[bharat4ever]

According to Greek Mythology, Artemis, daughter of Zeus, and twin sister of Apollo, was the goddess of hunting, nature and fierce independence.
She was a skillful hunter, always had hunting dogs by her side, and could out run even the fastest deer.
Her weapon of choice was the bow and arrow.

The first time I saw Artemis, when I was at the Louvre museum in Paris,
I was most struck by this statue of the goddess. The grace, and the artistry of the sculpture was excellent.
I would say more than anything, this statue alone is the most graceful thing in the museum.



And this is exactly the reason I chose this name for the Jetta.
She is a powerful hunter, but also exudes a lot of grace.
Keeps your family warm and comforted on the inside, but crunches up miles ruthlessly on the outside.
The straight lines, the timeless looks, and the sheer presence reminds me of Artemis' arrow shooting towards her prey.

More on the Jetta later. But first, time for some history.
My dad has had several cars. Started out with the Premier Padmini, 3 Maruti Suzuki 800s, an Amby, a Santro, a Dzire, and currently a Ford Ecosport.
Growing up with a dad who always had a car, this need rubbed off on me as well.
The moment I could afford something, I bought a Hyundai i10, the face lifted version.



Little did I know that I would have to travel close to 40 km per day. I started actually feeling the hole being burnt in my pocket.
With close to 35k km on the i10, I decided to get a diesel car.

I quickly switched to a diesel i-gen i20. This little gem of a car was my daily runner for close to 4 years.
An extremely under-rated car in my opinion.
Yes it had it's flaws with the soft suspension, and the light steering, but it had a great engine. Never ran out of power, and had ample torque. Ownership thread
In a way I will always miss this car. She was so reliable. I didn't have to change a single light bulb in the time I had her.
Till the day I sold her, she had run over 54k km, with ferrying me safely umpteen number of times between Mysore and Bangalore, trips to Ooty, Wayand, Chennai, Pondicherry. The list keeps growing.



In the time I had the i20, I got married, parents retired and settled with me, and I had a daughter.
And my pet Labrador wasn't getting any smaller. Woof.
I was feeling the need to get a bigger car. Not just any bigger car though.
I wanted a car which is future proof in a sense. A car which had acres of space at the back, had enough power to get away from those traffic signals, even years down the line, and a car which would give me enough confidence to take on long trips.

With all this running in my head, I went on an official visit to Germany.
Here I met Fraulein BMW 320d. I drove her for two weeks, and fell in love everyday.
I kept comparing this car to my humble i20, and decided that my next car should be at least half of what this beauty was.
I mean this car was able to do 200 kmph in the speed limit less autobahns of Germany, and also not complain when you took her at a measly 30 kmph inside the villages in France.
It had oodles of tech, and I was left discovering new features everyday. (The manual was in German).



I decided that my next car has to be a Sedan, and it has to be a sedan that the Europeans would feel right at home with.
No compact sedan, no hatchbacks masquerading as SUVs. Had to be an old school sedan.
Back home, I began the hunt for the next car. This was around February-March 2016.
I began by eliminating the cars I wouldn't like, and also merging the chosen ones into what I had as my dream car.

My dream car was initially the Civic. Ever since it was launched.
I was a kid then, and didn't know how many horses it had, or how fuel efficient it was. I just knew it looked fabulous.
Then I grew up, and decided that it had to be the Laura. Even though people snigger on hearing it's name.
Eventually both these cars got discontinued. The Laura came back as the Octy, but was brought back a tad too expensive.

Cars eliminated because it wasn't too much of a jump in horsepower from my i-gen i20 which did 89 bhp itself.
P.S. I looked only at Diesel cars. I briefly dallied with the idea of a petrol burner, but decided against it.
1. Honda City
2. VW Vento
3. Skoda Rapid

Cars eliminated because of handling.
1. Hyundai Verna
2. Hyundai Elantra
Both these cars were loaded to the gills. Both had ample power. But the handling they had was iffy.
It was the same soft suspension as my i20.
My i20 would give me the feeling that I was going sideways when I ran over a pothole at speed.
These two cars did exactly the same thing.

