[5kmiles]

Originally Posted by fuel_addict

VW seems to be competing with Honda quite fiercely. Yesterday, I came across a newly opened VW showroom (VW Mumbai West) in Santacruz West bang next to Honda (Arya Honda). Now then, that is called taking the competition to your competitor's doorstep.

Despite products targeted more at Honda's stable, interesting to note that Toyota is responding through mass advertisement for premium quality brand positioning. VW has started exercising its financial muscle in positioning its cars through extensive advertisements. Of course, Toyota hurt their brand quite a bit with Qualis but that's history. And I think that both Honda and Toyota would respond. Let's see the approach they take.

Originally Posted by ajai_dev

G2-3 days and they will have a Vento and Jetta demo car ready for a test drive.:("

Ok went for the test drive and drove both the Vento and the Jetta "Not much interested in Jetta anymore total comes out to be very expensive and out of my budget :("

First of Jetta's test drive was a short one, good car and had a solid feel. The car had good stability in higher speeds "Did not try to go 120kph but around 80kph only"

Jetta has ample space and has enough storage areas to store snacks on a long trip. Totally loved the car but there were a few negatives about it:

Costly repair/spares in future
PS 105 for the diesel
Steering is dead no feedback at all
Not really a pocket rocket
Design is boring

The things i liked:

Design reminds of more expensive VW sedans
No turbo lag
FE was not bad with the test car

Now turn for the Vento test car. I was specially looking forward to it since i knew Jetta was out of my reach. When it was coming down the ramp i saw it front first and thought it was a polo, humm was wrong off course. Took the test drive and was blown away by the rush it offers, i kid you not much better than Jetta. The test car i drove was a highline and it was virtually untouched with plastic wraps everywhere.

The first thing i did was to take in to the highway and then pushed the accelerator as far down as it could go. It took off and reached a speed of 120kph in some seconds. The steering again is dead no feed back at all this car NEEDS proper feedback for a better experience. The car's interiors are quite nice and neat but Jetta has a better feel to its interiors. The back seat is where Vento just goes plain wrong if you put more than 2 persons.

Here are the negatives about the car:

Dead steering no feedback
Lowish grip needs better tires
ACC less effective than hoped in the back seat
The car looks like Polo from most front angles
Huge hump in the back seat floor
Really a 4 persons car to advertise it as a 5 seater is just wrong
Squeaks from the dash when pressed near the center and this in a new car?
The front passenger seat adjuster is a toy that children will play with and eventually break.

Here are the positive points:

Rear seats are roomy if you put only 2 people
Has ample power
ACC for front is great
The car has one hell of a grip even with BS tires
Plastics

Conclusion- Hell of a car for 9.25L its not a bad car at all, but the thing is that i dont think its a proper German car dont get me wrong it feels great but its not a Jetta and you should not expect that kind of refinement. Its plastics are better than Linea or the Cruze thats about it.

Now would i buy the car well no its a 4 seater and does not have that German super car feel that i thought it had. Seemed more like a European car than a German one not that its a bad thing.

My advice is try the car totally before buying it.

[ambivalent_98]

Originally Posted by diptimanraje

Poona - phaltan - Satara - phaltan - kolhapur - phaltan - Poona.

Congrats on the new Vento. I am hooked to this thread awaiting your detailed reports and hopefully lots of pictures. I expect that Phaltan road is not exactly a smooth road to drive on especially after the rains. I think this would be a good test drive ground to test all types of terrain. I hope you also hit NH-4 around Kolhapur. Waiting for your update

[oxyzen]

Originally Posted by ashwinvig

Loved the performance of the diesel engine, very little turbo lag and isn't an issue at all in city traffic. You can feel the massive torque everytime you squeeze the throttle, no need to downshift at all.
I'm still not fully convinced, since I feel the baleno handles better than the vento (upgraded the wheels on the baleno though, the OEM ones were too skinny)

Baleno is an excellent car. One of the best Products from Maruti besides Zen and esteem. Where are these low slung cars now a days. Its not unusual for Baleno to have better handling due to lower CG.
BTW how exactly is Baleno better in handling department? Less body roll, more steering feedback??

As far as I remember baleno does not need any downshift for overtaking. Tap the throttle and you are pinned at the back. Its a much better driver's car than the city. How would you rate it against VentoD.

