[souravc]

This is a thread to discuss various features and quirks that quite a few BHP-ians who own Ventos have discovered as they drive their cars. Would be helpful if we keep discussions related to other issues (like dealership, etc) limited to the relevant threads elsewhere that already exist on the forum . Special thanks to Nileshch, Noopster, Bala80, Oxyzen and others for their contributions which have gone towards making this post



IGNITION

• Slotting the key in the ignition is a little difficult when the steering lock is engaged, one has to turn the steering wheel with effort to slot in the key - Annoying

• If the cranking fails , one has to go back to switch off position and redo rather than from the intermediary position (true of TDi) – annoying in traffic

DOOR LOCK

• Auto Lock feature – HL and AT Ventos have the speed linked auto lock feature. The doors auto lock when the car crosses 15 kmph ( This can be enabled at the workshop if not already done at the time of delivery ). Got a confirmation that the doors can unlock automatically on removal of car keys from ignition too

• Doors always “unlocked” from the inside – Unless child lock is enabled (applicable for rear doors) the doors stay unlocked from the inside. As VW says this is a safety feature allowing faster exit from the car in case of accidents. The locks, including child lock, unlock automatically on impact in case of accidents to enable rescue from outside

• Remote Locking – Can be done either silently or with the horn honking. Visit to the workshop is required to change it from one to the other.

• Locks with Memory – If one tries to lock the doors (manually or through remote) when one of the 4 doors are opened , the lock does not get engaged however the car does remember the instruction so that once the open door is shut the lock gets engaged without any further press of the manual / remote button – the confirmation of the same is through either the glowing of the “lock engaged” button on the driver’s side or through short bursts of the indicator lamps . I am quoting Noop’s practical example which would help illustrate this in a beautiful way – “Say you need to get shopping out of the back seat and have your hands full to lock the car. What do you do? Simple. Lock the car BEFORE you close that last door (it will lock with a click, not the horn-honk) and then collect your stuff and kick the door closed. It will give you the "locked" horn-honk/blink blink signal! I love this feature since my daughter sometimes dozes off in the back on longer trips and I can just pick her up in my arms and lock the door this way! “

• Boot lock/unlock – The boot can be independently opened using the remote while all the other doors are locked – no need to unlock the car for opening the boot. Unlocking the boot activates the boot light which glows for a certain time duration only (around 15 min I think) beyond which the boot has to be opened and closed again

• Motion Sensor – Prevents someone from locking his/her kid(s) inside the car . It also would sound out an alarm if anyone tries to cut the car window to steal stuff , pretty effective !

REMOTE LOCK

• Windows can be rolled up/down from a distance – Press the “lock’ button and hold it down to roll up the windows from a distance. Press the “unlock” button and hold it down to roll down the windows. Useful if you have parked the car in a hot place and would want to allow the hot air to get out of the car as you walk towards it or if you get caught in a sudden shower and would like to roll up the windows

Lights (Headlight / Parking / Indicator / Cabin Lights)

• All lights (including cabin lights) except parking lights gets switched off when locks are armed using the remote lock, great relief for those souls who have blown up a few batteries through their forgetfulness. I believe that the parking lights also turn off after a while though I haven’t been able to check that.

• If you pull out the key from the ignition key hole with the lights on , there is an audible warning beep.

• If one switches off the car’s ignition with the indicator lights on (i.e. the indicator stalk is engaged to show that one is taking a turn) and arms the remote lock, the parking lights would remain on.

AC

• The blower switch needs to be turned a few twitches more for the AC to be power off .

• The AC starts with a noticeable lag which allows sufficient time for the driver to crank the engine and only then is the AC switched on. This is a very useful feature as it ensures that the AC does not drain battery power and gets switched on only after the engine is running. Of course this can be manually overridden if anyone so wishes .

• The car remembers the last AC settings prior to switching off and starts off with exactly the same settings when the car starts.

MID

• MID2 does not reset unless the MID2 is held down for a few seconds. Alongwith with MID 1, which resets on inactivity of 2 hours , this option adds a few possibilities

• Time of travel – It measures the time the engine has been on and does not count any time it would have been switched off ( Mumbai-Goa journey – if you stop for an hour to take lunch, the MID would discount it and the same would get built into avg speed, etc)

• Top right corner displays the recommended gear for the speed , this pretty much optimises FE if followed prudently - true of manual too

WIPER

• 7 speed - The 7 levels are single wipe, Low (4 speeds), Medium & High . Very useful speed levels for tackling the monsoons especially the 4 low speed graded options when in erratic weather

HANDBRAKE

• There is a clear audible beep if the handbrake is not cleanly dis-engaged and one starts moving the car – Useful feature as most handbrakes have some play in the last 1-2 inch

SPARE WHEEL

• The spare wheel is kept upside down - so if one has to check the pressure the entire unit has to be taken out which is silly

POWER WINDOWS

• The power windows (all 4) continue to operate till anyone opens any of the doors:
  • A. even after one switches off the ignition.
  • B. even after one removes the key from the ignition slot.

AT Features/Quirks – (applicable for the automatic only)

• Displays the exact gear you are in at every point of time. In the Vento one can see either D1,D2,D3...D6; or S1,S2...S5 (in sport mode); or 1,2,3...6 (in manual mode). This is an excellent feature.

• One can start (crank) the car only in P or N. If gear lever is in D,R or S and one tries to start the car, it will refuse to crank.

• One can turn the engine off in any gear. The keys only come out of the ignition, however, when the gear lever is at P position.

• The AT box adjusts to one’s driving style. During normal soft-footed driving style, the gears shift at approx 2000 rpm (in D) and 3000 rpm (in S). As per noopsters observation with pedal to the floor in S-mode, it upshifts very close to the redline (around 5500 rpm).

• In manual (tiptronic) mode, there is a clear lag between choosing the gear and it being engaging.

• If one has tried to remove the keys (unsuccessfully) from the ignition when the car is in say N (feature #3 above), merely shifting to P doesn't work. One has to go to the extreme right (pre-crank) position and then back extreme left to get the keys out. Vento makes you pay for falling out of line

• If one applies light pressure on the brake pedal, shifting from D to N gives a noticeable jerk (feels like a sudden release of pressure). The solution is to maintain slightly harder pressure than required when at rest in D.

Look forward to further addition or clarification to this list from the growing Vento owners on this forum .

Note to Mods - Hope i have opened the thread in the right section. Please feel free to shift it if you think otherwise .

[bala80]

Dear Souravc - Thank you very much for compiling this thread and taking the lead here. Many existing vento owners and prospective owners are going to be benefitted immensely from this. Great job, hats off for your initiative.

I will make every effort to keep this updated as we discover more features/issues with our respective cars.

I want to add one comment here regarding the ACC -

It definitely has a lag before it turns on - I have noticed it doesnt turn on at all (blower) during a cold start overnight, whereas the blower alone turns on if it is a restart during the middle of the day( frequent start/stops). Once the engine is running, the compressor turns on - Brilliant, I would say! - I have stopped switching off the A/C before switching off the engine now-a-days. I was amazed at this inbuilt intelligence of the ECU, try it and let me know what you think.

We can also add the working of power windows after the engine switched off/key removed from ignition from this list - which is again time-based.

Once again, thank you for your effort souravc.

Originally Posted by souravc

This is a thread to discuss various features and quirks that quite a few BHP-ians who own Ventos have discovered as they drive their cars. AC

• The blower switch needs to be turned a few twitches more for the AC to be power off .

• The AC starts with a noticeable lag which allows sufficient time for the driver to crank the engine and only then is the AC switched on. This is a very useful feature as it ensures that the AC does not drain battery power and gets switched on only after the engine is running. Of course this can be manually overridden if anyone so wishes .

• The car remembers the last AC settings prior to switching off and starts off with exactly the same settings when the car starts.

[noopster]

Fab thread- shall keep a close eye on it.

I think it was nileshch (or bala80?) who pointed out that the AC knob is two-action in response to my complaint that you should be able to press it on/off like the ICE volume knob. How it works is: when the AC is on, turn the knob to the left till lowest position (all the bars vanish). Now pause for a moment (very important) and then twist it left one more time. The AC will shut off (i.e. display screen will go blank in daytime or jus plain blue in nighttime).

[miharbe]

Sourav - Our discussion today was enlightening and this thread even more so! This is an excellent compilation to say the least. I didnt know most of the Door Locking features. Will definitely experiment with them in the coming days.

