[kaviprem]

The Venue to start writing this up
Started this write-up in Ramani VW in Trichy while I came in for the 1K inspection/checkup. I’m told I would get the car back in 3 hours. So, thought of using the time effectively.
Sales personnel and manager is very friendly and gave me a manager’s room to work while I wait for the checkup/wash to complete.

My current ride - 2016 Honda City VX CVT (A Transformation: Beast to Baby! Tata Safari to Honda City VX CVT)
My City VX CVT has been over-due for a “long term ownership” report and thats when I thought about its replacement.
The ODO stands at 1.35L KMs in 8 years despite having had no to very low usage for about 3 years between 2016 and 2021. Reasons being my official touring followed by Covid.
The City’s 1.5 engine combined with its calm and composed CVT is a no non-sense machine and the most reliable in today’s Auto world! There cant be any second thought on this.

Why a replacement then?
I am/was totally upset with its body/build quality. I am an “Highway” bee primarily and travel about 1-2K per month. In the last few long drives, City started showing its age with some outside [and few inside] rattling that kind of irritated me. Also, I was convinced that 1+L KM is a good enough ride for a single car and being a single/solo driver in less than 8 years. Hence the hunt for replacement and supported by family as well.
Am I in the “must” situation to replace the City? No, Not a must. But, good to change it now rather than waiting for a breakdown.

Nailing down my requirements

• Strong wish for a sedan as we all are so used to its ergonomics, the balanced/planted drive, close to road feel, etc.
• To experience an European brand as I never owned one. May be, this became the hidden motivation to replace the City!
• Relatively, a reliable one that should last for similar age like that of my Honda City
• A pure automatic machine. No AMT.
• Mileage should be in and around City’s CVT. A hard one to meet, I know.
• Take 4 adults at the maximum comfort and squeeze in 5 for short drives.
• Finally, avoid Chinese, Korean and Maruti brands - Call me Biased. I am OK.

Pre-worshipped machines
Enquired a few luxury pre-owned cars with some of the brand dealers.
Audi Q3 Diesel, 2019 at Audi dealership, Madurai, White colour. Its run about 40K, Single Owner with an asking price of 21L. I really wanted to check this up, but couldn’t move further.
Audi A4 Petrol, 2023 at Audi dealership, Madurai, Black colour. Its run about 8K, Single Owner with an asking price of 43L. It has got 4 years Service Package, 6/7 years Extended Warranty. I really wanted to check this up, but couldn’t move further because my wife didnt want Black!

Finally, decided [by my family] NOT to proceed with any pre-owned cars at all.

Vehicles considered
The list of vehicles I test drove might make someone think that I was going nowhere, but yeah, it happens when we hunt for the right ride.

Toyota Innova HyCross - Dropped
First of all, I was very hesitant to even call or step into a Toyota showroom. Its their [Sales Team] attitude that stops me think about Toyota again. Yet, got my composure and called them.
As expected, all responses were short or in single word for questions like
Test Drive Availability - Need to book, Not available all the time. You can check it out in showroom or service centre!
Delivery Availability - Dont know, Minimum 6 months for Hybrid.
GX Petrol Availability - 1 or 2, need to check. But, pay advance and ex-showroom first.
GX(O) outlook - No idea.
Corporate offer - No.
Call closed with “Will send you brochure and price list” that I had to follow up a couple of times to get it.
Of course, there is absolutely NO Followup call at all.
This is when I remembered “Thirupati Laddu” Prasadam. We need to get if and when we were offered. You can’t demand for one! And this is how a sale happens for a 30+ Lakhs product. People still queue up for Toyota quality!

Skoda Kushaq - Dropped
I went for a test ride solo and came back very impressed. Why? I didnt focus anything but driving and its dynamics.
A day or 2 later, got the vehicle home for a family ride. Came back with all negatives from rear seat, starting from rear seat space, comfort, some noise behind the seats, etc. I am yet to consolidate all that.

