[Tats07]

I have recently test driven both Rapid Diesel and Vento Diesel. Somehow I found Rapid diesel to be a better drive than the Vento diesel. I would mostly attribute it to the vibration levels in Vento pedals - it felt as if there was a small ball rolling in the clutch under my left foot. Plus Rapid seemed super silent. Only, the gear-shifts didn't feel as smooth as Vento's, though I felt much less vibration on Rapid's gear stick compared to Vento's gear stick.

The Volkswagen sales guys told me that the test car was already 20K kms old, and hence the NVH levels seemed higher. I was not sure how many kms the Rapid test car was driven before I drove it, but question for Vento owners - is it true that NVH levels are much lower in newer cars? I already know that Rapid NVH is lower than Vento from the official forum review, but what I drove seemed two very different cars in terms of smoothness, which they are not supposed to be. Can people who have driven both for good amount of time inform me on the above?

[evilshantanu]

Originally Posted by Tats07

I have recently test driven both Rapid Diesel and Vento Diesel. Somehow I found Rapid diesel to be a better drive than the Vento diesel. I would mostly attribute it to the vibration levels in Vento pedals - it felt as if there was a small ball rolling in the clutch under my left foot. Plus Rapid seemed super silent. Only, the gear-shifts didn't feel as smooth as Vento's, though I felt much less vibration on Rapid's gear stick compared to Vento's gear stick.

The Volkswagen sales guys told me that the test car was already 20K kms old, and hence the NVH levels seemed higher. I was not sure how many kms the Rapid test car was driven before I drove it, but question for Vento owners - is it true that NVH levels are much lower in newer cars? I already know that Rapid NVH is lower than Vento from the official forum review, but what I drove seemed two very different cars in terms of smoothness, which they are not supposed to be. Can people who have driven both for good amount of time inform me on the above?

Seems odd, as the Rapid and Vento are exactly on the same platform. The engine and gearbox also the same. The spare parts also the same. Both come from similar production lines. The only difference being the front grill

I am sure this difference was felt due to the test drive vehicle. The vento available for TD must have been much more abused as compared to Rapid, which was relatively new. Personally I prefer the Vento's grill over Rapid. Additionally it gives you a little premium feeling as well...

[Tats07]

Originally Posted by evilshantanu

Seems odd, as the Rapid and Vento are exactly on the same platform. The engine and gearbox also the same. The spare parts also the same. Both come from similar production lines. The only difference being the front grill

I am sure this difference was felt due to the test drive vehicle. The vento available for TD must have been much more abused as compared to Rapid, which was relatively new. Personally I prefer the Vento's grill over Rapid. Additionally it gives you a little premium feeling as well...

Thanks. I also forgot to mention that the turbo lag in Vento seemed to be little higher than in Rapid. But you must be correct - it would be the abuse that the test Vento was subjected to for 20k+ Kms. I was just wondering if Skoda/VW has taken some lessons from Vento feedback, and may be tuned the car for little more refinement.

[evilshantanu]

Originally Posted by Tats07

Thanks. I also forgot to mention that the turbo lag in Vento seemed to be little higher than in Rapid. But you must be correct - it would be the abuse that the test Vento was subjected to for 20k+ Kms. I was just wondering if Skoda/VW has taken some lessons from Vento feedback, and may be tuned the car for little more refinement.

The engine has definitely gone through a lot of refinement since the first Vento came out. But again, the Vento and Rapid are on the same page.

So did you decide on which car to buy?

[Tats07]

Originally Posted by evilshantanu

The engine has definitely gone through a lot of refinement since the first Vento came out. But again, the Vento and Rapid are on the same page.

So did you decide on which car to buy?

:-)

Am on a test drive mode now. Have done Verna, Vento and Rapid diesel. Waiting for Polo 1.2 TSI, New Fiat Linea T-Jet. I'm more of a petrol person, but was impressed by the ride and handling of the VW/Skoda cars, and the diesel punch past 1800 RPM. Decision is still some way off. I have not driven a Linea T-Jet though.

