Where can I get Kagu 3d mats in Chennai

3) I absolutely need bright headlights, what is the suggestion here. If you can give me the brand name and wattage of the bulbs I would be very grateful. Again, I want normal yellow coloured lights. Not the white/blue ones (sorry , not sure about the nomenclature )

4) Should I go in for the extended warranty for the additional 11000 Rs.? I think they extend it from 2 yrs to 4 years.

1) I believe you should. There is a seperate thread for tires for Vento - look it up.

2)Again look it up here - I remember seeing a few posts for Chennai shops.

3) There are others better suited for answering this query - one of them should be reverting for this soon.

4) Yes you should. There is always the possibility VW "might" go the Skoda way, even though it doesn't seem so. Plus VW spares are not that cheap.

[evilshantanu]

Originally Posted by rrnsss

Yes I saw that picture and was quite happy with the way the passenger cell was structurally intact.

Are there running in periods for the new VWs. If there is , it will be very hard to abide by especially since I drive exclusively on the highway.

I am sold to VW for life.
so I guess now after I dropped shadowfax to the service center, I am much better now. There was no crack / ripple inside the passenger cabin. VW has done an amazing job with the crush zones and shock absorption. I got the vehicle checked by the Service Adviser, though the full survey by the insurance guy would only happen on Monday. There is no harm on the chasis, the passenger cabin is fully intact and no work is to me done there. I think that is what you expect from a car, to take the battering on itself and save you from anything, the rest of the features, I now feel are just cosmetic in nature.

You have made a good choice, the safety, the torque, the joy of driving this sedan is simply amazing (obviously in this price bracket). I recently did a Bangalore - Pune - Bangalore trip in it with my wife and a 7 month old baby, very comfortable I would say.

In the last 1 year and 5 months of ownership I have driven it 39,200 KM. and the engine refinement is still the same as it was before, as it was on the first day.

Buzz me if you have any more doubts

[el lobo 6061]

rrnsss, congarts on your purchase and you have taken very wise decision of going with Vento TDi instead of Liva. There is no straight comparison between the two, Vento is leagues ahead of Liva.

Originally Posted by rrnsss

3) Ideally I would have liked the vento with out the boot, but I have made a compromise there.

You could have gone with VW Polo 1.2TDi or 1.6 petrol. Both Polo & Vento are the same car with just an additional boot and an extra leg room & few gadgetry difference.

Originally Posted by rrnsss

The car was so easy to drive at 130 + and is very simple and sedate. You do not feel like you are in the cockpit of a Sukhoi 30 MKI , which is very overwhelming in long drives. Hyundai Verna, Civic, Fiesta seem to be too loud and make you feel like you are inside a toy and not a car. VW has very normal dash and That was very very attractive to me.

Vento TDi especially, will do 150 easily but after that you start to take the car to its max potential and you seriously need to keep eye out for every small thing. Vento TDi safe limit would be 160 and after that you need better tyres to complement the speeds. I do not see myself doing anything excess of 140 on Indian roads.

Originally Posted by rrnsss

1) Should I change tyres? I am a conservative and want safety over speed / mileage etc. What is a good brand tyre for that? I do not want to change the size of the tyres.

No, both JK & Accelere are good. Indian make tyres have a life span of 4 years and after that you need to change. I have been using JK Vectra on my Vento TDi and they are absolutely best, I'm not exaggerating. JK are steel belted on the side wall so you have no side wall puncture & deformation which surely is the case with Yokohama C-Drives and Michelin, both of them are too soft.

After 4 years I would change the current tyres on my car to JK only. They are best suited for Indian conditions. During my everyday drive of 30 Km with pothole ridden road of Mumbai, I surely did have side wall damage with Yoko/Michelin.

Keeping 34 psi all round with nitrogen filled.

Originally Posted by rrnsss

3) I absolutely need bright headlights, what is the suggestion here. If you can give me the brand name and wattage of the bulbs I would be very grateful. Again, I want normal yellow coloured lights. Not the white/blue ones (sorry , not sure about the nomenclature )

You could go in with Philips Xtreme Vision 100% 60/55W to be in stock condition. If you upgrade to 100/90W, you would need to have relays installed.

