[srishiva]

One cannot compare the boot of a hatch to that of a sedan. The hatch one is built heavier and the sedan's one is always lighter.

[EARTHed]

After test driving Vento Petrol two times, today I drove the diesel. All in all, the best part is only the engine. After lot of confusion, I finally booked the City V.

Anyways, I was happy with the VW showroom service for test drives. Hope their after sales too will be up to mark.

All the best fellow Vento owners.

[khoj]

OK, so the single lever of the vento must be dual action. When locked the first pull on the lever would unlock and on a second pull the door latch will open. I think the Fiesta too has a similar design.

Originally Posted by motorhead5

My point is slightly different from both auto lock and child lock. Kids have this habit of pulling the door open lid (along with other car controls) and that can happen while in motion as well. In most of other cars, it doesn't matter as the door wouldn't open unless the door is unlocked first. But in vento, since there is no unlock button, the door would open. Correct me if I got this wrong.

Auto lock - Yes, I will miss that. But guess will get used to that in some time.

[Ricky_63]

Originally Posted by motorhead5

My point is slightly different from both auto lock and child lock. Kids have this habit of pulling the door open lid (along with other car controls) and that can happen while in motion as well. In most of other cars, it doesn't matter as the door wouldn't open unless the door is unlocked first. But in vento, since there is no unlock button, the door would open. Correct me if I got this wrong.

Auto lock - Yes, I will miss that. But guess will get used to that in some time.

In German cars that I have I can tell for sure. Merc / Audi / Skoda Octy. One pull for un-locking, second pull for opening the door. Unless ofcourse the central locking is unlocked from the driver's seat. Then one pull would open the door.

Hope that helps. Relax German cars are intrinsically built safe



Cheers

[motorhead5]

Originally Posted by nowwhat?

I take my words back about the rear seat comfort. After further deliberation I came to the realization that I feel claustrophobic in all sedans for some unexplainable reason.

Probably because sedans tend to curve down after the B pillar compared most to hatches. Rear visibility too might be a factor.

As someone else said, the boot closes with a *klang* instead of a *thud* unlike the rest of the Vento. That really says it all. The boot is flyweight and feels incongruous in build quality to the rest of the car.

Guess what. I ended up at the showroom again today and had a good look, esp boot. Guess I agree with you to a good extend. They should have done better with the wire inside and the finish and quality of the metal support inside. The one in Polo and Jetta were much better. Anyways, can live with it.

Took a diesel HL to highway today. Impressive performance. Didn't feel much lag. Reached 110km/hr quickly and she was stable. Steering was too light for that speed. I was not happy with that light vibration on clutch. Will that increase with time?

Will be easy to drive in city because of low end torque and light steering. Was quite comfortable changing lanes and with u-turns.

Originally Posted by EARTHed

After test driving Vento Petrol two times, today I drove the diesel. All in all, the best part is only the engine. After lot of confusion, I finally booked the City V.

Congrats dude. Which colour did you go for?. At least you don't have to wait 3 months

[dkariro]

Originally Posted by Ricky_63

In German cars that I have I can tell for sure. Merc / Audi / Skoda Octy. One pull for un-locking, second pull for opening the door. Unless ofcourse the central locking is unlocked from the driver's seat. Then one pull would open the door.

Hope that helps. Relax German cars are intrinsically built safe



Cheers

Yes it is an issue with european cars. It is the same locking system in Fiats, Fords, VWs.
A locked door will open in one pull only from inside. there is no double lever action. Well Car safety norms recommend children to be seated (with seat belts on) on the rear seat and that is why child lock is given on rear doors on all cars.

[ventoman]

Originally Posted by msd63

Test drove the diesel highline today after having booked the car in July itself. The sales person had asked me to pay the balance amount and the car should get delivered a few days after the payment is realised

Wow. Congratulations msd63.
IIRC, you also booked your vento at VW Palace cross right?
Strangely, I haven't got any such directives from them (My booking was around 15th July).
Please update us on the progress with your booking.

[motorhead5]

Thanks Ricky and Khoj. But unfortunately in Vento, there was no dual action. It was opening with a single pull irrespective of whether the car was center locked or not:(

Originally Posted by dkariro

Yes it is an issue with european cars. It is the same locking system in Fiats, Fords, VWs.
A locked door will open in one pull only from inside. there is no double lever action. Well Car safety norms recommend children to be seated (with seat belts on) on the rear seat and that is why child lock is given on rear doors on all cars.

You are right. but unfortunately, kids here will be running around inside the car.

And, whats your take on the vibration in clutch pedal in diesel ?. Should that be a concern?. Will it increase with time?. What is the reason for that?

[GTO]

Originally Posted by SPARKled

Also I dont remember any Honda or a Toyota customer waiting 3 months to get a newly launched car or I may be wrong here.

You couldn't be any more wrong. For one, the Fortuner still has a 3 - 6 month waiting list, a year after launch as does the Altis D-4D. The Honda City, during its initial months, also had a 3 month waiting in some cities. Though I'm a hard core fan of Toyota, lets not harp unnecessarily.

Lets get one thing straight here : ANY popular car will have some amount of backlog. NO manufacturer will keep an inventory of 20,000 cars just so that initial customers don't have to wait for delivery. It's too time consuming, a logistical nightmare and honestly, a headache.

Originally Posted by nowwhat?

The Vento feels like a poorer cousin to the Polo.