[jigbarai]

Originally Posted by ajai_dev

Jetta has ample space and has enough storage areas to store snacks on a long trip. Totally loved the car but there were a few negatives about it:

Steering is dead no feedback at all
Not really a pocket rocket

The things i liked:

Design reminds of more expensive VW sedans
No turbo lag
FE was not bad with the test car

Now turn for the Vento test car. Here are the negatives about the car:

Dead steering no feedback
Lowish grip needs better tires
The front passenger seat adjuster is a toy that children will play with and eventually break.

Here are the positive points:

The car has one hell of a grip even with BS tires

Conclusion- Hell of a car for 9.25L its not a bad car at all, but the thing is that i dont think its a proper German car dont get me wrong it feels great but its not a Jetta and you should not expect that kind of refinement. Its plastics are better than Linea or the Cruze thats about it.

Hard to believe the point that you say both of these cars have no steering feedback ! Dead was the word ? Seriously ?
I would assume both of these cars would probably have the BEST steering feedback you can get in the country.

Or did you mean to say the steering was not 'light' enough to your liking.

Also -

Jetta cannot be a pocket rocket. It aint pocket sized !

Tyre grip comment for Vento appears both on strengths and weaknesses ?

'front passenger seat adjuster' aint a child's toy. Its a feature provided. Anything in any car will break if toy'd with carelessly. Door locks, wiper stalks etc included.

[ashwinvig]

Well, the Baleno is a much lighter car weighing in at only 980 Kgs. It is very low slung with a height of only 1390 mm, but the Vento isn't too far away at 1466 mm. In fact I liked the Vento's low stance quite a bit, feels more stable at high speeds. The Baleno has very little body roll while cornering and with the upgraded tyres (I haven't gone too far on the upgrade here, just changed the Lxi size of 165/75 R14 to 185/65 R15s which came on the Vxi) the understeer is much lesser. At low speeds the suspension is quite stiff and you can feel all the little bumps on the road, as you pick up the pace the ride quality improves a lot. With the car fully loaded, it will scrape its bottom on almost every speed breaker and you have to be very careful. However, I felt that the Vento was a step ahead on the ride quality all the way upto 90kmph (couldn't go faster, ran out of road!)

As far as the performance is concerned, yes the Baleno picks up in almost any gear, but switch on the AC and you'd want to downshift everytime you overtake. However, the Vento Diesel's huge torque outstrips the Baleno by a huge margin, just look at the in gear acceleration times - the Baleno does a 40 to 100 kmph in 4th gear in 18.7 secs Vs the Vento's 10.5 shttp://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-drives-initial-ownership-reports/87150-volkswagen-vento-test-drive-review-41.htmlecs. 3rd gear 20 to 80 kmph is 12.9 secs for the Baleno and 9.24 secs for thr Vento Diesel. The Baleno does thrill you though, needing only 1 gear change to get to a 100 kmph.


For me, the primary reason for changing cars is the lack of safety features in the car. You can see the comparison between the cars in the following Euro NCAO crash test videos:
1. 1998 Baleno (this is the same car we got in India)

YouTube - Euro NCAP | Suzuki Baleno | 1998 | Crash test

2. 2009 Polo (I am assuming the Vento should have similiar results for the front impact test, given that the two cars are identical upto the B pillar):

YouTube - Euro NCAP | VW Polo | 2009 | Crash test

In any case, after my test drives of the ANHC and the Vento, I think both these cars outperform the Baleno, at least on the straight line.

[diptimanraje]

Originally Posted by ambivalent_98

Congrats on the new Vento. I am hooked to this thread awaiting your detailed reports and hopefully lots of pictures. I expect that Phaltan road is not exactly a smooth road to drive on especially after the rains. I think this would be a good test drive ground to test all types of terrain. I hope you also hit NH-4 around Kolhapur. Waiting for your update

the road from shirwal to phaltan is horrible because of the construction work. but the vento took it in her stride. I did not feel uncomfortable at all except when she hit a few pot-holes. overall we were very impressed by the way she handles the bad roads.
on the nh4 she is like butter. excellent.
I have completed 1025 kms. today. the average fuel consumption I got is 18.3 km/l. ( tank full to tank full method ). the f.e. figure on the m.I.d. was showing 19.3 km/l.
I did 1025 km. in one tank. I refilled her as soon as the reserve fuel indicator lit up.

