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Selected Virtus GT Plus out of many cars: Buying & ownership experience

1st June 2024, 11:46 by Utkarsh Chaudhary

The other vehicles that I considered include the Skoda Kushaq, VW Tiguan, Honda Elevate, Jeep Compass and Toyota Innova Hycross.

BHPian kaviprem recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

The Venue to start writing this up

Started this write-up in Ramani VW in Trichy while I came in for the 1K inspection/checkup. I’m told I would get the car back in 3 hours. So, thought of using the time effectively.

Sales personnel and manager were very friendly and gave me a manager’s room to work in while I waited for the checkup/wash to complete.

My current ride

2016 Honda City VX CVT - It has been overdue for a “long-term ownership” report and that's when I thought about its replacement.

The ODO stands at 1.35L KMs in 8 years despite having had no to very low usage for about 3 years between 2016 and 2021. Reasons being my official touring followed by Covid.

The City’s 1.5 engine combined with its calm and composed CVT is a no nonsense machine and the most reliable in today’s Auto world! There can't be any second thoughts on this.

Why a replacement then?

I am/was totally upset with its body/build quality. I am a “Highway” bee primarily and travel about 1-2K km per month. In the last few long drives, City started showing its age with some outside [and few inside] rattling that kind of irritated me. Also, I was convinced that 1L + KM is a good enough ride for a single car and being a single/solo driver in less than 8 years. Hence the hunt for replacement and supported by family as well.

Am I in the “must” situation to replace the City? No, not a must. But, good to change it now rather than waiting for a breakdown.

Nailing down my requirements

Strong wish for a sedan as we all are so used to its ergonomics, balanced/planted drive, close-to-road feel, etc.
To experience a European brand as I never owned one. Maybe, this became the hidden motivation to replace the City!
Relatively, a reliable one that should last for a similar age like that of my Honda City
A pure automatic machine. No AMT.
Mileage should be in and around City’s CVT. A hard one to meet, I know.
Take 4 adults at the maximum comfort and squeeze in 5 for short drives.
Finally, avoid Chinese, Korean and Maruti brands - Call me Biased. I am OK.

Pre-worshipped machines

Enquired a few luxury pre-owned cars with some of the brand dealers.

Audi Q3 Diesel, 2019 at Audi dealership, Madurai, White colour. It' run about 40K, Single Owner with an asking price of 21L. I really wanted to check this up, but couldn’t move further.

Audi A4 Petrol, 2023 at Audi dealership, Madurai, Black colour. It's run about 8K, Single Owner with an asking price of 43L. It has got 4 years Service Package, 6/7 years Extended Warranty. I really wanted to check this up, but couldn’t move further because my wife didn't want Black!

Finally, decided [by my family] NOT to proceed with any pre-owned cars at all.

Vehicles considered

The list of vehicles I test drove might make someone think that I was going nowhere, but yeah, it happens when we hunt for the right ride.

Toyota Innova Hycross - Dropped

First of all, I was very hesitant to even call or step into a Toyota showroom. It's their [Sales Team] attitude that stops me think about Toyota again. Yet, got my composure and called them.

As expected, all responses were short or in single-word for questions like:

Test Drive Availability - Need to book, Not available all the time. You can check it out in the showroom or service centre!
Delivery Availability - Dont know, Minimum 6 months for Hybrid.
GX Petrol Availability - 1 or 2, need to check. But, pay advance and ex-showroom first.
GX(O) outlook - No idea.
Corporate offer - No.
Call closed with “Will send you brochure and price list” that I had to follow up a couple of times to get it.
Of course, there is absolutely NO Followup call at all.

This is when I remembered “Thirupati Laddu” Prasadam. We need to get if and when we were offered. You can’t demand one! And this is how a sale happens for a 30+ Lakhs product. People still queue up for Toyota quality!

Skoda Kushaq - Dropped

I went for a test ride solo and came back very impressed. Why? I didn't focus on anything but driving and its dynamics.

A day or 2 later, got the vehicle home for a family ride. Came back with all negatives from the rear seat, starting from rear seat space, comfort, some noise behind the seats, etc. I am yet to consolidate all that.

Isuzu V-Cross - Almost Dropped due to Diesel

Don't ask me why. Just a look at the vehicle, made me think of my most loved ride, Tata Safari.

