Ex-owner of a Camry gets a Virtus: Buying experience & initial thoughts

Out on the open roads, the car is easy to drive. The DSG is butter smooth & you have plenty of power on tap.

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Finally, after nearly a year of searching and waiting, I got my car.

My search started with Slavia in Nov 2021. It looked awesome in blue. However family and friends suggested an SUV. This led me to Seltos (features and looks) and also the MG Astor (wine red interiors and the ADAS). Almost narrowed it down to the Astor, however, the heavily porous roof liner looked cheap with the huge sunroof. But the Slavia and Virtus were always tugging at the heart.

VW Virtus booking & the wait

I booked the Virtus GT in the 3rd week of April. I was offered white/silver on the day of the price reveal (9th of June). But Blue was the one. The VW team also increased the wait time from their initial promise of June 20th for the Blue GT to the 1st week of August.

I am reiterating that VW/Skoda has to work on their customer service and ASS.

On the day of the delivery, I was barely given a talk about the features etc. No safety tips, no mention of the 1-month free checkup or free services or anything. I did get their service pack for 4 years and the 5th-6th year extended warranty.

I got the accessories but feel it is a rip-off for INR 13k. The only useful things are the blinds and the mats. The torch didn't have a battery either. The car cost me around 21.9 lakhs on road (22.23 lakhs sticker) and 22.4 in total with the extended warranty and the service pack. Was offered around 30k discount in all.

After all this ordeal, I think I punched way above my weight here. The car is a beauty. The blue pops like anything. Few pics, don't mind the dirt and lousy pictures, I am no good at taking pictures.

Initial thoughts

I just keep running down to my apartment's parking to sneak a peek. My apartment parking also feels like it is built for hatchbacks, somehow accommodates it barely and it sticks out quite literally. I barely managed to get it in the box after a 10-minute back and forth, with the help of a few people. This I have to get used to.

It is a big car, and the length really becomes apparent in parking lots with cramped spaces with multiple pillars or 2-story lift parking. You really feel the lack of a 360-degree camera, and the shoddy reverse camera makes it a bit of a downer. I also miss the electronic seat adjustment and decent storage.

The ambient lighting feels cheap and like an afterthought, it stops half or a quarter way from the end, it starts on the dash (passenger side) and doesn't extend till the steering wheel like in Taigun.

Would've liked a sunglass holder and a key card/change holder on the right side of the steering wheel under the light knob or something like an old Camry I used to have. Enough rants.

Once out on the open roads, the car is easy to drive, being automatic and all. DSG is buttery smooth and you have plenty of power on tap. I turned off the auto start-stop as it was quite aggressive and it didn't want me to baby the car in traffic.

The air-conditioning is good, but the ventilated seats are OK at best, I barely even felt it.

Filled HP power from their outlet, the SA recommended regular fuel though. Full tank showed a range of 560KMs, on the first refill, immediately after the delivery (had a nearly empty tank with a 40km range at the time of delivery). I drove around 60-65 km, averaging 10.5kmpl, at the end the range shows some 410kms now. I am out for the next couple of weeks on vacation and will just miss it.

Protection - PPF/Ceramic

I did enquire about PPF in my city. The showroom has a tie-up with a 3M outlet and is offering the full exterior PPF for around 80K (have to check if the roof is covered). This price is similar to other vendors as well like "Detailing Mafia" and a couple of other local vendors. This 80k cost is for their base model film with a 3-year warranty (no self-healing or fluid repelling). The cost goes up with the additional warranty like 5 yrs or more with self-healing and hydrophobic layers. Llumar with 12 years warranty was coated around 2.25 lakhs.

A local company offers a brand called "MotoGlanz" which claims it has a ceramic coat in the top layer aiding the shiny look and self-healing capabilities.

Still undecided on what to do here.

Thanks to the forum and many of the posts, have learnt a lot of things which now help me take care of my car and enjoy it to the fullest extent.

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