[ventoman]

Originally Posted by diptimanraje

the road from shirwal to phaltan is horrible because of the construction work. but the vento took it in her stride. I did not feel uncomfortable at all except when she hit a few pot-holes. overall we were very impressed by the way she handles the bad roads.
on the nh4 she is like butter. excellent.
I have completed 1025 kms. today. the average fuel consumption I got is 18.3 km/l. ( tank full to tank full method ). the f.e. figure on the m.I.d. was showing 19.3 km/l.
I did 1025 km. in one tank. I refilled her as soon as the reserve fuel indicator lit up.

Wow diptimanraje!, great to know that the car is behaving well on bad roads.
Also you have got some amazing FE figures. Are these with or without AC?

Originally Posted by jigbarai

Hard to believe the point that you say both of these cars have no steering feedback !

What i mean by the steering comment is that its super light, lighter than Cruze or Laura this totally kills the feedback from the road.

Cruze is proclaimed as a pocket rocket why cant Jetta also be one given that external size wise both are similar.

The tires used were no good, they not provide enough grip in a wet road but the car itself feels grounded. A change in tires is needed for real grip and better handling.

When children seat in the back they will fiddle with teh "front passenger seat adjuster" and hence it becomes a toy for them. Imagine a child sitting in the front seat and another in the back seat but the back seat child wanted to seat in the front seat so to take revenge he will pull the "front passenger seat adjuster" resulting in seat going forward or backward violently "when in motion"

Anything else you want clarification with i would be happy to oblige.

[ASTRIKX]

Ajai_Dev,
From your Test Drive you seem to be a bit too critical on the vento. I believe that it's partly because you test drove the Jetta before you tried the Vento. You simply cannot compare the two cars. They are cars from totally different segments. You must have driven the Vento with a pre-set mind after the Jetta drive, hence the heavy criticism. Anyways, certain aspects like the hump on the rear seat base and the relative similarity between the Polo from the upfront angle are very true. The car certainly lacks the presence of the 'other' cars in the segment, but then it is very practical on the whole. I would rate the Honda City as the one for the 'Flambouyant' and the Volkswagen Vento for the 'Elegant'. Take a pick based on your lifestyle.

P.S : Ajai, i would like to politely remind you that Germany is definitely part of Europe. (since you suggested the car being more European than German).

Note from the Team-BHP Support Team: Please avoid quoting an entire large post. It inconveniences our small screen & mobile readers.
Thanks.

Originally Posted by ASTRIKX

Ajai_Dev,
From your Test Drive you seem to be a bit too critical on the vento.
P.S : Ajai, i would like to politely remind you that Germany is definitely part of Europe. (since you suggested the car being more European than German).

I know Germany is part of Europe but then again all European cars are not German car's that is why i said it feels like a European car and not a German one.

German cars generally have a different feel to the drive than any other European car. You cant really compare a Jaguar to a Audi or a VW to a Fiat drive wise Germans will often feature similar superiority.

Most of the German car makers are special and are seen in a different light than the other European counter part. This is one of the reasons why Top Gear loves BMW/Porsche and Fifth gear loves Audi/Merc's

The test drive was disappointing not because i drove Jetta first but because its a Polo inside, i mean its a 4 person car well so is Polo and the negatives i mentioned were not big at all. Dead steering is a real one and both Jetta and Vento had light steering's that gave no type of road feedback and the low grip was because of the bad quality OEM tires as i mentioned the car itself had a better grip/feel to it and a change in tires would show that as i said.

Now the part about the Vento not feeling like a proper German car, well i did 120kph and i could feel the vibrations through the pedals and the gear. There is wobble feel in around 120-125kph similar to what i experienced with Cruze but with Vento it does not go away as it did with Cruze and no a real German would not have this.

[rangaraj]

Went to downtown VW yesterday and had a look at the Vento's on display.

Design - it is a little timeless European feel to it - kind of like the Opel's in the early days. The ANHC looks a lot more chick, but the new saw one with the new grill today (the current spruced up version) and it does not look as good as the previous version. They have integrated the boot well.

Finish - Utilitarian and clean. Not classy but does it job. Did not like the way they have raw edges of metal and bad jointing in the boot (below the rear seat headrests). So much for quality conscious manufacturing - i would expect something like that with a TATA, not a german manufacturer who touts it as their USP.