Cars eliminated because I didn't need so much space.
1. Toyota Innova
2. M&M XUV 500
I somehow don't like the SUV stance, and the way you sit on it when you drive.
You don't seem to drive close to the road, which irks me. Maybe I have the fear of heights. Who knows.

Cars eliminated because I wanted a true car, and not a car which is posing to be another.
1. Ecosport
2. Creta
3. Dacia, I mean Renault Duster. (Hearing Clarkson ridicule it sent shivers down the spine)

I was eventually left with a choice between the Jetta and the Octavia, or wait for another year before looking at the 20+ lakh cars.
Called all the dealers for both the Jetta and the Octavia. Only the Jetta dealers responded with test drives.
I was so impressed with the car, and the service that the sales guys were providing. I had already made up my mind.
But still held out to see how the Octavia would perform.
Here in Bangalore we have two dealers.

Dealer 1: "Sir I don't have a test drive car. But can you come with the cheque book, we can book the car"
Dealer 2: "Sir I would like to sell you a Feb 2014 manufactured car which has been lying in my yard for 2 years for God knows what reason".
Again, no test drive.

So Jetta it was then.

And then...... Arun Jaitley struck. 4% cess on all cars above 10 lakhs.
The ex-showroom of Rs. 1754000 became Rs. 1812000.
Octavia Ambition became Rs. 1892000.

I called the sales guy immediately, and asked him to give me a pre budget price, and that I would like to book a car.
He came immediately to my office with his manager, and the manager from Das Welt, to evaluate my i20.
Totally floored me with their composure and their patience. We eventually settled on an ex-showroom price of Rs. 1654000

Freebies included 4D mats.

About the car itself.

Likes
1. Very silent cabin
2. Engine does not lack in power.
3. Suspension is top notch. I have nothing to complain about after coming from an i20.
4. Tech, tech everywhere.
5. Rear bench comfort.
6. MIB 2 system.
7. 8 speakers, very good ones at that.
8. Does not compromise on safety features.
9. Excellently styled, timeless design.
10. Plastics quality is excellent.
11. Front seats have enough lumbar support, and under thigh support.
12. Back seats have excellent comfort. It's not a "bench" here.
12. Lots of storage spaces, and the boot is wide and large.
13. HU provides controls even for the bluetooth streamed media. If you switch off the car when the BT audio is playing, next time when you start the car again, it starts playing from the phone automatically.
14. MFD provides average fuel consumption, and instantaneous fuel consumption.
15. Horn is loud enough. The trumpet horn has it's respect on the road.
16. Cornering lights work as advertised.

Compromises
1. Does take some maintaining with all the beige around.
2. No navigation unit.
3. Child lock button on the driver door could have been used for the doors as well.
4. The rear looks a bit dull though, with nothing going on
5. NCT5 tyres have a lot of noise.
6. Leatherette upholstery gets hot in current Bangalore weather conditions
7. In all practicality only a child can sit in the middle seat due to the huge transmission hump and the rear AC vents jutting out.
8. HU is a touch screen unit, and changes cannot be done by 'feel'.
9. IRVM visibility is hampered by the tall parcel tray.
10. The Rear AC vents don't have a large outflow of air even with the maximum setting though.
11. App Connect is not enabled in India
12. Gear shift feels a bit notchy. Hopefully a period of running in will do some good.
13. Sunglass holder could have been felt lined.
14. Bluetooth volume is on the lower side.
15. Find that the light sensor is over sensitive. Even at the lowest setting, the lights go on at around 6 PM, when there's still a lot of sunlight left.


More in detail.

Complete booking & delivery experience with the dealership
One of the better dealers in Bangalore, Apple Auto.
The sales adviser was in constant touch with me, and provided a test drive on the same day of calling them.
Were very patient as I was haggling for a pre-budget price, and finally were able to give me the same discounts as they would on a post budget price.
No issues with PDI since they stored the car at the showroom itself.
He entertaining my numerous requests to see the car before taking delivery.
Delivery day was also a special occasion. All in all, I would rate the dealer a 5/5.
Slight negative is that the person who cleaned my car left a few marks on the roof and on the hand hold on the driver's side. I did not check it when taking delivery.
But nothing that cannot be fixed during the next interior cleaning.
Had been promised a visit by the sales advisor within 10 days to clear my doubts, but that has not happened.


