Re: VW Passat: My pre-worshipped German workhorse Quote:
Originally Posted by Vikram Arya Congratulation for the car & a belated welcome to Canada.
A very well written initial ownership report I must say.
Please do get a good set of winter tire/wheels combo by the end of October as winter weather can be fairly nasty especially for the folks located in and around Great Lakes region. Though it is not a legal requirement in Ontario, believe me it is worth much more than what you would end up paying for those wheels/tires.
Dive safe & enjoy the new ride! |
Yes, winter tires is definitely on the buy list, have been told start looking at the end of this month and Oct beginning but unless the temp goes below 7 deg there isnt any point in putting the winter tires. I guess it also makes sense to buy steel rims so that the alloys arent damaged in any way. Quote:
Originally Posted by abhinavinc Your purchase brings me back memories of when I first drove the 2017 Passat Comfortline about two and a half years ago. The car was a daily rental from Budget and had just clocked 4500 Kms when I took it for a long weekend to Ottawa via Lindsey from Toronto.
I remember being in love with the car as I loved its timeless design, powerful 1.8 TSI engine which doesnt stop pulling along with the classy timeless interiors. I had a dream to buy this car as my first vehicle in Canada, and remember drooling about it whenever i saw it on the road. Little did I know better things were awaiting me in the next 2 years though, but to this day I still remember the joy on my face when I took it out on the 401 East.
And you are very right, this car surely can keep up with most cars on the highway all day and masks speed excellently
I am not too sure about your mileage figures and how you got them, the best I have seen on my 2017 Corolla is 5.3 L/100Km. | Quote:
Originally Posted by abhinavinc You're right about having just the liability coverage, but assuming that he has a DL address of Mississauga or Brampton will still attract higher costs, which is the sad part. If any Indian driving history gets accepted, i think the lowest he may still look at is $1500 every month!!
I got lucky, in the sense that i have a corporate discount with TD insurance and I'm paying $275 for my GLE and Corolla combined with me and my wife added as drivers. For reference I've been a G license holder since Feb 2017 and had an eight year old Indian driving license.
I'm pretty sure you guys in the States have much lower insurance costs, but hey we have free healthcare. |
German cars are drivers cars, period. I dont think anyone would argue about that. My daily commute is on the 401 from Mississauga to North York and its brings a smile to drive on the highway (of course when the traffic eases )
With regards to the insurance, I got a latest quote from my current provider and brought it down to CAD 280 a month. I guess next year it can be further down.
Is there any season to search for insurance quotes like low season or something? I wouldn't mind searching again in December. Quote:
Originally Posted by GutsyGibbon Do you have any driving history in India? Can you prove that by means of license, insurance/registration? I would recommend that you shop around.
Find out if they have defensive driver discount?
Find out if you can increase the deductible to $1000
$320 is crazy high most probably because of lack of driving history. I pay around $1600 per year for 2 cars and a bike, for 2 drivers, that is worth $100k in all (granted with good driving history). I still think you can do better, if you keep trying. Every month of driving history should make it better. All the payments you make are pro rated. Keep getting quotes every 3 months, till you drop it to around $1k per year. You can relax after that. |
Yeah CAD 320 is crazy but Ontario generally has higher insurance rates I guess somewhere we need to pay the cost of free health care. But now just last month I got it down to 280 which is still high almost 22% of the car cost. Quote:
Originally Posted by RevJ Attachment 1909526 They have even covered up the battery, not sure if its functional
In the Indian Jetta Comfortline variant has same fabric battery covers and Highline and all Passat variants have plastic closed battery cover. Ride & Handling
The ride is pretty compliant and the potholes especially the uneven manholes do not bother the car. The car comes with independent suspension on all corners with the rear being multi-link with stabilizers. What this ensures is the passengers are not jerked around on bad roads. In terms of handling, I would say it is not the best but not the worst as well. It certainly isn't in the same league as the Fiat Linea but its not bad as my previous Manza. Sweeping curves can be taken at higher than indicated speeds easily though the car loses composure on wavy roads when the rear bouncing more than I would have liked.
VW Passat and Linea or Manza is not in the same league, actually a whole big size sedan. This is an almost 5M car weighing in around 1.5 tonnes! So corner carving, well if you know how to respect the car's length. From owning a Punto for more than 7 years and 125000KM , and now a Jetta 40,000KM later- Jetta triumphs over Linea or Punto anytime. Like i said earlier watch out for the length.
For engaging the auto wipers, just leave the stalk at INT and it will work as designed. Just pour some water over the sensors, outside the front window where the IRVM is attached. |
Ok so Indian Passat has plastic housing, thats nice. Never ventured into those segments in India. Well, the stalk is in the INT mode with the INT switch completely to the right i.e. I am assuming max speed. But whenever it starts to rain the wiper doesn't start automatically. It needs to be kick-started (literally) but once the wipers start it is able to speed up or slow down based on the speed of the car. Quote:
Originally Posted by gauravdgr8 Congratulations on the buy. Happy miles ahead |
Thanks Gaurav, hope your adventures with the Brezza are going great. |