[souravc]

Wow , what flourish Samarjit ! Thank you for posting such a detailed review and also the pictures . I am very curious to hear from you feedback about the MMI , is it reliable ? How does it compare to Garmin , if you had taken that into consideration ?
Wish you many many happy miles !

Originally Posted by samarjitdhar

Its December, 2011 and no ownership report yet. Thou shalt be reported to souravc who is the resident Vento Ownership Review Cop on TBHP

yeah that's close to blasphemy - I am keeping an eye on him

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

Eh tu Brutus! Wonder for how many more is he going to be the reason to get their story going on tbhp!

Haha , you owed us that one given the daily dose of counselling too on how to handle VW dealers and how to resist flirting with MJDs

[samarjitdhar]

Originally Posted by souravc

Wow , what flourish Samarjit ! Thank you for posting such a detailed review and also the pictures . I am very curious to hear from you feedback about the MMI , is it reliable ? How does it compare to Garmin , if you had taken that into consideration ?
Wish you many many happy miles !

Thanks Sourav. I am glad you liked it. I thought in certain parts I was just rambling .

The MMI GPS should be good. No idea about Garmin. I used to try the Nokia maps which were even downloaded on my phone and frankly they sucked. The MMI one probably takes a wee bit longer to get a lock on the satellite probably because it sports SirfStar IV chip. The higher and more expensive versions sport a SirfStar V and should perform better. Regarding map quality tested it out only once within the lanes of Kolkata and it was pretty except for the weird one way rules here . Will keep you posted when I take it for some long drives planned.

Originally Posted by souravc

Haha , you owed us that one given the daily dose of counselling too on how to handle VW dealers and how to resist flirting with MJDs

Honestly its your passion and love for your Vento which inspired many a wannabe owner to go for the Vento I am sure. Hopefully I can carry on sharing my experience like you on a regular basis.

[bala80]

Congratulations on your new car, Did I hear engine oil top up in 1500 kms? Any specific reason why? It's as good as a car just out of the showroom in the first place.

Black is always beautiful, no two ways about it. Wishing you a very happy and memorable ownership experience.

[samarjitdhar]

Originally Posted by bala80

Congratulations on your new car, Did I hear engine oil top up in 1500 kms? Any specific reason why? It's as good as a car just out of the showroom in the first place.

Black is always beautiful, no two ways about it. Wishing you a very happy and memorable ownership experience.

Many thanks Bala for your wishes. I had been to the workshop to get the autolock enabled and had asked them to ensure that the oil and coolant levels were all right since at the 1500 km mark I had seen the engine oil at the minimum level. Guess I was just being paranoid . Over 3000 km now and things look fine.
Yes black is a beautiful color and as others have said difficult to maintain. But at night with the taillights on, the rear profile looks really awesome.

[Guderian]

Originally Posted by samarjitdhar

Lead Characters (adapted from The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling)

Hey Mowgli/samarjit !
The Jungle Book has been a perennial favourite with me,especially the movie, and I have lost count of the number of times I have seen it from college days - way back in the 80s till date !

Great report and nice snaps. And the Vento in black is a delight, to my eye, compared to any other colour. Why just on Vento - any other vehicle as such I guess.

Congratulations !

One thing caught my attention - which could be spoiling the look - could you do better on the mud flaps ? A better quality one which looks sharper/stiffer/firmer like the new age ones would serve it well and look good I guess.

About that MMI Navigator - is that the Vx 140s ? If so that would be the one I have - how is it serving you ? Quality ?

Wishing you many thousand/s safe, delightful miles in Bagheera !

OT
And yes before I forget - I am rather disappointed about not seeing here my favourite character Baloo the bear, a chap after my own heart !


And not forgetting Col Hathee, Sher Khan and King Louis...the 'Beatles' Vultures could have come in later though !

[ninjatalli]

^^
I believe that could be given to @souravc. Fits the role quite nicely


Jokes apart, @samarjitdhar any particular reasons for going for the bumper protectors? I kinda hate them - the rear look of the car goes for a toss with them. I see it a lot on Honda City(s) generally. Is city traffic really that bad in Kolkata? Found it pretty decent compared to Mumbai/Pune traffic.

[samarjitdhar]

Originally Posted by Guderian

Hey Mowgli/samarjit !
The Jungle Book has been a perennial favourite with me,especially the movie, and I have lost count of the number of times I have seen it from college days - way back in the 80s till date !

Great report and nice snaps. And the Vento in black is a delight, to my eye, compared to any other colour. Why just on Vento - any other vehicle as such I guess.

Congratulations !

Thanks so much for your wishes. Mowgli is also my personal favorite from childhood. So when black panther came to mind the choice was obvious

Originally Posted by Guderian

One thing caught my attention - which could be spoiling the look - could you do better on the mud flaps ? A better quality one which looks sharper/stiffer/firmer like the new age ones would serve it well and look good I guess.

Yeah I kinda skimped a bit on some accessories back then. Also the heavily potholed and bump filled roads of my city played on my mind with reports of the VW branded stock hard mud flaps scraping. Finally I located a dealer here who sells 3D Kagu mats here and I guess will look for better mud flaps when I do the next round of accessory upgrades.

Originally Posted by Guderian

About that MMI Navigator - is that the Vx 140s ? If so that would be the one I have - how is it serving you ? Quality ?

This is something which I could test out only once. Got it very recently and will probably do some real world testing in January when I do a Kolkata-Jamshedpur trip. Inside the city I tested it only once and barring the crazy one way rules it was pretty accurate.

Originally Posted by Guderian

Wishing you many thousand/s safe, delightful miles in Bagheera !

Once again thanks for your wishes

Originally Posted by Guderian

OT
And yes before I forget - I am rather disappointed about not seeing here my favourite character Baloo the bear, a chap after my own heart !
Attachment 861971

And not forgetting Col Hathee, Sher Khan and King Louis...the 'Beatles' Vultures could have come in later though !

Baloo is someone who will arrive in the form of somebody who is currently I believe your ride, sir ji. I absolutely drool on it. So thats something to get in the future, fingers crossed.

Actually Bagheera is scheduled to meet up with Col Hathee and Sher Khan Feb-Mar, 2012. The next major update will be then.

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

Jokes apart, @samarjitdhar any particular reasons for going for the bumper protectors? I kinda hate them - the rear look of the car goes for a toss with them. I see it a lot on Honda City(s) generally. Is city traffic really that bad in Kolkata? Found it pretty decent compared to Mumbai/Pune traffic.

Seriously, Ninja you must have driven on that open stretch of New Town near Salt Lake Sector V where the offices for all the IT companies are present including yours. Believe me thats the mildest traffic anywhere you can see in Kolkata. Actually all this is OT but I will put up a separate post about cities with the worst traffic, I think Kolkata ranks at the top of the world. Its actually worsened by the ZERO traffic sense of everyone on the road and blatant flouting of rules. Cops here either are afraid or too lazy to impose fines. At one time I was considering getting a monster truck or a car with spikes on all the sides for my regular commute.

[amitg79]

Very nicely written, Mowgly... Wish you many miles of happy motoring with Baggy.
P.S. Keep an eye out for King Louie's monkeys (Cab drivers).

[ninjatalli]

Originally Posted by samarjitdhar

Seriously, Ninja you must have driven on that open stretch of New Town near Salt Lake Sector V where the offices for all the IT companies are present including yours. Believe me thats the mildest traffic anywhere you can see in Kolkata. Actually all this is OT but I will put up a separate post about cities with the worst traffic, I think Kolkata ranks at the top of the world. Its actually worsened by the ZERO traffic sense of everyone on the road and blatant flouting of rules. Cops here either are afraid or too lazy to impose fines. At one time I was considering getting a monster truck or a car with spikes on all the sides for my regular commute.

lol.

No, I drove a friend's Swift pretty much over the entire city. Guy used to drive the car a lot during the week, so I was the designated driver for the weekends. But I guess the traffic in all Indian cities are bad enough - its only when one looks relatively then one is able to find any pros/cons. Guess the grass is always greener on the other side.

[samarjitdhar]

Originally Posted by amitg79

Very nicely written, Mowgly... Wish you many miles of happy motoring with Baggy.
P.S. Keep an eye out for King Louie's monkeys (Cab drivers).

Out here King Louie's monkeys ride Bumble Bees that sting. The color and design of the cabs here will definitely remind of the bumble bee . Many thanks for your wishes.

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

lol.

No, I drove a friend's Swift pretty much over the entire city. Guy used to drive the car a lot during the week, so I was the designated driver for the weekends. But I guess the traffic in all Indian cities are bad enough - its only when one looks relatively then one is able to find any pros/cons. Guess the grass is always greener on the other side.

Aah, weekends. Tell me about it . I have lived and spent some time in many a city in India and around the world but folks here just take the cake in road lawlessness. Now we have gone completely OT but if somebody needed a PhD on Chaos Theory, the streets of Kolkata is the place.

[oxyzen]

Originally Posted by samarjitdhar

Seriously, Ninja you must have driven on that open stretch of New Town near Salt Lake Sector V where the offices for all the IT companies are present including yours. Believe me thats the mildest traffic anywhere you can see in Kolkata. Actually all this is OT but I will put up a separate post about cities with the worst traffic, I think Kolkata ranks at the top of the world. Its actually worsened by the ZERO traffic sense of everyone on the road and blatant flouting of rules. Cops here either are afraid or too lazy to impose fines. At one time I was considering getting a monster truck or a car with spikes on all the sides for my regular commute.

I am not sure if Kolkata ranks on top of the world when it comes to traffic but one thing I know for sure, driving in Calcutta is one of the most difficult things one could ever imagine. I can bet it is much easier to power-slide than do a 100km run on the notorious Jessore road where the buses and trucks will force you to drive by the side of the road on the footpath which unfortunately is not present. Or if you are in the main city, I am quite sure the friendly taxies or auto-rickshaws will love to kiss you at every opportunity. I have driven in a few cities and quite franky driving in Kolkata is the toughest. By a mile.

[samarjitdhar]

Originally Posted by oxyzen

I can bet it is much easier to power-slide than do a 100km run on the notorious Jessore road

Oxyzen I second you but I think you meant 1 km. 100 km or even 10 km and one could go stark mad .

Back to topic, Bagheera got nudged on its left rear wheel by an Alto driver on 31st evening while waiting for the lights to turn green. Basically the driver was trying to back up the Alto standing parallel to Bagheera on the left from an impossible space and its rear bumper came and touched the wheel. No damage done thankfully . I frankly think it needs the Army to bring order to the streets of Kolkata. I must open a separate topic on this under the appropriate section.

[samarjitdhar]

Originally Posted by samarjitdhar

Back to topic, Bagheera got nudged on its left rear wheel by an Alto driver on 31st evening while waiting for the lights to turn green. Basically the driver was trying to back up the Alto standing parallel to Bagheera on the left from an impossible space and its rear bumper came and touched the wheel. No damage done thankfully . I frankly think it needs the Army to bring order to the streets of Kolkata. I must open a separate topic on this under the appropriate section.

Dang on closer inspection in daylight its a small scratch of about an inch on the alloy . I simply cannot understand how and why folks in this city leave their brains @ home when they step out on the roads. I can understand inattentiveness, mistakes, road rage, etc. but willful disregard of other people on the road and this case all of us were stationary waiting for the lights to turn green and this dumbo was actually parked on the side of the road. My wife flew at him and all he said was the nudge we felt was him engaging the central lock

I have actually created a separate topic about traffic in Kolkata http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/street...fic-india.html while this thread will be dedicated completely to Bagheera.

[souravc]

Originally Posted by samarjitdhar

Dang on closer inspection in daylight its a small scratch of about an inch on the alloy . I simply cannot understand how and why folks in this city leave their brains @ home when they step out on the roads. I can understand inattentiveness, mistakes, road rage, etc. but willful disregard of other people on the road and this case all of us were stationary waiting for the lights to turn green and this dumbo was actually parked on the side of the road. My wife flew at him and all he said was the nudge we felt was him engaging the central lock

sorry to hear about the first scratch on your Vento but do note that the alloys pick up the marks quite easily - its "soft" as has been noted by quite a few of us . My personal experience has been that the paint is fantastic ( minor skirmishes do not leave a lasting mark ) and the body is also good , does not dent easily . Its another matter though if one of those HM yellow bees tries to cosy upto to your Bagheera .

Have you gone on a drive on the highway to Kharagpur ( or is it till Digha) ? I found the highway to be superb ( a coupe of years back ).
Nice place to allow Bagheera to stretch its legs

[samarjitdhar]

Originally Posted by souravc

sorry to hear about the first scratch on your Vento but do note that the alloys pick up the marks quite easily - its "soft" as has been noted by quite a few of us . My personal experience has been that the paint is fantastic ( minor skirmishes do not leave a lasting mark ) and the body is also good , does not dent easily . Its another matter though if one of those HM yellow bees tries to cosy upto to your Bagheera .

This is the second scratch on the alloys. The first one being the one on the front right wheel. As you said the paint and the body does have the capacity to withstand some skirmishes as has been my experience till now but I am staying clear of all the HM bumble bees on the road .

Originally Posted by souravc

Have you gone on a drive on the highway to Kharagpur ( or is it till Digha) ? I found the highway to be superb ( a coupe of years back ).
Nice place to allow Bagheera to stretch its legs

Actually NH2 (Durgapur Expressway) going up all the way to New Delhi is way better. NH6 is okayish, with the high amount of truck traffic tends to get irritating. Then there is a bridge on NH6 across river Rupnarayan @ Kolaghat which is still being built for the past 20 years causing the old bridge being used one way periodically creating massive build up of vehicles at times. Actually Bagheera is scheduled for a trip to Mowgli's original home town, Jamshedpur using NH6 and then NH33 this month end. Sections of that road on NH33 are known to be pathetic, a true opportunity to test Bagheera fully. Will check out the GPS too during that trip.