Originally Posted by rrnsss

4) Should I go in for the extended warranty for the additional 11000 Rs.? I think they extend it from 2 yrs to 4 years.

Yes, absolutely. Better safe than sorry with Germans.

Originally Posted by evilshantanu

-------

Sorry to hear about the incident and good to know that nothing happened to you. Shadowfax took the whole beating and looking at the damage, it should be easily repairable.

Originally Posted by evilshantanu

I am sold to VW for life.

Same here. Earlier I too used to swear by Jap/Koreans especially Honda City which we almost finalized but after owning VW Vento TDi, I do not see myself buying anything except German made in India quality cars.

[rrnsss]

Originally Posted by el lobo 6061

rrnsss, congarts on your purchase and you have taken very wise decision of going with Vento TDi instead of Liva. There is no straight comparison between the two, Vento is leagues ahead of Liva.

Thank you all for your kind responses. I too do not travel at more than 120 Kmph most of the time. Technically a LIVA could do that, but there was some thing missing in it. I cannot quite put my finger on it. Like a bride running away at the altar on her wedding day, I backed out after paying 50K advance. Liva is a very good car, but not for me.

I test drove the polo diesel and it was not very good. I felt very very disappointed. It feels as if the accelerator pedal is not connected to the car in which it is present and pressing it seems like asking the car for a favour. The engine seems to have a mind of it's own. It was a bizzare experience.

I asked for the 1.6 Petrol and they said it has a 4 month waiting period. I do not want to wait 4 months.

I just went for the vento eventhough the boot was a big problem for me. I travel with my dog(s) and a station wagon like setup is better. The saving grace is the vinyl leatherette seats which can be wiped clean.BTW, I train dogs and compete in obedience shows which is my hobby and my dogs are my children. That is why the emphasis on the boot issue.


I will not be changing the music system as I do not listen to any music or even radio. I call all my friends one by one and talk to them while I drive, so a bluetooth setup would have been nice. But I can always get a clip on. Any suggestions on a BT clipon would be much appreciated.


I will get the extended warranty. That issue is settled.

I will check out the tyre thread too and come back with questions if any.

Does the Vento have an Air con dust filter? forgot to ask the guy who took the booking.

If I have to say one thing about the Vento that attracted me it is that the car is simple. It appears calm and confident.

My mother used to say that if the "paal payasam" (milk sweet) is good you don't need too many cashewnuts. Only ladies who cannot make a perfect "paal payasam" need too many cashewnuts. Some times I wonder what the car is trying to compensate for when I see all these gizmos and gadgets and displays and screens and tyre pressure indicators and all that

[souravc]

Originally Posted by rrnsss

I just went for the vento eventhough the boot was a big problem for me. I travel with my dog(s) and a station wagon like setup is better. The saving grace is the vinyl leatherette seats which can be wiped clean.BTW, I train dogs and compete in obedience shows which is my hobby and my dogs are my children. That is why the emphasis on the boot issue.

Given this background , I feel that you are buying the wrong vehicle - Ertiga / Duster / Scorpio / Innova , any of these would have been much better choice for the comfort of travelling alongwith your dogs and each of these are good packages and in similar price bracket ( give or take a lakh or two). Vento is a low slung car so if you have tall dogs , it would not be comfy at all for them

Originally Posted by rrnsss

Does the Vento have an Air con dust filter? forgot to ask the guy who took the booking.

Yes it does have that .

[rrnsss]

Originally Posted by souravc

Given this background , I feel that you are buying the wrong vehicle - Ertiga / Duster / Scorpio / Innova , any of these would have been much better choice for the comfort of travelling alongwith your dogs and each of these are good packages and in similar price bracket ( give or take a lakh or two). Vento is a low slung car so if you have tall dogs , it would not be comfy at all for them



Yes it does have that .

I alread have an Innova and a big 4x4. The boot thing is just a nice to have. I have dobermans and they are about 27'' and 40 Kgs. Medium sized dogs. I take my innova when I have to take 3 of them. Otherwise I take my car with just one when I go to my farm. Without a hatch back my rear seats will be dirty. But I have made my peace with the issue.

There are dog hammocks available and I amy invest in one of those.

Solvit Deluxe Sta-Put™ Hammock Seat Cover - Pet Travel Backseat Hammocks - Pet Travel Center