Had a solo test drive. It was just like the old-school Tata Safari with better interior quality. A simple, no-nonsense, gadget-free infotainment system. A simple Dash and AC layout. All good with the ergonomics.

Ride was like any other ladder+frame UV. Yet, stable and grounded for its sheer size and shape. I just loved it.

Literally dragged my family for a test drive. To my surprise, not much negative feedback barring its long [really long] size that makes it unusable for any intra-city drive.

It’s on the expensive side, yet we were kind of OK. But, my kids started saying “this is not what we want to own after Honda City. Of course, it’s too big and built for a purpose that's not us”. I kind of understood. Then, came the “Future of Diesel” discussion.

Jeep Compass - Dropped due to Diesel

By this time, my wife decided NOT to look for any Diesel vehicle after going through various internet posts, some TBHP threads, government and news channel discussions, etc.

Yet, I called for a test drive and took my kids. Everything was OK but for the sluggish drive. It was as good as City CVT and to make it worse, no Sports mode nor paddles. Of course, we can work through its manual stick kind of setup.

Offered me good discounts even for the 2024 model with a free service package, extended warranty, etc. But, I had to move on.

VW Tiguan - Shortlisted

Oooh! A solo ride first and came back impressed in every aspect right from its look, touch, feel, opening the door, internal layout, sheer quality in every bit of it.

Price - yeah, expensive, yet, a great product for its segment considering various discount options offered for 2023 variants, both OBD1 and OBD2.

Requested for another ride at home, a family ride this time, a bit longish. Everyone came back happy considering it's strictly a European design meaning it's meant for 4 - period.

Excellent design inside out, spacious inside [for 4], yet compact footprint on the road for better manoeuvrability within the City limits, a great highway mile muncher and the list goes on.

Went through pages of TBHP reviews and ownership threads to understand that everyone arrived at Tiguan with a similar observation and most of them, bought it as well.

Negotiation started and got almost an acceptable one for the 2023 OBD2 model.

Honda Elevate - Dropped

Just for the sake of it, went with the family and returned back in 30 mins without a test drive. There was so much confusion and communication gap between the sales team to arrange for a test drive. Finally, that didn't happen. A simple look in the showroom and a couple of times hopping-in and out made us decide against Elevate.

Net-net - We got out of the Honda showroom with an idea to retain the Honda City itself.

VW Virtus - Shortlisted

One look at it - Everyone liked it, from every angle.

Having a Honda City background, we felt the Virtus build quality excellent. The interiors are packed tight and feel built to last.

The Dash and the way the Multimedia unit is integrated into it is just amazing. A clean, elegant design having all the controls falling in the right place.

BTW, where is the phone-call answer/decline button on the steering wheel? It’s a huge miss unless it's there and I am yet to find it.

Me being a left-hand driver [predominantly], I find the indicator/light stock on the left side is more friendly as compared to the regular Indian cars.

Family liked the rear seat comfort. However, not comparable to City’s comfort in terms of shoulder room for 3. But, super comfortable for 2 in the rear. Of course, a kid in the middle seat is not a problem at all.

The “ACT” feature is a great boon that balances the mileage and power delivery. Tested with its Cruise around 100 Kmph and it returned around 15 Kmpl. I was happy.

VW Taigun - Dropped

A sudden thought to try out Taigun for its compact nature.

Me and my family were very clear at this point that it was going to be a VW that's coming home!

Spoke to VW Sales and arranged for a back-to-back test drive from Home to Showroom to Home.

Started with Home to Showroom in Taigun, all OK initially, but something was missing for the family in the rear seat.

Then, Showroom to Home in Virtus and it was like “back to home” feel and that's it, the decision was made.

VW Tiguan v/s VW Virtus

Tiguan pulled hard my heart for all its quality, drivability, spacier yet compact, the real luxury/upgrade feel. Just 2 points against Tiguan - Mileage and Cost.

Virtus ticked every box including with a bit of compromise on build quality [compared to the True/German VW]. But, coming from the highly compromised 2016 Honda build, we were all OK with the Virtus feel.

Colour Choice

Virtus is one car that looks good in every colour as of today, but I always love to have these elegant sedans in White. But, when you have 2 daughters, the colour choice is obviously NOT yours!

My family chose Lava Blue. I liked that too. Still the White GT+ with a Black roof and ORVMs pulls a string in me! Anyway, life moves on.