Thanks once again will try to update if i discover anything new (though i seriously doubt it)

[souravc]

Originally Posted by bala80

Dear Souravc - Thank you very much for compiling this thread and taking the lead here. Many existing vento owners and prospective owners are going to be benefitted immensely from this. Great job, hats off for your initiative.

I will make every effort to keep this updated as we discover more features/issues with our respective cars.

I want to add one comment here regarding the ACC -

It definitely has a lag before it turns on - I have noticed it doesnt turn on at all (blower) during a cold start overnight, whereas the blower alone turns on if it is a restart during the middle of the day( frequent start/stops). Once the engine is running, the compressor turns on - Brilliant, I would say! - I have stopped switching off the A/C before switching off the engine now-a-days. I was amazed at this inbuilt intelligence of the ECU, try it and let me know what you think.

We can also add the working of power windows after the engine switched off/key removed from ignition from this list - which is again time-based.

Once again, thank you for your effort souravc.

Bala your questions lead to a few of the features being brought to light , thanks for your support . I agree with you that the ACC feature is indeed awesome - the tuned approach according to state of the engine ( cold/ warmed) would be just another small yet significant touch of brilliance .

Originally Posted by noopster

Fab thread- shall keep a close eye on it.

I think it was nileshch (or bala80?) who pointed out that the AC knob is two-action in response to my complaint that you should be able to press it on/off like the ICE volume knob. How it works is: when the AC is on, turn the knob to the left till lowest position (all the bars vanish). Now pause for a moment (very important) and then twist it left one more time. The AC will shut off (i.e. display screen will go blank in daytime or jus plain blue in nighttime).

Noops , the thread would not have been possible without your significant contribution . On the AC knob , I agree that the pause is important for the power off mode of AC . This would make a diff if the ACC is in ventilation mode rather than circulation as the thermostat cut-off would be on if the AC was still on though the blower was off.

Originally Posted by miharbe

Sourav - Our discussion today was enlightening and this thread even more so! This is an excellent compilation to say the least. I didnt know most of the Door Locking features. Will definitely experiment with them in the coming days.

Thanks once again will try to update if i discover anything new (though i seriously doubt it)

Ebrahim , it was a pleasure meeting you and discussing with you so many stuff . As I mentioned the forum would greatly benefit from your experience with your car and the major repairs that you had done to get back your car in shape after the major accident. Please do start your ownership thread asap and include your details of the repair work . It would be a learning experience for all of us here .

[julupani]

I believe almost all of the features mentioned above would be present in almost all of the present generation cars, in some form or other. The only features which seem to be on the Vento and not on the others are the internal motion sensor and optimal gear indicator.

[naveen.raju]

I see many have missed pointing out this feature. Guess it's a feature that makes the "better half" happy (atleast in my case).

Set the speed to your desired limit and once it's crossed it beeps. A speed limiter kind of thing. This way one can limit the cars speed. Pretty useful feature although it can easily be tampered.

Problems

Turbo - As mentioned already, I have been facing some problems with the turbo. Going good for the last few days. Waiting for a few days to see if it happens again.

Remote Key - Looks good but not very much practical. Have to press the buttons really hard to activate the functions. Also, the key has to be pointed towards the car for it to work. My Swift remote works brilliantly.

Noise and Smoke - The engine noise is a bit loud when compared to Swift. Also noticed there is a large discharge of smoke when the turbo kicks in.

Getting in and out - Am 5'11" and I find it a bit difficult to get in. I bang my head at times.

ORVM - A special note to guys who drive in really congested roads. A taxi guy recently banged his ORVM onto mine when going at 30kmph. Since the Vento's ORVM is rigid and doesnt move easily, the cover came off. I was able to fix it back. But since it's really rigid and not city friendly, it can cause real problems. Expecting the set to be around 6k+. A real problem for me as I have changed 6 mirrors of my Swift in 2 years.

Visibility - Although pointed earlier, thought I would repeat it since this thread is really going to be useful. The windshield is angled at a weird angle making the front windshield really small. Also, the IRVM is really small and kinda completely useless. It also blocks the left side view.

Horn - Hard to access. You need to really press it hard. Precisely, you need to use your wrist. But sounds great!

That's it now. Will pour in my thoughts as I experience them. My car clocked 13.5k kms and it's been going slowly recently since my Swift was busy lately.

Will update soon.!
Cheers

PS - @sourav - Great thread dude. Thanks a ton. Am going to rate this.

