[nik_kapur]

Every ownership review i read, the more i love the Jetta. My only grouse remains the lack of Climate Control which i maintain is shocking for a car that costs 20L. The Vento at 10L has it !!

If the dual zone ACC is too expensive to add, they could add a simple ACC just like the one in the Jetta Hybrid that was launched in the US recently. They didnt have a single zone ACC panel earlier that could fit into the Jetta , all the euro models have the Dual zone one.

[ghostrider]

Originally Posted by reventon2010

Cars considered

Skoda Laura: To our surprise, they didn’t have a TD vehicle and didn’t even have one for display then. They showed us a laura in their workshop with the dash removed! Bad first impression. Even after many calls and visits, they never got back to us or gave us a TD. We figured, its time we looked elsewhere. Their loss.

Cruze: Took a detailed test drive of the car with me behind the wheel and dad in the back seat. Needless to stay, I was quite impressed and my dad didn’t seem too pleased. Regardless, we decided to go for it and told the SE we will be getting the LTZ MT variant as soon as we sold the skoda.

Fluence was not considered then because they only had the striped out version with diesel motor and Renault was still pretty new in India. I took a TD much later when the fully loaded diesel E4 was launched. I felt the ride quality was superb. It is similar to Jetta in terms of space but the built quality was a level or two below. On the inside, it feels more Japanese (not Toyota flimsy) than European.

PS: Corolla Altis was not considered because we already have one in the family. Though priced similar to others, I feel like it belongs in a segment lower (except the ride). There was nothing exciting about the car and felt it was a bit utilitarian and mind numbingly boring.

Congratulations, Reventon. Your decision process almost exactly mirrors the one I just went through about 3 weeks ago.

I considered all the same cars (except the Fluence because I already knew it was too base-spec for the price) and immediately rejected the Corolla because (a) it has the dullest personality of any car in the world in my opinion and (b) since I'm 100% self-driven I would have to be a masochist to buy something so underpowered.

The Jetta was rejected because although it's a great car I think VW is charging more for it than they're logically entitled to. That left me with the Cruze and the Laura.
Skoda had a lot going against it... you might be one of the few Skoda buyers I know that doesn't have his own Skoda horror story to tell, and I was extremely apprehensive of becoming another Skoda statistic. Also, i was a little cheesed at the extremely lackadaisical attitude that their sales staff had. They didn't seem to be keen to make the sale at all.

The GM dealership was better... they were extremely courteous even though the sales woman knew nothing about the car she was selling.

I finally decided on the Cruze because I'm self-driven and the car ticked all the right boxes in my checklist.

Congratulations on your Jetta. I wish you many miles of happy motoring.

[reventon2010]

What was the cause of the creaking reventon?
and how did they solve the problem?

They told me it was the door cladding, nothing serious. They just needed a little wearing in. They applied some kinda lube on it to keep it quiet (apparently its the expanding and contracting that causes this noise and it would disappear after a while usually). This wasn't a loud noise at all, infact i had to turn even the AC off to be able to hear it. Anyways, its fixed now.

Every ownership review i read, the more i love the Jetta. My only grouse remains the lack of Climate Control which i maintain is shocking for a car that costs 20L. The Vento at 10L has it !!

If the dual zone ACC is too expensive to add, they could add a simple ACC just like the one in the Jetta Hybrid that was launched in the US recently. They didnt have a single zone ACC panel earlier that could fit into the Jetta , all the euro models have the Dual zone one.

I agree with you a hundred perfect. There is absolutely no excuse for this glaring omission in a 2 million rupee car. Having said that, try the AC in the Jetta and you will never miss the ACC anymore. It cools the inside much better and faster than all my other cars that have ACC. Once you are ready to see past the lack of an "auto" button, there isn't much else to complain about.

Congratulations, Reventon. Your decision process almost exactly mirrors the one I just went through about 3 weeks ago.

I considered all the same cars (except the Fluence because I already knew it was too base-spec for the price) and immediately rejected the Corolla because (a) it has the dullest personality of any car in the world in my opinion and (b) since I'm 100% self-driven I would have to be a masochist to buy something so underpowered.

The Jetta was rejected because although it's a great car I think VW is charging more for it than they're logically entitled to. That left me with the Cruze and the Laura.
Skoda had a lot going against it... you might be one of the few Skoda buyers I know that doesn't have his own Skoda horror story to tell, and I was extremely apprehensive of becoming another Skoda statistic. Also, i was a little cheesed at the extremely lackadaisical attitude that their sales staff had. They didn't seem to be keen to make the sale at all.

The GM dealership was better... they were extremely courteous even though the sales woman knew nothing about the car she was selling.

I finally decided on the Cruze because I'm self-driven and the car ticked all the right boxes in my checklist.

