[ninjatalli]

Originally Posted by Reinhard

What happened exactly? were there rocks on the road / broken road? Or you got off road due to narrowing lanes?

^The Chorla ghat route starts off at a turn (via a small village section) on the road between Belgaum and Khanapur town. On maps this is quite clear, but in real the turn is easily misplaced as one of the numerous village junctions. I missed this turn and went ahead to Khanapur. Mobile maps showed me an alternate route that joins the Chorla ghat a few kms ahead (instead of the U-turn and trying to locate that turn in the night). So I took that option which initially was decent, but the last few kms were practically broken down road. I went over a few rocks on this short stretch and ironically 2-3 kms away from the newly made Chorla ghat road.

[nileshch]

Great going, Ninja. I missed reading about your accident. Good to know you were safe and the car looks as good as ever after the repair. Agree with you -- with all the dirt and mud, the car looks great in the monsoon

[el lobo 6061]

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

So the Goa trip was finally put to existance,

-SNIP-

But I had the car running finally. Ironically I was tired of Goa, and wanted to get out of the state at the earliest. I skip breakfast and lunch (thanks to the workshop and their last minute delays) and move out back ontowards Pune. I finally have the first proper meal at Belgaum and reach Pune finally late in the night.

Good to know everything is good and no one was hurt. It would have some big stones to damage Vento underbelly, otherwise GC is quite enough to tackle worst of roads.

I can almost relate to your incident. I had to go to Pune to collect my car and you had to go to Goa to do same. Finally I was able to pen down complete incident on my ownership thread. Quite a roller coaster ride.

Originally Posted by nileshch

Great going, Ninja. I missed reading about your accident. Good to know you were safe and the car looks as good as ever after the repair. Agree with you -- with all the dirt and mud, the car looks great in the monsoon

Long time Nilesh. No update on your thread? Been long since we all had 1000 NM meet. Your location does state BOM and Ninja does keep coming to Mumbai and slips by from Palm Beach.

Link.

[ninjatalli]

4th servicing's up, and a bit delayed thanks to my cycling antics I guess. The car had reached 55k back in April itself, and yet we did only ~1.5k kms in the next 3+ months; the majority of it coming on Mumbai-Pune trips.

The 3rd servicing happened in Nov 2013 - with another 4 months to go, it was an early call for the 4th service. I also had a steering column issue that was detected in May and needed attention. And given the uncertainty of my travel plans in Q4, I decided to combine both and do an early servicing.

Well, the long and short of it as such :

Activities covered:

• 4th servicing
• Software update - done
• Front left AC vent - changed
• Lighter housing had broken - changed
• Rear suspension spring hubs/packing - changed
• Engine mount - changed (not really sure what this was. But trusted the SA on this)
• Front & rear brake pad - changed
• Steering column replaced under warranty (however some of the labour charges weren't)
• Wheel alignment/balancing - I had got this done recently but unfortunately this was required as a part of the steering column change. And not considered under goodwill
• Brake Disc change - Declined. On further probing I was told this was a precautionary suggestion and I could continue with the current setup for atleast another 15k kms

Hit to the wallet - 18k
Warranty claim - 8.8k

Overall the costs almost doubled, but on scrutinizing the bill, the service charges remain more or less the same. It's the changed parts (vent, brake pads, lighter casing, engine mount, etc) that attribute to the additional 8-9k. In retrospect, probably I should have atleast argued about the ~1k labour charges that was added to the bill instead of goodwill. But overall I was quite satisfied with the servicing.

[attrishekhar]

Tell me ninja, has your car ever missed/slipped its brakes when applied suddenly especially over uneven/ potholed roads. I have had a few scares in the past but the service station says its the abs coming into action to prevent vehicle from skidding. I am not sure though, many of the times speed was well below 50kmph.

[ninjatalli]

Originally Posted by attrishekhar

Tell me ninja, has your car ever missed/slipped its brakes when applied suddenly especially over uneven/ potholed roads. I have had a few scares in the past but the service station says its the abs coming into action to prevent vehicle from skidding. I am not sure though, many of the times speed was well below 50kmph.

Sounds like ABS action only. I think I can relate with the feeling of slipping breaks; that's quite similar to how ABS kicking in (my car) felt to me.

[attrishekhar]

I thought as much but just wanted to be sure if it was a problem peculiar to my car only. Thanks a lot.

[ninjatalli]

So the last update has been in July 2014 when I got the 4th servicing done. So what's happening with the car?

Actually nothing.

It's lying with a friend who I believe doesn't use it more than an occasional drive once in a week or two. He had a minor battery scare a few months back, but it turned out that the battery was in excellent condition (even after 3+ years & close to 60,000 kms) - I had asked him to get it replaced in case it showed any problems, but BU Bhandari confirmed that the battery need not be touched atleast till the next servicing, and it still has a lot of juice.

