[akshay4587]

Originally Posted by Gannu_1

Woah, so the new mirror assembly with the electric folding and indicators cost only Rs. 5800? Now that seems cheap to me! Or did they reuse any parts from the stock assembly?

I think it would be all new; considering Polo's electric adjustment one costs like ~2000 bucks.

[Raneeth]

Originally Posted by execve

Basically one then needs to start booking for the appointment almost 3 weeks before the actual service! Thats quite a long waiting time -- and for me coming from the M.A.S.S where I used to just drive in without an appointment, it will take a bit of digesting!




Yes, I would say that I have also been lucky that there wasnt bigger damage. For the door problem, is there some alignment issue - how does the alignment seem with the frame of the body when the door is closed ? Quite surprising that the door doesnt open at all. Hope you are able to sort this one out - would be extremely inconvenient. Of course, if the passenger is a lady, you can always do a show of chivalry ;-).

Yes the chivalry part is keeping me occupied. The alignment seems to be fine. The two times they sorted it, they put some lever back into place which they claim is moving out of position. Why it should move out of position in a 3 month car is what no one knows. Pretty annoying.

Also, in my Polo, a feather touch on any open door used to close it with a thud. Not the same in this. Wonder why so. Checked out other cars in the showroom and they seemed OK.

[execve]

Guess what the mailman got today




Now to decide what goes where

[execve]

To Wash or not to wash!

With my previous car, I have had the apartment cleaner wash my car on a daily basis ; but after purchasing the Vento, I have stopped that- also triggered by the fact that he pulled the wiper on day 2 making a small scratch on the inside of the bonnet. Most of the times, I have used the Jopasu duster and then done wiping of the glass area with some glass cleaning liquid (currently using Sonax Clearview 1:100 concentrate) and interiors with 3M Auto speciality dashboard dresser. These are now products that I have just started to experiment with.

Bangalore has been having consistent rains for many weeks now -- and the car has become very very dirty. With me being busy at work, I could not find enough time to clean the car myself or get it cleaned externally! I myself would not have much opinion of someone whose car is so filthy!

Around a month back, I had gone to 3M (Sarjapur Road outlet) and done the Paint Sealant package on the car ; today I went for a car wash.


Before: Clearly very very filthy!


After a solid spray of water with the water gun - wheels and tyres.

Foam sprayed with the foam gun and then the boys start cleaning

And now after the second round of water wash and cleaning

After all the cleaning, dry vaccuuming and interior wipedown



Isn't this is a pleasant sight


Note the new decorations on the steed!

Overall a great experience; two issues worth mentioning:

• As always, I now noticed more scratches on the car -- some of which I really wonder how they have come
• Also as I my experience in the past so many years, whenever I do an external wash or service, it always rains - so my car could only be like this for couple of hours -- and now covered in rain drop spots and dust

[execve]

Update to this thread. I have really been itching to take the Vento out on a longer trip - and finally in the last few days this happened when we had a 4 day holiday to Pondicherry

I started working on a travelogue, but once started am not sure if it will see the light of day - but it is more important to document the experience of the ride here.

The Vento performed splendidly throughout the journey. I consider myself as one who drives at more realistic speeds keeping some margin for error for all the things that can go wrong on our roads. Where the roads were excellent 6-lane national highways, I could maintain a reasonable speed of 100-110 kmph at the same time giving sufficient time to react. Otherwise around 80-90 on the good two-laners.

Total distance of the trip including the local sight-seeing was ~1090; distance of Blr-Pondi is ~365 kms. I know the total isnt much by what some of the members have done but it is my personal best.

Most of the journey was done in the Drive-mode with switching to Sport only if I needed a special boost like a quick overtake or getting onto the highway and building speed fast. Otherwise I found Sport mode too noisy for my liking especially at the higher speeds. The DSG would settle down very quickly into D7.

One feature that I have to talk about in this post - Cruise Control. Wow Wow Wow. I did not expect it would be so useful - but I found it tremendously useful to relax my right leg on those longer straight stretches and found that I could drive for a much longer time without a break than the Wagon-R. What is even more special about the cruise control is when it is combined with the DSG - it works simply brilliantly. I also noticed another feature of it - I had cruise control enabled and was now going downhill - straight road with very gradual turns and I notice that the DSG has now shifted to D5 since the current speed is higher (do not know what is the exact margin when this is triggered) than the set cruise speed. This was a revelation to me since I always thought that the CC module would only turn off the accelerator and would not influence braking in any way. This actually even adds an additional element of safety to the car.

Compared to the previous drives (on the Wagon-R), this time I noticed that there were very few cars that were overtaking me - and I could maintain a good pace. At near 120 kmph the engine is running at 2100 RPM (redline starts at ~5000 RPM).