Congratulations on your Jetta. I wish you many miles of happy motoring.

Thanks ghostrider. If it wasn't the Jetta, it definitely would have been Cruze. The main reason we chose Jetta over Cruze is rear seat space and comfort (read mostly the car is chauffeur driven ). The back seat of cruze was a little too upright for comfort, add to that the lack of legroom, you won't be too happy at the rear and i found the over all quality of the interior a bit disappointing. However, the car had everything else going for it. Even the dealership experience was great. I gave chevrolet a call and they brought the car to my house the very next day. During TD, the SE was quite helpful and he never complained about how long the TD was. Plus, i m sure the service cost would be much cheaper when compared to VW. Inspite of all this, i had fallen completely in love with the Jetta ( it sure is more expensive of the lot but the "premium" feel you get is unmatched).

Congrats on getting the Cruze.

[Shrek_924]

Originally Posted by noopster

With the looks of all the new VWs converging more or less, it is becoming hard to differentiate between their various offerings, especially since Skoda offers the Laura at a much more competitive price point. But the 140 BHP tuned engine with an MT to boot (not offered in the Laura) is an irresistable combination and I for one don't think the climatronic omission is a big deal (as long as the AC cools!)

This will undergo a change once Rapid increases its road presence. One of the hobbies while driving/roaming around is spotting cars. But I have sometimes been confused the Rapid and Laura, the main difference being size! Else even the rear fools the viewer to think its a Laura (from a distance). At least in this aspect the Jetta is completely different from rear and I like the different lines of tail lights at night. And with DRLs upfront, the car slightly distinguishes itself from the Vento.

All said, the VW group fad of family line of cars will continue once Skoda lines up its MissionL range of cars. Even the new Civic follows the Arrow design line. I hope it does not become the norm!

PS: Congrats noopster on becoming a moderator!

[dkaile]

Originally Posted by reventon2010

Once you are ready to see past the lack of an "auto" button, there isn't much else to complain about.

Congrats reventon on a great car.

I too am in the same boat where only the Auto AC is keeping me away from the Jetta. Because, its just not a point of rapid cooling, but the peace of mind of not touching the AC/Blower button after setting a particular temperature. The Auto AC (present even on your humble Altis) automatically keeps the temperature and the blower speed up or down depending upon the ambient temperature.

Plus I feel its overpriced by 2~3L, otherwise it would have been my sedan upgrade tomorrow. I don't see how you found the Altis boring in comparison, perhaps because it just doesn't trouble you any more, which is a tendency with European cars, to keep you involved more. It seems to be more feature filled in this segment as of now.

I also found the local VW showroom in Meerut quite pathetic in sales follow-up and service setup which is keeping me away at the moment from this good product.

[reventon2010]

I don't see how you found the Altis boring in comparison, perhaps because it just doesn't trouble you any more, which is a tendency with European cars, to keep you involved more. It seems to be more feature filled in this segment as of now.

Altis being boring had nothing to do with reliability. Infact, i had so much trouble with it we thought of selling it many times over the one year we owned the car. IMO, it is boring to look at, boring to drive (with just 88bhp, even a simple highway overtaking takes so much effort), boring to sit in (except for the ride, it just feels like a slightly more spacious honda city). If it were priced closer to 12lacs, it would've been VFM but simply does not match the competition from this class.

[nik_kapur]

Originally Posted by dkaile

Congrats reventon on a great car.

I too am in the same boat where only the Auto AC is keeping me away from the Jetta. Because, its just not a point of rapid cooling, but the peace of mind of not touching the AC/Blower button after setting a particular temperature. The Auto AC (present even on your humble Altis) automatically keeps the temperature and the blower speed up or down depending upon the ambient temperature.

Plus I feel its overpriced by 2~3L, otherwise it would have been my sedan upgrade tomorrow. I don't see how you found the Altis boring in comparison, perhaps because it just doesn't trouble you any more, which is a tendency with European cars, to keep you involved more. It seems to be more feature filled in this segment as of now.

I also found the local VW showroom in Meerut quite pathetic in sales follow-up and service setup which is keeping me away at the moment from this good product.

Completely agree sir, An automatic climate control is a well needed feature and certainly cannot be considered a luxury anymore. The guys at VW need to really think about the positioning of the Jetta as a lot of buyers like me are getting turned away because of the lack of basic features such as ACC and the 20L + Price of the Automatic. The Jetta sales are nowhere near the peak figures achieved by the Cruze and Altis in their younger days and thats a real shame considering its a better car. In India in any segment VFM is king and the reason why Cruze with relatively poor brand value in India did so well.