On the other hand, I have been putting miles on this blue beauty.



Beauty, she is. But no where close to the Vento. Heck, I have driven a few Jetta out here; that eerily remind of the Vento. But with the speed limits and the Tsi engine, I miss the Tdi. I miss the acceleration kick. I miss the drives on our highways.

@Swanand Inamdar once told me that I'll never see him behind a Jap out here. But out here, a Jap or a Korean or a German hardly makes a difference. On the road, they all hit the speed limits without breaking a sweat.

But I digress.


Quick question to the folks reading this - considering the car is going to be in this less-used condition for atleast another year, do I keep it or sell it off? (heart says no, mind says yes)

If I keep it, what are the risks? Do note - the Vento will be well into the start of the 5th year with probably around 60,000 kms.

[torque18]

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

]

Quick question to the folks reading this - considering the car is going to be in this less-used condition for atleast another year, do I keep it or sell it off? (heart says no, mind says yes)

If I keep it, what are the risks? Do note - the Vento will be well into the start of the 5th year with probably around 60,000 kms.

Listen to your heart and don't sell the car. You wont find it again as the 1.6 Tdi has been discontinued and i have been reading that 1.5 is not that much fun.

But yes, if you intend to upgrade to something like Jetta/Octavia on your return then obviously there is no point in retaining the car and depreciating the value.

Mod Note: Please do not quote a large post in its entirety- makes things difficult for our small screen using members

[ninjatalli]

So here's a quick update on the blue beauty across the globe (damn, I so badly miss that car!)
A friend who's using the car in Pune took it for the 5th servicing update. Here's a few updates on the car

• The odometer's at 62,000+; the car is just over 4 years old (no more extended warranty!)
• I handed the car to my friend last Sept at around 58k kms, the bugger's used it only for some 4000 kms over the last 13 months
• Car's running perfectly fine (by his standards) - no injector issues or any other core component issues
• The bill came up to 12,000; 10.5k for the servicing and ~2k for some interior cleaning he opted for (no idea why!)
• The battery is (still) in good shape with lot of juice
• The tires having been changed around the 30k km mark are clearly good to go for another year (atleast)

Ah well, can't complain - a lot could go bad, thankfully that ain't the case. I'll upload the bill once my friend shares a copy with me. I'm intrigued to figure out where the extra moolah has been spent!

[ninjatalli]

So after a break of 17 months and a gap of ~10,000 kms I finally get my hands on the Tdi!
So what has changed and what hasn't?

• The engine is more noisy - I am assuming this is due to the injector issues; I remember reading about others having the same issue
• No injectors going bust (touchwood) - thankfully the 1.6 doesn't show any lack of power. I haven't yet had a chance to take it over 100, but the acceleration and power output seems normal
• The clutch seems hard - still easily manageable; not sure if it's due to the situation of my using the automatic over the last 1.5 years. Probably would have to take a 2nd opinion from other Vento users
• The acceleration still puts a grin on my place. I have been using a 2.5L Altima over speeds uptil 90mph (~145 kmph); however the acceleration I still get from this car beats it hands down!
• Had a few CDs lying over, and no other options at hand - I just used the CD player for the first time today (lol)! Felt weird. Just realized the steering controls work perfectly fine on the CD player!
• I finally got the bill for the 5th servicing from my friend - he's been overcharged around 2k for 3M Germclean treatment; this is inspite of me telling him not to go for anything extra
• It's interesting to see the bill states 60,000 km oil change; it's actually the 5th servicing (= ~75,000 kms). I got the 4th servicing done at around 58,000 kms.
• More interesting is there aren't any big ticket changes; the stock battery is running fine (touchwood) after 4+ years and 65k kms. Neither do I see any other maintenance tickets in this servicing! Back when I was in the range of 20k-30k kms, I always expected some big damage once I passed the 60k mark!

VW, you have one hell of'a happy customer!

[ninjatalli]

A quick short update - the car that's been lying with the better half, and has had a few expenses along with the 6th servicing done.

Sometime during the year, the battery was replaced at a Castrol servicing workshop outlet. The original battery had lasted for more than 4+ years and clearly was up for change. I got to know about it only recently; will have to get more details on the battery make and costs.

It was also suggested by the workshop that the car would be better-off with an early servicing. From a timeline perspective, it wasn't required to get the servicing done before October. Even on the km front, it was hardly doing any numbers. However you can only advice from remote; which unfortunately was completely ignored.

So based on advice from @el_lobo_6061, the car was given to VW Downtown Mumbai (Sewri workshop) for servicing with pick-up and drop service.