On-road price & discounts
Discounts on the Ex-showroom price.
Rs. 70000 standard company offered discount.
Rs. 20000 Exchange bonus
Rs. 10000 Corporate bonus

Final OTR - Rs. 19,80000


Extended warranties & service packages
NA since this will be a lease with maintenance taken care of.


Safety & related equipment
The car comes with 6 air bags as standard. The airbags are present as per the diagram provided by VW.



Add to it ABS / EBD etc and you get a solid car with great safety features.
The doors close with a solid thud, and you can actually see the difference in the thickness of the sheet metal compared to other cars.
Comes with hill hold which doesn't allow the car to roll back on a hill when you need to stop and start.
Needs some getting used to, since there's a tendency to stall the car if you don't press the accelerator, and just rely on the torque of the car to get you moving.
Have not encountered ABS yet, but the brakes really bite.
All doors can be opened from the inside even if the car is locked by the driver.
The child lock button only works for the windows at the rear.
If you feel the need to ensure that the doors should not be opened by a child, there is a physical knob on each of the doors, which has to be turned to the locked position.
The left ORVM can be set to look at the kerb when reversing. And it returns to it's normal position once the car reaches speed going forwards.
The boot can also be opened from the inside even if the car is locked.
The car also comes with front and rear parking sensors, with the HU display displaying which sensor is freaking out. The sensitivity is pretty accurate too.
Gets coming home and leaving home headlamps. Switches on the entire headlamp instead of the parking sensors when the car is unlocked.

Number of kms at the time of writing your review
Around 1000 km.



Have driven a mix of stop and go traffic, NICE road, and the elevated highway to the Bangalore Airport.
Current Average according to the MFD is 12 kmpl for the entire 1000 km.
The average goes down to 8 in bumper to bumper traffic.
On the NICE road even on 6th gear, I am getting an average of around 18 kmpl, whereas other members here have reported around 21 kmpl.
I guess I have to accept this as my driving style, and live with it. That being said, I always got 1-2 kmpl on my previous car as well.
The car is lot of fun to drive, even if you don't exceed 2000 rpm, which I did not do for the first 1000 km.


Your usage pattern
Typically 30 km per day to and fro from office. Nowadays it's bumper to bumper for around 15 km out of this.
Weekends see me stretching the car's and my legs a bit. A drive out of the city, just for the sake of the drive.
There is also the monthly sasuraal visit to Mysore.


Comments on the exterior styling & design
Excellently styled. The straight lines will never go out of fashion.
The proportions are right everywhere without overdoing it. Also not overdone is the chrome. Tasteful.
The radiator grill slats merging seamlessly into the headlights attracts me every time I see it.
The same goes for the headlight design which merges into the bonnet crease.
Now even the comfortline gets shark fin antenna. The chrome finish is not overdone anywhere. Compared to the highline, the comfortline misses out on the chrome finish for the windows. Number plates are lit by white LED lights.







The rear looks a bit dull though, with nothing going on. It gets dual exhaust tips, but planning to get chrome exhaust tips.
The pre-facelift MK6 Jetta had a quirky tail lamp design with two separate bits which go on when you brake, and when the headlights are on.
Pic below is for comparison. I would have liked something like this for the current brake lights as well instead of one large light.



Overall build quality, fit & finish, paint quality and panel gaps
As said before, build quality is top notch, and the panel gaps are even throughout.
Paint quality is excellent, and VW offers 3 years paint protection warranty.
VW also offers 12 year anti perforation warranty. The paint itself looks rich and shines through.
This could also be a perception since it's a new car.
There is a slight rattle on the left front of the car, which another member also reported.
I am yet to narrow down on the source, before I take it to the service station.
That being said, this is the only rattle, and other than this, the car is well screwed together.


Wheels & tyres
Alloys looks good, if not as good as the Atlanta Alloys. The Sedona alloys look good in motion.
Alloys are ten spoke, with a triangular pattern, with the wheel nuts in between each triangle.
The spare is a steel wheel space saver.



