[m_upreti]

Originally Posted by sunishsamuel

VW seems to be doing good PR these days, the one that appeared in Yesterday's Hindu is good as well, emotionally attached.

My son (all of 3.5 yrs) absolutely loved the audio ad (TOI Mumbai - 20-09-10), despite being unable to understand what it means, he wants the Vento to be bought immediately. A nice physical ad campaign seen after a long long time. If only the deliveries were so planned...the wait time is too long to even think of planning to buy the car at the moment.

[anilkalvani]

Just back from Volkswagen West Showroom, Santacruz West. Saw the Vento in flesh for the first time. Was looking at the showroom car & the main thing i wanted to check out was the ingress & egress which was one of my main concerns. Hence i took Dad along with me. Dad has not been keeping well this year so that was my primary concern & there the Vento passed with flying colours. Secondly, the issue mentioned here by many was the flyweight boot. Well, since i have the Logan, honestly there was no difference in the thickness of the sheet metal hence i found it to be pretty ok. Being a team-bhpian, i knew everything about the car, only thing was that i wanted to test drive the car.

Since we had not planned our visit today, it seemed impossible to get it today. As i was walking out, a guy called, "Anil" & i was like hey, i've seen you somewhere & it turned it to be my schoolmate who worked there! Small world, we meet after 20 years. So immediately he told the saleswoman to arrange for a test drive for me. She took my driver licence, got a photocopy & voila, the driver got the key. Standing out was a Silver Trendline, which was a bit disappointing for me as i wanted to TD the Diesel Highline & get a feel of the car. Anyways, sat in the car & compared to my Logan, the pedal positions were a bit cramped & my left leg was touching the centre console. And yes, that centre armrest was annoying but i did not get the time to adjust its height etc, so i will reserve my comments on it, but it was irritating so i put it up. I started the car & by the time it settled, it was pretty noise insulated inside. I started driving & noticed the first thing, the Electric Power steering. For the city, it will be a breeze driving this car & much easier compared to my Logan. But can't say the same for highway driving. Anyways, started driving & the most noticeable thing here was the vibration in the clutch. Did anyone else notice it here? The clutch was smooth & not hard as my Logan, but the vibration was annoying. I wanted to take the gearbox home, it was so so good. The pick up was A.W.E.S.O.M.E. & gave me that Whoosh feeling, pushed me back, which brought a silly grin on my face. Drove for a km & half as there were many people, with appointments, who were waiting for the TD. So i had to turn back. Again turning was a breeze because of the turning radius as well as the EPS. Parked & exchanged visiting cards & gave my feedback before leaving. Also found out that their service station is in Andheri East where my factory is situated. The downer was the delivery period. 3.5 months.

So now the million rupee question is... When do i give the 75k advance cheque? Or do i consider the Altis Diesel?

[naveen.raju]

Originally Posted by anilkalvani

Just back from Volkswagen West Showroom, Santacruz West. Saw the Vento in flesh for the first time. Was looking at the showroom car & the main thing i wanted to check out was the ingress & egress which was one of my main concerns. Hence i took Dad along with me. Dad has not been keeping well this year so that was my primary concern & there the Vento passed with flying colours. Secondly, the issue mentioned here by many was the flyweight boot. Well, since i have the Logan, honestly there was no difference in the thickness of the sheet metal hence i found it to be pretty ok. Being a team-bhpian, i knew everything about the car, only thing was that i wanted to test drive the car.

Since we had not planned our visit today, it seemed impossible to get it today. As i was walking out, a guy called, "Anil" & i was like hey, i've seen you somewhere & it turned it to be my schoolmate who worked there! Small world, we meet after 20 years. So immediately he told the saleswoman to arrange for a test drive for me. She took my driver licence, got a photocopy & voila, the driver got the key. Standing out was a Silver Trendline, which was a bit disappointing for me as i wanted to TD the Diesel Highline & get a feel of the car. Anyways, sat in the car & compared to my Logan, the pedal positions were a bit cramped & my left leg was touching the centre console. And yes, that centre armrest was annoying but i did not get the time to adjust its height etc, so i will reserve my comments on it, but it was irritating so i put it up. I started the car & by the time it settled, it was pretty noise insulated inside. I started driving & noticed the first thing, the Electric Power steering. For the city, it will be a breeze driving this car & much easier compared to my Logan. But can't say the same for highway driving. Anyways, started driving & the most noticeable thing here was the vibration in the clutch. Did anyone else notice it here? The clutch was smooth & not hard as my Logan, but the vibration was annoying. I wanted to take the gearbox home, it was so so good. The pick up was A.W.E.S.O.M.E. & gave me that Whoosh feeling, pushed me back, which brought a silly grin on my face. Drove for a km & half as there were many people, with appointments, who were waiting for the TD. So i had to turn back. Again turning was a breeze because of the turning radius as well as the EPS. Parked & exchanged visiting cards & gave my feedback before leaving. Also found out that their service station is in Andheri East where my factory is situated. The downer was the delivery period. 3.5 months.

