[ninjatalli]

Originally Posted by selfdrive

Are you going to Bhandardara too? I loved the drive there from Nashik. I think there is also a meet planned there on the 28th. Not sure if you are planning for the same date.

Edit: Thank heavens for the SLR!

Bhandardara - maybe. The itinerary is not yet completely planned. Only fixed spot is the wedding on Saturday afternoon, rest of the plan is still up for planning.

Originally Posted by selfdrive

really? Ninja, how many seats are booked in ze Vento?!
What are ze dates?

Dates are the 27-28th weekend. Unfortunately not matching with the Sula Fest dates, but can't really postpone the wedding for that (even though we have requested the groom ) As of now there are 4 junta going for the wedding. Would you be interested?

Originally Posted by subodh

That looks like an awesome trip Ninja. Post your experiance of the overall drive and how the car handled the relatively bad patches on some roads.
So, whats the km reading now? Crossed the 10k mark or not?

My car had some rattles, but its all good. Nothing to worry about.

Aha! Just found out a new rattle today. Still to explore more on it. The left side quarter glass at the back rattles a bit when I go over bad roads. Not sure if it's the glass, but still to figure it out before I show it to the showroom. Would have never found it out as the sound gets muffled by the engine & the tires, if it hadn't been for today when my colleagues tried out the car and I sat at the back.

As for the kms, Just a shy away from 9k. The last month has been (spent) out of Pune, and the car has mostly been in the garage.

Originally Posted by noopster

Hey is this for Sulafest? That should make for an amazing travelogue! Do post high-res pics

Edit: @selfdrive: It's on 4th and 5th Feb.

Yup, missing it by a week. What a pity. Anyway, the trip should be worth it. Travelogue - I'm still at a loss working on the current one. Will have to finish that one first. Hopefully I'll get it up this weekend.

[Swanand Inamdar]

Subodh: Just in case you forgot - You ARE travelling on those dates. Remember you telling me yesterday? Ring any bells?

Ninja: Is this journey yet to be undertaken? That should make one amazing TL! Do write about the whole experiance. Are you taking the Vento?

Oh, whats the ODO now? Crossed 15k? .

EDIT: Just read your post above, on the ODO reading. Ignore my question.

[subodh]

Alas yes Swanand I do remember that I am travelling that time :( sula feat has always been on my radar.
So ninja what all states in India have you covered till date in your car?

[ninjatalli]

Originally Posted by Swanand Inamdar

Subodh: Just in case you forgot - You ARE travelling on those dates. Remember you telling me yesterday? Ring any bells?

Ninja: Is this journey yet to be undertaken? That should make one amazing TL! Do write about the whole experiance. Are you taking the Vento?

Oh, whats the ODO now? Crossed 15k? .

EDIT: Just read your post above, on the ODO reading. Ignore my question.

Yes sir. Next weekend. But there already seem to be a few changes being requested.

Maybe we might go both the weekends, one for the wedding, one for the fest.
Maybe we might not at all go to the wines.

Ho hum.

Maybe I should just dump them all in some ravine and go all alone #girlsWithRulesandRestrictions!


P.s. If we make a plan to go for the 4/5th weekend, anybody else planning so? Do tell.

Originally Posted by subodh

Alas yes Swanand I do remember that I am travelling that time :( sula feat has always been on my radar.
So ninja what all states in India have you covered till date in your car?

Interesting question. If I can expand that to my car & bike, the list stands as :

• Car : MH, GJ, RJ, HR, DL
• Bike : MH, GJ, RJ, GA, KA, TN, JH, WB, OR, BR, JK (not my bike)

The car still has to catch up a lot!

[ninjatalli]

This has been a good weekend. Lovely weather, nothing much to do and relatively well spent evening/nights.

The first night was spent on the Pune - Bangalore highway where the lady crossed one more landmark. This was a short trip towards Satara side where I went on a midnight drive till the first toll that came up. Unfortunately I didn't have a camera with me, else I could have captured some really beautiful pictures of a sleeping Pune city. Maybe some other day.


One more landmark!

