[evilshantanu]

How it started:

In September 2010, my good old, trustworthy swift went for another servicing and the bill handed over to me was a hefty one. I spoke to a lot f people in the family and friend’s circle. Everybody was of the opinion that once the warranty of a Maruti Car expires, the dealer / service center starts handing over big bills. Apart from that I had done 62,000 KM on the ODO, so was time to change and go car shopping. Cannot be a better retail therapy for men

Saw the Volkswagen Vento, talking newspaper advertisement. Though I had read the amazing review by GTO on TBHP, but wanted to see the beauty in flesh and then make the choice.

Dealership Experience and the decision:

The dealership experience was a nightmare. I think all the Vento owners would agree with me on this part. I went to Elite motors Bangalore, but there the attitude of the sales person was very arrogant. We immediately decided that atleast I am not buying the vento from this dealer...

Next we went to VW Palace cross, the sales representative there was very good, explained all the features and offered us a test drive, though it was a Sunday and the car wasn't allowed to go out of the premises, he took the permission from the MD and gave us the TD. We (wife and me) initially wanted to buy a Trendline Diesel, but without any delay unanimously decided of upgrading to a Highline TDI. Obviously the Diesel engine as GTO described, blew me over, none of the cars in this segment even came near to the Torque and drive quality that this provided (Disclaimer: T-JET wasnt introduced till then). The torque was amazing and above all addictive, after the first TD, I took about 4 more TDs in the coming weeks, and then zeroed down to Vento Highline Diesel. When I handed over the cheque, the waiting period told to me was 3 months, after the handing over of the cheque, immediately the waiting period went to 4-5 months, but still decided to live with it

The big question still remained, which color, I was enthusiastic about candy white, but the home ministry was more inclined towards Beige. Then one day while commuting to work, my wife saw a candy white Vento, and immediately agreed on it.

But the overall dealership experience is still an area which VW needs to improve upon.

Delivery:

I would say that the delivery experience was also not good enough, the car was received at their stock yard on 1st March, and still they took 6 days to deliver it. This is when I started the payment formalities the moment the vehicle was shipped from Chakan plant. I guess the dealers needs to learn a lot from Maruti and Hyundai.

Ride:

I took the delivery on Monday, 7th March 2010

Yay!

- the MID, and loads of info on it, would be good for highways!
- butter smooth gear shift
- the armrest
- air conditioning
- the engine is sheer joy and addictive, its tough to stay below 2500 RPM / 100 Km/hr
- The interiors, the fit and finish is amazing

Nay!

- The ultra light colored seats
- The music system
- The middle hump

The sheer joy of the TDI engine is while overtaking, on the outer ring road there was this impatient, honking ANHC behind me, as soon as he started honking, I just pressed the throttle and zoom kicks in the turbo! I just loved it!

As reported earlier the Blower noise is pretty audible, and bugs you at times. One more thing I have noticed is, when the ventilation is from outside, and you take a pickup, the blower noise increases a little, this is not seen when the ventilation for the CC is inside. This is weird, though it doesn’t bother you, but found it worth mentioning here

Now comes the main part. Its been 3 days since I took the delivery. The reading on the ODO is 300 km and the fuel economy shown in the MID is 17.3 kmpl. All with AC on!

Pics coming soon!

Will keep updating this thread as and when I get the time. Though an immediate action item for me is Upload the pics!

[sith_lord]

Congratulations, Shantanu, and Great choice! I've just booked the same beauty (albeit in shadow blue flavor). Waiting for the pics...

[Torquedo]

Congratulations Shantanu, Awaiting the Pics !!

What was the OTR price in Bangalore ?

I am a Swift owner as well, though mine has not done as many miles. 60K + in 3 years is really on the higher side.

How much did the repair bill amount to?

As for the torque and power, I have test driven the Vento and Optra Magum, but with no offences here, Magnum, I thought was leagues ahead in terms of in gear acceleration and the driving position.

Happy Motoring !!