Tires, the one sore point of this car. I got the NCT5 loud mouths.
I can't believe that when the car is running at 100-120 kmph, you hear tire noise, more than the engine noise.
Planning to change, but I think will keep them till i cross 20000 km.
The tire grips well, and is stable. But as members mentioned in other threads, these tires tend to harden soon and lose grip.




Interior design & quality (plastics, upholstery, fit & finish etc.)
Plastics reeks quality everywhere.
I don't know about the MK5 and I never had the chance to drive one, and how the official review says that the plastics quality have gone down a notch, but coming from an i20, which itself had fabulous plastics, the Jetta is on a different level.
There's no creaking, or any mismatch anywhere. The plastics are soft to touch, but not flimsy enough to bend or creak.
The faux wood and the piano inserts are very smooth to touch, and give a nice contrast to the rough plastics else where.
The flat bottom steering wheel gets leather wrapping. So do the handbrake lever and the gear lever.
The indicator stalks, and the knobs on the audio system and the AC feel like they will go the distance.
One quirk I always had on the i20 was that the knobs on the HU and on the ACC were different, and it looked odd. No such qualms here.
The dual zone ac gets small displays to individually display the temperature.

The car gets auto wipers, and auto headlights. There is only one sensor adjustment for both, which I find weird.
I find that the headlamp sensor is too sensitive, and the wipers need to be sensitive. Would have made sense to provide two separate adjustments.



The leatherette upholstery gets hot at times, but here again, the quality is excellent.
The beige interiors give a nice airy feel to the car, and given that this car is already long, there is no sense of claustrophobia anywhere.




Interior space & comfort...front & back (seat support, legroom, headroom & width)
The front seats provide enough comfort. Holds your back excellently, and with height, lumbar and range adjustment, you can find your sweet spot soon.
The steering wheel also provides tilt and telescopic adjustment. From a driver's point of view, everything is at arm's length.
The center armrest is wide, and provides good support. You can adjust length, and also angle for the armrest.
Cannot actually adjust the entire height of the armrest though.
The driver foot well is well wide, and never will your leg touch another pedal than the one you were supposed to.
However, the dead pedal could have been wider for a car this size.
The rear seats are where this car excels. Ample leg room, and head room. I am 5'9", and with the driver side seat adjusted for me, the rear seat passenger's knees did not touch the front seats. That is some length on this car.
The seats itself and very comfortable, with ample thigh support and back support. Rear seats cannot be adjusted though.
The middle seats also have a head rest and three point seat belts.
But in all practicality only a child can sit in the middle seat due to the huge transmission hump and the rear AC vents jutting out.
Windshield, side and rear windows get heat insulating glass.
Helps to slightly keep the heat down in a parked car, and helps the ACC get things back to comfort temperature faster.
Vanity mirrors are illuminated, and the lights turn on when the mirror lid is slid open.





Driving position, ergonomics, controls & MID
Driving position is not as low as the i20, but not too high like a SUV as well.
Height can be adjusted, and it's easy to find a good sweet spot.
All the controls are at hand, and there's no need to reach out for anything. The indicator stalks are 'correctly' placed on the left.
Reason being, your left hand is the one which moves away from the steering (to change the gear, change songs on the HU etc), and it's only logical that the left hand switches the indicator as well. The right hand has to stay glued to the steering.
The gear lever is ergonomically placed, and has a short throw. The handbrake is right behind the gear lever, but does not interfere in anyway.
The Only gripe is that the HU is a touch screen unit, and changes cannot be done by 'feel'.


Visibility & size of mirrors
Mirrors are adequately sized, with the exterior mirrors tapering slightly at the edges. The right ORVM has a slightly more curved part.
Visibility is good with the ORVM. The IRVM is auto dims when it senses bright headlights, and is very welcome as a feature. ORVMs do not have this feature. (The Octavia has it).
The IRVM's visibility is hampered by the tall parcel tray, and the rear headrests.