A car that has substantially more interior space, one more engine cylinder (diesel), far superior performance and better equipment feels like a poorer cousin? Simply because the boot feels lighter than the hatch (which it will with any model) or you don't like the interior shade? Sorry, I don't buy that.

The Vento is a better player in its segment than the Polo. While the Vento either matches or beats the segment benchmarks in nearly all areas, including price, the Polo is actually the car with compromises. Even at a premium price, you have one cylinder less (thus, poorer refinement), way lesser interior space than all competitors and missing equipment. The 1.6 is a showroom trophy, my comments are toward the 1.2s which make for 85% of the Polo's sales.

Bottomline : The Vento is a superior C segment sedan, than the Polo is a B segment hatchback.

Originally Posted by lonecrusader

I sense that the vento petrol HL may go the verna way, wherein, the diesel just outshines the petrol sibling so dominantly that the petrol variant becomes just a portfolio filler. Volkswagen did try their bit at keeping interest in the petrol variant by only releasing the AT in petrol. But if the diesel variant is as good as reviews and test drives suggest, then vento petrol is a losing proposition.

True. The Petrol doesn't bring anything outstanding to the segment.

Originally Posted by Palio_2005

The biggest irritant was the driver's armrest. 1) It kept hitting my arm while changing the gears (even when I put it at upright position) and also interfered in the handbrake operation. 2) It's impossible to use the handbrake with the armrest at the lowermost position.

I wonder how could VW not notice this. Is it possible to remove the arm rest?

You can say that again. The lousy armrest implementation makes it seem like an after-thought. Complete disaster when it comes to ergonomics.

[BuRnT RuBbEr]

the million dollar Q: should i buy a linea mjd e+ via csd or a vento tdi highline ? price margin is easily 200 grand! any comment, GTO?

[Rachit.K.Dogra]

Very Nicely Written Test Review their GTO.

I am somehow in love with this Car. I am also considering buying it although in sometime probably.

I have to admit that I read each and every piece of information available on this car including road tests from all the magazines. Your write up was the most detailed and exhaustive test which covered all the aspects.

Thank You for the nice work.

Regards

[mailmaldi]

sadly VW only need one pull from inside to open the fronts door even if the central locking is on. (This setup is different from Ford where single lever has 2 stages of opening.)

I like the idea of VW rear seat where if child safety lock is on then it can only be open from outside if unlocked else wont open at all from any side but thing is that in india children has nasty habit to sit on front seat and they never stop playing.

[mailmaldi]

With in all diesel sedan in this rannge, Vento Highline diesel is costing approx 10.3 in New Delhi OTR. If someone can streach their budget by 2-3L then he can get Cruze LT Model.

I am not asking to compare Vento and Cruze because they both belongs to diff segment but considering an average indian buyer prospect in mind do you guys think that 3L additional spent on Cruze are really really worth it ?

if there are pros and cons of both side then please also mention

[khoj]

Originally Posted by mailmaldi

sadly VW only need one pull from inside to open the fronts door even if the central locking is on. (This setup is different from Ford where single lever has 2 stages of opening.)

In my Cedia, only the drivers door opens with a single pull from locked position. Initially you have to pull real hard to take the lever to 'Unlock' position and then continue to pull but with reduced force to 'open'.

Originally Posted by mailmaldi

I like the idea of VW rear seat where if child safety lock is on then it can only be open from outside if unlocked else wont open at all from any side but thing is that in india children has nasty habit to sit on front seat and they never stop playing.

This feature is common to all car manufacturers who offer child safe locks.

The second part of the quote is so very true and though it is easier said than done but we should not allow children in the front seat. I have unfortunately seen from close quarters how damaging it is for children in front seats to be involved in mishaps and not very big ones at that. More damaging is an infant in an adults lap on the front seat. A friend lost his infant son when the baby was crushed by the mothers body during an emergency braking situation at in city speeds.

The scenario of a crying child is only temporarily frustrating. the trauma of an injured child and that of the parents to see their child like that are far more severe, let me not go further. Recommend that you install ICE with screens viewable only from the back seat and put on the child's favourite cartoon/movie to lure them to the back seat every single time you drive with them onboard. Wish you all safe driving.

[nowwhat?]

Originally Posted by GTO

A car that has substantially more interior space, one more engine cylinder (diesel), far superior performance and better equipment feels like a poorer cousin? Simply because the boot feels lighter than the hatch (which it will with any model) or you don't like the interior shade? Sorry, I don't buy that.

The Vento is a better player in its segment than the Polo. While the Vento either matches or beats the segment benchmarks in nearly all areas, including price, the Polo is actually the car with compromises. Even at a premium price, you have one cylinder less (thus, poorer refinement), way lesser interior space than all competitors and missing equipment. The 1.6 is a showroom trophy, my comments are toward the 1.2s which make for 85% of the Polo's sales.

Bottomline : The Vento is a superior C segment sedan, than the Polo is a B segment hatchback.

GTO, just to make matters clear I still am VERY interested in the Vento Diesel Highline. If I haven't booked it yet, it probably has to do with me being unable to justify the need for one more car to myself.

I highlighted 4 points: brey, rotary switch, flimsy boot and boot release. I guess I am a finicky person. I waited for quite a long time because I couldn't stand the yellow faux wood trim on the Innova. So do I believe I am nitpicking? Yes, I do.

Do I think the Vento Diesel engine is a gem? I do, too!

Never mind the brey, I guess its a personal choice. But I do wish the other 3 items are bolstered soon because I do love this car.