Volkswagen Vento Highline Diesel 2012 - Terra Beige.


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Finally, a German Car that i can call OURS arrived in my parking lot on 20th of this month.

The ride "now" is very comfortable but to get there we went through some tough decision making process...

It all started 4 months back when we decided to move back to India (after a stint of over 7 yrs outside India). When I left India I had my 800 and of course during the course of living in US i had my Malibu and then last 2 yrs in Shanghai had a Minivan.

So when we start looking around we down selected these cars for test drive.

Innova : Proven, typical family-van
Scorpio : Having a enfield this is my natural choice :)
Verna - Fluid : Looked sleek but too jazzy
VW - Vento : German Sedan
Skoda- Rapid : same as vento
Toyota- Etios : Brand Toyota tempted me
Swift Dzire : Never say no to Maruti :)

The twist came when we got to know that Mini-suv's are coming up i.e Ford Ecosport, Duster (while no clear dates). So the temptation in between was to get a used car and then go for Mini-suv's..But what the heck, lets drive a new car...

The first 2-3 days after we arrived we were visited by skew of test drives.

Safety : You have so many variants with safety features compromised and we wanted a Dual-air bag + ABS
Comfort : Navigating in BLR roads, parking and occasional weekend trips
Engine : Diesel (this is the buzz that i dont want to leave out)
Maintenance : This is a big UNKNOWN area. I guess other than Maruti nobody could crack it that close
Transmission : Manual (i had auto for over 5 yrs in US and i think we are still comfortable with manual)
Delivery : FASTTTT...With my Thunderbird, driving for school admissions (for my 2 kids) is a nightmare, so i need a 4 wheeler in couple of weeks
Efficiency : Thou shall not care to give 15KMPL in India may call them DEAD

We have started filtering based on above criteria and finally it became a Innova, Skoda & VW decision...Scorpio was very close but unfortunately the test drive vehicle that came was 2010 model and my wife killed in first shot itself.

Innova : 16.5 L (High end)...Beyond my budget

VW Vento : They came promptly for test drive and when i went to showroom on Saturday it was a long long wait and felt may be this is not a car

Skoda Rapid (Middle variant): Liked the car and went to showroom 2-3 times and once with a Cheque book. Well within my budget, drive was comfortable, the looks inside was bit plastic but its ok...The build quality was good but if i compare with Vento it lacked something, not sure what ??

Finally we want to give another shot at Vento with a different dealer and if not working out we were ready for RApid. The second dealer was welcoming and within an hour we had the almost close final numbers with us. No 2011 models. Tried to find out car before excise duty imposed date again no luck (they had black only).

Rapid Offers given : Corporate Discount (15k), Teflon Coating, Lumar(3m), Basic Accessories set
Vento Offers : Free Insurance (1st yr), Basic accessories, Lumar, Door Sills (VW logo), Corp Discount (Rs.27k)..Final OTR 12.19. Financed through HDFC

Booked on 12th and delivered on 20th.

Thanks Wildon for your VIN Report.

Detailed photos and reports soon...
 
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Re: Vento Highline Diesel 2012 - Terra Beige...SHANGHAI

Hey vbaskar

Congrats. May I know if it is 2011 model or 2012 model that you have bought?

Also could you let know about the dealer? I have also booked a Vento (AT) with VW Whitefield with no status at present (regarding delivery). Apparently VW is NOT manufacturing Petrol Ventos (or Highline Petrol Ventos). Very strange.

Have lots of happy miles with your German drive.
 

350Z

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Re: Vento Highline Diesel 2012 - Terra Beige...SHANGHAI

Heartiest Congratulations. You have received a rather nice deal for the car. It's almost on-road price of Delhi. Enjoy the drive with this understated German Machine. Do write up more about it and don’t forget the snaps too. :smile: (You can include further details directly by editing the opening post).

Drive Safe,
350Z
 
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Re: Vento Highline Diesel 2012 - Terra Beige...SHANGHAI

Congratulations for your new acquisition buddy and happy miles munching with the new machine. Waiting for a nice ownership review with some great pictures.
 