Isuzu V-Cross - Almost Dropped due to Diesel
Dont ask me Why?
Just a look of the vehicle, made me think of my most loved ride, Tata Safari.
Had a solo test drive. It was just like the old school Tata Safari with a better interior quality. A simple, no nonsense, gadget free infotainment system. A simple Dash and AC layout. All good with the ergonomics.
Ride was like any other ladder+frame UV. Yet, stable and grounded for its sheer size and shape. I just loved it.
Literally dragged my family for a test drive. To my surprise, not much of negative feedback barring its long [really long] size that makes it unusable for any intra-city drive.
It’s on the expensive side, yet we were kind of OK. But, my kids started saying “this is not what we want to own after Honda City. Of course, it’s too big and built for purpose thats not us”. I kind of understood. Then, came the “Future of Diesel” discussion.

Jeep Compass - Dropped due to Diesel
By this time, my wife decided NOT to look for any Diesel vehicle after going through various internet posts, some TBHP threads, government and news channel discussions, etc.
Yet, I called for a test drive and took my kids. Everything was OK but for the sluggish drive. It was as good as City CVT and to make it worse, No sports mode nor Paddles. Of course, we can work through its manual stick kind of setup.
Offered me good discounts even for 2024 model with free service package, extended warranty, etc. But, I had to move on.

VW Tiguan - Shortlisted
Oooh! A solo ride first and came back impressed in every aspect right from its look, touch, feel, opening the door, internal layout, sheer quality in every bit of it.
Price - yeah, expensive, yet, a great product for its segment considering various discount options offered for 2023 variants, both OBD1 and OBD2.
Requested for another ride at home, a family ride this time, a bit longish. Everyone came back happy considering its strictly an European design meaning its meant for 4 - period.
Excellent design inside out, spacious inside [for 4], yet compact footprint on the road for better manoeuvrability within the City limits, a great highway mile muncher and the list goes on.
Went through pages of TBHP reviews and ownership threads to understand that everyone arrived at Tiguan with the similar observation and most of them, bought it as well.
Negotiation started and got almost an acceptable one for the 2023 OBD2 model.

Honda Elevate - Dropped
Just for the sake of it, went with the family and returned back in 30 mins without a test drive. There was so much of confusion and communication gap between the sales team to arrange for a test drive. Finally, that didnt happen. A simple look in the showroom and a couple of times of hopping-in and out made us decide against Elevate.
Net-net - We got out of the Honda showroom with an idea to retain the Honda City itself.

VW Virtus - Shortlisted
One look at it - Everyone liked it, from every angle.
Having Honda City background, we felt the Virtus build quality excellent. The interiors are packed tight and felt built to last.
The Dash and the way Multimedia unit integrated onto it is just amazing. A clean, elegant design having all the controls falling in the right place.
BTW, where is the phone-call answer/decline button in the steering wheel? It’s a huge miss unless its there and I am yet to find it.
Me being a left hand driver [predominantly], I find the indicator/light stock in the left side is more friendly as compared to the regular Indian cars.
Family liked the rear seat comfort. However, not comparable to City’s comfort in terms of shoulder room for 3. But, super comfortable for 2 in the rear. Of course, a kid in middle seat is not a problem at all.
The “ACT” feature is a great boon that balances the mileage and power delivery. Tested with its Cruise around 100 Kmph and it retuned around 15 Kmpl. I was happy.

VW Taigun - Dropped
A sudden thought to try out Taigun for its compact nature.
Me and my family was very clear at this point that it’s going to be a VW thats coming home!
Spoke to VW Sales and arranged for a back-to-back test drive from Home to Showroom to Home.
Started with Home to Showroom in Taigun, all OK initially, but something was missing for the family in the rear seat.
Then, Showroom to Home in Virtus and it was like “back to home” feel and thats it, the decision was made.

VW Tiguan v/s VW Virtus
Tiguan pulled hard my heart for all its quality, drivability, spacier yet compact, the real luxury/upgrade feel. Just 2 points against Tiguan - Mileage and Cost.

Virtus ticked every box including with a bit of compromise on build quality [compared to the True/German VW]. But, coming from the highly compromised 2016 Honda build, we were all OK with the Virtus feel.

