[souravc]

Good to see that you have at last found time off from driving and beautifying the car to write the review - congrats !
A couple of points :-
1. Why Ambi Pur ? Please read up this thread Ambipur
2. What are the tyres that you got from the dealer ? I noticed that you do not have any plans to upgrade .
cheers

[madnish30]

Originally Posted by souravc

Good to see that you have at last found time off from driving and beautifying the car to write the review - congrats !
A couple of points :-
1. Why Ambi Pur ? Please read up this thread http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/modifications-accessories/104144-ambipur-car-perfume-harmful.html
2. What are the tyres that you got from the dealer ? I noticed that you do not have any plans to upgrade .
cheers

Thanks man! You wre very instrumental in answering my questions dring the wait period and beyond

Ambi Pur cuz I got it with the car and it smells decent, will get Shaldan asap.

Accelerors? That's how you write it? Yes, no plans to upgrade/change till they wear out - don't like fiddling with stock core essentials

[souravc]

Originally Posted by madnish30

Thanks man! You wre very instrumental in answering my questions dring the wait period and beyond

My pleasure mate !

Originally Posted by madnish30

Ambi Pur cuz I got it with the car and it smells decent, will get Shaldan asap.

Throw the Ambipur, it damages plastics at the very least even if we ignore the damage it may cause to the lungs . Keep a can of deo handy till you get the Shaldan and give the insides a couple of sprays in the morning and as frequently you feel the need

Originally Posted by madnish30

Accelerors? That's how you write it? Yes, no plans to upgrade/change till they wear out - don't like fiddling with stock core essentials

Good idea , Apollos are better than JKs ( the other choice ) . I would suggest that you maintain tyre pressure at 30 psi ( maybe even 29 psi during Delhi summers) for better comfort since the acceleres are a bit on the stiffer side

[madnish30]

Originally Posted by souravc

My pleasure mate !


Throw the Ambipur, it damages plastics at the very least even if we ignore the damage it may cause to the lungs . Keep a can of deo handy till you get the Shaldan and give the insides a couple of sprays in the morning and as frequently you feel the need



Good idea , Apollos are better than JKs ( the other choice ) . I would suggest that you maintain tyre pressure at 30 psi ( maybe even 29 psi during Delhi summers) for better comfort since the acceleres are a bit on the stiffer side

Good thing or rather bad - however one looks at it - Ambi Pur is almost over, shall go out tomorrow morning itself - it anyways is a misfit on the dumb AC vents on the Vento.

Right now I maintain 32 on all 4 - shall reduce to 30 on all 4, will this make this ride less bumpy?

[nitinralli]

Originally Posted by madnish30

[i][*]Never experienced Ford, heard both good and bad stuff - never driven a Ford before, but I do like how the new Fiesta looks. Went to Harpreet Ford - decent salesperson, well informed - lacked enthusiam, but that was fine - immediately offered me a TD in AT Petrol - as Diesel MT I refused, since I had not driven a MT for almost 6 months, did not want to risk it on a demo car. Liked the drive, lacks power and the punch - but otherwise comfortable, very good handling and suspension. Interiors are very subjective - I liked them - but then as a third car in the house, interiors don't really match up to the elegance of other two cars in the garage, they are too sporty. But full points to Ford, very nice car. Fiesta remained a contender, till I TD'd the Vento - more on that later

Now this is not fair. You tested Fiesta petrol, that too auto and then compared it to all Diesels out there. Please dont mind my comment just that i feel that its little unfair to do this. New Fiesta Diesel is one of the best diesel engine available and Fiesta Classic had the best Petrol engine.
But then, Vento is indeed a nice choice and one of my fav too. Congrats on your new toy

[madnish30]

Originally Posted by nitinralli

Now this is not fair. You tested Fiesta petrol, that too auto and then compared it to all Diesels out there. Please dont mind my comment just that i feel that its little unfair to do this. New Fiesta Diesel is one of the best diesel engine available and Fiesta Classic had the best Petrol engine.
But then, Vento is indeed a nice choice and one of my fav too. Congrats on your new toy

I know it's unfair but, Ford's loss that they din't have a diesel TD vehicle and that their dealer's floorspace looked so outdated and unappealing. Also, the Fiesta itself was not appealing to me, especially the greys inside - also the looks, not for me! It was just a formality to TD it and just needed an excuse to check it off

Thanks mate!

[nileshch]

Congratulations for the silver surfer! A very well balanced and detailed review. Like the fact that you have exactly the same views as mine on the design front. Though I got my car before the Verna was launched, I was really happy with my purchase even when the Verna was announced. Personally I hate the garish and over-bold design of the Fluidic. It will be out of fashion soon. The best view of the Vento is from the side profile. Such a balanced look! Love the teutonics for just this. Understated beauties.

[vb-saan]

Congratulations Madnish, and thanks for the excellent review.

And now the Vento looks pretty well-loaded with steering mount controls, leather seats** etc. The beige part on the door panels – are those leather or fabric?

Drive safe, and yes – nice choice of colour

** VW has explicitly mentioned the seats as Leatherette (for both Vento and Jetta), whereas for some other brands, the manufacturers either advertises as Leather, or give a fancy name instead.
I remember reading in one of the ownership thread of Honda City that the leather seats in the top variant is actually artificial leather, and some variants of Merc C have ARTICO man-made leather, which again is a fancy term for artificial leather (not sure what came with your C250).

[souravc]

Originally Posted by madnish30

Right now I maintain 32 on all 4 - shall reduce to 30 on all 4, will this make this ride less bumpy?

