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-   -   My white shadowfax arrives: Volkswagen Vento TDI HL ownership review (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-drives-initial-ownership-reports/97774-my-white-shadowfax-arrives-volkswagen-vento-tdi-hl-ownership-review-10.html)

Nice to see your car back in shape. Encouraging to VW owners in Bng, to know that atlast theres exisit a service station (Palace Cross) they could look forward to.


Cheers!

I agree that the 47 days of wait was on the longer side, and was very bugged off with it, infact with a 7 month old baby at home sometimes it was pretty tough to manage things. But all that wait was worth it.

Moreover they didnt have certain parts in stock, they had to procure it from the factory, which took the maximum time, so VW is at fault here and not the dealer

Send me your mail address, will mail you the part list, as the list is pretty huge :)

Detailed report coming soon!!

The zero Dep policies have a fine print, which me and merril got to know only at the service center is they charge 5% salvage on the metal parts, you get 100% of the fiber and plastic and other parts. So the floor of the boot and the side panels cost a lot, plus other metal parts. Though the consumables list is not very long. But still IMHO 8K on a 2.5+ Lac bill is not bad :-P

Mailed you!

Palace cross are thorough professionals, I would definitely recommend them!

Looking good . They have done a great job. Most importantly you can sit in it with confidence and enjoy safe drives. Congrats and thanks for all your help to other Vento newbies.

The kind of damage that your car suffered 47 days is not too high at all especially given that BA took time to approve , the workshop had to get parts from Aurangabad / Chakan and then there was the delay due to BA insisting on part repair rather than replacement ( shows how intently I have following your updates;) ) Once my driver had rear ended a taxi with my Swift which resulted in a broken headlight assembly , dented bonnet , damaged condenser and grill - SAI Service (Lower Parel) took 2 weeks. My point is that it was a Maruti, Sai Service is a big well established workshop and the repair work was nothing compared to what your car had to go through but its takes time . This is because the car has to go through multiple sections ( paint shop, body work , etc , etc ) and ones car is not the only car on the floor .
A workshop cannot be expected to stock up such major repair parts because at the end of the day its working capital , its interest cost and its costly - money is never enough , right ?
Heck , alls well that ends well :thumbs up



Well , the mechanism is really an eye opener . I am so thankful that I have taken zero dep policy given your experience. Thank you for sharing this

Gload to hear that Shadowfax is back where it belongs! 2.67 sounds like a lot but they seem to have done a fine job. Make sure you do a thorough TD preferably with someone very knowledgeable about cars or who has been through a similar situation- they will know what to check for.

Do take the missus out for a long drive to ease the pain! :)

Slightly disagree there :)
Forget 47 days, even month's layoff is too long for the repair work. I don't expect even CBU/CKD models to take this long. I am thinking what would have been the waiting period if this was a Jetta. And it's such an inconvenience if its the only car in the family.

Anyway, the end result looks immaculate.

Hey Shantanu, great to see shadowfax back on the road! The work seems to be excellent. Isi baat par milna ho jaaye! :)

HI Shantanu,
Im following this thread and really happy to see your shadowfax back in great shape.clap: Looks like the Palace X guys have done a good job, albiet with a long wait. Did they give you an alternate car in that period? And how did you find the paint quality and was the colour match perfect?

I saw a friend's Skoda Rapid bumper repainted and the colour and quality was ok, but not as good as original factory finish.

And 2.5L does seem on the higher side, but VW parts do not come cheap anyway. The positive aspect is that you had to pay only 8k out of the total, which makes a zero dep worth every penny IMHO.agree:
Congrats once again and have many many happy and safe moments with her again. Cheers!!!

evilshantanu,

Congrats on your Shadowfax crossing the one lakh km mark. That's quite a landmark, buddy!

Rather disappointed that you havent' updated your thread in over two years, though! The rest of us Vento laggards stuck in the 60-70,000 km range could do with some long term ownership advice :) Hope you find the time and inclination to update this thread soon.

Yeah, actually this is an eye opener for me :) will put up the long term ownership review by Saturday! now off to MS Word to draft it :-P

Got to meet the shadowfax on Friday. I was there in Apple Autos for a quick oil top-up.
TBH I was shocked to hear the age of the shadow! Well maintained evilS! Hope to meet you again. I will keep in mind the pointers n tips you gave me.
Guys just an update that Shadowfax is all fine and freshly serviced. Didn't check the total amount but the SA seems to know Shantanu's ways and was cautious in reviewing the bill with him!

