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Volkswagen Ameo diesel with a DSG: Ownership review

9th September 2021, 11:53 by Rahul Nagaraj

The Ameo feels planted, hence inspires confidence. I didn’t feel any body roll and the steering also weighs up nicely. Suspension tuning is good on the car.

BHPian SuperSuri recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Hello Team-BHP family, I tried looking for some ownership reports on VW Ameo when I was in the process of buying one. As my previous car, a 2014 Hyundai i20 Asta CRDi was indeed an excellent car, however, due to the growing traffic on hourly basis in the NCR region, and due to my bad lower back, the doctors advised me to switch to an automatic at the earliest.

Prologue:

I only wanted to buy a real automatic, however my budget was not more than 10 lakhs. Not many true automatics are available in that price - majorly this segment is flooded with AMTs. The AMT’s inherent head nodes, and lot of AMT cars available on OLX and other websites, raised question about the satisfaction of owning an automatic.

My requirements:

True Automatic (DSG/DCT/Torque Convertor)
Powerful Engine
Within the set budget of 10 lakh.

Though I was never a fan of the design of the Ameo, I still went ahead to the dealership and took the test drive. The rear looks a bit odd, but that is how most of the sub 4 meter compact sedans are, they all looks odd to me from the rear profile, be it the Honda Amaze or the Maruti Dzire. Hence went ahead and booked the Ameo Highline Plus DSG at Volkswagen Capital, Mathura Road Delhi, on 13th of December 2019. The same day I handed over the i20 to the new buyer, sold through Team-BHP Classifieds to a fellow BHPian (bking), as was promised the delivery in approximately 4 days time as the car was already in dealer’s stock.

Dealership Experience:

After the booking, the formalities were completed by 18th of December and I was promised the delivery in a couple of days. 19th of December, they billed the car and asked me to take the delivery anytime. I asked about the registration number allotted to my car. To my surprise, the dealership was planning to deliver me the car on their Trade-Certificate number. I was not willing for that and told them the same as the trade certificates are issued to the dealership to be used on the test drive cars, not to be used to deliver the cars to customers. If someone accepts the delivery with a Trade Certificate, the insurance will not be valid and it also attracts a heavy fine from the traffic police.

The sales personal told me that the dealership has completed all the formalities with the RTO and it’s the RTO which is not giving them the user id and password to register the vehicles. I cross checked with my contacts and found out that they have not submitted the bank guarantee required by the RTO and hence they were not able to register the vehicles. I demanded a loaner car till the time they complete the formalities but the dealership refused (24th December 2019-already more than 10 days without a car).

This crossed my line of patience and I spoke to one the director level person from the group (Landmark Group). He assured me that he would try to get this resolved on priority which he actually did. He spoke to the VP of the Volkswagen vertical of the company and the GM Sales called me same day evening and promised me a loaner car on 25th of December. The loaner car provided was a VW Polo TDI, but without a PUC and Insurance docs. I didn’t take any chances and did not drive it much. Plus, im used to drive clean cars and the loaner car provided was in the worst of condition, not mechanically, but interior and exterior were in pathetic shape. But I didn’t get aggressive with anyone till this time. Also, the tax was deposited on 25th December only.

On 30th December 2019, the dealership’s customer care sent me emails welcoming me to VW family. This really brushed me the wrong way, morning of 31st December 2019 I called the number provided in the email as their VP’s contact number to speak to him about the same. The number was not the VP’s but was another department of Landmark. I requested the person to make me speak with the VP. He promised me a call back within an hour. After the time was long past due, I called again, this time again got the same revert. But I did not hung up and shot all verbal bullets to him (no abuses). The VP called me and I told him clearly if I don’t get my car by 1st of January 2020, I’m not interested anymore and demanded my money to be refunded. He promised me that he is doing his level best for my case. My car was registered on 31st December 2019 and finally got the delivery on 2nd January 2020 as 1st was an off with the dealership.

The car has swirl marks all over the paintwork, as it was standing in the dealership and the cleaning guys must be cleaning the car daily with the wet cloth. Not asking the dealership to do anything about it as I don’t expect them for anything now.

During the process of waiting for my car, I even contacted Volkswagen India’s customer care via email and telephone, was shocked at the solution they provided i.e the customer care manager from the dealership will connect with me to get the issue resolved. Come on VW! If the dealership was so professional, the issue would not have arised.

At the time of booking, I was offered the following items with the car:

VW Original Body Cover
VW Original Rubber Mats
VW Original Mudflaps
VW Original Lip Spoiler

Fortunately my car came with Lip Spoiler from the factory, hence got the VW Original Dual Horn Kit and VW Original Privacy Sunshades for the car from the dealership as they were not ready to refund the amount.

