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-   -   The VW Vento TDi Highline: 2 Year, 30K Update (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-drives-initial-ownership-reports/121611-vw-vento-tdi-highline-2-year-30k-update-3.html)

HI, how much did you pay for the door strips?

So after almost 4 months I managed to complete 5K on my White Beauty.

A quick round up on the good, bad and the ugly so far.

The Good
1. I love the ride quality, I survived the monsoon ridden roads way better than swift did.
2. Fuel Economy, I get a regular 16 Kmpl on the daily city drives. I got an astonishing 22 Kmpl on a Mumbai - Pune run with Air con on all the time.
3. The feeling of solidity.
4. Its the little things that only germans do. I noticed this filter in the wind-shield washer pipe.




The Bad
1. The squeaks, I just cannot fathom how VW just cannot solve this issue.
2. Rear suspension crashes if you drive any faster than a snail.:Frustrati
3. The Sound system is getting to me. Need to assemble funds for Speaker transplant ASAP.

The Ugly
1. The Dings, you just cant escape them.
2. After Sales Service, VW needs a lot of catching up to do if the need to maintain their percieved Superiority to continue. Hell even Nissan is catching up, the Micra serivice centre has improved leaps and bounds since I last went.

So Its been three months since Jehangir at Kamyo worked his magic and the monsoon was not too kind either. Plus a white car is a magnet for tar spots. the whole car was just blanketed by them. I took this opportunity to get the Micra also to be detailed (Just completed a Year with it) and let the pictures speak for themselves.

First the Micra. Frankly One of the few times I regret buying a white car. The colour is just not flattering enough after a detailing session. The Micra's paint was just melting after the session.














And A few of the Vento

A Before and after pic of the engine bay




Some Sticker Love
















Once again Jehangir has really worked his magic and left me impressed. I am glad I took the AMC plan with him. clap:

I agree with you on all the points put up by you and Germans with their attention to small thing & sheer driving pleasure can never be matched by their counterparts.

Few Q's, regarding the detailing by Kamyo:
1. How did the clean the engine bay? Did they pressure wash Vento's engine bay?
2. Which product did they use on the engine bay compartment for the gloss?

Thanks for the update.

Hi,

I don't exactly remember how he cleaned the bay (lots of brushes though), but it was definitely not pressure wash.

As for the product for engine bay, will check and get back to you.

Sid

So I recently completed a 3,600 Km round trip from Mumbai to Delhi and back in the Vento. Some Obervations / Reservations

1. A Huge thanks to fellow member @hvkumar for his super detailed excel sheet on the route. I never used the GPS on the entire trip.

2. Trip Summary :
Total distance traveled : 3600 (+/- 100Kms)
Total Fuel Consumed : 175 L
Average : 20.5 Kmpl
Total Toll Paid (both Ways) :INR 2400 (Approx)

3. Car Performance
You can call the Vento under equipped / Bland looking / not VFM but one thing you just cannot take away from this car is the way this car handles and rides on the highway. While the highway to delhi was good (not potholed) it was far from perfect, I am completely blown away the way this car holds the tarmac and masks speed. While the ride is on the softer side, it never felt floaty or super firm, I think VW got this part spot on.

A few cribs if I had any was the squeaks which just refuse to die:Frustrati and I feel that while the paint quality is amazing it is just a bit on the soft side for our environmental / road scenarios.

The car just performed flawlessly, in fact on my return trip I had my parents for company who are very fussy about long rides and insist on breaks every 2 hrs, did not even realize that two hours are up on account of the ride quality.

4. Road Report
I have to admit the roads throughout Gujarat were amazing, smooth tarmac (not the cemented crap) all the way and impeccable road manners by most drivers, one flash and the let you pass.

All this changes the minute you cross into the Jaipur expressway all the way to Delhi, no rules, rampant road rage and simply no one wants to give away. I was bullied on the road by to mahindra commander drivers as I took an extra 10 seconds to give them way (Actually I was surprised how mush speed these things can do, don't know how well the scrub them off though).

But overall great roads except the Haryana stretch where a lot of diversions are there on account of flyover constructions.

5. Pre Trip Checks

At around 6000 Kms I did a oil topup with the car taking in around 650 -700 ml of oil. Tyre pressure was 32psi when solo, and 34psi Front and 36 Psi Rear when fully loaded.

My Summary after this drive?
Today at 9800 Kms, the more I drive this car, the more I respect German engineering and but I am equally baffled at some of the obvious oversights by them. Coming from a family of Maruti's (we also have an 2011 Alko K10 and 2012 Dzire Vdi all in white) you realize what build quality is (My mom had a tough time adjusting to closing doors on the Vento, now she ends up slamming the door of the Maruti unintentionally:uncontrol) , especially if you drive both back to back.

And Yes I need to upgrade my music system soon, I picked up a pair of Focal Integrations for the rear set. On the lookout for a good pair of components to pair with the OEM HU. Any Suggestions?


Cheers,
Sid

The RCD310 is a 4 speaker system i suppose? And what components are you exactly reffering to?

So the round trip to delhi gave the Vento its own set of scars (a few stone chips) but apart from that the car was just dirty. So Jehangir was requested to work his magic and work he did. I'll let the pics do the talking.















































Even He/She liked it


The Parting shot of the Bhp Twins

My apologies in advance for the n00b question that will follow. I bought the cable above from the seller. Now the right side of the cable (the one with the arrow mark), snaps perfectly into my iPod Nano's terminus. The other end however does not connect into the USB cable that is present in the Vento's glove box. Am I missing some sort of intermediary cable here?

I think you need to remove the USB cable to use the ipod cable you've bought. It should be simple plug and play then

As joslicx said You need to unplug the original USB cable and plug in the new one. I will upload a pic tomorrow if you want.

Sid

I tried removing it but was unsuccessful. I guess I was not doing it right. Let me try again tomorrow.

Press the clip on the top side of the adapter and gently pull it out.

Check the pic below, you have to press this clip in the already inserted adapter. And apologies for the poor photoshop job







Sid

Was able to remove the old cable and put in the new one. Thanks.

So after 10 Months of a pretty eventful ownership which included :-

• A Mumbai - Delhi Solo Trip
• A Mumbai - Goa Trip (Both NH17 and NH4 Used)
• Numerous Mumbai - Pune trips
• And the daily Mumbai traffic Slogs:Frustrati

My Vento completed its 15k Milestone and was due for service. The last 1000km were spent on the glorious Mumbai - Goa NH-17 highway (which BTW is in great shape)(I have a few I car videos of the ghats) which made me appreciate the car to a new level and a sworn petrol head :uncontrol appreciate diesels esp, VW diesels even more.

This car epitomizes what Germans do best fast, well built, efficient , utterly logical if you see the way ze Germans see. The last 15k have been hassle free and more importantly rattle free (well once you have figured out a way for the door squeaks).

The only niggle I had was a persistent squeak which I heard from the left side when I went over any hump or bad road over slow speeds.

The service appointment was booked with Downtown VW's Lal Baug workshop. I had double checked which service center to go to because my colleagues Polo 1.6 was serviced at the sewri workshop. I preferred the Sewri location as it is definitely less chaotic than the lal baug one. Despite Me being the first customer at 9 am, it still took them an hour to finally take the car in.

Interestingly my car had no service bulletins according to its VIN series. No Seat frames, no Steering Column wiring sleeving or Engine Mount replacement. (all these were done on my colleagues Polo 1.6).

My complaint on the left door noise was eventually addressed as an Engine (pic attached) and Gearbox Mount replacement under warranty which is apparently a new design, my persistent questioning as to why this is not being treated as a service campaign as this is common complaint in Polo/Vento cars was answered as a case to case replacement only with customer complaints.

Some Post Service Comments

• The car was not cleaned properly (I guess it is unfair to compare them to Kamyo but come on) stain marks on the seat etc.
• Despite my specific request for tyre rotation, this was not done claiming as it was not needed. Alignment and Balancing was done.
• Should I still get rotation done?
• Rs. 727 for VAS Scanning, are you kidding me?

Post Service Drive

• May be it is the engine mounts, may be it is just me but the car just feels incredibly smooth.
• Anyone who has been to the lal baug service center, knows the Special stage approach road felt way better going out than what it was coming in.
• My daily drive over the sea-link feels much better, the engine feels free-er, revs way more easily.
• Now the damn Apollos seem incredibly loud.

Other Statistics till date

Total Mileage till date : 15425 Kms
Total Fuel Consumed : 891 Lts
Average Fuel Economy : 15 Kmpl

Now the only thing bugging me is the Car Audio. Changes coming up. Stay tuned.

Some Pics of the invoice and the other consumables




New Engine Mount

(Interestingly its Skoda made)







Cheers
Sid

:eek: What is with this "Vehicle front + rear measured" for INR 414/- ? Is it a precision job?

A couple and more of noob questions from me (open to everybody) :
- can the WA/WB be requested by the customer to be done from outside?
- is the VAS scanning a compulsory from VW under the 15k service or have you complained about anything related?
- was the A/C disinfection a request job?
- is the engine mounts hydraulic or rubber?
- can we DIY a air-filter cleaning (before it is replaced at 15k) or can it be opened by the ASC only?