Air conditioner cooling & effectiveness
Air conditioning is a automatic climate control unit, with dual zone air conditioning.
The driver and the rear right passenger gets a different temperature compared to the left side of the car. Beneficial when you have a wife who chills easily.
The air vents are wide and have good throw. They also have knobs to shut off the air flow completely.
The car provides rear vents as well, but no individual temperature control.
The Air flow can be controlled for the rear vents as well. But the rear passengers felt that the air flow was not as much as the front vents.
The AC has been pretty effective considering that Bangalore is facing it's worst summer.
Was parked in the sun for 3-4 hours at Bannerghatta Zoo, and when the AC was switched on, it cooled the cabin in about 10 min.


Audio system & sound quality
The latest versions of the Jetta come with the new MIB II system. It has a very responsive UI, and the screen is crisp and has good resolution.
It is fairly visible in direct sunlight as well. Even the comfortline comes with 8 speakers (4 speakers, and 4 tweeters).
Audio is excellent with the HU able to play any time of file thrown at it. FLAC files sound really good.
The bass has a good range, and does not distort at high volumes.
The 8 speakers enhance the ambiance, and are loud enough without distortion.
I tried an mp4 video file, and it plays the audio perfectly, without any video.
Comes with a USB, AUX and SD card slot. if you have a 32 GB USB drive and a 32 GB SD card, you're set for a pan India tour without listening to one song more than once.
The HU also comes with App connect and Voice commands, both of which are disabled in India at the moment.
Balance and Fader can be adjusted using a snazzy UI and it's easy to find the right setup.
Does not come with navigation, but relays all voice commands from the phone when using eg. Google maps.
Hopefully app connect will be enabled, and we can CarPlay / Android Auto soon.









Interior storage, practicality & boot space
You have cubby holes and storage spaces everywhere in this car.
There are two cup holders, with spring loaded diameter adjustment, so that it holds the cup tight.
The driver does not get any storage space just to the right of the steering wheel though.
The glove compartment is fairly big, with a smaller compartment to hold the manual and any other papers.
The glove compartment is cooled with a vent which sends out the AC air from the left side dual zone AC and is illuminated.
All 4 doors get a 1 ltr bottle capacity slot, along with some more space to hold other things.
There's a storage space below the HU to keep your smartphone / currency notes.
The center front rest also has a storage space with a felt base. Easily can accommodate a 5" smartphone.
The boot is huge, and can hold upto 4 average sized suitcases easily. It is illuminated as well.
Gets a sunglass holder right next to the cabin lights. Could have been felt lined though. You can hear a bit of rattle, and I had to wrap the sunglasses in a cloth.




Engine performance & drive-ability in the city
With minimal NVH levels, the engine feels very refined. But depress the accelerator and notice that the car is willing to accelerate quickly.
Acceleration is adequate even in the 5th gear, but not so much in the 6th gear.
The first gear tops out pretty fast. Like it is just meant to move the car, and after that it has to be changed into the 2nd gear.
I am not sure what this effect is? Is it because of traction control?
As with any car, the 3rd gear is where the sweet spot is at. The acceleration is quick, and also car feels very nimble.
The car has very minimal turbo lag, and accelerates linearly.
Once you reach speeds in excess of 120 kmph, put the gear lever in 6th, sit back and let the cruise control take over.

But one has to be careful not to stall the engine when going over a speed breaker due to the fact that hill hold kicks in.
At 10 kmph (MFD figures) for a car of this size, it's very good. Even in stop and go traffic.


Engine performance & drive-ability on the highway
The gears are well mated, and in no time the car is doing triple digit figures.
Even at 120 kmph, the engine is thrumming along at just under 2000 rpm and still no engine noise in the cabin.
The car has cruise control which you can enable at high speeds.
In a manual transmission, if you decelerate, the cruise control accelerates until you need to change the gear.
Once the clutch lever is depressed, to change the gear, the cruise control turns off, and waits for the user to switch gears, and then enable it again.
In my opinion it's easier to enable it once the gear has been switched to 6th, and you are ready to do some actual cruising.


Gearshift & clutch
Gear shift feels a bit notchy. Hopefully a period of running in will do some good.
Clutch is light, but not lighter than my i20. After an hour of B2B traffic, I was feeling the pain in my left leg.
But in normal circumstances, nothing to worry about and everything is smooth.


