[Phukan23]

I drive a Grand i10 Petrol manual. It can clear any speed breaker in 2nd gear just with the clutch, no slipping of clutch is required while clearing the speed breaker. How's with the Vento? As it has quite a bit of turbo lag, can it clear without any accelerator input at 2nd gear?

[travelwriter]

Preface

I bought the VW Vento 1-litre, TSi, Highline Plus AT in August 2021 and since then have only been driving it in the city. I got a chance to take it on a long drive earlier this week and felt it the right time to post a review.

Let me start with the expectations I had before buying the car and my priorities.
1. I wanted a petrol car for the smoothness of the engine
2. I wanted a safe car
3. I wanted a sedan for the boot space
4. I wanted good performance (handling, cornering)
5. I did not consider in-car gizmos at all as long as they came with minimum ones
6. Honestly, I did not look beyond VW and Skoda since my last car was a VW.

Here is the review. At the outset, let me apologise for not posting pictures; I am too lazy to do that.

Review aspect 1 - The car build and interior quality.

Nothing to complain here. Nice heavy doors and body that inspire confidence, good space for the driver and passenger, good space for rear seat passengers who are up to 6'2" (my son is that tall already).

The steering is great to hold and it is quite easy to find the right seat setting in terms of height and reach. The steering wheel can also be adjusted which makes it even more convenient.Internal storage is decent. The glove box is spacious and the door pockets are very functional. The arm rest comes with some space, too. Front seats have pockets in the back for documents. My earlier VW came with a small box right below the headlight switch which is missing here; that would have been really good.

Back seats are very comfortable as per my family. The car stereo system is good and the sound delivered is really up to mark. I do not intend changing it any time soon.

There are constant rattles from the plastic parts - more like creaking sounds - which is a slight bother. The arm rest is a hindrance for the front brake lever as also when you want to slot the gear lever into S mode. However, it is a great place to rest your elbow during long drives.

Another feature that I really missed is auto folding external mirrors when locking remotely. I can roll up the windows using the remote but I cannot fold mirrors. That, I feel, is a miss in an otherwise decently appointed car.

Review aspect 2 - Boot space, parking ease and looks.

Full marks to the Vento on the boot space. There is enough space for 2 large suitcases and at least 4 backpacks and quite a few smaller bags. The boot does not have nets, though. All the articles tend to slide here and there when driving and braking.

Parking the car in tight city parking spaces isn't all that difficult. It is at such times that the Vento feels like a Polo. The internal camera does a good job even at night on dark roads / places and gives accurate distance from objects.

The looks, while subjective, does not disappoint. It does exude a feeling of premium-ness and does command attention. It is this understated design that actually made me move away from Skoda Rapid.

Review aspect 3 - Driving aids and features.

You have everything you would need in normal driving scenarios. You have lane change indicators, dead pedal, well sized brake and throttle pedals, auto-dimming IRVM, very good headlights with auto-leveling feature, rain sensing wipers, one-touch windows roll up and down, anti-pinch windows, boot open button on remote key fob and cruise control.

The cruise control is not really user friendly, I found. In my earlier car, it was a lever stalk and I could set the speed at any level while driving. Here, the buttons are quite small and requires some attention while setting speeds. Does it work well? Certainly, yes. Can it be improved? Most certainly, yes.

Review aspect 4 - Driving, performance and mileage.

City driving is really, really easy. Now, my driving style is a bit on the staid side. I don't push the car to its limits or try to redline it at every given opportunity. But in a city scenario, the most important thing for me is power to overtake at any moment, speed and acceleration when required and safe braking. My Vento really scores high on all these aspects. All this in the D mode. On bends and curves, I do not have to reduce speeds at all. The car just sticks to the tarmac (haven't yet tried turning the traction off) and I feel really safe and confident. The crawl function felt quite aggressive in the beginning but I quickly got used to it; no longer a bother.

There is one irritant, though.