Hahaha thanks mate! It was great meeting you at the service center!
This is also a reminder that the deadlines to update my thread has crossed so many time... but this is the last one... look for an update in a couple of days

KM driven as of this morning: 1.053 Lakhs KM

Its been a long long time since I updated this thread. Infact noopster had to remind me to update the thread. In the last few years Shadowfax has crossed a big milestone. I have driven the stud for more than a lakh KM. Last week I got the 1.05 lakh KM service done (7th Paid service). And now a detailed review would follow. But first some questions which can be answered in black and white

Q: Am I happy with the overall performance of Vento TDI Highline in all these years ( 4 years and 4 months) of ownership?
A: very very happy

Q: Do I find the service of Volkswagen expensive?
A: No

Q: Am I running on the stock clutch?
A: Yes


A detailed one:
I think the last time when I updated the thread actively was the time period when Shadowfax was back from the garage after being involved in a pileup. So first things first, I think I went away without a scratch from that mishap only because I was in a safe car and wearing a seat belt. Its still a nightmare for me, and it took me quite a while to recover from that. After the car was back from the service center with a major body work done, I have driven it 65,000 KM and I cant find any difference in the engine refinement, driving dynamics, rattling etc. So in short the VW service center (Bangalore Motors to be specific) did an awesome job

The car has gone through 2 sets of tyre changes. The first one I tried was Yokohamas, I upsized it one size. The experience with the Yokos wasn’t very great. The front ones got worn out unevenly and it was so evident that I used to notice the bubbling on the steering wheel. The second set of tyre change is still going strong, this time I preferred Michelin Energy XM2, one size bigger than the stock ones, and boy! I am loving it!

The stock battery, which was an exide gave up in May 2013. After about 2 years and 2 months of usage. After contemplating a lot I decided ti get the battery replaced from the VW service center. They gave me an exide again, which costed me 8K (with all the checks and labor). But the second battery is still doing great, and after my last service they told me that there is still decent Jiuce left in the cells, so looks like it will go on for some more time
Luckily I am still on the stock clutch, maybe I am always a little psyched up with clutch driving, that’s why I haven’t given my car to any of the drivers yet. Even at the restaurants etc I mostly park the car myself. I don’t give it to the valet. The main reason being: they modify the driver seat setting and it takes me around 3-4 days to get it back to the perfect position. I am sure a lot of BHPians must be doing the same.

Mostly the brake pads were replaced at every service. VW recommends replacing them at 30K, but I drive on the ORR everyday and mostly in bumper to bumper traffic, with a lot of brake used. I think that must be the reason for the brake pads getting worn out faster. But no regrets, brake is something that I wouldn’t want to compromise on. One set of brake pads (mostly front) costs INR 3200/- with labour. So it is not that high a price if I compare with the other counterparts in the market.


The things that I don’t like about VW/Vento

- No Bluetooth on the music system is a little bugging, which means I have to stay in the previous century and keep burning the CDs

- The carpet and seat color is absolutely disastrous. I haven’t gone in for Vinyl flooring. I just have KAGU 3D mats and no seat covers as well. Once in 3 months I send the car for car spa and that keeps it shining

- The wipers have a weird mechanism while cleaning the windshield. To this date my car wash guy messes it up

- The beadings on the front doors makes weird noises when going through the bad roads

- The lock carrier is very delicate, one bad pothole hit and the next service bill would increase by 5K. Thankfully I broke the lock carrier only once, but have heard the horror stories pretty often from other owners

- The stock headlanps are worst than torches, get it changes as soon as you buy the Vento

- The clutch is pretty hard, I have a stronger left leg now with all the leg workout that it gives me


Some random thoughts and tips:


- There are a lot of car spas in Bangalore, but the one in Forum Mall (Koramangla) is the only one which does a neat and good job. The rest of them are all shams

- Always go easy on the speed humps and pot holes. This way you would save the lower arm of the shock absorber (costs INR 2800) and your lock carrier

- Upsize the tyre as soon as possible, you would realize that the braking and handling has improved amazingly

- Handle the air conditioner vents with care, they are prone to breaking and costs a bomb. Thankfully mine are stock ones

- This car is a greenhouse with so much of glass work. I got a 3M 70% visibility sunfilm for all the windows and rear windshield

- Get 3D mats if you love that light colored carpet and want to preserve it

- The car lights up amazingly like a christmast tree (interiors) with the red and blue combination. I never sort of liked the white and red combination in the later versions of the vento

- I have the Vento which has the interior surveillance system. It’s of no good use. If a fly or mosquito gets in. It troubles the entire apartment complex

Some photographs of the 1 lakh KM journey!

Brilliant ownership evilshantanu and congrats on completing a remarkable milestone !! clap:

Wish you many many more happy and trouble-free mile munching.

I second that and wish there was some sort of memory button for our driving seats. I used to have a harrowing time with my previous car (Getz) everytime I had to lend the car to a valet.
With GT have additional height adjustment, I found out the hard way of lending it to a valet early on. So, I have adopted the very same thing that you have, no matter what time or place, I park my car!! :D

Aww come on - all these are the known issues! Are you saying in 1L of kms, you have had just
- regular brake pad changes
- regular servicing every 15k kms
- one battery change
- two tire (X4) changes
- __ number of accident repairs
- minor wear & tear (wipers, bulbs, AC vents, etc)

What about transmission issues, suspension components, engine components? 1 L kms and none of them had any issues?

That's actually quite intriguing, especially if the suspension is still completely stock 100%!

P.s. Congratulations :D