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Kodiaq & Vento owner adds Virtus 1.0TSI to his garage; Ownership review

21st August 2024, 15:03 by Rahul Nagaraj

Kodiaq and Vento primarily are used only by our family and Tavera is used for hospital purposes.

BHPian emperor recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

It’s been over a month since we purchased the Virtus 1.0 Comfortline and it’s been driven about 1000 kms till now.

Before diving into the car, I’ll start with a background

Why?

Before the Virtus we had three cars (still have all three) in our garage: Kodiaq 2018, Vento 2011, Tavera 2014 and all three diesels. With the 10-year-old diesel car ban being enforced in Jaipur as well we needed a replacement for our secondary car.

Background

We are a family of 6. My dad is a doctor and runs his own hospital. Our monthly run, all cars combined, is at least 6k kms primarily on highways. Our cars are all driven by drivers and it is only me other than one specified driver who drives our Kodiaq. Vento and Tavera are driven by multiple drivers as per need and both have been very well bullied (review on the Vento some other day). Kodiaq and Vento primarily are used only by our family and Tavera is used for hospital purposes. We live in a town about 80 kms outside of Jaipur so the Diesel rule does not apply there but weekly we have to travel to Jaipur/Delhi at least four or five times.

PS: I have already reviewed my Kodiaq, in case you missed it here is the link

Requirements?

A secondary car is a must for us. Many times Kodiaq is not available, or the driver to drive it is not available. Until now we used Vento as our secondary car. Kodiaq will always be our primary car which satisfies all our wants. So our replacement for the Vento had to be a manual (so we don't have to depend on a driver who has experience with AT), comfortable, and a decent AC with no compromises on safety. This was practically what the requirements were. Moving on to wants: we wanted a Sedan with decent ground clearance and good and stylish looks. Driver assist features like Reverse/3D cam, and park assist were never required as drivers were only going to drive it and other good-to-have gimmicky features like a big touch screen, sunroof etc were also not required as Kodiaq provided us with that luxury.

Which car?

The search was fairly simple. First and foremost, there were not many options available in the sedan segment, and my dad and I wanted to get a Skoda or Volkswagen because they have been in our garage for 13 years. Yes, their maintenance costs might be high (Kodiaq 35k and Vento 15k), but there are absolutely no questions about their safety, quality, engine refinement, or the types of plastics used. The overall cabin feel is also a class ahead. Moreover, we never really have had a very bad experience with Skoda or VW except for a few instances which I have mentioned in my Kodiaq review. I read reviews of people complaining about the VW 2.0 AC, so that became a concern. We rejected the Verna because of its looks and did not bother to test drive the City. It then came down to Slavia or Virtus. Except for the looks and interior, everything was identical. We liked the Slavia’s exterior and the Virtus’ interior. Regarding the AC, I contacted a friend who had the Slavia base model with the manual AC, and he said he never faced any problems. So, taking a risk, we decided to go with Slavia or Virtus. Choosing between the two came down to which dealership could give us a better deal and the quickest delivery. The Virtus was available the same day, while the Slavia would take 2-3 weeks. We couldn't wait that long, so we finalized the Virtus and took delivery the same day.