I made sure that I took a complete video of the car to avoid being gifted any additional scratches like we were last year.
BHPian akash_v12 recently shared this with other enthusiasts.
Update: January 2022.
Odometer Reading: 86000 km.
It's been a while since I've updated this thread. Don't blame me, blame the ever-present bug of procrastination in me. A few things have happened over time and allow me to list them down.
31st August 2021.
Related thread: Bulge on tyre. Can I repair it?
As we were about to leave for Mumbai, I happened to notice a bulge on the front passenger side tyre during my normal check around the car. Not very major it seemed until a quick search revealed the possible repercussions of this issue. I immediately posted a thread asking for solutions to this and thanks to BHPian Indian2003 for his super-quick response.
My dad's preferred tyre shop and from where we got these tyres, Lonkar Tyres (Yokohama Tyre Dealer : Lonkar Tyres (Pune)) had shut down which came as a rather rude shock since we needed the tyres to be changed. A small-time tyre dealer had set up shop there and quoted exorbitant prices for 2 BluEarth AE51s that were pretty old stock. Didn't bother asking him about Michelins and dad told his mechanic to put on the spare and leave it at that.
The following week, after some research, I figured out that although Michelins would've been the best option for the Vento, they were really, really hard to source (especially in my part of Pune). Shreyas Tyres had 195/65 sized XM2s but we didn't want to upsize at all since we were only planning to get 2 tyres changed.
We went to Tyre Master, a newer store dealing with Goodyears & Yokohamas. Incidentally, the staff from Lonkar Tyres including their very helpful alignment expert had also been absorbed by them. Got 2 Yokohama Earth1's and will get the rear tyres changed around the 94-95K KMs mark. Paid a decent amount to get the July tyres from them, but they were super helpful.
Removing the tyres.
Getting her alignment perfect.
3rd December 2021: 90000 km service.
Booked in Lokkhi for her 90000 km/6 year service. It has been two continuous years that we've reached the 1 year period over the 15000 kms. Dad wanted to take it over to the new B.U Bhandari dealership (ex-Vidyut) at Shivajinagar, but there's some miscommunication between the two locations which meant we preferred getting her picked up from our residence itself to be taken to the Wakad centre.
Odo reading at the time of being taken away for service.
As usual, the executive came and took the car away. I made sure that I took a complete video of the car to avoid being gifted any additional scratches like we were last year. Dad told the SA that nothing except the basic 85000 km service was to be done and that was that. Since we had SVP for this year as well, only paid the charges for the weights and we were done and dusted.
On the night when the car returned, I took a close look around with a flashlight for any scratches or dents. Sure enough, I found 3 of them (albeit I'm not sure if they were scratches/dents or paint, BHPians to advise). In the name of 'rotation' (which we had never asked for), these guys also changed positions of the tyres which meant that we were having 2 new tyres diagonally opposite and the other two diagonally opposite to each other.
30th December 2021: ABS sensor/ESP lights.
While Dad was driving back to Pune last week, he got the ABS & ESP lights and cruise control wouldn't work at all (I'm not sure if this is all for the same reason since we haven't had the chance to take her out after she returned yesterday).
This time gave a direct call to one of the managers at the service dept. who had come to our residence earlier to get a Check Engine light diagnosed. His response was prompt and he came well prepared to take the car with an additional driver to get the car taken away. As expected and VW is notorious for, it was an ABS sensor failure. If the other 3 go kaput on me soon, I'll prefer going for either the more robust sensor or the other sensor which BHPians recommended (I think it was Hitachi or Toshiba, can't seem to remember the name).
For now, that's all I have for you BHPians. Lokkhi will soon turn 6 and I hope she continues serving as like she has been over all this time.
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