The second night was even more special as @mikon and moi decided to hit the viaduct that comes up on the highway just before the Katraj tunnel. We land up at the bridge just as the clock strikes midnight. Even at such an odd hour, the traffic strength is pretty high, which surprises both of us.

While he ramps up some really excellent pictures with his SLR, I decide to focus on the photographer and come up with a few of my own.















Ironically even after spending over two hours at the highway we are not able to get a good picture of both cars and/or both drivers. However we decide to do this again in the coming weekends with a better location and hopefully, more cars!

P.s. All the above pictures are taken with an exposure of 15 seconds. The camera used was a Canon A2100 IS.

[selfdrive]

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

P.s. If we make a plan to go for the 4/5th weekend, anybody else planning so? Do tell.

I am out for the next 2 weekends at least. Weddings to attend.

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

The second night was even more special as @mikon and moi decided to hit the viaduct that comes up on the highway just before the Katraj tunnel. We land up at the bridge just as the clock strikes midnight. Even at such an odd hour, the traffic strength is pretty high, which surprises both of us.

Ideal time to drive on that road, all eyes open of course.
Nice pics, any more of the viaduct itself? How did you manage to cross that road?!

[ninjatalli]

Originally Posted by selfdrive

I am out for the next 2 weekends at least. Weddings to attend.



Ideal time to drive on that road, all eyes open of course.
Nice pics, any more of the viaduct itself? How did you manage to cross that road?!

Hop, skip and a jump.

Mikon should be putting up some seriously good pics of the viaduct, I had a pretty simple camera so I was just fooling around.

[mikon]

Ninja Sir. Excellent pictures!
Rightly said, this time there should be more pictures about the rides and the drivers too

[drmohitg]

The shadow blue shade looks so awesome on the Vento. How tough is to maintain it? Is it as bad as the black or slightly more easier?

[ninjatalli]

Originally Posted by drmohitg

The shadow blue shade looks so awesome on the Vento. How tough is to maintain it? Is it as bad as the black or slightly more easier?

It is slightly better (to manage) than black, as the swirls do not stand out that much as they do on the black.

However the scratches & dents are easily visible and look as bad on the blue as much as on the black.

[souravc]

Dude , are you done with your Chennai trip ? How many KMs up on your Vento , I am nearing 21 grand
I read about your comment on the rattle in the rear quarter glass , is it when its rolled down ?

[ninjatalli]

Originally Posted by souravc

Dude , are you done with your Chennai trip ? How many KMs up on your Vento , I am nearing 21 grand
I read about your comment on the rattle in the rear quarter glass , is it when its rolled down ?

No sir, chennai trip is in feb end, however I couldn't find anyone to accompany me, so have booked flight tickets.

Actually I didn't remember if the window was open or closed, when the rattle was heard, have to test it out properly, it is not that loud or heard by all.

21k! You are in competition with @mikon, who's at 24k. I'm still only at 9odd, far to go. Maybe I'll hit the 10k figure this weekend.

[nileshch]

Originally Posted by drmohitg

The shadow blue shade looks so awesome on the Vento. How tough is to maintain it? Is it as bad as the black or slightly more easier?

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

It is slightly better (to manage) than black, as the swirls do not stand out that much as they do on the black.

However the scratches & dents are easily visible and look as bad on the blue as much as on the black.

The shadow blue is as tough as the black to maintain. See how scratches look on the blue

Horrific!!

[ninjatalli]

10k coming up! 10k coming up!

I have seen so many fellas out here passing that landmark, some taking their own sweet time, reaching this mark in a few years; and some doing it in a zip, not even pausing to celebrate that landmark while they work around their beauties to reach figures that I doubt I'll ever reach in my lifetime.

As for me, let me give a few more "facts" : My dad's Alto, after 12+ years is still puttering around 20k. He's been postponing an upgrade since ages quoting various reasons. Current one is that he'll do it once he passes 25k, which I doubt he'll ever do it without me helping in! Even his Padmini & M800 before that hardly crossed these numbers. If I tell him about my car's kms, he's sure to have a heart-attack!

But I digress.

So what has worked and what hasn't in the last 4 months and 10,000 kms?