Colour Choice
Virtus is one car that looks good in every colour as of today, but I always love to have these elegant sedans in White. But, when you have 2 daughters, the colour choice is obviously NOT yours!
My family chose Lava Blue. I liked that too. Still the White GT+ with a Black roof and ORVMs pulls a string in me! Anyway, life moves on.

So, its Lava Blue VW Virtus GT+ DSG, the Blue-Bean

Booking Experience
Luckily, a Lava Blue was on its way to the dealership and I blocked it with the formal advance.
Sales team gave me a simple booking process and happened in GPay. Receipts’ soft copy was shared instantly.
The car reached the dealership on April 20th and SA accommodated me to see it on 21st [Sunday] though he was supposed to be OFF that day.
The TeamBHP checklist process was done to the best possible extent and completed the balance payment.
A WhatsApp group was created involving me, SA, RTO contact from the dealership and the Accessory team where further details were collected. Registration process went smooth and the delivery was fixed for April 26th morning 9:00AM.

Accessories opted
The basic kit that was offered Free of Charge.
Additional accessories that I chose
1. Brand’s 7D mat.
2. Replaced the stock Horn with the True VW horn.
3. Brand’s Boot mat.

Delivery Experience
It was a much better experience compared to my Honda City deliver process in Bangalore, Whitefield Honda, 8 years before.
It was highly streamlined, no confusion whatsoever. Nothing magical happened, yet a good experience then. All the accessories were installed ahead of time and car was clean, spotless under the wraps.
Me and the SA exchanged sweet boxes, shook hands and I ,with my wife, came out driving the Lava Blue Virtus.
No detailed demo happened as the SA was clear that I knew more about Virtus than him and I was also in a bit of rush that day. So, didnt insist.

Ownership Experience with my Blue-Bean
It’s been a month since I drove my Blue-Bean out of showroom and did 1.5K already. For few, it may sound less and for some, it’s more than a normalcy?
We had plans to go to Munnar [an hill station in Kerala/TN border] and Voila! Blue-Bean was ready with us on-time.
Had real fun in all kinds of drive - a linear highway, windy single lane roads and Munnar’s mountain ride both while climbing up and driving down with the Blue-Bean.
I didnt deploy Sports mode in any stretch as it would increase the RPM and I didnt want to at least until I cross over 1.5-2K Kms on ODO.

Brakes
Super Smooth, Perfect and Pointing. As long as you are in legal speeds, it slows down or stops at a point where you want it to.

Mileage
Comparing with City’s CVT isn’t right. However, am not loosing much. Thanks to ACT that balance things out to an extent.
In my comparison b/w the system returned average mileage v/s tank-to-tank calculation, there hasnt been much of a difference which is very good. I got around 13+ Kmpl while I drove in regular, linear highway including 10-20% of bumper-bumper city traffic. City CVT used to return me 14+. I am OK with this.

Ground Clearance
By and large, no issues. It was just once where the speed breaker was like a real mountain and I had 3 adults and a kid with me along with fully loaded trunk, Virtus did scrap once. It’s a combination of both “full load” car and an unscientific speed breaker that made it happen. However, I could avoid in further breakers of similar ones by slowing down and going over at an angle like how we had to do in City and Civic.
Net-net - GC isn’t a concern at all.

Power and Performance
I think, enough has been spoken about it by all owners, official reviewers, etc. I dont have anything more/less to comment on this topic.
You simply have all the power you need in your toe-tip as long as you drive sensibly.

Ergonomics & AC Experience
From the driver’s perspective, all controls, arm rest [both sides] steering controls, etc. fall in place and I didnt have any challenge to adapt to it, coming in from City background.
I may be repeating this, I like the left side light/indicator stock as I primarily drive using my left hand. So, it’s much more convenient.
I havent heard of any complaints from my wife, kids about the arm rest, bottle holders, etc. and this means all good. No news is Good news!
No complaints on AC, from both front and rear passengers. Prime Summer is almost over in TN state and I dont go below 23/24 C while setting the ACC temperature. Quite interestingly, it’s not sounding loud unlike my City that sounds hard with all its blower ON.
BTW, I have a CR70 equivalent Sunfilm applied on all windows and front windshield and I know it impacts the cabin cooling positively.

Music System and Stock Audio Experience
I didnt listen much to stock Audio setup. To whatever I listened to, I am sure a normal listener would be more than happy with the amp and Sub thats provided. Also, the CarPlay connectivity makes it very user friendly to operate.
There has been a considerable upgrade done in Blue-Bean. Will discuss more shortly.

Wireless charging
I think, Wireless charging should be banned. While the iPhone is connected wirelessly to CarPlay, it’s like the amount of power drain is more than the speed at which the wireless pad charges the iPhone and it heats up the device as well. So useless, to say the least. The wireless CarPlay itself heats up the iPhone and most of the times, the wired charger refuses to continue charging citing “Charging will resume once the iPhone cools down”. So, it’s the CarPlay too that heats up.

Lights
Fogs were good while in Munnar mist, it was a heavy one!
I didnt get a chance to drive long in night. Will keep this thread updated.

Mirrors
I guess, IRVM is more for a formality as the coverage is less because of reasons like smaller in size and rear set’s headrest blocks the view to a great extent.
Similarly, ORVMs are more of “Form over Function” kind. It’s Not very bad. But, comparing to Honda City, it’s tad smaller. But, I do like the design pattern with it. Also, to have the best possible coverage in Virtus, I align it with the rear door handle while in Honda City, I used to align it with the front door handle.
Anyway, we get both cameras and sensors to keep us almost honest. So, trust the technology and forget you have brain!

Noise and Vibration
Much better than Honda City. One can take official meetings all through the drive, be in both highway and bumper-bumper.
In cruising speeds of 110 or less, it’s literally silent inside the cabin. Just love it. So peaceful to listen to music in this speed.
Vibration - What Vibration? I dont feel any and recall, I come from City CVT background.

Audio upgrade and few more things
I have become finicky with the Audio setup in my rides in the last 2 years or so.
As soon as Blue-Bean was delivered, it was taken to the “Destination Speedfreaks” in Chennai.
I migrated my entire audio setup from my earlier ride, Honda City.

• Its the Focal 3 way Active setup for the front stage while the stock speakers fill in the rear space.
• SoundMagus MP12 Max Pro does the Sound Processing for all the speakers and tweeters
• SoundMagus DSK600 [mono amp] powers the JL Audio’s 10” Sub, sitting in Blue-bean’s trunk.
• A 6 layer sound dampening/proofing on all 5 doors including trunk lid. Floor sound proofing inside the trunk and front seat's leg space area.
• The most important driver to get the best sound is Mr. Karthik of SpeedFreaks who does the Calibration and Tuning without which any audio equipment is like electronic junk.

Graphene coating and Sunfilm application is done as well from SpeedFreaks.

A glance of what/how its done - Check it out.

Note: I am just a repeat customer to SpeedFreaks in Chennai, but NOT related to the firm in any manner.

Few misses/nice to have/ought to have features/mild irritants

• First and Worst of all, the ACC control - Touch is one "stupid" thing. But, you switch AC off by swiping once the blower button towards the min, then long press the min side of blower. I dont know in what world, this operation was approved!
• The Virtus Build Quality doesnt "look" bad. But, It "feels" bad when we touch. Starting from Door, Interiors, etc. Essentially, Virtus build doesnt match the VW build.
• Single touch window glass rollup for all Windows, this is a real miss and dont know what VW saved by not providing this.
• Instead of loud and c⁠ontinuous beeps on speed of 120+ Kmph, it could have been a discrete beeps every few seconds or so. There are brands doing this and still within the statuary limits.
• I badly miss the lever to open the trunk in floor, near the driver seat. Not sure, if this is not available in any of the VW cars!
• Some of the traditional Polo/Vento features like a) long pressing the remote unlock button would roll down windows and b) long pressing the remote lock button would roll up all windows while locking the doors. Looks like this feature is available in Taigun, not in Virtus.
• Where are the phone call buttons in steering wheel? At least, I dont find them. Every time, I had to stretch my arms to head-unit to answer/cancel a phone call.

My City didnt do anything wrong. I still have it and up for sale, if anyone interested.






Wow - Look at the meaty, wide tires, right out of showroom. No need to meddle with the size, etc.




Meaty - OK, but the brand? It's so bad that the tire dealers in my native place refuse to buyback MRF tires!




Clean lines, No curves Good looking angle



And from the rear




I miss this, coming from the Honda background. This would unlock my City




While the same button is to be used for both lock and unlock in most other brands.




A simple digital instrument cluster, but why the 2 extreme corners are unused?




A-Pillar customisation to accommodate the Focal 3 way setup. Kudos to SpeedFreaks team.




Cup holders in the centre console, near the handbrake is a joke. No reasonable sized cups or bottle can be kept. Even if you manage to keep, you need to do double fold the hand to get it. Instead, I decided to place my DSP controller there.




The most inconvenient ACC controls I have ever used.




Typical VW's chunky steering wheel.




Sub-bass and the mono-amp in the trunk. Look at the rounded top-left corner. VW didnt finish the padding properly on both the sides.
Looks like a lazy job than a cost cutting act.




Customary Delivery and Pooja pics





And one last. I am not a fan of SunRoof, but this picture came out well in Munnar rain!




If you have reached this point, Thanks for reading through and appreciate your patience.
Open to questions, suggestions and more discussions.

Cheers
Prem.

[Dippy]

Congratulations. The Virtus looks smashing in Lava Blue. Infact the the Virtus does have a nice colour pallete and all of them look good on the car.

The TSI with the DSG is fantastic and every drive is sure to put a smile to your face every time. Make those road trips frequent now.

As a Polo GT owner, I will say the quality of interiors does fall short if compared to the earlier VWs, but overall I like that it is clean and not flashy. Thats the way I like it.

Wish you many happy miles with your new car. Drive safe

[GTO]

Thread moved from the Assembly Line to the Reviews section. Thanks for sharing!

Going to our homepage this coming week

[Jangra]

Originally Posted by kaviprem

VW Tiguan v/s VW Virtus
Tiguan pulled hard my heart for all its quality, drivability, spacier yet compact, the real luxury/upgrade feel. Just 2 points against Tiguan - Mileage and Cost.

Congratulations on your Blue-Bean. Virtus is one heck of a looker. I got one as my daily driver last year and very happy with it except for the build quality which it’s no where near to that of a Jetta

Re: the Tiguan, absolutely agree with your analysis on Cost. However for the mileage, I have a different theory - my Kodiaq in Mumbai city driving gives me 9.X as I drive it sedately saving it from potential damage from the maniacs. But I drive a Virtus with a heavy foot that ends up returning a lesser mileage. Lately, I end up driving Kodiaq more even in city as I feel calmer and the power delivery when it’s needed is much quicker than the Virtus GT - I think is attributed to the transmission of Kodiaq being far superior than the dry clutch of the Virtus

Enjoy your Blue-Bean

[viXit]

Congratulations

Would love to hear more about the audio upgrades.

[Torque123]

Congratulations on your new drive. It does look smashing in Lava Blue. Mileage will improve as you clock more miles for sure. Mine (Slavia 1.5 DSG) improved considerably after crossing 4k kms. Even on single lane highways I get 14.5 to 15 kmpl. ACT is unbelievable & does a great job. Am sure the magic (accurate, fast & super smooth) of DSG has bitten you. Have fun. That’s what this car is meant for.

[cityslicker86]

Many congratulations on your purchase! I'm pleasantly surprised to read about a smooth fuss-free delivery experience. if only VAG group ensures that majority of their dealers achieve this, it will give a huge boost to their sales.

Wish you and your family many happy miles with the Virtus.

[07CR]

Originally Posted by kaviprem

If you have reached this point, Thanks for reading through and appreciate your patience.
Open to questions, suggestions and more discussions.
Cheers
Prem.

Congratulations on a great looking car. Virtus is one car that looks fantastic in any color! Don't lose your sleep in missing out that dual tone white Virtus (my fav color in Virtus too )

Regarding the Wireless charger, I had once seen an accessory for wireless charger which would cool your wireless pad. Unfortunately I don't remember the name, but I had seen it on Amazon. You could check it out. My Seltos has such cooling functionality inbuilt in wireless charger and the phone does not heat up and it charges pretty well.

[PrasannaDhana]

Congratulations!

A lava blue Virtus GT with Srirangam plates. I am sure I will be coming across your car sooner than later.

[kaviprem]

Originally Posted by Dippy

Congratulations.

As a Polo GT owner, I will say the quality of interiors does fall short if compared to the earlier VWs, but overall I like that it is clean and not flashy. Thats the way I like it.

Wish you many happy miles with your new car. Drive safe

Thanks Dippy. Yes, I did feel the short-falls as I compare with my brother-in law's VW Polo. But, coming from Honda City, looks great!

Originally Posted by Jangra

Congratulations on your Blue-Bean.

Re: the Tiguan, absolutely agree with your analysis on Cost. However for the mileage, I have a different theory - my Kodiaq in Mumbai city driving gives me 9.X as I drive it sedately saving it from potential damage from the maniacs. But I drive a Virtus with a heavy foot that ends up returning a lesser mileage.

Enjoy your Blue-Bean

Thanks Jangra.
I did enquire about the Tiguan's mileage with a couple of folks and they did mention about the 7-8 kmpl on the City run. Even on highway drives, I was told, Tiguan would return around 14 at the max if we drive it just about 100Kmph. I am not a rash driver. I usually try to cruise at about 120 Kmph and there would be a steep drop in mileage, I suppose. Even the dealership vouched for these figures. Also, I plan to keep this new ride for 8-10 years. So, didnt want to end up with a petrol guzzler!
Pricing of Tiguan, to me, was a secondary reason because everyone in my family were OK with its design language and the look, feel and the build.

One other reason, I missed to mention for skipping Tiguan - I am bit finicky about the audio quality and I wouldnt have been able to do any kind of Audio upgrade like the way I did in Virtus today. Dealer was very strong on it as its CKD and they dont want to see any change unless we let go off the warranty. This is another big reason.

Originally Posted by viXit

Congratulations

Would love to hear more about the audio upgrades.

Thanks viXit. Sure, let me know what questions you got about the Audio upgrade.

Originally Posted by Torque123

Congratulations on your new drive.
Mileage will improve as you clock more miles for sure.

Thanks Torque123. Mileage stands at 14.5 Kmpl on a mix of Highway [80%] and City [20%] drive. To me, this is good and I dont loose anything coming from Honda City.
Going beyond 120Kmph just beeps too loud. So, mostly, cruising at 115Kmph. Probably, this is the reason, I get more convincing mileage.
If I consider the pure highway mileage, its stays @ 16Kmpl which is really good, to me.

Originally Posted by cityslicker86

Many congratulations on your purchase! I'm pleasantly surprised to read about a smooth fuss-free delivery experience. if only VAG group ensures that majority of their dealers achieve this, it will give a huge boost to their sales.

Wish you and your family many happy miles with the Virtus.

Thanks cityslicker86. Well, I guess, this is a good thing when we do transact in Tier 2 cities. At times, I see that many dealerships across brands in Metro and other Tier 1 cities take the customers for granted. May be, its the sale volume that keeps them busy!

Originally Posted by 07CR

Congratulations on a great looking car. Virtus is one car that looks fantastic in any color! Don't lose your sleep in missing out that dual tone white Virtus (my fav color in Virtus too )

Regarding the Wireless charger, I had once seen an accessory for wireless charger which would cool your wireless pad. Unfortunately I don't remember the name, but I had seen it on Amazon. You could check it out. My Seltos has such cooling functionality inbuilt in wireless charger and the phone does not heat up and it charges pretty well.

Thanks 07CR. Well, While any proper/full-sized sedan in White colour is my favourite, I do like this peacock coloured ride. I cant really qualify this as a "Blue" shade.

Let me check on the cooler pad for W/L charger. Thanks.
But, I do think, the W/L charger itself is an unnecessary one in a car. Similarly, a wired CarPlay would have been just fine. People can connect it to the head-unit as needed and only when needed. Having wireless CarPlay creates a confusion and at times, doesnt synch as well.
I am OK to be called "old-school"

Originally Posted by PrasannaDhana

Congratulations!

A lava blue Virtus GT with Srirangam plates. I am sure I will be coming across your car sooner than later.

Thanks Prasanna, looking forward to our meet.

[07CR]

Originally Posted by kaviprem

Similarly, a wired CarPlay would have been just fine. People can connect it to the head-unit as needed and only when needed. Having wireless CarPlay creates a confusion and at times, doesnt synch as well.
I am OK to be called "old-school"

I echo same sentiments. I have a Sonet which has a wireless android auto setup and Seltos DCT facelift which has a wired one. I don't mind using the wired one, as sometimes the wireless in Sonet disconnects. However, in Sonet I can still connect to Android auto using conventional wired setup. It works like a charm with 0 disconnects. I believe Virtus would allow you the same if you try connecting via USB.

The wireless charger in Seltos is mainly used only if I am using inbuilt maps or there are two phones which require charging simultaneously.

[kaviprem]

Originally Posted by 07CR

I echo same sentiments.
I believe Virtus would allow you the same if you try connecting via USB.

Yea. USB connect for CarPlay is possible and that’s what I use.

[satish.gawai]

Congratulations on your purchase.

Virtus is undoubtedly one of the best sedans available today.

Just out of curiosity, any specific reason not to consider the New Verna?

[harish]

Congratulations! The Virtus is no doubt the best vfm sedan one could buy in India right now. Verna seems like strong competition, however I tend to prefer the germans. Here are two our Virtus'. Black was a recent addition.

I have the Tiguan AllSpace TSI and in comparision drive in the city, Virtus does the job really well for it's price. The Tiguan's suspension is just too stiffly set-up. I'm not sure if that's because mine is a CBU or even the CKD Tiguan's are set-up that way. Whereas the Virtus is a lot more comfortable going over undulations but not as planted as the Tiguan.

And as you mentioned, mileage/fuel economy. All I get is 6 to 7.5 kmpl in Tiguan in the city, whereas Virtus I average around 10+ most times. The cylinder deactivation certainly does help!

[kaviprem]

Originally Posted by satish.gawai

Congratulations on your purchase.

Virtus is undoubtedly one of the best sedans available today.

Just out of curiosity, any specific reason not to consider the New Verna?

I didnt even look at Verna and the reason is quoted in my opening post.
For some reason, No Korean brands enter my thought process - be it phones or cars. The only exception was Daewoo which was a quarter century ago!
Also, today's Verna with its design is too polarising for me and am sure, my family wouldn't have liked it. We all are for clean/straight lines, thus, we still would like to steal the Safari 2.2 Dicor from my brother-in-law yes, I sold it off within my family a decade back.

With whatever I heard and seen a few detailed reports on the Safety ratings, it's only the VW/Skoda products score "safe" for structural safety in addition to 5 star ratings. However, any and all Hyundai and Maruti cars are "fail" for their structural safety though it's all 5 star rated. I dont know how these ratings work!
I am open to be corrected on these data points. Yet, I wouldnt have evaluated any Hyundai/Kia vehicles.

Originally Posted by harish

Congratulations! The Virtus is no doubt the best vfm sedan one could buy in India right now. Verna seems like strong competition, however I tend to prefer the germans.

And as you mentioned, mileage/fuel economy. All I get is 6 to 7.5 kmpl in Tiguan in the city, whereas Virtus I average around 10+ most times. The cylinder deactivation certainly does help!

Congratulations on the second Virtus! Looks like you got bitten by the VW Vir[t]us!

To me, Verna isn't a competition if one would like to get a gentleman's image Sorry, its just my view.

Thanks for confirming the mileage on Tiguan and yes, ACT in Virtus/Taigun helps a lot in balancing the mileage v/s power delivery.

Thanks