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Re: Vento Highline Diesel 2012 - Terra Beige...SHANGHAI

First of all welcome to TAI.

vbaskar Congrats for your new Vento, wishing you many happy miles in your new car. Start is quite promising waiting for next dose.
 
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Re: Vento Highline Diesel 2012 - Terra Beige...SHANGHAI

Hey vbaskar

Congrats. May I know if it is 2011 model or 2012 model that you have bought?

Also could you let know about the dealer? I have also booked a Vento (AT) with VW Whitefield with no status at present (regarding delivery). Apparently VW is NOT manufacturing Petrol Ventos (or Highline Petrol Ventos). Very strange.

Have lots of happy miles with your German drive.
2012 model. I've taken from vw downtown. Good first impression and the status updates were quite frequent from the SA. Did you drop a note to vw or Vw facebook page?
 
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Re: Vento Highline Diesel 2012 - Terra Beige...SHANGHAI

Vbaskar - Many many congratulations on the German beauty. Wishing you crores of happy kms with the car.
Hope you have a happy ownership with your acquision.
Waiting for interior PICs!

Cheers.
 
Thread Starter #10
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Re: Vento Highline Diesel 2012 - Terra Beige...SHANGHAI

Here are the photos
 

Attachments

Thread Starter #11
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Re: Vento Highline Diesel 2012 - Terra Beige...SHANGHAI

Sorry.....

I do have a 15 min edit restriction and unfortunately i couldn't put my comments that i've written under each of this. Dropped a note Administrator, once i get that let me update the comments for each of the photo...
 
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Re: Vento Highline Diesel 2012 - Terra Beige...SHANGHAI

Amazing pics.
Really mouthwatering!
The beige interior really matches well with the exteriors.

Nice pics, once again.
 
Thread Starter #13
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Re: Vento Highline Diesel 2012 - Terra Beige...SHANGHAI

My first assesment after 2-3 days,

a) First thing first, there is enough room at the back inspite of the hump in the middle. I am 6'1 and stretched the seat at max and look at the space (in first photo). The passenger seat is stretched for 5'6 person

b) The design is fantastic and curvy.

c) The front grille gives more elegant and rich look and i havent used the fog lamps. But i personally felt that fog lamps are too stretched to the ends..

d) the hand resting and the handbrake...this is big naggy for me...i am still not used to it and even pushing the hand rest to the back is still an issue to me..this is something i am not comfortable of

e) the wheels (steering) are very comfortable and sturdy...the adjustments to the wheel (push, pull, rise above and below) is good and convenient...but the dashboard is still small according to me...it is difficult for me to sit stretched and trying to read the dashboard (even for a split second)

f) the music system is OK OK..they said this is an upgraded system (from 2012 onwards), but i still have issues of not having an pause button for CD's

g) well thought out place for USB but what an miserable idea of not supporting Ipad, iphone, itouch or even zune...this is completely an big oversight according to me

h) the rear view is bit cramped according to me having driven other chevy (malibu) and MUV's...this is bit damped.

i) the front windshield is defn impressive, heard this is the audi component...it has anti-reflective and glad i did not put 3M on above that

j) Antenna : i thought it was bit awkward and out of place..without this the car would ve been more elegant...:)

k) well, well, well what a boot space..i think it is about 490L and i could manage to keep my kids's cycle inside that...

This week plan,

a) Kagu 3d Mats (quote is 4.5k)
b) Jopasu Duster (from ebay...i need to find a voucher that i had for 100 bucks from HDFC)
 
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Re: Vento Highline Diesel 2012 - Terra Beige...SHANGHAI

Congrats baskar for your new car. How is your driving experience? How is the turbolag?

Your car looks nice.
 
Thread Starter #15
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Re: Vento Highline Diesel 2012 - Terra Beige...SHANGHAI

Congrats baskar for your new car. How is your driving experience? How is the turbolag?

Your car looks nice.
Overall the the city driving is very comfortable and i did a quick 40 kms stretch around NICE Road and Outer ring road to feel the speed, turbo and maneuverability...good overall...,

in city i can feel the turbo lag (may be due to low RPM) but honestly it doesn't look like underpowered.
 

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