So, its Lava Blue VW Virtus GT+ DSG, the Blue-Bean

Booking Experience

Luckily, a Lava Blue was on its way to the dealership and I blocked it with the formal advance.

Sales team gave me a simple booking process and happened in GPay. Receipts’ soft copy was shared instantly.

The car reached the dealership on April 20th and SA accommodated me to see it on 21st [Sunday] though he was supposed to be OFF that day.

The TeamBHP checklist process was done to the best possible extent and completed the balance payment.

A WhatsApp group was created involving me, SA, RTO contact from the dealership and the Accessory team where further details were collected. Registration process went smoothly and the delivery was fixed for April 26th morning 9:00AM.

Accessories opted

The basic kit that was offered Free of Charge.

Additional accessories that I chose

1. Brand’s 7D mat.
2. Replaced the stock Horn with the True VW horn.
3. Brand’s Boot mat.

Delivery Experience

It was a much better experience compared to my Honda City delivery process in Bangalore, Whitefield Honda, 8 years before.

It was highly streamlined, no confusion whatsoever. Nothing magical happened, yet a good experience then. All the accessories were installed ahead of time and the car was clean, spotless under the wraps.

Me and the SA exchanged sweet boxes, shook hands and I, with my wife, came out driving the Lava Blue Virtus.

No detailed demo happened as the SA was clear that I knew more about Virtus than him and I was also in a bit of a rush that day. So, I didn't insist.

Ownership Experience with my Blue-Bean

It’s been a month since I drove my Blue-Bean out of the showroom and did 1.5K already. For few, it may sound less and for some, it’s more than a normal?

We had plans to go to Munnar [a hill station on the Kerala/TN border] and Voila! Blue-Bean was ready with us on time.

Had real fun in all kinds of drive - a linear highway, windy single-lane roads and Munnar’s mountain ride both while climbing up and driving down with the Blue-Bean.

I didn't deploy Sports mode in any stretch as it would increase the RPM and I didn't want to at least until I cross over 1.5-2K Kms on ODO.

Brakes

Super Smooth, Perfect and Pointing. As long as you are at legal speeds, it slows down or stops at a point where you want it to.

Mileage

Comparing it with City’s CVT isn’t right. However, am not losing much. Thanks to ACT that balances things out to an extent.

In my comparison b/w the system returned average mileage v/s tank-to-tank calculation, there hasn't been much of a difference which is very good. I got around 13+ Kmpl while I drove on regular, linear highway including 10-20% of bumper-bumper city traffic. City CVT used to return me 14+. I am OK with this.

Ground Clearance

By and large, no issues. It was just once where the speed breaker was like a real mountain and I had 3 adults and a kid with me along with a fully loaded trunk, Virtus did scrap once. It’s a combination of both “full load” car and an unscientific speed breaker that made it happen. However, I could avoid further breakers of similar ones by slowing down and going over at an angle like how we had to do in City and Civic.
Net-net - GC isn’t a concern at all.

Power and Performance

I think enough has been spoken about it by all owners, official reviewers, etc. I don't have anything more/less to comment on this topic.

You simply have all the power you need in your toe-tip as long as you drive sensibly.

Ergonomics & AC Experience

From the driver’s perspective, all controls, armrest [both sides] steering controls, etc. fall in place and I didn't have any challenge adapting to it, coming in from a City background.

I may be repeating this, I like the left side light/indicator stock as I primarily drive using my left hand. So, it’s much more convenient.

I haven't heard of any complaints from my wife, or kids about the armrest, bottle holders, etc. and this means all good. No news is Good news!

No complaints on AC, from both front and rear passengers. Prime Summer is almost over in TN state and I don't go below 23/24 C while setting the ACC temperature. Quite interestingly, it does not sound loud unlike my City which sounds hard with all its blower ON.

BTW, I have a CR70 equivalent Sunfilm applied on all windows and front windshield and I know it impacts the cabin cooling positively.

Music System and Stock Audio Experience

I didn't listen much to the stock Audio setup. Whatever I listened to, I am sure a normal listener would be more than happy with the amp and Sub that's provided. Also, the CarPlay connectivity makes it very user-friendly to operate.

There has been a considerable upgrade done in Blue-Bean. Will discuss more shortly.

