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Booked a Nexon but bought a VW Taigun DSG: Observations post 8000km

5th March 2024, 11:02 by Dev Shah

Engine is super-smooth, effortless cruiser on the highway, gear shifts are not felt at all except when shifting from 2 to 1.

BHPian adv.yzr recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Greetings BHPians!

It's been a while since we got our VW Taigun GT Plus 1.5 DSG. Purchased on Dhanteras in November 2023 and replaced our close to 15-year-old Maruti Suzuki SX4. I'll be sharing buying & driving experience in this post for the larger audience.

We had purchased SX4 in early 2009 and 2024 being at the corner meant completion of 15 years and the 10-15 year old rule in Delhi-NCR also meant that we have to take a quick decision regarding it and considered the following options:

I currently reside in Panchkula and make weekly trips to Gurugram, so thought of considering its registration extended in Panchkula, and keeping it for another 5 years. The reason being, the car was driven only 97k km and was in immaculate condition and we didn't really feel the need to sell it off immediately.
Keep driving till the end-of-life and get it scrapped and avail incentives being offered.
Sell it off and buy a new car.

After many deliberations and discussions, we opted for 3rd option and then began the search for a new car. The budget was approx 25 lakhs, however, we also thought that we should restrict it to 15 and with the remaining budget replace our 7 year old Baleno diesel next year. So the budget remained in the bracket of 15-25 lakhs and hence the following cars were considered:

Cars considered:

Tata Nexon: Had booked the pre-facelift XZ+S(D) given the massive discounts. was falling well below the budget and was good enough for highway drives.
MG Hector: Fell within the budget and was being offered huge discounts on Diesel variant.
Toyota Innova Crysta: Trust in the brand made us consider it but dropped due to waiting period.
Tata Harrier/ Safari: Pre-facelift models were being offered at huge discount and were falling well within the budget.
Honda Elevate: New car but didn't feel good spending 20 lakhs on it.

We were not willing to buy Maruti, Kia or Hyundai primarily because we were looking for a strongly built car and hence the case. We didn't even consider VW/ Skoda due to past experiences of near & dear ones who suggested that we shouldn't buy it owing to high maintenance.

We went ahead with Nexon and finalised the delivery date etc. on the condition that we will do PDI first and then release the payment. However, on the day of PDI, on reaching the showroom, the sales executive informed that he is on his way and will take an hour to reach, that's when we went to VW since we had to pass that 1 hour and the rest is history.

We looked at both Taigun & Virtus and Taigun GT appealed us more. Took a test drive of GT DSG and TC and found that DSG is leaps and bound ahead of TC and finalised the same. They gave a huge discount and better resale value of our SX4. However, family members were still apprehensive of the brand and after multiple visits to the showroom, test drives, they were convinced to go for Taigun but said that we should go for 1.0 Tsi TC due to 2 lakh cheap and better reliability. But I wasn't convinced and persuaded them to go for GT+ DSG since we drive mostly on highways and it will be a much better option in comparison to TC.

Finalised on the colour, which was pre-decided that we'll be going for Lava Blue, since it was a relatively new addition to the colour palette. The sales executive informed that he has 1 car in stock and when we went to stockyard to check, we got to know that it has been sold and was there till yesterday. We decided that we should wait and look for other options or go ahead with Nexon. However, in the evening we were informed that GT+ DSG LB is in transit and is the updated model with ES+Subwoofer and it fortified our decision to get the car as early as possible.

Did the PDI, loan formalities etc. and finalised the date of delivery i.e. 10.11.23 (Dhanteras) and finally got it home.

My Perspective after Purchase and 8k km of driving:

Engine & Gearbox: Engine is super-smooth, effortless cruiser on the highway, gear shifts are not felt at all except when shifting from 2 to 1. Power on tap given the fact that I haven't driven a car with so much power & torque. Excellent confidence on highways, I consider it as a perfect replacement for our beloved SX4.
Ride Quality & Comfort: Superb ride quality, I don't think any suspension noise creeps in as reported by other members or maybe I am liking the car way too much. Seats are good and best for 4 people. I did a 3k trip in December to Kanpur, Lucknow, Prayagraj, Varanasi, Khajuraho. Drove back non-stop from Lucknow to Chandigarh and I didn't feel tired or exhausted at all, such is the comfort I am experiencing.
Fuel Efficiency: On highways I get 20-21 kmpl on cruising speeds of 90-100 which gets reduced to 18-19 kmpl on highway speeds of 110-120. In moderate city traffic, as observed in Panchkula-Chandigarh, I am getting 14-15 kmpl which gets reduced to 12-13 with instant acceleration/ heavy foot. Eco mode works efficiently and the switch from 2 cylinder mode to 4 & vice-versa is smooth and doesn't feel if it is running on 2 cyl. On my UP-MP trip, I got 18 kmpl overall.
Niggles & Issues: Squeaking noise from driver side door. On undulating roads, the gearbox shifts to 1st gear and doesn't upshift even on manual input/ paddle shifter. Rest appears fine to me.
Sound System: Feels good, sound quality is impressive, expecting improvements after coding.
NVH: Smooth & Refined, can't hear the engine but get loud at higher revs. Car came with CEAT tyres, I have found them to be good.
Service Experience: Average, I felt that VW Service center personnel are not that agile/ active as compared to MASS where they quickly attend to you and your vehicle, I am expecting a change in my perception.
Overall Ownership Experience: Fantastic.
Upgrades Planned: Fog Lamps, VCDS Tweaks, Bonnet Insulation (if available)

Accessories purchased from VW: