Re: UPDATE 1 YEAR AND 20200 KMS. The Laura just completed 1 year of loyal service. So I Just wanted to post some updates. 1st Service(16000kms): We had just come home from a 3000km. Maharashtra tour and dropped her off in the service station the very next day. Service had the usual jobs. Oil, Fuel, Air, AC Filters were all replaced, Engine oil changed, Brakes cleaned, etc. No Extras. The Job was done in one day and the approx. bill was Rs. 9500.
The Car was extra smooth and as good as new. I had no complaints about the service. 19600kms: There was noticeable Grinding noise from the front brakes at slow parking speeds. Only noticed this after a long drive and trying to park the car. Went to A.S.S straight away as i thought the Pads needed replacement. They opened up the brakes and showed me that the pads had easily another 15000kms of life in them. And the noise was may be to to some stones getting embedded in to them .Anyway got the brakes cleaned also the discs checked. The brakes still make the same noise. Although the brakes work as they should and functionally have not degraded, So just decided to let it go. January 5th 20200 kms: Exactly a year done. I'll point out some of the facts you would be expecting to here.: - Engine is still as refined and smooth an absolute gem. Have not had a single reliability issue. Power, Torque every things just the way it was when it was new. Gearbox functions smoothly with the exact gear shifts you expect. Having lived with it for a year, you get into full sync with the gearbox. I know exactly what to do, how much throttle to give to get the gearbox to shift my desired gear.
- All the Electronics work as it should, No failures. All knobs and switched still as firm and sturdy as they were when it was new. The build quality that initially impressed us so much is still there without the slightest hint of wear.
- The interiors have gotten a little smudged with quite a lot of stains. Have to get the interiors cleaned, I know 3M does good job so should go see them.
- The paintwork is still pretty good. Those defects i have pointed out in my previous posts, most of them were caused due to stones hitting from other cars and trucks. They are very tiny and I'm not sure if its a good idea to get them fixed with patchwork. I go to 3M once in 6 months and get their POWERSHINE package done and also polish it regularly so the sheen of the car is still there. Thinking of getting the Paint Sealant package done to remove the small amount of swirl marks and also some other minor scratches.
- The car had two major Bruises on the front fender and the passenger side bottom running board. Got them fixed at ALI's Garage, for cheap 3500 bucks. The work is excellent the paint finish mathces exactly to the rest of the car. I Don't think even the guys at skoda could do a job as good as this and not to mention cost. I highly recommend this place for any kind of bodywork. The place does not look much but don't be fooled, his clientèle includes RR evoques, mercs, bimmers (7 series).
- Had to get a puncture on the tyre fixed with some heat treatment and stuff. The OE good years are not that strong, a 10mm bolt that had pierced made quite a nasty tear on the tyre. anyway using that one as a spare now. Another 10000kms. and all five tyres will be replaced with some good michelins or yokos.
So overall there Laura has been easy maintenance till date contrary to popular belief the German marque vehicles are "high Maintenance". Also the car still drives like new and shows no signs of ageing.
I got the Philips HID 6000K for the low beams with error free ballasts. Fitting them was an easy 1 hour job. 4300k is the stock xenon color and also the brightest. I wanted a slight hint of blue so got the 6000K. It goes very well with the white body. Since the sit in projectors, they still have the same crisp cut-off so absolutely no glare.
Here are some pics. Will take some pice in the night and post it soon.
The White parking light is a w5w t10 Philips 6000k LED.
I want to activate some of the features like needle staging, coming home/leaving home lights etc. Does any one in Bangalore have Vag-COM cable that I could borrow and Know-how of the software?
Last edited by goutham_r : 19th January 2013 at 12:34.
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