So now the million rupee question is... When do i give the 75k advance cheque? Or do i consider the Altis Diesel?

If you had to choose between the Vento and Diesel Altis, I would definitely recommend Vento. Altis isnt worth 13-14L. Turbo Lag, torque isnt that great and the looks certainly disappoint many. So I would suggest the Vento. Overall, a very good package considering the top end Diesel variant.

You will need to give the advance asap. Sooner the better so that you will stand a chance of getting them shortly. Guess for the new bookings, the expected delivery date is Jan/Feb. I booked mine during the last week of July and expected the delivery during the mid of Sept. Now they say I will get only in Nov last. So you better make a move soon.

Cheers.!

[oxyzen]

Originally Posted by anilkalvani

So now the million rupee question is... When do i give the 75k advance cheque? Or do i consider the Altis Diesel?

If you are not interested in having the 5th passenger Vento is undoubtly my choice both from head and heart.

Vento performs much better than Corolla.
Handling is also superior.
Costs less and so offer more Value.

As a matter of fact I would stay away from Corolla for the engine itself.

[motorhead5]

Originally Posted by naveen.raju

You will need to give the advance asap. Sooner the better so that you will stand a chance of getting them shortly. Guess for the new bookings, the expected delivery date is Jan/Feb. I booked mine during the last week of July and expected the delivery during the mid of Sept. Now they say I will get only in Nov last. So you better make a move soon.Cheers.!

Really?. Blore sales folks told me that I will get the car by early Dec, if I book it now. So its really surprising if you are going to get it in Nov after booking it in July!.

Upto 2 or max 3 months waiting period is kind of acceptable. Any thing above that is real bad!

[MihirC]

I had the oppurtunity to sit in a Vento today and the built quality is very very European.The way you can adjust the front seat from behind is simply awesome. The only grouse I have is that for such a well built car the boot lid was really really flimsy. It was so light that it felt almost ummmm how do i say this.....japanese. Anyone else felt or experienced the same?

Rear space is also good.Couldnt get a test drive at all, not even polo for that matter.

[naveen.raju]

Originally Posted by motorhead5

Really?. Blore sales folks told me that I will get the car by early Dec, if I book it now. So its really surprising if you are going to get it in Nov after booking it in July!.

Upto 2 or max 3 months waiting period is kind of acceptable. Any thing above that is real bad!

Oh that's great news. In cochin city alone (leaving nearby cities), already 130+ Ventos are in the waiting list (which are like booked and confirmed with payments) out of which 90+ is the Diesel variant. Since they never expected such a response from Cochin, they are seriously but able to meet the deadline. I was initially told that by sept last I would be getting my car. Now they say maybe nov last or Dec. In cochin, new bookings will be delivered only in Feb (inside sources from VW).

Kindly confirm this with VW blore cos you cant judge the market situation as of now. If it's 2/3 months then it should be fine. It's worth the wait.

The bad thing - NO FREEBIES

[Ramsagar]

I've been to VW downtown for TD of Vento. Had Driven the Diesel Highline.
I don't want to repeat the same as discussed in earlier post. To cut short

Very Spacious & Comfortable.
Steering is Very very Light (Don't know how it performs during high speeds)
Must say, Brakes are superb(The rear drum is very huge).
Should say best drivers car.

Literally I had to steal this broacher from the Showroom , as they say its the only one available. Sorry for the poor pic. quality, taken from iphone 2G.
This is exclusive for T-BHP. :-)

[fuel_addict]

Originally Posted by anilkalvani

Just back from Volkswagen West Showroom, Santacruz West.

Standing out was a Silver Trendline, which was a bit disappointing for me as i wanted to TD the Diesel Highline & get a feel of the car.

So now the million rupee question is... When do i give the 75k advance cheque? Or do i consider the Altis Diesel?

I have passed by this new showroom several times which is right next to Honda. Happened to see a new Vento with a temp. number out on the road some 100 metres from this showroom.

Cannot understand why they don't offer the top variant for the TD. It makes no sense. When they advertise, they will quote all features of the top variant but its a different story when you want a TD. This is annoying and leaves a poor impression about many features of the car that one cannot experience first-hand.

The Vento TDi is a better buy than the Altis Diesel which is overpriced and underpowered.

[shankar.balan]

my 2 bits:

I sat in the top end Vento - in both front seats and the rear seats too.
The one lasting impression I got was a clear lack of sufficient under-thigh support from the seats.

I do have pretty long legs and this is a bit of a deterrent.

I havent driven the car so Im not qualified to comment on that yet.

But the fit and finish quality levels are very nice indeed in the Vento. The reassuring thunk of the door closing really makes a difference psychologically.

A well engineered German, this - wonder why they forgot under thigh support.

[m_upreti]

This thread has become quiet informative with views coming in from all quarters, I had forwarded the link to this thread to a friend of mine who is not a member of TBHB but planning to buy a Vento. He was very much impressed with both the quality and quantity of information available here.

Despite some initial euphoria, then a dip, my interest in this car has been rekindled again, but I still would like to be a fence sitter for some more time and wait for the valuable inputs from the proud owners here and the feed back which VW gets to iron out the small things which have been missed in the initial launch (better music system, streering controls, dead pedal, reverse sonar, etc. etc.) and probably a middle varient.

[Sahil]

My silver vento a/t has finally arrived at the dealers after much delay from VW. Seems to be the first automatic ksm thane has got as even their TD vehicle has not come.
Hopefully should get the car by this weekend or early next week.

[Latheesh]

Saw a white Vento at Shell gas station on Hosur road. Car looks neat, but lacks the 'oomph' factor. Could not check the interior as I was in a hurry to reach office.

According to me Polo and Vento looks good in White.

[Speed Pujari]

I TDed the Vento 1.6 petrol last weekend. Agree on the braking front but the power did not give that fun. Sorry for an unfair comparison, the small sized palio 1.6 stile gives far better punch as well as handling. I dont know why people are going ga-ga behind Vento (and the overpriced Polo 1.6 for that matter).

The steering/clutch is awefully soft. I am sure it will not give a good level of confidence at higher speed.
I like the car in comfort front, but did not find anything special for a sub 10L car. The car is more like ANHCish. Build quality looks ok but once you open the rear boot you get a Swift dzire type thin and flimsy steel feel.

One of the car in showroom had jammed rear boot lever with the lever popped out.

I sat inside the Jetta and also checked the boot, the hydraulic opening of the boot is same as Linea which is awefully missing in the Vento.

And the driver handrest bug is something which pushed me really back, I mean how VW (read VW India) can be so much careless in design. Even if one pull the handrest up the elbow hits it while changing gear. This bug though look small, but is giving me another 'Fool the Indians' campaigns by the manufacturers.

Sitting inside the car did not give me a sedanish feel. While inside ANHC/Linea you get a big car feel at least.


OT- The attitude problem of VW salemen still exist. I was with a person who was interested in sub 25L car but he has less idea about cars. He know little about Passat pricing. In the showroom he interpreted Phaeton as Passat and showed his willingness to see the car. The salesmen right away excused that the car is locked and they dont have the keys (2 minutes back one fat gold ridden guy checked the car) ....
This was a kind of experience, I mean today if that guy can buy a Passat then tommorow he can afford a Phaeton as well. This has really pushed us back.

We did not react since it would not have made a point and I knew that he is confusing a Phaeton with a Passat.

On a lighter note I told him if at all someday he is planning to get 80L car from VW then drive to the showroom on a scooter wearing pyjamas and throw a cheque right on their face LOL!...

[msd63]

The dealer called me and informed me that I would be getting my Silver Diesel Highline on Sunday. Eagerly waiting.