[rajeev k]

[quote]

Originally Posted by souravc

If the cranking fails , one has to go back to switch off position and redo rather than from the intermediary position (true of TDi) – annoying in traffic
This is a very useful feature as it ensures that the AC does not drain battery power and gets switched on only after the engine is running. Of course this can be manually overridden if anyone so wishes .

This is a protection to prevent accidental cranking of engine when it is running.
Do you mean that the AC can run on the battery. No it can't.

[srishiva]

@naveen, As far as the mirrors are concerned, dont they replace just the back cover compared to Swift where the whole unit has to be replaced?
Turning off the AC is a real screwed up one. However, my sales guy had mentioned how it works and didn't have to discover it.

Audio can be turned on even without the key. It remains ON for a while, its does turn off after a while but can be again turned ON.

[nileshch]

Sourav, great compilation of features and quirks!! There's always something to learn in the Vento. Did not know some of the features listed.

Here's one more tidbit I learnt yesterday night --

At the signal, I switched off the ignition and the headlights switched off too. I had not touched the main headlight switch to do this. The car did it by itself. However, the dashboard lights were on. Another interesting feature I'd say!

Originally Posted by naveen.raju

Horn - Hard to access. You need to really press it hard. Precisely, you need to use your wrist. But sounds great!

Naveen, I never found the horn hard. In fact, I use my thumbs to sound the horn without lifting my hands from the steering. See the arrows in the photo below:

[naveen.raju]

Originally Posted by srishiva

@naveen, As far as the mirrors are concerned, dont they replace just the back cover compared to Swift where the whole unit has to be replaced?

I'm not sure on that. A section of the cover came off and I fixed it back by myself. Since this is really rigid, am scared of this since it's really expensive.

Originally Posted by nileshch

Naveen, I never found the horn hard. In fact, I use my thumbs to sound the horn without lifting my hands from the steering. See the arrows in the photo below:

True, but hard when compared to the Swift. BTW, good find about the lights.

[ghodlur]

@Saurav,

Great compliation of features for the Vento. Surely the present owners who must have not discovered them would be benefitting from this thread.

This surely reminded me of the thread started by Nairrk for the Ford Fiesta which went on to become the google for Fiestians. Surely did for me.

I hope Vento owners would make a note of this contribution.

[bala80]

I was looking forward to this post of yours in your ownership thread. Didnt you get an opportunity to check yet? I feel both these issues that you have mentioned below are interrelated.

I feel it isnt a problem with the turbo as such though. Smoking under hard acceleration is pretty common for diesel engines. As long as the smoke is black, you have no reason to worry.

Originally Posted by naveen.raju

Problems

Turbo - As mentioned already, I have been facing some problems with the turbo. Going good for the last few days. Waiting for a few days to see if it happens again.

Noise and Smoke - The engine noise is a bit loud when compared to Swift. Also noticed there is a large discharge of smoke when the turbo kicks in.

I remember reading somewhere in a Vento ownership thread, this part is available seperately for the Vento and is reasonably priced. Will try to find out for you.

Originally Posted by naveen.raju

I'm not sure on that. A section of the cover came off and I fixed it back by myself. Since this is really rigid, am scared of this since it's really expensive.

This is due to presence of air-bags in the vento. Swift doesnt have airbags and hence it is relatively easier to operate the horn.

True, but hard when compared to the Swift.

[srishiva]

Originally Posted by bala80

This is due to presence of air-bags in the vento. Swift doesnt have airbags and hence it is relatively easier to operate the horn.

Its not true. I have a Zxi and the horn is still easier than Vento. Since it also uses the space where volume control buttons could be, its easier to reach. But then with cars having to have many buttons on the steering wheel, the horn will have to be operated by moving the fingers/wrist a little inwards.

[bala80]

Sorry, I didn't mean to generalize it. My comment was specific to Naveen's car which is a swift VDI and hence wrote so.

Anyways, it is a known fact that horn pad for cars with airbags will be slightly more difficult to operate compared to the non-airbag ones.

Originally Posted by srishiva

Its not true. I have a Zxi and the horn is still easier than Vento. Since it also uses the space where volume control buttons could be, its easier to reach. But then with cars having to have many buttons on the steering wheel, the horn will have to be operated by moving the fingers/wrist a little inwards.