The power comes in only at 2200-2300 RPM levels. So, when I am starting off from stationary, it takes about 2 seconds before the engine reads the throttle input. This lag is also quite prominent when the gear drops to a lower setting. I guess I just have to time it properly or get used to it.

The story in S mode is quite different. It seems like a different car in the S mode. The turbo lag disappears, overtaking in city traffic is a breeze, starting off from total halt is exciting and the gear changes are delayed to the last minute. It is great fun and quite addictive. The car feels more powerful in S mode and I have actually left some cars behind in my test runs (Creta, Honda City, Toyota Altis, Verna, Ciaz and, in one instance, Harrier).

The mileage is as expected - 10.2 kms to the litre in the city which drops down to about 9.4 if I frequently use the S mode. I am good with these figures and am glad I did not make mileage a criterion while choosing a car.

Review aspect 5 - driving, performance and mileage on the highway.

If I found the Vento up to expectations in the city, on the highway, it made me grin and smile all the way. Reaching speeds to 120+ was easy and did not take much effort and there was no drama like screaming engines, punch in the stomach or getting pinned to the seat. Straight line driving was super easy and you do not have to lift your leg off the throttle when taking bends. A staid driver like me could do speeds of 130 even on bends. Overtaking was a pleasure, swift and easy. There was no instance of any car overtaking me once I left it behind. To be honest, there was just one car - a VW Beetle - who screamed past me at about 200 kmph and that was the last I saw of him and I was driving at 100 at that time.

My route took me through mostly good roads but some long patches of single lane village roads, broken roads and undulated surfaces which the Vento handled with aplomb. Most of all, neither I nor my passengers felt fatigued or exhausted anywhere during the journey.

The car remained rock solid at all times, felt brilliantly safe and performed as instructed. I did not experience the turbo lag issue during long highway drives making the whole experience even better. After driving for more than 12 hours at a stretch, when we took a night halt, I was eager to hit the road again. Anybody who relates with the concept of laziness will understand the compliment I paid here.

The MID showed a mileage of 16.1 at one time but my full tank to full tank method showed an average of 14.8kmpl for all the 2200 kms I drove.

A few things which I found strange,
The MID digital speed reading stuck to 80 even when I was driving over 120. The needle showed the correct speed nevertheless.
There is a chime when I hit 80 and this chime becomes a continuous one above 120. This was difficult getting used to.
There is another chime at 100.
Why does one need this? I mean, increasing speed is a conscious decision and one does not need a warning. Maybe some convoluted research by their marketing team gave them this weird insight.

Review aspect 6 - Service centre visit

I took my car to the service centre for the complimentary health check twice - once after 30 days and then after 6 months.
Both times, the staff was very responsive and answered questions patiently. I am yet to get the first proper service done.

Overall

I am very happy with my decision to opt for this car. All the nagging thoughts about the car being phased out, old age design and features, running costs, etc. have vanished and all I have not is peace of mind.

If I could turn back the clock, would I buy this very same car? Emphatically, yes.

Without a doubt.

PS: Thanks to @bblost for helping with route queries before the trip

[Aspirational]

I have purchased Vento HL plus TSI 1.0 AT in Nov 2021.

Having driven nearly 10,000 km in the last 6 months, I feel it is the right time to post my experience so far. Most strengths & weaknesses of the car have been analysed & shared by the users in detail, so I will focus on my personal experience so far.

Overall, I have found it to be a well-built, comfortable car, with understated good looks, covering all the basics & providing a high level of driving pleasure in the city & on the highway. The engine & TC gearbox combination is responsive & provides the “fun-to-drive” factor.

Now, to the specific issues I have faced.

- In the first month, I faced the twin issues of (1) squeaks from the doors during the drives & (2) issues with power windows up/down. During the 1 month – 1000km service, these were addressed, but the front passenger side window glass was broken in the process. The service centre did not have the correct part i.e. tinted glass & hence fitted a clear glass, with a promise to arrange the right glass soon. After a week, they requested me to send the car for the glass change, but after sending the car, they discovered they had received the wrong glass. This time they promised to ensure the correct part & replace it at my residence. This was finally done after a week.