The Likes:

DSG and the quick gear shifts
Overall solid build feel
Boot space is decent
Security features -Airbags, ABS, Traction Control, Hill hold assist
Height adjustable driver’s seat
Nice Touch-screen music system with Apple Carplay, Android Auto and reversing camera
Flat-bottom multi-functional Steering wheel
Cruise control
Foot well lights

The Negatives:

1.5 TDI refinement level
Turbo lag in 1st gear (D1)
The VW safety feature - unlocks door at any speed with 2 consecutive pulls of the door open lever from inside.
No smart key and no push button start
Lack of DRLs
The dead peddle is small in comparison with other cars, like i20 (my previous car)
The ORVM adjustment knob feels flimsy.
The throw of the headlights is pathetic
Lack of rear seat space (but then, I knew this before buying)
No dome light for the rear passengers

My initial impressions:

The car is rock steady during cornering and sprints. I was scared when I took a sharp turn on my i20 the day I bought it. The Ameo feels planted, hence inspires confidence. I didn’t feel any body roll and the steering also weighs up nicely. Suspension tuning is good on the car.

The DSG does its duty well. Gearshifts are smooth however there is a good amount of turbo lag initially when you slot the gear knob in D1, haven’t tried the Sports mode yet, hence can’t comment if it’s the same story in sports mode or not. Also, I shift to manual whenever stuck in bumper to bumper traffic as I’ve heard DSG can get hot if driven in Auto mode in traffic jams for some time.

I’m getting a fuel efficiency of 18 kmpl, in city traffic, without the AC as its winters here in Delhi. The IRVM I feel is a size smaller than required for the car, same goes for the ORVMs. Planning to upgrade to the Blue tinted wide angle mirrors from Aliexpress soon.

I have already upgraded to LEDs in headlamps and fogs, but still feel the throw inadequate in comparison to my i20. Using the same LEDs in Ameo but not satisfied. Asked to get the alignment done at the service centre but they simply refused. Also the headlamp leveler switch was replaced as it was faulty at the time of delivery.

Got the PPF done on door edges and door sills from 3M, cost Rs.2,400/-

VCD Tweeks List:

I requested the sales personal to get the following VCD tweeks done on my car:

Needle Sweep
Tear Drop Wipe
Lane Change blinks changed to 5 from 3
Emergency Flashing Brake Lights

Only the Needle Sweep was activated by the service centre. As per them, the scanner was not getting the options for the rest.

The ICE:

The 6.5” touch screen sytem works flawlessly until connected to Android Auto, though Apple Carplay works fine. In Android Auto, it freezes sometimes. It beeps on touching but nothing happens. The sound is good as per me, excuse me but I am not an avid music system guy. I prefer using the system only for the google maps, hence no upgrades planned regarding the sound quality.

Overall, I am satisfied as far as the initial driving, will update the thread once any mods done, if any. I wanted to upgrade the front dome light with the one from Passat, but the dealership is saying it will void the warranty even if there is no cutting/splicing of wiring.

Future mods/purchases planned:

Anti glare ORVM mirrors (Aliexpress)
Leatherette Bucket Seat Covers
Ceramic Coating
Pending VCDS tweeks (Would appreciate if a fellow BHPian from NCR could help)
7D Floor mats
Sports Type Brake and Accelerator pedal (Aliexpress)
Change the boot lamp bulb to LED
Carbon Fibre/Gloss Black wrap for the ORVMs and Lip Spoiler
Bonnet Struts (Aliexpress)
Carbon Fibre Stickers for the DSG Knob (Aliexpress)
Wurth Gloss Seal, expensive but excellent product. A cousin is using it on his red Jeep Compass and the gloss and reflection are the best I have seen.

Please enjoy the images of the car as following and feel free to comment/suggest.

Clean looking front:

Headlamps & Fogs upgraded to LED:

I like the design and shade of the alloys. These are 16 inches:

Reversing Camera location:

The Dashboard looks nice:

Cruise Control works well:

The wipers are with Auto Rain sensing feature:

Traction Control, Rear Deffoger and Hazard Switches. Dummy slots looks annoying:

Armrest is well designed. With Storage and Rear AC Vent. There is a bottle holder and 12v charging socket for rear passengers:

Reason to buy this car:

Glove box is deep. Comes with cooled function and a light:

The only cabin lamp. VW should have given one for the rear seats too :

Front door pockets are deep enough to hold 1 liter bottle and some other stuff:

Auto Dimming IRVM. A nice touch:

The H/L Controls. The knob should have been finished in brushed aluminium like the rest of the dash:

Power Windows, ORVM Control and Lock/Unlock buttons. All are back-lit:

VW Rubber Mats. Nice quality:

VW Sunblinds. Set includes blinds for the rear windows, quarter glasses and rear windshield:

Analog clock display when the system is shut. You can turn off the screen completely from the settings:

System has Android Auto, Apple Car Play & MirroLink. Tried Android Auto & Carplay, like the interface of the carplay hence use that only:

Spotify:

Display for reverse camera. Color, contrast and brightness can be adjusted. The guide lines are fixed. Apart from the camera, the car has 4 reverse parking sensors too: