[oxyzen]

Originally Posted by Schoudhury

Fellow bhpian @ kolkata got his 1.6 polo serviced recently and the bill was almost 11k .
Cheers

11K? Can someone post the breakup costs?
I am sure this is going to hurt VW in the long run. Specially with other options on the table. Fiesta/Verna.

[Schoudhury]

Originally Posted by loyalcasanova

11 K for servicing ! What did they do ? Used liquid gold instead of engine oil? I am getting my Vento on Tuesday but this information is going to increase my anxiety over the weekend

Originally Posted by oxyzen

11K? Can someone post the breakup costs?
I am sure this is going to hurt VW in the long run. Specially with other options on the table. Fiesta/Verna.

Guys you can check this post for the detailed breakup

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-d...ml#post2313952

[evilshantanu]

The Shadowfax completed 7400 KM.

Opened the hood last weekend to check the coolant and engine oil. Found the coolant to be okay, but the engine oil level was somewhere in between the two dots on the dipstick.

Decided to take the vehicle to the service centre, since the place cross service centre is pretty far (Peenya, Bangalore), thought of taking it to the Volkswagen Downtown, after reaching there I found out that I made a mistake, I should have rather gone to VW Palace cross service centre. I earlier had a pathetic experience with teh VW Downtown during the car buying, that is why I ended up buying the car from palace cross, thought they might have improved by now, but I was terribly mistaken

I took the appointment and reached there, first the road to the service station is in a terrible condition, well we can pardon them here as BDA needs to improve the roads and not VW, but still you end up losing your time, energy and patience in going round and round the one ways.

I reached the service station and spoke to the Service manager, he assured me that he will get it checked, and asked me to sit in the customer lounge, the job needed only 10 min, they needed to prepare a job card, and get the engine oil (Castrol 5W40) topped up. But even after sitting in the customer lounge for 1 hr 10 min, they didnt get the job done, and the car was still parked outside in the sun. Finally after my repeated request to the service manager they got the job done in the next 10 min, and got my car to the main gate, after I took back the car keys from them, I discovered that there was a black stain on the back seat I still didnt get the seat covers, so the seat color is the same dirt magnet light beige, and this type of handling by the authorized service centre is totally unacceptable, to top it up they misplaced my gate pass, and the guard didnt let me take the vehicle out. I was not at all angry with the guard, like last time (read here: http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian...ngalore-2.html) the guard was the only person in the service centre who was doing his duty fine.

Anyways, for a job which should have taken me 10 min, ended up taking 1 hr 40 min, and gave a bad black stain on the back seat, I immediately rushed to the VW Palace cross service centre, took me 45 min to reach, but inspite of my not taking an appointment with them, they immediately attended to the vehicle, got the stain carefully removed, topped up the windshield washer fluid, gave the vehicle a free bath.

So the jist of the story is, avoid VW downtown , they still are BAD.

Now coming back to the vehicle performance. The engine is super smooth now, the torque during the initial pickup (on 2nd and 3rd gear) is more linear now, though you feel a sudden thrust of power, but not like it used to when it was new, and this is much more smoother now. The torque on 4th and 5th gear still kicks some fine dust on the highways! The engine oil needed some topping up, as expected from VW TDI engines, with 7200 KM on the ODO, the engine drank about 500 ml for Castrol 5W40, the rest of the engine oil was given back to me. The cost per litre of Castrol 5W40 is INR 850.

The car is now consistently giving me a mileage of 17 kmpl on my way to work, and around 19 kmpl on the highways drives (if I drive hard) and around 20-21 kmpl if I drive very sensibly

Disclaimer: Sensible here means that I take easy linear pickups and not hard ones, I try to be sensible on the road as far as possible, I have to be the better ones on the road, after all I am a TBHPian!

[ambivalent_98]

Shantanu,
One question for you....(sorry if I have asked this earlier) Just received my Black Knight (Vento TDI Black) yesterday.

What is the "run" in limit of the engine ? Since I am switching from a petrol to diesel , I find myself going beyond 2000 rpm many times. Is that bad for the car ?

[noopster]

@ambi- congrats man! You can run it in for the first 1500 km- that's what most of us did.

@evilS- man you have run up quite a lead on me now! I just crossed 5000 last week. Funny how Bangalore seems to be similar to Pune in the respect of vastly different dealers. Check out my own comparison of Vidyut Motors (where I got my vehicle) and BU Bhandari (which I visited for a lark!) Based on the shoddy customer service of teh former and the acceptable one at the latter, am thinking will do my services from the BU Bhandari one.

[ambivalent_98]

Originally Posted by noopster

@ambi- congrats man! You can run it in for the first 1500 km- that's what most of us did.

Thanks mate. I roared in Hinjewadi today morning in my TDI. Well I was waiting for the Shadow Blue but at the last moment they messed up. I was shell shocked but owing to getting it done I opted for Black which was my backup color. It was disappointing but I thought what the hell. Vidyut did not disappoint me much since I did not expect much from them. Anyway the "Black Knight" is here we must have a photoshoot dude....at least the Ventos in Pune

[evilshantanu]

Originally Posted by ambivalent_98

Shantanu,
One question for you....(sorry if I have asked this earlier) Just received my Black Knight (Vento TDI Black) yesterday.

What is the "run" in limit of the engine ? Since I am switching from a petrol to diesel , I find myself going beyond 2000 rpm many times. Is that bad for the car ?

The run in period that I considered was 1500 KM. its okay to go above 2500 and 3000 RPM occasinally, the idea is to get the engine used to a wide range or RPMs

Happy revving !

Originally Posted by noopster

@ambi- congrats man! You can run it in for the first 1500 km- that's what most of us did.

@evilS- man you have run up quite a lead on me now! I just crossed 5000 last week. Funny how Bangalore seems to be similar to Pune in the respect of vastly different dealers. Check out my own comparison of Vidyut Motors (where I got my vehicle) and BU Bhandari (which I visited for a lark!) Based on the shoddy customer service of teh former and the acceptable one at the latter, am thinking will do my services from the BU Bhandari one.

@noops: My daily commute to work is around 70 Km (round trip) so I guess thats where you see the high mileage!

[ambivalent_98]

@evil - One question , when you start your engine and it is idling and if you happen to press the clutch is there some change in the noise ? NOt loud but felt in the cabin. Have you noticed anything like that ?

[evilshantanu]

Originally Posted by ambivalent_98

@evil - One question , when you start your engine and it is idling and if you happen to press the clutch is there some change in the noise ? NOt loud but felt in the cabin. Have you noticed anything like that ?

Yes there is a change in the engine noise, after a cold start. It is there at other times as well but most observed after a cold start

[Frontosa]

Originally Posted by evilshantanu

The Shadowfax completed

Now coming back to the vehicle performance. The engine is super smooth now, the torque during the initial pickup (on 2nd and 3rd gear) is more linear now, though you feel a sudden thrust of power, but not like it used to when it was new, and this is much more smoother now. The torque on 4th and 5th gear still kicks some fine dust on the highways! The engine oil needed some topping up, as expected from VW TDI engines,n!

hello Shantanu, could you kindly enlighten me on the linear vs sudden thrust? My polo from just yesterday seems to have smoothened all of a sudden as if!and that super awesome torque seems to have become linear, I loved that thrust but it's reduced or gone although athere is no reduction in pickup or whatever. Is this normal? I m planning to have a checkup done at workshop anyway. Do let me know

[evilshantanu]

Originally Posted by Frontosa

hello Shantanu, could you kindly enlighten me on the linear vs sudden thrust? My polo from just yesterday seems to have smoothened all of a sudden as if!and that super awesome torque seems to have become linear, I loved that thrust but it's reduced or gone although athere is no reduction in pickup or whatever. Is this normal? I m planning to have a checkup done at workshop anyway. Do let me know

Yeah you are right, that punchy sudden torque goes after the run-in, atleast I have noticed that. Well in my case I prefer a linear torque much more than the sudden one. But I took the car to the service center and they said that its pretty normal.

[evilshantanu]

What do you do on a bright sunny morning, on the way to work ?

well this morning was one such, with Guns n Roses on the stereo, and not much traffic on the road (i left to work early), I decided to enjoy the TDI engine, with a lot of quick pickups, and an awesome drive, the FE for the entire drive (26 KM) on the Outer Ring road traffic in Bangalore came to be 14.7 kmpl

I am impressed!!!

