[ambivalent_98]

Hey your bullet with the dark film looks like a Gangsta car . Awesome. Share some of your ICE photos too.

[blackdiesel]

I havent updated the thread for quite a long time, but here is an update about my recent two journeys.

First is my trip to Coorg (Madikeri) in mid-August. It was a trip of just more than 250 km one-side (Bangalore-Coorg-Bangalore)

Driving vento was really pleasurable as enjoyed the good roads along Mysore & Kushalnagar. And for the first time I reached 160 kmph mark in Vento near Kushalnagar highway. It was so stable at 160 that I was itching to reach further ; though I couldnt do it due to traffic on the road.

While driving in Coorg, some of the roads were not so good, but enjoyed driving in the ghat sections.

I took a snap of Vento at Nalkanad palace, which was used by the kings to hide in this remote palace when British attacked their actual palace. (first pic)

It was a memorable visit to Abbi waterfalls which was really beautiful; though the road was narrow (second pic). I really missed the automatic mirror open-close feature, as I had to manually do it many times.

And also drove to Talakaveri, which was my first experience with Vento in foggy conditions. I just enjoyed it completely & for the first time I could make good use of the fog lamps ;-) (third pic)

Overall, the drive was fantastic & compelled me to drive more.

[blackdiesel]

The second trip was a sudden decision during last long weekend; thanks to Diwali & Karnataka Rajyotsava holiday.

This time, I & my wife wanted to plan for a long journey & decided to visit Kerala. So the itinerary was like this:

Bangalore to Guruvayoor - Travel & stay one day (first day - 500+ km)
Guruvayoor to Athirapally Waterfalls - some two hours at the falls (90 km)
& then to Alleppey - two nights & one day (second & third day - 140+ km)
Alleppey to Munnar - one day & one night (fourth day - 180 km)
Munnar to Bangalore - travel (fifth day - 550 km)

Distance & route planned was as per this Google Map directions.

The drive was fantastic both onwards & return; particularly the stretch near Coimbatore bypass & the four-lane highway from Dindigul to Salem; not to mention my adventure near the Coimbatore bypass.

I had reached 160 kmph earlier & I got crazy while driving the bypass road & tried to go beyond that. You know what? I touched 180 & was there for couple of seconds, till the time I saw the toll booth in the eye's reach. I could gauge that I was still safe, but had to brake completely. So I had to put full brakes from 180 to 0 which took around 5-6 seconds . The car stopped safely just at the booth. But the after-effect was an undesirable one. We noticed some burning smell & could feel it was because of braking. I stopped at the roadside just after the toll booth & checked the front wheels; to find that both were fuming! Anyway, I waited for some 10 min.s while it cooled & started again. Fortunately, there was no water around & there wasnt much of an impact on the brake. Yes, I was worried a little as it was onward journey, but there was no problem anyway. So please dont try to reach 180 . What I want to note here is that the car was completely in control during the whole episode. I never felt any vibration, braking was too good & controlled, and mainly it was not scary at all. Of course the road was too good which made it possible.

After this, I decided not to exceed 140 during the next journey. The journey overall was enjoyable particularly because of good roads. The ghat section driving too was pleasurable.

And in Munnar, I observed a strange thing: while driving to the Top Station view point (32 km) uphill, the outside temperature was very cool & foggy and we were enjoying the weather with open front windows with A/C switched off. However, the vents were hot as though the temperature was set to some 27 deg! I thought it may be the heat from the engine radiating backwards? Plz share if you have any idea.

While returning, it took enough time to reach Dindigul from Munnar as we covered few tourist attractions and also the roads were not so good (though not bad either). Also we covered two wildlife sanctuaries (though we couldnt see any animals) en route. I have to mention here that by this time, the mileage indicator in MFD had peaked to 20.7! The moment we reached Dindigul, the story was completely different. The speed was constantly at 120-130 cruising effortlessly. I was even racing with few other cars. But the mileage gradually started dropping & by the time we reached Salem, it was around 19.4 and it ended up at 19.1 when we reached home.

I took few snaps in Munnar with Vento in foreground & nature in the background. Hope you guys like it.

To Do: Nitrogen top up as I feel it is a little reduced after the trip; Complete car wash including under body & need to find a "car spa" for this; Get the disc brake checked at VW workshop just to be on the safer side.

[Akshay1234]

No need to get your discs checked or anything. You braked hard hence the burning smell. They are made for these kind of things so there will not be any issues. Also were you planning on splashing water on the disc? I hope not.

[blackdiesel]

Originally Posted by akshay1234

No need to get your discs checked or anything. You braked hard hence the burning smell. They are made for these kind of things so there will not be any issues. Also were you planning on splashing water on the disc? I hope not.

No not at all.. what I meant was that, thankfully there was no water around when braking happened.

I also believe they are made for such harsh conditions; but somehow I feel there must be some wearing because of such braking? I want to check that, thats all.

[Akshay1234]

Originally Posted by blackdiesel

No not at all.. what I meant was that, thankfully there was no water around when braking happened.

I also believe they are made for such harsh conditions; but somehow I feel there must be some wearing because of such braking? I want to check that, thats all.

Of course there will be more wear and tear. But still nothing to worry about at all. If there is no weird feeling, or no noise from the brakes its all good.

[blackdiesel]

After waiting & searching for a long time, I finally bought a Witson D9235V model for Vento.

I ordered it directly from here after paying through PayPal for $334 to Witson's account (approx INR 17,000/- after foreign exchange conversions) to a Hong Kong friend's address. My friend brought it back to Bangalore.

There was no problem with installation at all; except that one of the main connectors provided by Witson was not suitable for Vento's cabling. I got it fixed at Junction (Jayanagar, Bangalore) and they had a suitable connector to fix the system.

I was very skeptical on two things: one that this is a new version for VW from Witson that no one had tried out on TBHP yet, and about the audio performance of any Witson device. However, the experience has been very good, the system sits perfectly on Vento's dashboard, looks clean, all features are working nicely. I dont have amp in my car but the audio quality is decent (not bad at all, but may not be as good as a high quality Kenwood system). Not sure if Witson worked on their audio components for this new release.

The [COLOR=inherit]8 inch[/COLOR] screen is beautiful, GPS is working like a charm, phone through Bluetooth is very nice, reverse cam view is cool, PIP (picture-in-picture) is something new & nice, music play through USB & Disc is straight-forward & is similar to any DVD player, many features than that are available on the touch screen are there in the remote control. I didnt connect any tuner for TV, but I could see some feeble signal for DD while searching (no use anyway).

There are many other features like steering wheel controls, climatronics integration, door open/close indicator integration etc., which are either not of much use or unfortunately not possible considering Vento's warranty issues.

This is the link for Witson's product: VOLKSWAGEN SERIES CAR(New Arrival) (W2-D9235V)

Our TBHP friend Ventolute's inputs on his Witson were very useful & I thank him through this post. He purchased the OEM-look version (link here) from Witson & is satisfied with it.

So far, I have seen these negative point: (a) Bluetooth address book transfer is flawed & doesnt work properly, (b) as the buttons on the system are of chrome I fear them wearing out gradually to look dull, (c)there is no backlight for these chrome buttons & hence makes it difficult to use it nights (atleast till you get used to the buttons). It is apparent that the buttons were made small to make space for the [COLOR=inherit]8 inch[/COLOR] screen. Those who are not so particular about the OEM look of the black wheels & big buttons, they can easily go for this one.

By the way, once I ordered this product, I thought of buying a reverse cam. My another Vento-friend had shown me a cute & very small reverse cam with nice quality some time back. I decided to buy it. Interestingly, this company is an exclusive dealer in reverse cameras & car display systems. This dealer had another product which integrates rear view camera, four ultrasonic sensors through an integrator chip (puts the distance in meter & sensor status as an overlay on the rear view camera view) and also had a small speaker which speaks the distance in reverse gear. I am really happy with this as I am able to see the camera view in 8 inch display while the distance is spoken out using car speakers.