Wireless charging

I think, Wireless charging should be banned. While the iPhone is connected wirelessly to CarPlay, it’s like the amount of power drain is more than the speed at which the wireless pad charges the iPhone and it heats up the device as well. So useless, to say the least. The wireless CarPlay itself heats up the iPhone and most of the time, the wired charger refuses to continue charging citing “Charging will resume once the iPhone cools down”. So, it’s the CarPlay too that heats up.

Lights

Fogs were good while in Munnar mist, it was a heavy one!

I didn't get a chance to drive long at night. Will keep this thread updated.

Mirrors

I guess, IRVM is more for a formality as the coverage is less because of reasons like smaller in size and the rear set’s headrest blocks the view to a great extent.

Similarly, ORVMs are more of “Form over Function” kind. It’s Not very bad. But, compared to Honda City, it’s a tad smaller. But, I do like the design pattern with it. Also, to have the best possible coverage in Virtus, I align it with the rear door handle while in Honda City, I used to align it with the front door handle.

Anyway, we get both cameras and sensors to keep us almost honest. So, trust the technology and forget you have a brain!

Noise and Vibration

Much better than Honda City. One can take official meetings all through the drive, be in both highway and bumper-bumper.

In cruising speeds of 110 or less, it’s literally silent inside the cabin. Just love it. So peaceful to listen to music in this speed.

Vibration - What Vibration? I don't feel any and recall, I come from a City CVT background.

Audio upgrade and a few more things

I have become finicky with the Audio setup in my rides in the last 2 years or so.

As soon as Blue-Bean was delivered, it was taken to the “Destination Speedfreaks” in Chennai.

I migrated my entire audio setup from my earlier ride, Honda City.

It's the Focal 3-way Active setup for the front stage while the stock speakers fill in the rear space.
SoundMagus MP12 Max Pro does the Sound Processing for all the speakers and tweeters
SoundMagus DSK600 [mono amp] powers the JL Audio’s 10” Sub, sitting in Blue-bean’s trunk.
A 6-layer sound dampening/proofing on all 5 doors including trunk lid. Floor soundproofing inside the trunk and front seat's leg space area.
The most important driver to get the best sound is Mr. Karthik of SpeedFreaks who does the Calibration and Tuning without which any audio equipment is like electronic junk.

Graphene coating and Sunfilm application is done as well from SpeedFreaks.

A glance at what/how it's done - Check it out.

Note: I am just a repeat customer to SpeedFreaks in Chennai, but NOT related to the firm in any manner.

Few misses/nice to have/ought to have features/mild irritants

First and Worst of all, the ACC control-touch is one "stupid" thing. But, you switch the AC off by swiping the blower button towards the min, then long press the min side of the blower. I don't know in what world, this operation was approved!
The Virtus Build Quality doesn't "look" bad. But, It "feels" bad when we touch. Starting from Door, Interiors, etc. Essentially, Virtus build doesn't match the VW build.
Single-touch window glass rollup for all Windows, this is a real miss and don't know what VW saved by not providing this.
Instead of loud and continuous beeps at a speed of 120+ Kmph, it could have been a discrete beep every few seconds or so. There are brands doing this and still within the statuary limits.
I badly miss the lever to open the trunk on the floor, near the driver's seat. Not sure, if this is not available in any of the VW cars!
Some of the traditional Polo/Vento features like a) long pressing the remote unlock button would roll down windows and b) long pressing the remote lock button would roll up all windows while locking the doors. Looks like this feature is available in Taigun, not in Virtus.
Where are the phone call buttons on the steering wheel? At least, I don't find them. Every time, I had to stretch my arms to head unit to answer/cancel a phone call.

My City didn't do anything wrong. I still have it and up for sale, if anyone interested.

Wow - Look at the meaty, wide tires, right out of the showroom. No need to meddle with the size, etc.

Meaty - OK, but the brand? It's so bad that the tire dealers in my native place refuse to buyback MRF tires!

Clean lines, No curves, Good looking angle

And from the rear

I miss this, coming from the Honda background. This would unlock my City

While the same button is to be used for both lock and unlock in most other brands.

A simple digital instrument cluster, but why the 2 extreme corners are unused?

A-Pillar customisation to accommodate the Focal 3 way setup. Kudos to SpeedFreaks team.

Cup holders in the centre console, near the handbrake, is a joke. No reasonable-sized cups or bottles can be kept. Even if you manage to keep it, you need to do double-fold the hand to get it. Instead, I decided to place my DSP controller there.