Apart from this, got the Shadowfax an interior spa treatment done, damages: 800 Rs but the interiors are shining new! I am loving it!!!

[evilshantanu]

First things first: The Shadowfax has completed 13,000 KM, yeah thats a lot of mileage, but since I stay a little far from my workplace, so generally the daily mileage of my car is around 70 KM and if I need to pick up missus (which is often these days , thanks to the rains in Bangalore) then that becomes 100 KM / day

The engine is super smooth now, and after the engine oil top up at 7000 KM on the ODO, the level of the engine oil now seems to be stable and constant.

Coolant:
A lot of people raised concerns about the coolant level dropping pretty fast, I didnt see that in my car, though after a long drive if you open the hood, when the engine is still warm, the level of coolant you would see from the naked eye would be at the "min" but open the lid of the container and there is a "fisssss" kinda noise, which releases the pressure and the level of the coolant is again somewhere between the Max and Min

Seats and Upholstery
They are a disaster, I don't know who reccomended VW to put that color on the seats, after spending so much time o the driver's seat, the seat has turned bluish, thanks to the color of my jeans.

The driver's seat has sort of developed some play, I guess there is some lose nut / screw, when I bring in that awesome torque in, there is some dilly dallying on the seat. I guess since the 15,000 KM service is near, will get this rectified then

Tyre pressure and mileage

After experimenting with so many tyre pressures, and the corresponding mileages that the car draws, I have some pattern here now

- For highway drives, I keep the pressure to 32 PSI, this way I can squeeze out a mileage of around 18 kmpl, without com[promising on high speeds and the handling and stability of the car

- For city drives, I keep the tyre pressure to 35 PSI, this way I am drawing a mileage of 16.7-17 kmpl in city driving (on the outer ring road in Bangalore), if the road is bad, then the ride is a little bumpy, but its okay. Since in the city, i dont drive at high speeds, so the stability of the car is not a problem

- When driving with 5 people on board, keep the tyre pressure to 34 PSI, this is the best mixture for mileage as well as stability (IMHO)

Also I am thinking of going in for leather seat covers after the first servicing

Shadowfax gets sunglasses

After a lot of dillema finally got Shadofax new sunglasses, I opted for 3M CS50 (color stable with 50% visibility). And boy the she looks amazing now, plus the AC effectiveness has improved tremendously

Here are the pics, the 3M car care guys in HSR layout are very professional, got the entire work done in 1.5 hrs, plus they removed one of the scratches with the help of rubbing compound as well. Dont forget to take an appointment, this way you can save a lot of waiting time

[evilshantanu]

Shadowfax has completed 23,500 KM on the ODO

Some noticeable things

- The mileage is stunning now, I am getting a 17kmpl on the Outer Ring Road in Bangalore, during my commute to work

- The left side seat belt rattling is one issue which was never fixed, even after so many complaints, the rattle is not very bad, everytime I send it to the service center for getting it fixed, they do something and it is silent for a week and then it comes back again

- No engine oil top up has been done after the first service. Checked the engine oil level this morning, and it seems to be perfect

- The seats are now pretty dirty, and have given my car for interior cleaning at the 3M car care in HSR layout

Apart from this, I have bought the tubeless tire puncture repair kit, I thought its a waste of money to keep giving Rs 200/- for every puncture repair. Found the repair to be pretty easy as well.

Most of my run is on the ORR, and with the amount of construction work happening, there are some weird scratches on the car. Plan to take it for a detailing session soon. That would be again in the 3M Car care center.

Bonus Pic: Shadowfax with the Italian lady at the base of Nandi hills, on a good Sunday morning Nandi Hill, just before I started the climb on the Italian lady

[evilshantanu]

So the Shadowfax turns 1 in March 2012. Its been a fabulous one year with the brave heart! I have already clocked 28,000 KM on the Odometer, and I still love to drive it, I still like to take it on open roads, you have to drive it to find out how much it loves the open roads.

I almost nearly booked a Vento petrol, thinking that Diesel Vento is too expensive for me, but then Ankita asked me to go for the diesel one, the difference in cost was 1.25 Lacs (ex showroom) but I guess I have recover that amount already. Here is some maths how