[rpunwani]

Dear Crazy_bean,

Thanks. IMHO all the colours of the PASSAT are great

[fordfreak]

Originally Posted by rpunwani

I did check with one of the service managers in VW Downtown and he was not aware of any upgrade program.

How do you see the long term fuel average in the car. Have switched the MFD through all the various displays and have not located this one so far.

I agree that the Pirelli Cinturato P7 tyres are fragile. I lost two tyres last month in Bangalore.

I haven't bothered asking the service guys at the dealer regarding the AC since it hasn't been a major issue. I won't be surprised if they claim to be unaware of any upgrade.

Just press the 'OK' button on the right hand side of the steering controls while viewing your fuel economy. That would cause the MID to switch between Long-term economy and Economy since start. (You will know which one you are viewing since it is written at the top of the MID screen). To reset both these figures, just hold on to the 'OK' button while viewing the relevant screen on the MID until the figures disappear. - Hope this helped.

Thankfully I haven't had to change my tyres as all the punctures have been repairable.

By the way, love the colour on your Passat. What is the shade called? I doubt this colour option was available when I ordered my car in September 2011, (had it delivered in Dec 2011).

[rpunwani]

Thanks fordfreak,

I will try this out in the evening. Will be interesting to see how the car has performed till date.

Cheers

[rpunwani]

Dear fordfreak,

Checked out the long term fuel economy on the car, it showed 17.7 km/litre

Is this the economy since last fuel filling or is it since delivery of the car ?? I think it is since the last fuel filling as I had filled fuel before our trip to Pune two weeks back.

Thanks for appreciating the colour of my car, its called Oak Brown. When I booked the car in Nov 2012, I had a choice of all 5 colours:- Deep Black, Candy White, Light Brown, Oak Brown and Reflex Silver. After debating, my family and I boiled down to Oak Brown or Reflex Silver. My daughters convinced me to go for Oak Brown. I think this colour came in 2012 as my car is manufactured in April 2012.

There are slight differences between 2011 & 2012 cars. The AC controls are slightly different, drivers seat has only 2 memory buttons but has a massager built in.

[Akshay1234]

Originally Posted by rpunwani

Thanks fordfreak,

I will try this out in the evening. Will be interesting to see how the car has performed till date.

Cheers

In the MID on the top right hand side you should see a 1 or a 2 written. You switch between 1 and 2 by pressing the ok button. The 1 resets automatically everytime the car is switched off for more than 2 hours. The 2 resets only when the user does it, or after a certain amount of days or hours (don't remember the exact). So neither really shows long term fuel efficiency unless you count a week as long term.

[rpunwani]

Dear Akshay1234,

Many thanks for your inputs. I will try to see for how much time the long term information is stored.

I am aware that the other information resets after the car is switched off for > 2 hrs.

Wow, still discovering new things with the car after 20 months of ownership Thank you guys

[fordfreak]

Originally Posted by rpunwani

Checked out the long term fuel economy on the car, it showed 17.7 km/litre

Is this the economy since last fuel filling or is it since delivery of the car ??

Thanks for appreciating the colour of my car, its called Oak Brown.

There are slight differences between 2011 & 2012 cars. The AC controls are slightly different, drivers seat has only 2 memory buttons but has a massager built in.

17.7 is very good for the long-term economy! Mine usually shows 10.4-10.5ish. I guess that is probably because I use my car 100% in city traffic. I think if you haven't reset it, then it probably shows the economy since you took delivery. Not too sure though.

Oak Brown wasn't offered when I was buying. So ended up choosing Silver.

I know the AC controls are different on later built cars, but I didn't know the car came with a massage function??!! Could you please share a picture of the buttons being referred to? I'm curious about this. The driver seat on my car has 3 seat memory buttons and nothing more. Thanks in advance!

Originally Posted by akshay1234

The 1 resets automatically everytime the car is switched off for more than 2 hours. The 2 resets only when the user does it, or after a certain amount of days or hours

You are right about No.1 (Economy since start), but I haven't seen No.2 (Long term economy) reset on its own. It only seems to do so when the user resets it. So I'm guessing it shows the economy since it was last reset?

[rpunwani]

Dear fordfreak,

Pic of the Massage Function

BTW: I ordered 3D mats from a Delhi based company called Star Mats (www.carmatsindia.com) for our Polo. The mats were delivered in 2 days. Great quality - according to me they are comparable to Kagu Mats. Price is great 2800 vs 10k.

I have ordered black mats for the Passat, will post pics after I get them and fit them

[fordfreak]

Originally Posted by rpunwani

Pic of the Massage Function

I can't believe the Passat came with a massage option! I never heard of it from the dealer, car magazines, nor could I find anything about it on the VW website. Was this a later addition? It still isn't mentioned on the website it seems. I wonder how could Volkswagen ignore advertising something like this? None of its competitors offer anything of this sort for this price. Really puzzling. I wish I had this in my car. Would be amazing to have a back massage while driving along Calcutta's roads (especially since the roads are as smooth as the surface of the moon).

[rpunwani]

I agree that VW could have got some brownie points in advertising this feature in the car. When we took delivery, the salesman brought to my notice that instead of 3 memory buttons, there are only 2 but a massage function is there as well.

Works well on long drives

The silver PASSAT also looks great

[fordfreak]

Sensor Gremlins resurface:-

Here we go again. While driving back home last evening, warning pings and beeps suddenly go off and a number of warning lights illuminate on the instrument cluster. The MID flashes the familiar warnings of the OPS, ESC, ABS, Auto-Hold, etc, being dysfunctional. I'm guessing it is the same problem that has occurred twice before, considering the car is showing the same symptoms as before.

This is the only major problem I have faced with my car, but it is really annoying to see that Volkswagen doesn't seem to have figured out how to make the faulty part more reliable. This is the 3rd time this problem has occurred!!

Sending the car to the service center on Saturday. Lets see how long they take to source the part and fix the car. Thankfully it should be covered under the extended warranty plan I bought when I got the car. Hopefully this is the last time I will see this problem occur.

Also need to have the front fog lamps cleaned up. They have a little bit of water inside them and the lenses are fogged up.

[rpunwani]

Sorry to hear that the sensor issue has cropped up again; I am going to opt for the extended warranty soon as I would like to feel protected against such defects.

Please keep us updated on the rectification of your car.

[fordfreak]

So my week just keeps getting worse. Ended up scraping the car against a pillar while parking last night. The basement parking slots in our building are very badly designed, and a moment of not paying attention cost me dearly. Feeling so annoyed at myself for making such a silly error.

Going to claim insurance and get it repaired. Also the failed sensor should be replaced under extended warranty.

(Excuse the car looking so dirty. Had been driving around in the rain all day yesterday.)

[rpunwani]

Might be worthwhile to pay for the denting/painting rather than claim insurance. BTW I have taken a NCB protection for the Passat Insurance as I enjoyed a 65% NCB on my previous car, which I transferred onto the Passat. Saved me 70k in insurance premium

[rpunwani]

Originally Posted by fordfreak

So my week just keeps getting worse. Ended up scraping the car against a pillar while parking last night. The basement parking slots in our building are very badly designed, and a moment of not paying attention cost me dearly. Feeling so annoyed at myself for making such a silly error.

Going to claim insurance and get it repaired. Also the failed sensor should be replaced under extended warranty.

What was the outcome of your visit to have the car repaired?

Any particular reason for the sensor to fail so often??