Handling, on-road behaviour, grip levels, stability, body roll & turning radius
The car handles pretty well at triple digit speeds, and you do not feel that you are speeding.
Grip levels are adequate. Will be better on Yokos / Michelins.
There's no body roll when taking a high speed turn, and the car exudes confidence.
Turning radius is extremely good for a car of this size.
In highway situations, the car feels very nimble, and at no point do you feel that the car has a mind of it's own.
It reacts to every input provided, and ensures that it stays stable even when taking a high speed turn.


Steering
Steering is light since it's electronic, but it's not vague like the Hyundais.
At high speeds the steering tightens up considerably and there is enough feedback to induce confidence.
All required controls like music controls, phone controls, and cruise controls are right there on the steering. Combine this with the MFD which lets you search through recently dialed phone numbers, navigate songs, etc, the steering is quite capable.
The steering has thumb contours at 10 and 2, but I feel it comfortable holding it at the 9-3 position.
The flat bottom steering is stylish to look at. Add in the piano inserts, and it makes it a very eye-catchy steering wheel.
The Horn pad is easy to depress, and is big enough for the thumbs to reach.


Braking
The brakes really bite. All 4 discs, and they are eager to impress.
One has to be careful not to brake too fast and inconvenience the driver behind.
That being said, I noticed that the diameter of the rear disc is not big as the Cruze. I am not sure how the brakes work on the Cruze though.
The car also has brake pad wear indicator, though I cannot comment on it right now.


Ground clearance
At 160mm this is no SUV, but it's adequate. Driving around with 4 people in the car, I have been able to negotiate all speed breakers comfortably till now.


Closing lines
Artemis has to be the most overboard I have gone for a purchase. Against the better judgement of my Dad too if I may add. But once you see this beauty, and you drive it, you forget the load on your back. This car is a enthusiast's dream. And I am sure I will have fun in the years to come. If this car is atleast half as reliable as the i20 I will be very happy.

Please let me know if any specific pictures are required, I will put them up.

[GTO]

Thread moved from the Assembly Line to the Initial Ownership Section. Thanks for sharing!

Originally Posted by bharat4ever

Find that the light sensor is over sensitive. Even at the lowest setting, the lights go on at around 6 PM, when there's still a lot of sunlight left.

It's by design. Dusk is one of the most dangerous times to drive. Further, having your headlamps on improves your visibility to others.

At sunrise and before sunset the sun can shine directly into drivers’ eyes, leaving many motorists driving with a glare.

This leaves the driver’s view compromised making it much harder to see the road ahead and identify potential hazards.

At dusk / sunset your eyes must adapt to the changing level of brightness and it becomes more difficult to recognise threats to safety.

Although the sky mat still be light, the road will be darker with deep shadows and there is less contrast in colours (eg the colour of oncoming cars).

Visibility is particularly poor at dusk and dawn because natural light is reduced and it isn’t dark enough for your headlights to be 100% effective.

Source

[bharat4ever]

Originally Posted by GTO

Thread moved from the Assembly Line to the Initial Ownership Section. Thanks for sharing!



It's by design. Dusk is one of the most dangerous times to drive. Further, having your headlamps on improves your visibility to others.



Source

It's cool to drive around with headlights on during day. I've seen all of Europe doing it, but my only problem is that cabbies go crazy and keep flashing their headlights at me trying to switch them off.

And thank you GTO for approving the thread.

[sid93]

Congrats on the European Beauty. Fantastically narrated,loved reading every line. More pictures would have been helpful though And why no DSG? Just curious to know.

Btw those indicator stalks on the left are cost saving. VW didn't want to make one specifically for Right hand drive countries.Its not there for a reason. Even with DSG, I sometimes find it irritating when driving in manual mode. I guess it would be more irritating in a manual gearbox. You wont find it difficult in all situations. Suppose you encounter a speed bump before a turn, you have to downshift/upshift after the bump and then turn on the indicators. You should turn on before the bump to solve this, but most of the times you'll forget.