Also coming back to the point of good air-conditioning vs ACC. As far as i know, ACC doesn't mean better air-conditioning, it means you can set a temperature and maintain it. A non ACC unit can also be very effective.

[goutham_r]

Better late than never. Congrats on the new ride! I love the looks of the Jetta especially in white. Best car you can buy for under 30lacs. We went for the laura over the jetta at the last moment simply because the DSG was available in lower trims. I did test drive the jetta, and its an absolute fab to drive.

As for the Air-con I beleive its the same unit in the base version of the laura. The controls are all electronic not mechanical like the usual manual ACs. So its easy to adjust the aircon very finely as per your needs. It's very close to the Auto climate control, although not the same.

From where did you source the LED DRLs? If you got them online, could you share the details? I was planning on swapping the stock DRL bublbs of the laura's with white ones similar to yours. If that is possible.

[reventon2010]

Better late than never. Congrats on the new ride! I love the looks of the Jetta especially in white. Best car you can buy for under 30lacs. We went for the laura over the jetta at the last moment simply because the DSG was available in lower trims. I did test drive the jetta, and its an absolute fab to drive.

As for the Air-con I beleive its the same unit in the base version of the laura. The controls are all electronic not mechanical like the usual manual ACs. So its easy to adjust the aircon very finely as per your needs. It's very close to the Auto climate control, although not the same.

From where did you source the LED DRLs? If you got them online, could you share the details? I was planning on swapping the stock DRL bublbs of the laura's with white ones similar to yours. If that is possible.

Thanks.. I love it a little more each day. Done about 3000kms so far. Absolute joy to drive.
I got the led drls from dealextreme.com . It was pretty cheap, think it came to about $15 including shipping. If you need more specifics, feel free to ask.

[reventon2010]

UPDATE: Last week i went in to get the car inspected at 5000kms.
There was a rattle from the rear portion of the car. Turned out it was the rear air vents that was rattling. They tried to get it fixed but after every try, it seemed to be getting worse. After a while, they gave up and told me they've put in an order to replace the whole assembly, under warranty.
Apart from this, the car is driving beautifully. The road noise has reduced considerably and the FE figures have gone up slightly.
OT: while i was at EVM, i grabbed the revised price list. 21.97 lac OTR for my car now Little wonder that they havent managed to sell even a single Jetta in tvm after the price went up!

[joules]

Originally Posted by reventon2010

UPDATE: Last week i went in to get the car inspected at 5000kms.
There was a rattle from the rear portion of the car. Turned out it was the rear air vents that was rattling. They tried to get it fixed but after every try, it seemed to be getting worse. After a while, they gave up and told me they've put in an order to replace the whole assembly, under warranty.
Apart from this, the car is driving beautifully. The road noise has reduced considerably and the FE figures have gone up slightly.
OT: while i was at EVM, i grabbed the revised price list. 21.97 lac OTR for my car now Little wonder that they havent managed to sell even a single Jetta in tvm after the price went up!

Yup,you're right Reventon.The prices have hiked.There's a long waiting period -min 3months !! and so far they 're offering me only a few accessories as their discount.I was looking forward to getting one but the Laura is readily available with a pretty good discount.Tough choice.

Joules

[reventon2010]

Yup,you're right Reventon.The prices have hiked.There's a long waiting period -min 3months !! and so far they 're offering me only a few accessories as their discount.I was looking forward to getting one but the Laura is readily available with a pretty good discount.Tough choice.

It's crazy that VW seem to be determined to price themselves completely out of the competition! Having said that, if im not mistaken the laura is due for a facelift anytime soon.
What accessories are they offering you?

[ajmat]

The only saving grace of the pricing and supply is that our Jetta's are more exclusive than Mercs and BMW etc!

[DeKay]

Originally Posted by reventon2010

It's crazy that VW seem to be determined to price themselves completely out of the competition! Having said that, if im not mistaken the laura is due for a facelift anytime soon.
What accessories are they offering you?

The Laura facelift will not be here before mid 2013 or even later than that. So, its not like the current Laura doesn't make sense. If they offer a good deal, I recon it would be smart to get one soon. I will be starting test drives and dealership runs from the start of the next month since I'm planning to buy a new car in this segment, so I'll keep you updated.

[nik_kapur]

Originally Posted by DeKay

The Laura facelift will not be here before mid 2013 or even later than that. So, its not like the current Laura doesn't make sense. If they offer a good deal, I recon it would be smart to get one soon. I will be starting test drives and dealership runs from the start of the next month since I'm planning to buy a new car in this segment, so I'll keep you updated.

There is no Laura Facelift coming. In fact an all new Laura will be launched in 2013 and it will be called the Octavia (its international name). I don't think it makes sense to get a Laura now as it will lose value very fast when the new one comes out.