[ambivalent_98]

Hello Folks,
On 5th of May 2011 I became the proud owner of a black Vento TDI Highline. I have driven it for 1600 kms now in almost a month and would like to share my thoughts / views.

The Search - I began searching a replacement for my Honda City in September October timeframe. I had thought of an upgrade and since I was so much in love with Honda I was seriously looking at the Civic MT.

I took a test drive and was thoroughly happy. To check out the competition I took the test drive of the Corolla Altis. It was equally good. It was a difficult choice. In the meantime work and other stuff caught up with me and I lost a lot of time in that which prevented me from considering the car caper any further.

Things stabilised around Jan 2011 end and then I came back to my search. One more pressing fact was that fuel prices were rocketing and thus diesel would be the choice of fuel. Also due to some unforseen events my budget for my car dropped to 10-11 lakhs. So I started looking for a 8-10L diesel sedan.

A little confession - If Honda had a diesel I would have bought it , since I have had a very good experience with Honda and their product and their A.S.S . Also I was still in love with the Civic but could not stretch my budget that much so I had to go to the less than or equal to 10L diesels.

The Contenders -

Verna Diesel - The earliest versions were good looking but I never somehow liked the product. So it was not in the reckoning. At that time there was no "Fluidic" announced else would have been a close contender as well.

Dzire Diesel - I didn't even look at it. In my opinion it is hideous to look at. The Swift is better I feel but the hatch was not on the agenda.

Ford Diesel - A close contender. The highest end diesel was below 10L on road. But it has been around for sometime and somehow did not appeal to me that much. I test drove it. It was OK but since it was the first diesel I drove I had nothing to compare it with.

Vento TDI - I was very skeptical about this car. It looked good. The Highline was loaded. Of course I had read the reviews by Team-BHP and the experiences by people already using it and I was not sure about how it drove being a German diesel. Secondly my experience has been with petrol cars and I had heard from diesel Indica owners about heavy accelarator sluggish response.
So I decided to test drive it anyway. Since I had read the dealership experience in VW Pune showroom (Vidyut Motors) I was prepared for the worst. But it was fairly OK. I took their testdrive car out for a drive. That car was dull in color , the front logo stolen and not something you would want to drive for a test-drive but thats what they had on offer.

The Verdict - I choose the very words GTO used in his reviews for the Vento TDI. The engine respone blew me away. Once the turbo spooled I felt as if the car just begged to be pushed further. All this in a diesel really was the best part of it. My wife drove it too and agreed that we found it way better than the Ford Diesel we had test driven earlier. All said and done I was hooked.

The Booking - We booked the car paying the stipulated 75k on 5th Feb. We were asked for choice of color and I insisted on Shadow Blue. I was also asked for a backup option and I said it would be Black.

The Follow-up - Since I had read on T-BHP that followups are tedious and irritate you and the dealership exec I did not bother to call them every week. I called them exactly three times , end of Feb , end of March and end of April. First two times I was told I was 4th in queue for Shadow Blue. In my last call in the end of April , I was told I was first in queue and the next batch. A day after my status update I got a call that the car was alloted and I had to complete the payment.

The Shock and Awe - I completed the payment and was waiting to hear about the car coming to the stock yard so that I could check it out. I got a call from the sales manager saying that the Shadow Blue car would not be available and I would have to choose another color. I was shocked to hear this. Had waited long enough so that I could only get a silver or white color ? Was I being cheated ? Many questions came to mind. I told that person to call me up in 1/2 hr. I called my wife who was equally angry but advised me to be calm and what the choices were.
I called back that person and asked him about the choices. He told me that he would re-allocate a black TDI to me else white was available too. Since I had given my back up color as black I decided to stick with it. I did not want a silver or white as they are too commonly seen. So I gave up my Shadow Blue ( :( ) and agreed for Black.
He told me I could pick it up in the evening. I went to pick it up and I was "awe" struck to see my Black Knight.

The Delivery - The sales manager was very apologetic as all the final paperwork was handed over very promptly. With the pooja done I drove out my Black Knight. The handling was aweinspiring and the interiors were very pleasing.
Finally the car cost me 10.41L on road. Corporate discount of 16000.

The Experience -
No long paragraphs here. Just few things which I experience daily.