I wish there were more 'good engined' choices in the C2 petrol segment sedans other than Linea T-jet and Honda City. I would've liked a Vento/Rapid 1.2 TSI had they launched one.

[coolboy007]

Originally Posted by Tats07

Thanks. I also forgot to mention that the turbo lag in Vento seemed to be little higher than in Rapid. But you must be correct - it would be the abuse that the test Vento was subjected to for 20k+ Kms. I was just wondering if Skoda/VW has taken some lessons from Vento feedback, and may be tuned the car for little more refinement.

If you read my ownership thread, i own the refreshed Vento as i bought it in July 2012 and my close friend bought a Rapid in March 2012. We meet regularly and get to drive each other's car so many times, even on long highways and ghat sections.

We both concluded that noise and vibration levels were same in both the cars, the clutch pulsations are present in both cars. The difference is in the suspension setup where Rapid is on the stiffer side and VW have tuned Vento to be on a little softer side, hard to make out unless you drive fast over a undulating road where Rapid behaves better.

Many changes have been done to the refreshed Vento, clutch hose change, engine and geabox mount changes etc, try having a TD of the new Vento with some other dealer.

[Tats07]

Originally Posted by coolboy007

If you read my ownership thread, i own the refreshed Vento as i bought it in July 2012 and my close friend bought a Rapid in March 2012. We meet regularly and get to drive each other's car so many times, even on long highways and ghat sections.

We both concluded that noise and vibration levels were same in both the cars, the clutch pulsations are present in both cars. The difference is in the suspension setup where Rapid is on the stiffer side and VW have tuned Vento to be on a little softer side, hard to make out unless you drive fast over a undulating road where Rapid behaves better.

Many changes have been done to the refreshed Vento, clutch hose change, engine and geabox mount changes etc, try having a TD of the new Vento with some other dealer.

Well thanks for this information. Which implies that I have to TD a 2013 Vento to get the exact feel. Surely the 20K+ Km car was from early 2012 or so, and the refreshed Vento had not come out yet.

[srishiva]

Got the engine mounts changed and I don't get the shudder when you switch off the engine. Although VW service is changing the mounts, its been selective in doing it. They kept insisting that its fine and I had to force them to do it.

[nawabnabeel]

Met with an accident last night when i was making a u-turn a biker suddenly came from behind and wanted to go past my car from the front side. His leg guard hit my vento's bumper on the right side and he fell down. I had given turn indicator when he was far away but i dont know why he made this mistake of going past me from the front instead from behind btw when he hit me i had already crossed the line dividing the roads halfway.





Few brackets of my bumper broke and 2 brackets of my headlight also broke.

So today i went to the vw asc at nerul to get it repaired. Their mechanic fixed the bumper back to its position and even without the few missing brackets its sturdy as before and the headlamp brackets were currently not available so i'll get it fixed at my 30 k service which is 1.5k kms away. They didnt charge me even a single penny not even labour charge. I must say the quality of vw parts is top notch. The impact of the accident did not cause any dent on my bumper.
Btw saw a team-bhp member's car there getting serviced. A black vento no.6061. With a got bhp? Sticker at the front bumper.

While coming back thought of spending some money on the car as all the services by vw were free so took it to a 3m car care centre at seawoods. Gave the car for a wash. They cleaned the interiors by vaccuming and wiping and polished the dashboard. Washed all the mats, between the doors, the trunk, the engine bay, even gave an underbody wash. Washed the car with foam, dressed the tyres and the engine bay. All this for 438rs only incl of taxes. I give them a 5* rating.








This is my car after tge was but after driving 40kms from the 3m centre.





Also i ordered a polco car cover for 1467rs. Online. The mrp was 1650.









Sorry the photo of the damaged car did not upload properly so have to post again back to back

[thoma]

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

P.s. Is this a buying-TD process or just a random TD?