Pros

• The engine. The turbo. I could go on and on about it. But I won't. Get a Vento and drive it. You'll understand.
• The European touch. The way the door closes. The option to press the lock button before you get out and then the car locks once you close all doors. And so on.
• Jack of all trades aspect. The handling isn't the best, but it works. The suspension isn't the best, but it works. The brakes aren't the best, but they work. The design, isn't one of the best lookers, but it'll last. The A$$, far from being reliable, but it'll work. The features, not the complete list, but it'll suffice. The music system, far from the best setup, but it'll work. You get the idea.
• The gear setup. Smooth as silk.
• The arm-rest. It rocks. Seriously. Pity there is only one. Irrespective of the person(s), the driver & and passenger always end up fighting for it.
• The color. Scratches, swirls, whatever. I still drool at it, as much as I did at the ladies on Walking street, Pattaya.

Cons

• The clutch. I'd say this is expected of diesels. Well, I keep getting to drive a Punto & a few Hyundai(s), they sure don't have it that hard, do they.
• Lack of a dead pedal.
• Tight suspension. Seriously, it'll do for the average Joe. But then at times, you do want a more better setup.
• Better dealers. So far, BUB Pune has scored full marks on all aspects. But from what I hear on the forum, the rest are far from close. Plus with the thin service network across the country, they sure need to gear up.
• Niggles. I'm nitpicking here, but the car does have a few of them. Time for them to pull up their socks and start working on these.
• Open attitude. Toyota found a problem in few of their Etios batches. They came out open about it. So does VW with a few of the Vento batches. Being hush-hush about it is not going to help them. Trust goes a long way in the Indian market.
• Labor rates. Spare parts. Now this is VW, not Maruti. But still the prices need to be reasonable. Alloys that cost the moon. Plastic logos that are inexplicably expensive. And so on.
• The Automatic Climate Control. Weirdly most of the time, it switches to outside air. Not the best option for our choked up city roads. Also having rear vents isn't really helping for the people in the rear seats, especially on sunny days. In addition to the existing air-flow options, I wish they had given one more where the air is circulated only to the rear vents.
• A remote control for the stock ICE. Seriously, a lever for the saab to adjust the passenger seat, but no remote?
• Rear-view camera. Yes, one can get it done in the after-market. But they could have provided it, considering they seem to be increasing the prices at a drop of a hat.
• Better stock headlights. Come on, even my M800 had better headlights.

Overall, I'm glad I opted for this relatively unknown beauty over the more popular Hyundai and Maruti options. It's been a delight over the past few months, and I hope to do a lot more with the lady. Like a Leh trip maybe?

Also, did a short trip to a small, sleepy town called Shrirampur, a few kms shy of Shirdi. Most of the drive on four lane roads, except for the last odd 40 kms which was done on a tight two lane village roads. I should definitely be putting up a travelogue, we hit some excellent foodie spots on the highway, took a wrong turn and got lost in interior Maharashtra, but enjoyed every part of it while we roamed around going in circles (literally - somehow with google maps, empty roads and 4 level-headed blokes, we landed up a few kms from where we started after 30 odd kms & 1 hour!), and almost got killed on the road. Ah, but I still need to get to finishing the Thai travelogue first!

As of now, I'll let these few pics give the idea.


Yummy breakfast at 7.30 a.m.


The mean machine taking a break


Colorful sights on the road


Ah, the beautiful lanes of Maharashtra. S'Pity we found our way back within an hour. Wouldn't have minded getting lost for a few hours more!


Part time business, maybe? Lol


Once I get the funds ready, my daily drive to office. Top speed on this beauty was 30kmph. As it is the Hinjewadi traffic hardly lets me go over 20!


Green fields. A younger me would have gone stealing 'cane. Ah, what a pity!


Loved these trees. Again, a younger (& fitter) me would have gone climbing. *Sigh*



Ah well, I was kidding about the getting killed part. But we did have a scare or two. Maybe I'll get it up later sometime!

[neoonwheels]

The ACC turning to fresh air mode certainly has something since my Punto as well goes on fresh air once put on full auto.

BTW, as always, your writing style is certainly very entertaining