• Steering feels good and car turning and manouvering is very easy. Since I live in Pune City where parking can be a real overhead I find it relatively easy to park.
• The car generally feels solid to drive and on the highway cruising at 120 kph is a breeze. With the windows up and a/c running there is no inkling that the car is at this speed.
• Braking is good albeit I feel it needs getting used to. I had a car without ABS and was used to much quicker response from the brakes. With ABS the braking is a bit more gradual but OK.
• The alloys look good as they are and I did not feel the need to upgrade them.
• The same for the audio system. It is sufficient and just like my older car. Speaker quality is OK for me.No USB input does not really bother me (I am old school). Mp3 and audio CDs play and thats the way I like it. Also no complains about the steering mounted controls. My earlier car did not have it and it does not matter to me that much.
• The bigger stereo buttons are helpful while switching radio channels or volume.
• The climate control is a bit odd. Initially I had kept it in Auto mode. I found lot of external smells entering the cabin. Not seen any smoke coming in though but I think it is more comfortable using it in manual mode , setting a temparature and thats all.
• A/c rear vents are helpful. Earlier car did not have those and would take a longer time to cool down for the rear seat passengers. I have tested it in summer here in Pune and I have no complaints about it.
• I am a total "bhakt" of that powerplant under the hood. Its turbo is like a hidden weapon which I can unleash (an experince coming up where this will become clear). And the best part is that with some spirited driving the car still returned an average of 17 kpl which I feel will increase as the engine runs-in further.
• On space it feels a bit narrower than a Honda. I confess that in a Honda it was more cushy and comfy for the rear seat passengers and the front seats had good back support. In the Black Knight too the front seats are good and long drives should not be back ache triggering. However one thing I do feel is that sometimes getting out of the car does become problematic and is not as easy as it was in the Honda. Perhaps because of the doors opening not very wide.
• Boot space is good and at par with my older car.
• The best experience is so far when I go to fill up "diesel" I see that I am still filling it at 42 rupees a liter and my 1000 rs can get me 20+ liters . Well with the bridge in the fuel prices I think I can overcome that extra lakh rupees I paid for the diesel quite quickly and with the car averaging 16+ kmpl (keeping the a/c on all the time) it is an affordable buy.
• The tyres seem to be good. I have JK Vectras. I have thought about upgrading to Michelins but the Vectras seem OK so I have decided not to do anything as of now.
• When I go over speedbreakers I am not very concerned about scraping the bottom since the ground clearance is better than my old car.

The Accessories -
I went to get my accessories needed and I got the following things done -

Seat covers -I got non-leather soft fabric touch seat covers. I had to think of some colors which can be wiped clean in case my kids spill something. Also my wife and I are not really fond of leather.

SunFilm - 3M sun film which was approved by the RTO. I guess the heat rejection is quite good in these since the car has been standing in the hot sun everyday since delivery and in the evening when I drive back home it cools down pretty quickly as well.
Also I got the front wind-shield coated with anti-glare sunfilm also from 3M.

Teflon Coating - Waxoyl. Got this done at the accessories shop rather than VW. Already due to the goof up and color switching I wanted the car delivered at the date committed. So I did not pick up any accessory from VW.

Miscellanous -
Transparent Ganesha
Perfume
Bumper and door protector.

So far it has been a good experience as I drive my car daily 50-60 kms. I do hope it continues this way. Also with a diesel car I get all the more excuse to plan long drives and excursions.
I will upload more pictures of the interiors shortly.

An Experience - On the Pune-Mumbai expressway I was coasting along at 90-100 kmph in my lane and I was all praise for the stability and ride quality. Then all of a sudden a Corolla (Mumbai registered) who was coming down at a great speed and would have passed me started to tail me. I did not pay attention but later I started to notice that he was trying to find out if this car could run at all. I slowed down such that he came next to me and we were almost at similar speeds. Then there were a couple of trucks and he was sure that I would be stuck behind them and he would have the last laugh having overtaken me etc. So he accelarated and I did a little. So it started turning out like a competition of sort. His engine was bigger , his car was more powerful so he thought it was going to be a breeze. And then it happened...the Black Knight brandished his hidden weapon and the turbo kicked in and I rocketed past the Corolla and the truck and sped away. I could literally see that person's jaw drop at the pick up which was like a complete shock for him. This was only possible on a straight stretch of the expressway before the Vadgaon tunnel. I did not see him again but his expression really told me what the performance of the Black Knight was like.

[aks_karthik]

Congrats ambivalent_98,

VW Vento has a GEM of engine and German Build quality.
I love to see Vento in any color. Personally i love sharp edges in car than rounded design in my Linea
Enjoy and Drive Safe.

[souravc]

Congratulations on the black beauty, it sure is a headturner !
I have got one feedback on JK Vectra , please do change it post 10K max . I am speaking from my own experience - my earlier car Swift had those tyres and 2 tyres out of the 5 (including spare) actually shockingly failed . One of them burst and the other had terrible shear ( chunks came off the outer layer). Its for your own safety specially since Vento is a higher torque car too.
Wish you many miles of safe and happy driving !

[srishiva]

Congrats ambivalent_98 on your black vento. Do post some interior pics. I too dont like leather seat covers and am on lookout for fabric based ones.

