Introduction:
I got my Esteem in 2007 and it has been an excellent experience with the car for around 73000 kms. Initially I wanted to change the car only by 2012. But when my company tied up with Orix early this year things changed. Made some calculations, got approval from the home minister, and finally decided to go for a new car by late may 2011.
Having decided to go for a new car, came the obvious question 'What car?'. What car span off to some more questions like
-Whats the budget? -> 10 to 12L
-Petrol or Diesel? -> Nothing in particular, but since I have driven only a petrol car so far wanted to try a diesel car. Low fuel prices does not hurt as well.
Mission statement 1 May 2011: Buy a good sedan that can be the perfect replacement for my esteem.
First stop: Volkswagen Palace Cross, Bangalore - Vento AT(Thank you noopster), Vento TDi highline(Thank you souravc,vb-san, oxyzen, nileshch, bala80, evilshantantu, naveenraju).
Mission statement 2 - Jun 2011: Buy a good sedan that can be easily obtainable without doing a penance. Sigh!
Breaking news: Junior expected by Feb 2011
Mission statement 3 - Late Jun2011: Buy a comfortable sedan that is good for the wife's back and is gentle on the roads.
Second stop: Magnum Honda, Bangalore - Honda City AT (Thank you charthom, mdsaab, kirantp, remingstonsteele, libran1987)
Mission statement 4 - Late Jun 2011: Buy a comfortable sedan with good interiors which can handle very bad roads, with decent ground clearance.
Third stop: Sundaram Motors, Chevrolet, Bangalore
Mission statement 5 - Very late Jun 2011: Go for Optra Magnum LT. Change HU. (Thank you optimist, poitive, NoRules, sylvan, keyur, do_or_die, visweshkalambur)
Official break: July 2011 Trip to Sweden for a few days. Ogle at the Fiesta hatchback and also few Volkswagen cars.
Fourth stop: Metro Ford, Bangalore - New Ford Fiesta petrol, diesel and Fiesta classic. (Thank you Team-BHP)
Mission statement 6 - Don't earn the wrath of home minister by talking only about cars.
Mission statement 7 - Late July 2011- Go for a comfortable sedan that is reasonably priced with decent interiors with a clear visibility on the release date.
It was at this juncture I shot a mail to GM, asking them if I can change the HU to Caska or something. Got a very rude response from GM on how the warranty will be void and I cant change anything in the car. And around same time there were few threads on Optra's reliability concerns. Add to it Sundaram Motors was ending their dealership with GM. The other options in Bangalore were Trident and Kropex which did not have decent reviews neither on sales or after sales service. Optra fell off my radar immediately. It maybe a great car but I was not willing to take the risk as it will be a company leased car and did not want to take any chances.
Back to ground zero.
Fifth stop: Trident Hyundai - Hyundai Verna SX(o) CRDi
Mission statement 8 - Mid August 2011 - Go for a comfortable sedan in which my parents can comfortably sit in the backseat without wondering where they are.
Sixth stop: Orix office Bangalore - Late September 2011. That's when I get to know if I go via Orix, they will get me a Black Vento TDi in 1 month.
Mission statement 9 - Early September 2011 - Book a Vento TDi and go for Pioneer 3350 BT or JVC HU.
When I booked the price of Vento TDi without insurance was 10.97L. That's when I came to know Vento might be upgraded to the one similar to the one 'In Soviet Russia'. Not sure if Putin was visiting India and if VW wanted to impress him. Anyway the upgrade was a closely guarded secret like KGB's files to start with and later became like the 'Exclusive Breaking news' from our news channels. It was neither exclusive nor breaking. Everyone except the Bangalore dealers knew about it. Thanks to ninjatalli, ricky63 and gaurav got to know more information with photographs. Now that I didn't have an option of going for pre upgraded Vento, started pestering the dealer for the new quote. Finally after a week came to know that the price had increased by around 37K. I had allocated that amount anyway for accessories.
Sometime around late last week(Saturday) I got to know that the vehicle is in transit and it will take 4(?) days to reach from Pune to Bangalore. I was wondering if my Vento was being taken to the german embassy to verify if everything was in order before releasing it to my dealer. Luckily that was not the case and I could visit the stockyard on Monday and see the car in flesh. Thanks to the Ayudha Pooja and Vijayadasami celebrations it was absolute mayhem in the dealership for 2 days as most of them who had booked the car wanted to take it in these 2 days. I happily decided to wait till Saturday(8th Oct) to get my car.
Dealership Experience: Volkswagen Downtown Bangalore
Excellent:
*Kept informing me on a regular basis on the car delivery status.
*Test drive car was in excellent condition. One of the best test drive cars across brands.
*Very prompt service from the SE, Rakesh Rathore. Came to my office multiple times to get the paperwork done. It was hassle free.
*I was initially planning to take the car on Friday. But due to personal emergency it got delayed by a day. VW were accommodating and kept the car safe in McGrath road for a day!
Good
*Showroom experience where the cars are on display.
*Stockyard PDI experience.
Average
*Showroom waiting area. AC does not work here and is close to the the service workshop.
*Delivery time was between 3 and 3.30. But the SE was assigned to a test drive, while we were waiting for 30 to 45 minutes.
*Lack of clarity about the upgraded version with the dealer. Not sure if it is the dealers fault or VW's fault. Maybe they tied the information on a pigeon's leg and sent it to Bangalore. It took so long to get the information from the dealer.
Bad
*Location of the showroom. Its at the centre of the city. But anyone going there will feel like Abhimanyu in chakravyuha. You can get in, but cannot get out. No parking space, one way road.
*Lack of space in the showroom. Maybe this showroom would have been ideal for selling premium cars like Bentley. Not for VW. 25 cars are parked in a place where 5 cars can be parked. Just because of this reason I gave an excellent rating to them for keeping my car safe one extra day.
*It seems they need to activate some code to make the music system work. And I will get it only by Monday.