Comfort - Surprised with the rear seat leg space - it is good. I am a 6footer and my tall wife could easily sit with some space to spare. The angle of the ANHC of the rear seats are better, but i would not rush to conclusions of the softness of the seats being equated to comfort. The german seats tend to be stiffer and my current Hyundai Sonata Transform has plush seats, but not necessarily comfortable for very long journeys. I love the drivers seat of the Jetta and wish they had provided a more body hugging/support seats on the Vento. But not complaining. The front seats underthigh support was not something i noticed as my legs never rest completely on the seats as i am tall. The visibility was OK and its good that they dont have those ridiculous quarter glasses such as in the Civic and SX4. The rear view mirror is pathetic - even the fiats of the old days had better ones. The side rear view mirrors looked good. The dash was overall well laid out. I wish cars in India had the horn settings accessible without having to take the hands off the steering - 101 for design in/for India. The storage bin design above the handbrake was pathetic. Every position i tried, i would knock my elbows on it when applying the handbrake. Bad design. With so much of space under the bonnet, i wish they had done something like the IKON for the front passenger seat to increase leg space and not have the glove compartment knock your knees when open. There is a provision for the fifth seat belt, but with the large bump, it will be tough for the fifth passenger - 2 adults and one kid should be fine. The rear vents are a good idea, though they dont have a blower control. The positioning of the doors (the intermediate rest positions) when closing are not good, as i noticed and a few others that with gentle force, it would not lock properly, but needed a second attempt with a little more force to close the doors. Ingress & Egress seemed OK. thought i noticed that the automatic version did not have any storage space for bottle holder and others under the dash as did the manual transmission version. The car would definitely need a rear parking sensor as an extra addon.

Looking forward to a test drive when it becomes available.

[ambivalent_98]

Originally Posted by diptimanraje

the road from shirwal to phaltan is horrible because of the construction work. but the vento took it in her stride. I did not feel uncomfortable at all except when she hit a few pot-holes. overall we were very impressed by the way she handles the bad roads.
on the nh4 she is like butter. excellent.
I have completed 1025 kms. today. the average fuel consumption I got is 18.3 km/l. ( tank full to tank full method ). the f.e. figure on the m.I.d. was showing 19.3 km/l.
I did 1025 km. in one tank. I refilled her as soon as the reserve fuel indicator lit up.

Wow that is amazing. This is a very interesting statistic. If this holds true with all the other owners also then I guess Honda better watch out. Finally "average kitna deti hain" really matters

Originally Posted by ventoman

Wow diptimanraje!, great to know that the car is behaving well on bad roads.
Also you have got some amazing FE figures. Are these with or without AC?

I think these would be without A/c. However even so they are amazing for a spanking new recently delivered car having a 1.6 liter , 105 ps petrol engine. Looks like VW has a winner on their hands. Just imagine once the engine "runs in" (maybe I am missing the terminology) the figures tend to improve and then flatten out. So even if this car manages to touch 20 without A/c for highway conditions it would be a promising proposition for VW.

@diptimanraje - How are the comfort levels especially for long drives ? Also what is the wait time if one were to book in the next maybe 10-15 days ? Is it a long wait like it was for the Polo ?

[ventoman]

Originally Posted by ambivalent_98

I think these would be without A/c. However even so they are amazing for a spanking new recently delivered car having a 1.6 liter , 105 ps petrol engine...
@diptimanraje - How are the comfort levels especially for long drives ? Also what is the wait time if one were to book in the next maybe 10-15 days ? Is it a long wait like it was for the Polo ?

@ambivalent_98 - I think Diptimanraje is owning a Highline Diesel Vento.

If you are to book a Vento anytime now, I am told that it will be delivered around Nov end-Dec (for Petrol) or Jan end-Feb (for Diesel).

[naveen.raju]

Went to the VW Cochin dealer today. Had two petrol variants for TD. Diesel variant will be available from tomorrow.
Delivered it's first Petrol Vento yesterday. More to follow this week. Unfortunately, Diesel deliveries will start only by the end of Sept. They promised that I am in that slot.

Got the official receipt from them. 10.49L in total. That will definitely leave a big hole in my pocket.!