[ambivalent_98]

Originally Posted by aks_karthik

Congrats ambivalent_98,

VW Vento has a GEM of engine and German Build quality.
I love to see Vento in any color. Personally i love sharp edges in car than rounded design in my Linea
Enjoy and Drive Safe.

Thanks a lot.

Originally Posted by souravc

Congratulations on the black beauty, it sure is a headturner !
I have got one feedback on JK Vectra , please do change it post 10K max . I am speaking from my own experience - my earlier car Swift had those tyres and 2 tyres out of the 5 (including spare) actually shockingly failed . One of them burst and the other had terrible shear ( chunks came off the outer layer). Its for your own safety specially since Vento is a higher torque car too.
Wish you many miles of safe and happy driving !

Thanks. I will keep your inputs about the tyres in mind. I completely agree that it might not be able to take the higher torque.

Originally Posted by srishiva

Congrats ambivalent_98 on your black vento. Do post some interior pics. I too dont like leather seat covers and am on lookout for fabric based ones.

Thanks. I will be uploading those pictures very soon.

[Swanand Inamdar]

Congrats Ambivalent. Sure looks great in Black. IMO this color suits the car, more than the Shadow Blue.
A few more pics would be great.
Here's wishing you many happy miles.

[ambivalent_98]

Originally Posted by Swanand Inamdar

Congrats Ambivalent. Sure looks great in Black. IMO this color suits the car, more than the Shadow Blue.
A few more pics would be great.
Here's wishing you many happy miles.

Thanks a lot. I was and I am still in awe of the black color and I couldn't agree more that black actually looks better than blue

[visweshkalambur]

Ambivalent - Hearty congratulations on your Vento. Black is a facntastic colour albiet if you can maintain it. The torque spooling from the diesel engines are wonderful and often times a killer to overtake if utilized properly.

[ajay_satpute]

Heartiest Congratulations Ambivalent!

Super choice you made there. Except the T-Jet, only Vento gave me the turbo-kick in all cars around/under 10 L. Black colour is the most premium offering from VW in India. They call it some platinum finish or something(IIRC).

5th Feb to 5th May is not bad at all, considering how people have waited and waited for months to get their Vento TDi.

Please do join us with your Black Knight for the future Pune Team BHP meets. It would be a pleasure to see you and the Black Knight in flesh.

Congrats again!

[ghodlur]

@Ambivalent,

Full too congratulations on the Black night. The car lookss gorgeous. But please do justice to the car and the forum guys by posting some more pics of the interior and the alloys.

Vento is a fantastic car esp the Diesel one.

One request - Please dont do those drag races esp on the E-way. I know the adrenalin rush, just keep it within limits.

Happy mile crunching, drive safely.

[Suess]

Originally Posted by ambivalent_98

Braking is good albeit I feel it needs getting used to. I had a car without ABS and was used to much quicker response from the brakes. With ABS the braking is a bit more gradual but OK.

Many Congratulations, excellent choice and i believe you will enjoy it for long time.

Just to clearify the things, with ABS your car should stop quicker on a good, dry road then your car without ABS. it will take little more time on wet, grovel, loose surface but you will maintain the maneuverablity. and in fact that's the purpose of ABS.

And I would strongly suggest you to try using Emergency Braking Maneuver. It will give you the feeling of ABS and also how long your will take to come to complete stand halt from a speed of let's say 40/60 Kmph.

People tend not to break hard enough becasue they think ABS will stop the car with slight pressure. that's not the case. in some vehicle ABS only triggered in an Emergency Braking Situation(i.e. when sensors sense a rapid deacceleration on one or more wheel then other wheels). So, be careful, brake as your brain suggest you, don't relay on ABS.

[bluevolt]

Congratulations on your brand new VW Vento. Nice pictures and I really like the car in black color.

Keep the thread updated with servicing experience.

Wishing you many years of happy and safe driving.

[bala80]

Many congratulations, she looks beautiful in black. I feel the waiting period was reasonable for you as it seems to be much more down south. As others have requested do post more pictures inside out.

[Ramsagar]

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[GTO]

Congrats on my favourite C segment diesel sedan. There isn't an all-rounder like the Vento diesel for 10 lakhs.

Originally Posted by ambivalent_98

And then it happened...the Black Knight brandished his hidden weapon and the turbo kicked in and I rocketed past the Corolla and the truck and sped away. I could literally see that person's jaw drop at the pick up which was like a complete shock for him.

And welcome to the world of diesel mid-range! Forget the Corolla, even a 2.4L Honda Accord cannot match the roll-on / midrange acceleration of a zero-turbo lag diesel like the Vento.

Drive safe will ya!