[amitwlele]

Congrats Shantanu. The FE for 17.3 looks good especially considering all the initial KMs were city driving ( i am assuming this).

Waiting for further updates (read Pics)

[vb-saan]

Congratulations on your new car!
Happy to see that your extremely long waiting period is finally over

[evilshantanu]

Originally Posted by sith_lord

Congratulations, Shantanu, and Great choice! I've just booked the same beauty (albeit in shadow blue flavor). Waiting for the pics...

Congrats! I think the waiting period should come down, was chatting the VW palace cross, he said that waiting period is the biggest concern for them, and I think VW is running an extra shift for manufacturing Vento

Originally Posted by Torquedo

Congratulations Shantanu, Awaiting the Pics !!

What was the OTR price in Bangalore ?

I am a Swift owner as well, though mine has not done as many miles. 60K + in 3 years is really on the higher side.

How much did the repair bill amount to?

As for the torque and power, I have test driven the Vento and Optra Magum, but with no offences here, Magnum, I thought was leagues ahead in terms of in gear acceleration and the driving position.

Happy Motoring !!

Thanks! The OTR in Bangalore was Rs 11,02,000.

Yeah the mileage was in the higher side, I did pretty frequent outstation trips, including Goa, Pune and Mumbai by car.

Yes Optra Magnum is a very good car in terms of torque, but it is old now and needs a revamp, plus I dont trust GM as a company (no offence to GM car owners, this is my opinion).

Originally Posted by amitwlele

Congrats Shantanu. The FE for 17.3 looks good especially considering all the initial KMs were city driving ( i am assuming this).

Waiting for further updates (read Pics)

Yes it is all city driving, most of which is done on ORR from HSR Layout to Hebbal, and this is after tackling all those irritating flyover constructiuons

Originally Posted by vb-san

Congratulations on your new car!
Happy to see that your extremely long waiting period is finally over

Thanks!

[DMehta]

Hey shantanu, congrats on the new car! Some pictures would surely help.
I wanted to ask you whether you considered the optra magnum before finalizing the vento. Its got enough power to take on practically any car in its class. Just a query though, overall a really good choice and the color you chose looks the best on the vento.

Do post some detailed interior pictures and exterior pictures as well. Cheers. Enjoy the new car

[suman]

Heartiest Congratulations man, so its finally arrived. Its the best diesel sedan in its class, now if only they could do something about the delivery period!

Originally Posted by evilshantanu

The dealership experience was a nightmare. I think all the Vento owners would agree with me on this part.

Even I, as a non-owner would agree. I had to kick butt real hard at VW Gurgaon before they even sent a vehicle for TD. And, there hasn't been ONE follow up call thereafter!

[sith_lord]

Originally Posted by evilshantanu

Congrats! I think the waiting period should come down, was chatting the VW palace cross, he said that waiting period is the biggest concern for them, and I think VW is running an extra shift for manufacturing Vento

Thanks! The OTR in Bangalore was Rs 11,02,000.

I presume your OTR includes a corporate discount of 16K for Highline TDI.

The waiting period has come down but it still is beyond tolerable limits for Shadow blue (6-8 months). The SR has been pressing me to go for other (read Black/White/Silver/Red) colors but I'm sticking to Blue, at least for now. It's a good test for my patience levels - Let me see how long I last, before I blink and go with SR's suggestion. I'm really hoping the wait period for Blue won't last that long.

Are you planning on adding accessories - sun film, seat coverags, HU (say Witson)???

BTW, most of my commute is on ORR as well (I live in Bellandur and work in RMZ Infinity on OMR). Actually, I saw an yet-to-be-registered White TDI Highline running close to my office, near Big Bazaar on OMR, at around 8:45am. Is that yours by any chance?

[evilshantanu]

Originally Posted by sith_lord

I presume your OTR includes a corporate discount of 16K for Highline TDI.

The waiting period has come down but it still is beyond tolerable limits for Shadow blue (6-8 months). The SR has been pressing me to go for other (read Black/White/Silver/Red) colors but I'm sticking to Blue, at least for now. It's a good test for my patience levels - Let me see how long I last, before I blink and go with SR's suggestion. I'm really hoping the wait period for Blue won't last that long.

Are you planning on adding accessories - sun film, seat coverags, HU (say Witson)???

BTW, most of my commute is on ORR as well (I live in Bellandur and work in RMZ Infinity on OMR). Actually, I saw an yet-to-be-registered White TDI Highline running close to my office, near Big Bazaar on OMR, at around 8:45am. Is that yours by any chance?

Yes that includes 16K corporate discount

Accessories: Nothing as of now, thinking of buying the Kagu 3D Mats, also thinking of a HP 70 3M Sunfilm. Will go with the same HU for some time, not planning any seat covers as of now. Will wait for these to get dirty and then maybe I can go for leather seats

Yes that was me near RMZ Infinity

[ajay_satpute]

Finally!!

Heartiest congratulations!

Was following up your 'follow-up' with VW and felt really nice when saw your link on the Vento thread.

Its sad to see the agonies experienced from booking through delivery, but what matters is what you got finally. Vento is a great product and I am sure you must have forgotten all the agonies long back, the moment you took the steering in your hands.

Where are the photos? How can you start an ownership thread without photos of the beauty?

[sith_lord]

Great. At last you can add the year to signature now after all the waiting 'Volkswagen Vento Highline TDI' -> Volkswagen Vento Highline TDI: 2011'

[Schoudhury]

Shantanu,
Congrats man for getting Vento at alast .
Most of the vento's i have seen here @ blore are white and it surely looks classy.
And 17 kmpl is simply awesome . I guess we will need some driving tips from you.
So your swift still there with you ?

I stay @ hsr , may be we can meet up some time .

Cheers

[evilshantanu]

Originally Posted by DMehta

Hey shantanu, congrats on the new car! Some pictures would surely help.
I wanted to ask you whether you considered the optra magnum before finalizing the vento. Its got enough power to take on practically any car in its class. Just a query though, overall a really good choice and the color you chose looks the best on the vento.

Do post some detailed interior pictures and exterior pictures as well. Cheers. Enjoy the new car

No I did not consider the Optra, my cousin has an Optra and the After sales service wasnt great at all, maybe he was an exception but the type of issues he faced, I lost hope and trust from GM

Pics coming today!

Originally Posted by ajay_satpute

Finally!!

Heartiest congratulations!

Was following up your 'follow-up' with VW and felt really nice when saw your link on the Vento thread.

Its sad to see the agonies experienced from booking through delivery, but what matters is what you got finally. Vento is a great product and I am sure you must have forgotten all the agonies long back, the moment you took the steering in your hands.

Where are the photos? How can you start an ownership thread without photos of the beauty?

Thanks!
Pardon me for starting the tread without pics
I know its a crime, will update the pics today

Originally Posted by Schoudhury

Shantanu,
Congrats man for getting Vento at alast .
Most of the vento's i have seen here @ blore are white and it surely looks classy.
And 17 kmpl is simply awesome . I guess we will need some driving tips from you.
So your swift still there with you ?

I stay @ hsr , may be we can meet up some time .

Cheers

Yes! even I am thrilled to see 17 kmpl
I sold the swift, will PM you my cell number, lets catch up this weekend

[maheshramaling]

Congrats on your Vento acquisition! I personally liked Vento in Black & White! Pls. post some pics soon!

Originally Posted by evilshantanu

How it started:

In September 2010, my good old, trustworthy swift went for another servicing and the bill handed over to me was a hefty one. I spoke to a lot f people in the family and friend’s circle. Everybody was of the opinion that once the warranty of a Maruti Car expires, the dealer / service center starts handing over big bills. Apart from that I had done 62,000 KM on the ODO, so was time to change and go car shopping. Cannot be a better retail therapy for men

This long waiting period? My god. Is it coming from the same Skoda Aurangabad plant...that could be the reason?

BTW - what happened to your good old Swift?