- Another quirk, I observed was the uneven throw of the headlamps. The low beam throw had a wider throw on the left side & a narrower throw on the right. This was very evident especially on unlit remote roads. After discussion with the service centre & some independent digging, I learnt that this is a normal setting in Vento to avoid the glare for the oncoming traffic on the opposite side.

- In the meantime, I went on a long road trip from Mumbai to Goa & coastal Karnataka. The car handled beautifully, but faced some stretches of broken, almost non-existent roads on the Kumta-Belgaum section. I’m not sure whether this was the trigger, but around the 5000 km mark, I began to experience some kind of play or looseness in the front suspension, which resulted in the road imperfections being felt on the steering wheel as vibrations, on all roads & at all speeds. I visited multiple service centres in Mumbai, but each time got the same response i.e. there was no issue with the steering & suspension.

- In frustration, I visited a private garage (Select Auto, Dadar), & within 5 mins of the trial drive, identified it as an issue with the steering rack assembly & shock absorbers. Armed with this input, I visited the service centre again. Yet there was no acknowledgement of the issue, leave aside addressing it under warranty. I drove another vehicle at the service centre & found that the issue did not exist in this vehicle. However the service centre team did not experience or acknowledge any fault. They finally decided to call an expert from VW to diagnose the issue. This was arranged after another 10 days (car at around 8000km). Unfortunately, he too did not acknowledge the issue & denied any change in the steering rack assembly or shock absorbers under warranty.

- After much persuasion, the service centre agreed to change the steering rack assembly, offer a trial & if I felt a positive difference, charge me for it, or remove it, if there was no perceptible change. As the current situation was untenable, I agreed. After the steering rack assembly replacement, my issue was almost completely resolved & the steering feel improved immeasurably & that feeling of play, vanished. As I had incurred Rs. 20K for this replacement (no warranty), I decided to postpone the decision on the shock absorbers.

The car now feels nearly back to its original state. But the harshness & vibration of the low speed ride over uneven roads, paver blocks, continues. At high speeds on the highways, there is no harshness, or vibration, though suspension thuds exist. I’ll continue to grimace & bear it & probably review it at the 15,000km service.

Another irritant I faced was the steering turning to the left upon lifting the hands from the steering wheel. Even in this case, the service centre did the wheel alignment & balancing & declared the problem as solved. However, I was still not satisfied & continued to experience the steering moving to the left. I finally took it to an external workshop for the wheel alignment (Straight Line, Santacruz W) and after his alignment, the vehicle is finally correctly centred.

All in all, I have found Vento to be a good vehicle, offering driving pleasure, but marred by such issues, which are not satisfactorily solved by the service centres.

[Sen]

My apologies for missing all the questions directed at me, because some genius thought staying unsubscribed from my own thread was a smart idea.

I'll answer for posterity reasons, sincere apologies for the delays, I'm constantly procrastinating on updating this thread with the service experience, telling myself I'll do it once I've crossed the 20k mark, which'll be in a week or two!

Originally Posted by sedanlover2021

I have a quick question - I am on the heavier side (read 100 +) and almost 6'1. While I am not concerned about leg room behind the driver side as it will rarely be occupied, do you think the driver seats and general cabin space in front will be a comfortable space for a giant like me ? I did not find the cabin space a great place to be in when test driving a polo gt tsi some time back for giants like me. Looking Forward.

This car has enough space in the back, too! I'm not a 100% on how you would find the comfort levels, but I'd say you don't have to get an answer from me - the VW dealers I dealt with felt like the best in the business, and came from far away to get me the number of test drives needed to fully test the car out, with and without family!

Originally Posted by Phukan23

I drive a Grand i10 Petrol manual. It can clear any speed breaker in 2nd gear just with the clutch, no slipping of clutch is required while clearing the speed breaker. How's with the Vento? As it has quite a bit of turbo lag, can it clear without any accelerator input at 2nd gear?