Anyway, am just nitpicking. Drive safe

[AYP]

Congrats on the new buy Bharat. We have the same car in the same variant, in the same colour. Though ours is the 2014 model.

Originally Posted by bharat4ever

8. HU is a touch screen unit, and changes cannot be done by 'feel'.

Well if you are missing the feel of the buttons, then I'd be happy to send you the RCD 320 in exchange for your system.

[bharat4ever]

Originally Posted by sid93

Congrats on the European Beauty. Fantastically narrated,loved reading every line. More pictures would have been helpful though And why no DSG? Just curious to know.

Btw those indicator stalks on the left are cost saving. VW didn't want to make one specifically for Right hand drive countries.Its not there for a reason. Even with DSG, I sometimes find it irritating when driving in manual mode. I guess it would be more irritating in a manual gearbox. You wont find it difficult in all situations. Suppose you encounter a speed bump before a turn, you have to downshift/upshift after the bump and then turn on the indicators. You should turn on before the bump to solve this, but most of the times you'll forget.

Anyway, am just nitpicking. Drive safe

Thank you sid.

Why no DSG? - I agree with the entire "It's easy to drive", and "It's so fast, it blows your socks off" comments about the DSG. But for me, I get immensely bored when driving an automatic. I don't get the purist car feel, and for me fun in accelerating is that pause when you switch gears. The way you used to imitate cars when running around in your backyard as a kid.
I did TD the DSG, found it really good, but wasn't drawn towards it.

About the indicators, I switch them on early, and don't see a a problem. Moreover, with the headlight switches also on the left, it makes more sense. It's easier to flash your high beam at a guy coming into your lane, while having the right arm firmly holding the steering wheel.
Doesn't hurt that I am a left hander also.

Originally Posted by AYP

Congrats on the new buy Bharat. We have the same car in the same variant, in the same colour. Though ours is the 2014 model.



Well if you are missing the feel of the buttons, then I'd be happy to send you the RCD 320 in exchange for your system.

Thank you AYP. It's a beautiful car in a beautiful color. I would like to see how the car holds up after 2 years. Can you please share a pic?

And about the MIB II system, RCD vs MIB, no no no no :P

[VW2010]

There is a slight rattle on the left front of the car, which another member also reported.

If this is internal, check the dash side cover which u can remove with your car keys and see if any thing is loose during wiring. Secondly check if there is something lose in the glove box

If external, check air intake/turbo intake. The housing sometimes is loose and makes a rattling noise.

The first gear tops out pretty fast. Like it is just meant to move the car, and after that it has to be changed into the 2nd gear.
I am not sure what this effect is? Is it because of traction control?

Not sure what you mean by tops out. The first gear is pretty decent considering the torque is very linear. You should be able to push all the way to 5-6K RPM before which the power tapers and that will give you good first gear speed. But ideally between 1.2RPM and 5RPM is where the power curve is.

The car has cruise control which you can enable at high speeds.

Any speed above 25 is enough. I almost always set it at 25 in third or second gear in city roads

At 160mm this is no SUV, but it's adequate. Driving around with 4 people in the car, I have been able to negotiate all speed breakers comfortably till now.

Only advice is if fully loaded please fill those tyres. The 160mm is adequate for most places when you dont have the mud flaps. But with mud flaps and fully loaded you will scrape those mud flaps in any speed breaker. If fully loaded you should be ok to fill upto 40psi.

[AYP]

Originally Posted by bharat4ever

Thank you AYP. It's a beautiful car in a beautiful color. I would like to see how the car holds up after 2 years. Can you please share a pic?

And about the MIB II system, RCD vs MIB, no no no no :P

We got the car in mid 2015 even though it was manufactured in Nov/Dec 2014. Got it for around 18.5 lakhs on road. So the car is not even a year old.
Attaching a few pics I have with me. They are about a month old.

The front-



The rear-



The shine in the paint-



Last but not the least, the RCD 320 -



Btw, which mats are you using? The dealer given mats are pathetic. Our Fiesta came with nice heavy rubberized mats and they are still being used with the car.