I gave a very distinct and clear set of instructions to the lady

- Only 75,000 km Oil Change servicing to be done. Tire alignment to be done.
- No 3M treatments or UV protection.
- No AC disinfection.
- No suspension overhaul.
- No engine decarbonization or cleaning.
- No brake pads or discs to be changed (done recently)
- No other parts to be changed (except if they check and give it in writing)

Thankfully the above advice was followed. And a bill for about ~9000-10,000 INR was received, which is a very good and minimal cost for servicing.

Also one of the HID xenon bulbs had apparently stopped working, plus the output of these lights had gone down so a change was definitely on the books. There were two options - get the complete setup changed back to the original halogen bulb based setup at VW, or get the setup or just the bulbs changed outside. The lady decided to get it done at the VW workshop itself; which added another 8000+ INR to the bill.

The HID setup that was primarily done in-house with @keyur's help back in 2012 had lasted for 4+ years, which is more than enough for the ~12,000 INR I paid for it. I'm aware that the original halogen bulbs that come with a brand new Vento clearly aren't of great illumination capability. However for now, whatever bulbs have been put in the car will stay till I do a trip back home and have a look.


Overall close to 5 years of ownership and about 66,000 kms on the odometer, it's a relief that there have been no big-ticket items. I'm guessing it's due to a mix of good ownership + good luck so far. I'm a bit concerned about the CPC2 tires - they have seen close to 3years and 9months of use, and about 40,000 kms. But I'll wait till the end of the year for the change. Keeping fingers crossed till I am able to evaluate the condition of the car in person

[el lobo 6061]

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

Thankfully the above advice was followed. And a bill for about ~9000-10,000 INR was received, which is a very good and minimal cost for servicing.

The total amount sounds to be right. Happy to be of help.

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

I'm a bit concerned about the CPC2 tires - they have seen close to 3years and 9months of use, and about 40,000 kms. But I'll wait till the end of the year for the change. Keeping fingers crossed till I am able to evaluate the condition of the car in person

Keep tyres for about 5 years from manufacturing week stamped on outer sidewall. 40,000 Kms sounds just about close to replacement, do check tyre tread.

Whenever you come down to Mumbai do let me know, will catch up. Long time.

[ninjatalli]

Originally Posted by el lobo 6061

Whenever you come down to Mumbai do let me know, will catch up. Long time.

Sure will let you know. The car is not seeing a lot of usage so am not worried that much. Will wait it out for the end of the year and decide after that.

[ninjatalli]

So the car's coming close to the 5 year mark, another 40 days to go. However, If I go by the manufacturing date, the lady passed the 5 year mark this month.

So how has been the car ownership so far? There are several negative threads out there on the forum citing VW lemons, bad dealership experiences and bad ownership experiences due to maintenance issues, high cost of products and what not.

Well, back in 2011, when I opted for a relatively unknown European sedan model, I was taking a risk. And so far that risk has played out pretty well to me. I believe that all of that is not only due to good luck, I took care of the car, and I had really a good VW workshop - BU Bhandari to support me through these five years. I have had the service experience of three different VW showrooms, and the sales experience of two. Here's my feedback

Service Feedback:

• BU Bhandari / VW Pune North: Five stars. No complaints or issues across 5 years of service.
• Shaman Cars / VW Downtown Mumbai: Five stars. No issues faced.
• Mohite Automotive / VW Goa North: Three stars. Passable service.

Here's a list of the servicing experiences

First Servicing : Link
Dealer : BU Bhandari
Cost : 8,628 INR
Details : Basic servicing.

Second Servicing : Link
Dealer : BU Bhandari
Cost : 16,257 INR
Details : Basic servicing. (Broken) RHS Tail Lamp changed. Brake Pads changed.

Third Servicing : Link
Dealer : BU Bhandari
Cost : 9,200 INR
Details : Basic servicing. (Broken) Center AC vent changed.

Fourth Servicing : Link
Dealer : BU Bhandari
Cost : 18,000 INR
Details : Basic servicing. (Broken) left AC vent changed. (Broken) Housing for lighter changed. Engine mounts changed. Wheel alignment done. Rear suspension spring hubs/packing changed.

Fifth Servicing : Link
Dealer : BU Bhandari
Cost : 11,809 INR
Details : Basic servicing. 3M Germiclean treatment for interiors.

Sixth Servicing : Link
Dealer : Shaman Cars (VW Downtown Mumbai)
Cost : 17,955 INR
Details : Basic servicing. Both front headlight assembly changed. VW front logo replaced.

Image for the cost break-up attached below



The car went through 60,000 kms in the first three years and less than 8000 kms in the next two. And she's been chugging along just fine. Even to date, after driving much more powerful cars, the acceleration just feels out of the world. Here's to more years of happy ownership (touchwood)