[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by motorhead5

It has to do with the color. They were saying that White and Silver are in demand and will take more time compared to Red and Black.

Have you tried suggesting to them to manufacture more white and silver then*?

It doesn't look as if they are likely to work this one out for themselves!

<-- I want to put a whole line of these, but it isn't allowed.

Come on, VW: show some imagination?



*then give them a nice fat bill for management consultancy!

[architect]

It's interesting to see how the people at Fiat showrooms (when they get time off from selling Tatas) are literally swatting flies (a Hindi expression denoting having nothing to do) while the people at VW and Toyota are having a field day and making people wait for nine months for a car.

Proven quality (Toyota) and perceived-but-yet-to-be-proven-quality (VW) does have its benefits for the manufacturers!

It was the same for the Swift VDi in 2008. VDi : 3-4 months, VDi ABS: pay the booking and forget it!

[imjimmy]

Originally Posted by SPARKled

I just read some where else that the Etios has a waiting list of more than 6-7 months. This makes the 4 month wait for Vento seem almost nothing. Atleast you can test the car and make a decision, but our Toyota crazed junta is ready to wait a really a bland looking car with mediocre specs without even finding out for themselves how well it rides or drives.

I think it's also important to understand that the VW supply chain system is NOT seamless and the dealers actually have no idea on the delivery schedule, especially in the longer term. So a waiting period of anything ABOVE 3 months is just a guesstimate, and a poor one at that.

For instance we booked our Vento Tdi highline (white) in Sept 1st week 2010. At that time we were told of a delivery of Feb '11 for non-white colors, and March '11 for White color. We asked them for an explanation of the waiting time; they said that they just upload the details on the VW website while booking but only get a better idea closer to the delivery date. Every week they have fresh car allotments from VW directly.

FWIW - Our car was manufactured on Nov 28 '10 and delivered on Dec 10th. ( we did follow up every few weeks, and remained firm on the color).

My point: I would take the longer delivery estimates with a grain of salt. The volumes fluctuate, and the delivery starts happening quickly once more cars are allotted to a particular dealer - so just keep following up with dealer.

I suspect VW will actually ramp up production in the next few months, and a 6-9 months waiting period is surely ridiculous. I haven't see anyone who has ACTUALLY had to wait that long for the Vento, despite what the dealers may claim..

[SPARKled]

Originally Posted by imjimmy

I think it's also important to understand that the VW supply chain system is NOT seamless and the dealers actually have no idea on the delivery schedule, especially in the longer term. So a waiting period of anything ABOVE 3 months is just a guesstimate, and a poor one at that.

For instance we booked our Vento Tdi highline (white) in Sept 1st week 2010. At that time we were told of a delivery of Feb '11 for non-white colors, and March '11 for White color. We asked them for an explanation of the waiting time; they said that they just upload the details on the VW website while booking but only get a better idea closer to the delivery date. Every week they have fresh car allotments from VW directly.

FWIW - Our car was manufactured on Nov 28 '10 and delivered on Dec 10th. ( we did follow up every few weeks, and remained firm on the color).

My point: I would take the longer delivery estimates with a grain of salt. The volumes fluctuate, and the delivery starts happening quickly once more cars are allotted to a particular dealer - so just keep following up with dealer.

I suspect VW will actually ramp up production in the next few months, and a 6-9 months waiting period is surely ridiculous. I haven't see anyone who has ACTUALLY had to wait that long for the Vento, despite what the dealers may claim..

Its great news that you got your car much earlier than what was promised. I guess its just 'playing safe' by the dealers, by quoting a much longer waiting time. So all you prospective Vento owners, just keep after the dealer and you will get your car a lot earlier. Now one thing that comes to my mind is that are there some unscrupulous dealers, who are passing away some ones else's car to some one who is ready to pay a premium?

[noopster]

^^ IMHO the "playing safe" aspect, while natural and even understandable on the part of the dealer, is just proof that VW corporate has its supply chain all screwed up. I have to look at it from the dealer's point of view- would he not rather say "wait for 5 months sir!" than "I don't have a clue on earth when your car will be delivered because the copany doesn't tell me!" That's why I think VW has to accept lion's share of the responsibility for this mess.
BTW, don't know about Etios but Toyota did handle the Fortuner booking overdeamand scenario fairly well in comparison. It's also interesting that a sales rep from DSK Toyota is calling me up on a regular basis since I haven't conclusively closed the door on other options to my Vento AT. She is friendly, not pushy at all, gives me tidbits about other happenings, e.g. the Etios launch, and is my ideal of how an SR should be. I had a similar experience with Honda, and notably *not* with Skoda and Chevy (how you can let a potential 17 lac customer *who shows interest* walk away is something I cannot digest!)
I already have a Japanese car, which is why I'm more inclined towards the Europeans this time around. Otherwise this was an easy decision.

[TopSpeeder]

How is VW service in India?. Any Vento owners sent their car for 1st service?. I hope it's not like Skoda.