[bharat4ever]

If this is internal, check the dash side cover which u can remove with your car keys and see if any thing is loose during wiring. Secondly check if there is something lose in the glove box

If external, check air intake/turbo intake. The housing sometimes is loose and makes a rattling noise.

There's nothing to note in the glovebox. I somehow think it's inside the door. Will get it checked.

Not sure what you mean by tops out. The first gear is pretty decent considering the torque is very linear. You should be able to push all the way to 5-6K RPM before which the power tapers and that will give you good first gear speed. But ideally between 1.2RPM and 5RPM is where the power curve is.

In the first gear, after the car crosses 2.5k rpm there's no more power left. Atleast that's my feel of the car. I haven't pushed it so far to 5-6k rpm.

Only advice is if fully loaded please fill those tyres. The 160mm is adequate for most places when you dont have the mud flaps. But with mud flaps and fully loaded you will scrape those mud flaps in any speed breaker. If fully loaded you should be ok to fill upto 40psi.

Fully loaded only occurs rarely. I have filled the tires with 32 psi after the discussion we had on the review thread. I don't have mudflaps yet. Will have to procure them before the monsoon starts.

Originally Posted by AYP

We got the car in mid 2015 even though it was manufactured in Nov/Dec 2014. Got it for around 18.5 lakhs on road. So the car is not even a year old.
Attaching a few pics I have with me. They are about a month old.

Btw, which mats are you using? The dealer given mats are pathetic. Our Fiesta came with nice heavy rubberized mats and they are still being used with the car.

Thanks for the pics. That was fast! The car looks beautiful especially in bright sunlight.
The dealer gave me 4D mats for free. They're excellent and hide the dirt well. Very easy to clean as well.
My dad has these thick rubber mats on his Ecosport. I somehow always get it over the accelerator pedal and that's dangerous. Once when I was reversing the car, the car started revving super hard because the mats and get pressed against the accelerator pedal. Thankfully, and not released the clutch yet.

[Vik0728]

Originally Posted by bharat4ever

On-road price & discounts
Discounts on the Ex-showroom price.
Rs. 70000 standard company offered discount.
Rs. 20000 Exchange bonus
Rs. 10000 Corporate bonus

Final OTR - Rs. 19,80000

Congrats bharat4ever on your Greek acquisition and your Artemis looks gorgeous in that shade.

Jetta is my personal favourite in this segment though I love the Elantra's design. How I wish Elantra had the engine and 60% dynamics of the Jetta. Not that Elantra is bad, but when you pit it against Jetta, it does not feel very good.

Wish you a very happy motoring and mile munching.

Drive safe.

[Tanveer_2558]

Damm, I soo love the jetta in this colour, It surely does stand out, Thanks for the pictures of the new head-unit, RCD 510 was surely stretched for a long period of time.

For some reason i too prefer the tail lights in the pre facelift jetta, Like the new twin pod cluster too! Wish you many miles with your Artemis.

[bharat4ever]

Originally Posted by Tanveer_2558

Damm, I soo love the jetta in this colour, It surely does stand out, Thanks for the pictures of the new head-unit, RCD 510 was surely stretched for a long period of time.

For some reason i too prefer the tail lights in the pre facelift jetta, Like the new twin pod cluster too! Wish you many miles with your Artemis.

Unfortunately nowadays this colour is so common it's not funny. It's the new fad after compact SUVs.
Let me know if you need any further pictures of the car or the MIB unit. If only they would unlock App connect.

I love the cluster too. If only they'd not mentioned in the official review about the cluster tapering downwards. It's always on my mind when I look at it now.

[bharat4ever]

Found a weird bug / feature with the MIB II. Whenever you play music over Bluetooth, and then switch to radio, the volume is minimised to 0. Is this by design? Was this there in the previous HU?

[bharat4ever]

So I have been forced into the unenvious position of parking on the street.
I have seen several Ventos missing their VW logos on the back, only to see VW logos adorned on autos.
Any tips on how to stop the same thing happening to my car? Cover maybe?

[VW2010]

@bharat,

You just hope no one takes it away. If the intention is to take the logo a cover will hardly protect. Parking in your own garage is the only answer.