Yes reducing it to 30 will make the ride softer . Apollos are stiffer tyres than Yokos or Michelins so are comparatively more bumpy but they have much better sidewall strength as compared to Yokos / Michs - personally I have experienced and suffered the consequence of the Yokos softer sidewalls so I am talking from my own experience. Given that Delhi roads are in a much much better state than that in Mumbai , you would enjoy a better ride with 30 . I am assuming here that the car won't be fully loaded else you should take it back upto 32 . Fiddling around with the tyre pressure according to the load and the weather does help in improving further the ride quality of the Vento

In my car the tyres (3 Yokos and 1 Michelin) are nitrogen filled alongwith a tyre fill for puncture protection thus allowing me to maintain 30 throughout

[madnish30]

Originally Posted by nileshch

Congratulations for the silver surfer! A very well balanced and detailed review. Like the fact that you have exactly the same views as mine on the design front. Though I got my car before the Verna was launched, I was really happy with my purchase even when the Verna was announced. Personally I hate the garish and over-bold design of the Fluidic. It will be out of fashion soon. The best view of the Vento is from the side profile. Such a balanced look! Love the teutonics for just this. Understated beauties.

The looks and gadgetry in the Verna is to please the mass Indian audience who want more for less, bluetooth, camera, wood pannels all of that makes them happy about their car - nothing wrong there, but I guess we are the minority of exceptions who chose elegance over quantity of features.

Happy revving

Originally Posted by vb-san

Congratulations Madnish, and thanks for the excellent review.

And now the Vento looks pretty well-loaded with steering mount controls, leather seats** etc. The beige part on the door panels – are those leather or fabric?

Drive safe, and yes – nice choice of colour

** VW has explicitly mentioned the seats as Leatherette (for both Vento and Jetta), whereas for some other brands, the manufacturers either advertises as Leather, or give a fancy name instead.
I remember reading in one of the ownership thread of Honda City that the leather seats in the top variant is actually artificial leather, and some variants of Merc C have ARTICO man-made leather, which again is a fancy term for artificial leather (not sure what came with your C250).

Thanks buddy! The door panels' beige part is neither fabric nor leather - it's softened pastic, same as the grey one around it - just a little softer - I prefer this to fabric as this is much better for daily usage like mine - easier to clean with wet cloth, fabric once stained is an eye sore! Leather is another league!

My C250 is Elegance version - which comes with actual leather - the sporty avantgarade trim comes with the ARTICO leatherette.

I personally think the seats are perfect for daily rough usage, once they get dirty - which they will - just need a good dry clean. The effort of cleaning is worth the lovely beige! The greys and blacks are just too gaudy!

Originally Posted by souravc

Yes reducing it to 30 will make the ride softer . Apollos are stiffer tyres than Yokos or Michelins so are comparatively more bumpy but they have much better sidewall strength as compared to Yokos / Michs - personally I have experienced and suffered the consequence of the Yokos softer sidewalls so I am talking from my own experience. Given that Delhi roads are in a much much better state than that in Mumbai , you would enjoy a better ride with 30 . I am assuming here that the car won't be fully loaded else you should take it back upto 32 . Fiddling around with the tyre pressure according to the load and the weather does help in improving further the ride quality of the Vento

In my car the tyres (3 Yokos and 1 Michelin) are nitrogen filled alongwith a tyre fill for puncture protection thus allowing me to maintain 30 throughout

Interesting tips! I will reduce the pressure to 30 in all tomorrow and then seal the tyres with valves which should also arrive tomorrow Is it correct that the valves need to be removed in order to fill air or for someone to even deflate? Which means mischief mongers can not deflate the tyres with the valves on?

[mkpiyengar]

Originally Posted by vb-san

I remember reading in one of the ownership thread of Honda City that the leather seats in the top variant is actually artificial leather,.

On the Honda City the Exclusive variant with leather seats are from Stanley but entry level range. In this range the front portion in contact with body is leather and rest is artificial leather.

Also, it is factory fitted and so the effective price might be quite less than what they charge. In other words you could get full leather seats of your choice and better quality outside for same price.

Cheers
MKPI

[souravc]

Originally Posted by madnish30

Is it correct that the valves need to be removed in order to fill air or for someone to even deflate? Which means mischief mongers can not deflate the tyres with the valves on?

Valves are normal ones like usual cars I guess - I am sure anyone can deflate my cars tyres at will

[madnish30]

Got the accessories delivered! Will fit them tomorrow morning and get some pictures too

[madnish30]

Little update here - after the Himalayn journey a month ago - took the Silver surfer to Agra for a day trip! A little spin on the Yamuna Expressway - the speeds I touched I won't be discussing here as it's against the rules and law - but the car was solid on ground at speeds beyond 150KMPH - which was surprising. Had a peacock cross because of which I had to jam the brakes at around 130KMPH and steer left cuz of which ABS kicked in but the car stopped dead, I just panicked cuz of the co-pax panicking and steered away instead of speeding and crossing the peacock safely (which was possible, but don't know how the peacock would have reacted).

What should one do when an animal comes out of nowhere? I saw lots of dead dogs on the way- I wouldn't want to kill a Peacock - but i'm wondering when these animals come out of nowhere and you are at high speeds what is better running over or steering away and jamming the brakes? Not always possible to steer cuz of oncoming traffic... comments?

[madnish30]

Little update.

The car completed a year, this June, it has done 21,000 kms. In the one year the silver surfer underwent the following - one service, one body shop visit (change of both bumpers).

Now, it has antenna missing and broken windshield, time to visit the ASC again. Also, the mileage has been ~13kmpl, not greater, not sure if it's my driving style or the traffic - but that's the average mileage I'm getting.

So far, very happy with VW and the car both, only sometimes wish I had a polo, small scrapes and scratches all over because of insane traffic and tight parking spots is just disheartening.