In my case as a manual 1.0 TSI owner, I'd say I would NOT bet on its ability to clear speed breakers in just second gear. I tend to not be lazy when I drive, shifting to first gear whenever required and especially on inclines, but the few times I tried, it was not too confidence inspiring. The power at the low end is sometimes lacking, but that's a story for another time (hopefully soon!)

So no, I'd say don't count on being able to do the same with this car unless you're buying the Torque Converter variant, in which case it'd be no big deal

Originally Posted by travelwriter

Preface

I bought the VW Vento 1-litre, TSi, Highline Plus AT in August 2021

My friend, I highly recommend you start your own ownership thread and share these experiences whenever possible, since the visibility you will get for your own experience (guaranteed to be unique compared to mine, as well!) is invaluable to those who look for multiple sources of info, BHPian or otherwise!

I hope you heed my advice and do so, and thank you for sharing your experiences!

[JoshMachine]

Originally Posted by Aspirational

I have purchased Vento HL plus TSI 1.0 AT in Nov 2021.
Having driven nearly 10,000 km in the last 6 months, I feel it is the right time to post my experience so far.

That's healthy running in 6 months

After much persuasion, the service centre agreed to change the steering rack assembly, offer a trial & if I felt a positive difference, charge me for it, or remove it, if there was no perceptible change. As the current situation was untenable, I agreed. After the steering rack assembly replacement, my issue was almost completely resolved & the steering feel improved immeasurably & that feeling of play, vanished. As I had incurred Rs.20K for this replacement (no warranty), I decided to postpone the decision on the shock absorbers.

A very unusual proposal by the service centre. What happens if there is some issue with the steering rack now since there is no warranty cover against the replacement?

The car now feels nearly back to its original state. But the harshness & vibration of the low speed ride over uneven roads, paver blocks, continues. At high speeds on the highways, there is no harshness, or vibration, though suspension thuds exist. I’ll continue to grimace & bear it & probably review it at the 15,000km service.

Among other things, are the tyre pressures aligned to the recommended 'cold' tyre settings? Also, what brand are the tyres?
From my personal experience of the Vento servicing schedules - few times I drove out of the center, I noticed that the folks always used to crank up the tyre pressure a lot. Obviously, this caused havoc with the NVH. Not sure if it's the same with you as well.

[giri1.8]

Originally Posted by Aspirational

I have purchased Vento HL plus TSI 1.0 AT in Nov 2021.

Sad to see so many issues in a brand new car, is there any possibility that parts were replaced with worn out ones, might be a shocking thing to hear for many, but happened to me once!

[Sen]

Originally Posted by Aspirational

- In the first month, I faced the twin issues of (1) squeaks from the doors during the drives & (2) issues with power windows up/down. During the 1 month – 1000km service, these were addressed, but the front passenger side window glass was broken in the process. The service centre did not have the correct part i.e. tinted glass & hence fitted a clear glass, with a promise to arrange the right glass soon. After a week, they requested me to send the car for the glass change, but after sending the car, they discovered they had received the wrong glass. This time they promised to ensure the correct part & replace it at my residence. This was finally done after a week.

This squeaking/almost-rattling noise was the bane of my existence when I got the car too, but it was somewhat okay to fix (had to talk to VW as well as use my own DIY solution to fix it in tandem (DIY - VW Polo/Vento: Getting rid of Door Rattles))It's finally 100% gone after the last service visit I asked the service center to do something about it due to my best efforts fixing it proving ineffective.

But wow, an entire glass panel breaking, that service center must be something else service-quality-wise. Those Asahi tinted windowpanes take almost 2-3 weeks to arrive from my pre-cursory research should my windshield or windows break at any point. (touchwood!)

Originally Posted by Aspirational

- Another quirk, I observed was the uneven throw of the headlamps. The low beam throw had a wider throw on the left side & a narrower throw on the right. This was very evident especially on unlit remote roads. After discussion with the service centre & some independent digging, I learnt that this is a normal setting in Vento to avoid the glare for the oncoming traffic on the opposite side.