[Abhinav.Daos]

Originally Posted by TopSpeeder

How is VW service in India?. Any Vento owners sent their car for 1st service?. I hope it's not like Skoda.

The first service is at 1 year or 15k kilometers so no Vento would have had it yet..,

[naveen.raju]

True.. the first service is 15k/1 yr.
So expect min of 6-8 months for the service report for Vento. I just managed to clock 500km in 1 week ;-)

[souravc]

Originally Posted by Abhinav.Daos

The first service is at 1 year or 15k kilometers so no Vento would have had it yet..,

What if the car needs any unscheduled servicing .. accidents, etc ?
with the other comments on the dealer being completely clueless about the delivery schedule .. my experience with Vento booking gives me the same feeling that the dealers are playing safe else buyers continually follow-up with them ( sometimes fairly aggressively!) . They can get away with playing safe because of the tremendous interest in the car so at this point of time they do not mind the 10-15% order loss that may happen due to buyers getting scared by the wait period.

On Etios I am not surprised at the waiting period if the touted booking figure of 12000 cars already clocked up is anything to go by. Its a good package from a trusted name ( in India ) at that price point .. I am reasonably sure that cab firms would be booking it by the dozens , noted similar trend with the Vento petrol trendline too

[selfdrive]

Originally Posted by imjimmy

My point: I would take the longer delivery estimates with a grain of salt. The volumes fluctuate, and the delivery starts happening quickly once more cars are allotted to a particular dealer - so just keep following up with dealer.

I suspect VW will actually ramp up production in the next few months, and a 6-9 months waiting period is surely ridiculous. I haven't see anyone who has ACTUALLY had to wait that long for the Vento, despite what the dealers may claim..

I had bumped into a couple of German VW guys during a flight few weeks ago, and they said the production capacity can actually be expanded as it is not currently at full throttle. They also had the regular complaints about their India counterparts being tardy. I did try to tell them it would be better once the partnership moves to the second gen, cant let out lot down can we?!!
One very interesting aspect they mentioned was that the average Indian car buyer is not ready to pay more for better quality and we compare part prices with local products. Subsequently they were considering to increase localisation of some of their parts. Of course this was in late October, not sure whats going on now...

[anumod]

First Thought after seeing teh car from outside --> By seeing the black colored door handle and ORVM, for 9.7 L on road you are not getting these small things. It is a rip off.

Got into the car

1. No rear power window operation on the driver side.
2. The idling sound of the car is way high than the expectation. But once you rev up the sound is coming down, but still no way to compare Fiesta engine
3. A/C blowers are very noisy and the A/C is not that powerfull.

My friend got this car last week. The issues he ahs been seeing

1. Some times power windows are getting stuck. You need to restart the car to get it worked
2. When you are switching off the exterior lights, some times the parking lights of one side is not egtting switched off. (For me it looks like some bug in the Control unit). But I enver expected these kind of issues from VW

Overall, a big thump down, firstly not at all VFM and secondly by seeing these many small small issues in the beginning itself.

Other owners can you please post if you are facing any of these issues?

[ventoman]

Originally Posted by anumod

1. Some times power windows are getting stuck. You need to restart the car to get it worked
2. When you are switching off the exterior lights, some times the parking lights of one side is not egtting switched off. (For me it looks like some bug in the Control unit). But I enver expected these kind of issues from VW

1 -> I haven't heard or seen this issue before.
2 -> Its a feature. Your friend must have left the indicator engaged on one side. Hence the parking light stays ON that side.

[Thad E Ginathom]

ventoman is quite right about that "feature". I know every VW I ever drove in UK had this same thing. Can't think that I ever bothered to use it though!

This business of coloured door handles has never, to me, seemed to matter. I'm sure it all arose from some marketing guys trying to think of new extras to increase the price. "hey, let's offer coloured handles and RVMs!". I bet some of his colleagues said, "don't be silly, who would pay extra for that?" --- but hey, us suckers did!

[gkrishn]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

This business of coloured door handles has never, to me, seemed to matter. I'm sure it all arose from some marketing guys trying to think of new extras to increase the price. "hey, let's offer coloured handles and RVMs!". I bet some of his colleagues said, "don't be silly, who would pay extra for that?" --- but hey, us suckers did!

I got my handles and other external plastics painted. see that polo thread complaining about "whitening" plastics... mainly to avoid that.

[evilshantanu]

Originally Posted by anumod

First Thought after seeing teh car from outside --> By seeing the black colored door handle and ORVM, for 9.7 L on road you are not getting these small things. It is a rip off.

Overall, a big thump down, firstly not at all VFM and secondly by seeing these many small small issues in the beginning itself.

swift had brake booster issues.
the first lot indica used to eat tyres
Nothing is perfect, they learn and redesign things, I dont think that these are deal breakers

This is too early to jump to a conclusion, also this is the first time I am hearing it, maybe there is some problem in your friend's car...