I will post some pics of the new system shortly.

[sith_lord]

Great, blackdiesel, congratulations on the head unit purchase. I just ordered D723V (the same one ventolute purchased) and it's already delivered to the Shanghai address I have them; a friend of mine is currently there and he'll bring it for me.

[blackdiesel]

Originally Posted by sith_lord

Great, blackdiesel, congratulations on the head unit purchase. I just ordered D723V (the same one ventolute purchased) and it's already delivered to the Shanghai address I have them; a friend of mine is currently there and he'll bring it for me.

Thanks & congrats to you too. Are you going to get reverse cam?

[sith_lord]

Yes, I have ordered for a reverse camera too (W2-C306I). This was suggested the Witson person herself. The good thing about this one is tha it looks small, which I hope will make it easy to fit. When I first contacted Witson a few months ago, I was suggested a much bigger, guess custom made for VW, piece. I think ventolute had purchased either this one or something similar and he found the size a bit too big for his Vento. I'm tempted to believe Witson changed the suggestion based on some kind of feedback. Hopefully this smaller one fits the Vento well.

Which one did you get?

[ventolute]

Originally Posted by sith_lord

Yes, I have ordered for a reverse camera too (W2-C306I). This was suggested the Witson person herself. The good thing about this one is tha it looks small, which I hope will make it easy to fit. When I first contacted Witson a few months ago, I was suggested a much bigger, guess custom made for VW, piece. I think ventolute had purchased either this one or something similar and he found the size a bit too big for his Vento. I'm tempted to believe Witson changed the suggestion based on some kind of feedback. Hopefully this smaller one fits the Vento well.

Which one did you get?

Hey Sith lord. i had purchased the one they suggested. The piece is just the right size, But it has a locking clip only on one side. It is supposed to lock in to place, exactly where the Registration light sits. This camera has an Led light attachment. So when you turn on the lights, the LED comes on too. When you switch to reverse, the cam comes on. So its a dual function cam. But I just need to figure out how to fix it in place , by some innovative fabrication means. Just havent had the time to think peacefully and get it done!

[ventolute]

Originally Posted by blackdiesel

Thanks & congrats to you too. Are you going to get reverse cam?

Congrats blackdiesel.
I was wondering what was stopping you from putting up the review. You got the piece almost 3 months back and I had sent you PM in between inquiring on the same as well. SO anyway its finally installed. Awaiting the pics.

Congrats on your long drive. The car looks smashing with the black tints. Reminds me of my baby so much. Fantastic backgrounds and that enhances the beauty of the car even more. Next time you are around in Kerala , lets meet.

BTW can you share the details of the cam you purchased and the vendor.

[blackdiesel]

Thanks Ventolute both for your inputs & wishes.

I actually got the HU just last week. I will explain in our next conversation.

@sith_lord: I didnt buy the cam from Witson. Having not seen it, I was not sure of its size & compatibility with Vento's rear. I bought it locally in Bangalore, which is also an imported one, but branded in a Bangalore company's name.

@Ventolute: The company's name is Red Soul Enterprises. Website: Welcome to RedSoul
The cam is very small & I just liked the idea of channeling all data through one video out (to HU) and one audio out (to their own speaker).

I will post the pics tomorrow of both HU as well as the cam. Also, my car being black in color, both cam & sensors meshed so well, as they were also black

I was initially very worried about drilling the rear bumper, but was satisfied & surprised to know that the kit came with a drill bit for this purpose, which did an awesome job.

[blackdiesel]

Here are the pics:

Black & black jells well.




[COLOR=inherit]8 inch[/COLOR] display!



While in GPS mode, picture-in-picture feature is useful.



Bluetooth pairs with only one phone at a time. Two phones' parallel connections would have been better. Address book sync is a problem.

[TopSpeeder]

Wow, What a perfect fit?. Congrats
Screen looks large.
Also did you explored Witson D9240?