Originally Posted by noopster

the problem with defending a car you have purchased is that you sometimes get accused of being a fanboi

Originally Posted by vb-san

Of the two, overall as a package I really liked the Vento, except for the clutch behavior.

So guys, the beast is home and the ownership review waiting to be moved out from the Assembly Line. It is a TDi CL. In the meantime, can someone help me with some queries?

1) The door rubber squeaks rubbing with the metal panel (I guess; could not investigate further) when going over bad road or even when we take a bump at an angle. Searched for some solutions, but don't we have an official solution from VW yet?

2) A single drop of water fell on my hand seeping in through the door rubber under heavy rainfall. Should I get anything changed?

3) What are my options in upgrading the headlamp bulbs without any additional relay and which can be done by the service center? How about re-aiming for a wider throw? It seems focused more than necessary to a point. I do not want the whiter light too.

4) Does the auto-lock and auto-unlock not feature on the Comfortline? Do we have any Comfortline TDi owners here?

5) Did the Comfortline come with the RCD220 kit with USB and aux supports earlier? I'm not abreast with the RCD series discussed on this thread. And the climatronic A/C?

[motorworks]

Originally Posted by thoma

1) The door rubber squeaks rubbing with the metal panel (I guess; could not investigate further) when going over bad road or even when we take a bump at an angle. Searched for some solutions, but don't we have an official solution from VW yet?

Okay I dont have the vento, but a Rapid TDI and I keep checking on the vento thread for issues and solutions since the list of vento owners and the responses in this thread are just way bigger than the rapid ownership thread.
I could relate to your point with regard to rubber squeaks. I had experienced this after 8 months of buying the car and then it just stopped or became negligible. Now I got my car serviced {1st free service} and strangely its back again. I read somewhere in Tbhp where someone mentioned that one of the service centers {VW or Skoda} did a anti rust spray to reduce this noise. I'm not sure if this is the right solution though.

[ninjatalli]

Originally Posted by motorworks

I read somewhere in Tbhp where someone mentioned that one of the service centers {VW or Skoda} did a anti rust spray to reduce this noise. I'm not sure if this is the right solution though.

The service center (temporarily) rectify this issue by applying some spray; this is not done for free at all VW workshops. They charged me around 200Rs for this - the spray has nullified the squeaks (till date). But I do get to hear a squeak or two on extremely bad roads.

Also a few users on the forum had come up with a working solution - there was a spray (WD something) that is available in the market which works well in resolving this issue. Can't recollect who mentioned it, or what was the exact name of the product.

Originally Posted by thoma

So guys, the beast is home and the ownership review waiting to be moved out from the Assembly Line. It is a TDi CL. In the meantime, can someone help me with some queries?

Need to run, so a quick reply - the squeaks coming so early is not a good sign. I'd suggest to get it checked at the showroom, especially considering the rain-drop aspect.

And congratulations!

Originally Posted by nawabnabeel

Btw saw a team-bhp member's car there getting serviced. A black vento no.6061. With a got bhp? Sticker at the front bumper.

User @el lobo 6061
Send him a PM, he's always on the lookout for Vento bhpians in Mumbai.

[nawabnabeel]

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

User @el lobo 6061
Send him a PM, he's always on the lookout for Vento bhpians in Mumbai.

Thanks for the information

[newtonMeter]

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

Also a few users on the forum had come up with a working solution - there was a spray (WD something) that is available in the market which works well in resolving this issue. Can't recollect who mentioned it, or what was the exact name of the product.

The product is WD40. It's available also online on eBay. It has to be applied on the inner door runner lining. ( the one one the body and not on the door)

[Frontosa]

Originally Posted by newtonMeter

The product is WD40. It's available also online on eBay. It has to be applied on the inner door runner lining. ( the one one the body and not on the door)

No need to buy online eaxh and every hardware store stocks it