Parked in White Town near MG Road area while we went for breakfast

Summary:

• Car feels well planted - very stable at higher speeds, though I didnt push much beyond the mentioend speeds above.
• Tyre noise is much more audible now - especially after one crosses 80kmph. I need to run through these stock ones and then switch to a better set.
• Wind noise is also prominent after 80-90 kmph; so overall cabin noise level is quite high if you are driving at the higher speeds for e.g., 120 kmph
• Couple of occassions of hard braking - never triggered the ABS, but felt confident with the braking
• DSG - wow! Quick shifts - I never felt any lag of the diesel engine during the trip
• Cruise Control - double wow!
• This car is meant for these kind of open roads and not the rotting bangalore roads; I need to make these road trips happen more often!

Total mileage is now ~3800 kms and nearing 3 months of ownership.

And finally the first fuel economy report:
FE with the horrible B2B Bangalore traffic has been quite bad ~12-13 kmpl
However during this trip, one can see the Vento shine - with a 20+ average. The best I saw on the MID was a little over 23.

[csnanjappa]

Originally Posted by execve

Update to this thread. I have really been itching to take the Vento out on a longer trip - and finally in the last few days this

Very good interim report , just wanted to check if the low ground clearance is helping is causing any issues in Bangalore roads

[execve]

Originally Posted by csnanjappa

Very good interim report , just wanted to check if the low ground clearance is helping is causing any issues in Bangalore roads

Thank you. It is time for another one, will try to put an update in the next few days.

In general no. I must also say that it is rarely that my car is fully loaded for e.g., with even 4 passengers - but I have had a total of 2-3 occassions of a brush with the unscientific humps on the Bangalore roads. Big potholes need to navigated at slow speeds and carefully ; but this is business as usual in Bangalore

I have also heard the infamous suspension thud sound few times while going over a smaller pothole but it has always been when I have been at a higher speed than I should have been on.

[execve]

One update about the engine oil experience with my Vento as you can see the title of this post.

This was around two months back after I had completed my Pondicherry trip.
I probably should have checked it before the trip, but only did after. No excuses, but in my previous car I have never ever checked for the engine oil level!

So I go down to the basement and check the engine oil.. car must have been at around 3600 kms. And I get the shock of my life - the oil level is almost at the minimum.

Started then reading about the oil the car needs and picked up a can from VW Whitefield. A 1l can costed 970/-. Bought a small plastic funnel and then went through the exercise of pouring the oil. I must have put in around 0.5l - cannot be sure, but left it at that. I do not have a picture of the dipstick before the top-up, but only after ; but I drew an arrow to give some idea. Now the pictures.




B4 or OE - I could not figure out from the posts in T-BHP, but finally asked the service dept lady and one of the supervisors and they said that the OE is the only one they have.



The only reason I can put to this kind of oil consumption is the heavy bumper-to-bumper traffic in BLR that I drive through. Long idling and crawling average speeds. Not sure if other members / owners have had similar experiences.

Next - in around a month my Vento needs to visit the ASS - I have absolutely no issues or complaints; so really hope that nothing goes wrong with that "check up" visit.

[ff1609]

Originally Posted by execve

So I go down to the basement and check the engine oil.. car must have been at around 3600 kms. And I get the shock of my life - the oil level is almost at the minimum.

Hi, Any updates on this? Did you experience low oil levels ever again? How many kms have you covered, how has the experience with DSG been? Also isnt the idling vibration a bit too intrusive and uneven compared to even the likes of smaller swift and etios diesels? Sorry about the multiple questions but asking because I bought a tdi dsg two weeks ago and not happy with the idling vibration and loud thud on smallest of potholes.

[execve]

Originally Posted by ff1609

Hi, Any updates on this? Did you experience low oil levels ever again? How many kms have you covered, how has the experience with DSG been? Also isnt the idling vibration a bit too intrusive and uneven compared to even the likes of smaller swift and etios diesels? Sorry about the multiple questions but asking because I bought a tdi dsg two weeks ago and not happy with the idling vibration and loud thud on smallest of potholes.

Apologies about the delay on the reply!
Currently I am in the 3rd year of ownership, nearing 27k kms, and it is going good. I havent had a great experience with the 2 services done, however - the car is running well. I did my last service around September'17, and they made a software update which I could not avoid since I have the extended warranty and did not want to risk that. Ever since that, there is a louder growl which comes as soon as you press the accelerator. If you press it very gently (almost feather touch) then you might notice it but anything more and you are sure to notice it. And yes, the engine is more audible since that. THis was something that the SA warned me about, but honestly I am able to live with it - I dont want to again spend the day in the Service center and risk that something is screwed up.

The Service Centre guys also told me that after around 7k kms, you will need to top up the engine oil. I didn't do this between year 1-2; however recently I noticed that the oil level has dropped and is just a few mms above the minimum level. So I purchased another can of oil and topped it up approximately. I think this is something worth checking every 4-5 months.

In terms of other news, have made many trips with the car - multiple trips to Goa, and other places in Karnataka. Overall I am very happy with it.

I will try to write up more about some of those trips and experiences - and also put up some pictures