The headlight throw was kind of scary at the start, not gonna lie! My WagonR had better visibility on the highway on high beam with its halogens

I personally avoid roadtrips at night due to this, or crawl along at 60-80 kmph and be extra vigilant if I must. This part is true that the throw is angled away from oncoming traffic to avoid blinding them (unlike MS Balenos throwing cricket stadium floodlights straight into your retina!)

The low beam is....adequate, but I wholeheartedly agree. At least the durability of the headlight unit should be better than the halogen bulb units, for what it's worth. The entire unit needs to be replaced to upgrade it, which right now is an absolute NOPE from my end.

Originally Posted by Aspirational

I visited multiple service centres in Mumbai, but each time got the same response i.e. there was no issue with the steering & suspension.

The car now feels nearly back to its original state. But the harshness & vibration of the low speed ride over uneven roads, paver blocks, continues. At high speeds on the highways, there is no harshness, or vibration, though suspension thuds exist. I’ll continue to grimace & bear it & probably review it at the 15,000km service.

You need to sincerely look at feasibility and change the service centers you are visiting, even if it's, say, 100km away.

They are a known evil, and a bad service center can probably make your experience worse with each visit rather than improve it in one shot like a well-reviewed service center. Take a look at google maps or ask any local team BHPians where they take their VWs, and go there. Speak to them, stay with your car if you can (bandwidth notwithstanding)

I never even leave my car for service with them, I stay with the car and get everything sorted and stop them on the spot if they are doing something I don't like! Heck, I wrote to VW when a workshop tried to stop me from doing that and over a month later, there's no email response from the official VW email handle to date.

Saddening, but the car is amazing by comparison, so I choose to deal with such niggles to enjoy Taco to his fullest.

Also, what do you mean they are not offering warranty on the steering rack? Such denial is outrageous, if there is any noise or play how can they act aloof and say "hurrr no problems here!" and take you for a ride?

I wonder if that had something to do with the manufacturing year of the car or something, did you check the VIN assigned at delivery, do a thorough PDI and point out any issues straight off the bat? What dealer is this? Is it the same one whose service experiences you've described so far?

Originally Posted by Aspirational

Another irritant I faced was the steering turning to the left upon lifting the hands from the steering wheel. Even in this case, the service centre did the wheel alignment & balancing & declared the problem as solved. However, I was still not satisfied & continued to experience the steering moving to the left. I finally took it to an external workshop for the wheel alignment (Straight Line, Santacruz W) and after his alignment, the vehicle is finally correctly centred.

All in all, I have found Vento to be a good vehicle, offering driving pleasure, but marred by such issues, which are not satisfactorily solved by the service centres.

I had this happen to me too, for which I created this thread. (Car veering to the left)

It had everything to do with how continentals behave in the first 500-2500 kilometres or so, so if your wheel balancing and alignment is in order, I'd say check tread depth every 5k kms or so, and keep tabs on it, rotate the tires, etc etc.

Hope this info helps from my perspective!

[Aspirational]

Originally Posted by JoshMachine

Among other things, are the tyre pressures aligned to the recommended 'cold' tyre settings? Also, what brand are the tyres?
From my personal experience of the Vento servicing schedules - few times I drove out of the center, I noticed that the folks always used to crank up the tyre pressure a lot. Obviously, this caused havoc with the NVH. Not sure if it's the same with you as well.

The tyre pressures are ok, as recommended.

[Aspirational]

But the harshness & vibration of the low speed ride over uneven roads, paver blocks, continues.

After a bit of surfing & discussion with my trusted private garage, I suspect this could be due to some issue with suspension control arm bushes. I plan to take this up with the VW workshop at the 15K service.

[Aspirational]

Update at 41K km (2 years)
Changed the tyres from OEM Goodyear to Continental. The difference in ride quality is perceptible, without any compromise in handling. However, the tyre shop indicated worn our suspension mountings or bearings. VW service suggested a look at 45 k service.