Update: Read Our First Impressions about the Car
The Volkswagen Vento will be launched in a total of five variants; three petrol and two diesel. These will be the Trendline Petrol, Highline Petrol, Highline Petrol Automatic whilst the oil-burner's will be the Trendline Diesel and Highline Diesel. Only the petrol engine in Highline trim gets a six-speed automatic transmission option. The petrol variant of the Vento comes with a 1.6litre engine that puts out 104bhp @ 5250rpm and 153NM of torque at 3800 rpm. Volkswagen India claims that the Vento petrol has a fuel efficiency of 15.83kmpl for the five-speed manual and 14.4kmpl for the six-speed automatic gearbox variant. The 1.6 litre diesel engine puts out a similar 104bhp @ 4400rpm, but more importantly has a useful 250NM of torque between 1500 - 2000rpm. VW claims a fuel efficiency of 20.54kmpl on the diesel.
The prices (all ex-showroom Delhi) for the Vento are as follows:
Trendline Petrol - 6,99,000
Highline Petrol - 8,23,500
Highline Petrol Automatic - 9,21,500
Trendline Diesel - 7,99,000
Highline Diesel - 9,23,500
The delivery of Volkswagen Vento will start from 6th September from the 47 VW dealerships. Just like our earlier impressions on the Vento, quality is pretty good with fit, finish and build being excellent. The Vento, just like its younger sibling, Polo, exudes a certain toughness and feels strong and meaty - unlike some of the other competitors in the segment. Although the Vento has some clever touches, like the lever behind the front passenger seat that slides the seat forward in a touch, rear ac vents, front & rear armrests and the six-speed automatic, it remains to see how it can take on cars like the Honda City, Maruti Suzuki SX4, Hyundai Verna and the Fiat Linea. Volkswagen says the Vento has best-in-class features and will be an overall value proposition.
When you compare the Vento petrol pricing with cars like the City, Verna transform & the SX4 the Vento does have a price advantage over the City - which is really what it is gunning. When you look at automatic variants of the petrol cars the Vento beats the City Automatic pricing but is significantly more expensive than an SX4 ZXi Automatic. It gets interesting when you compare it with the diesel sedans like the Verna Transform CRDi and the Fiat Linea 1.3 Multijet. Although the Vento Trendline Diesel is cheaper than the basic Linea diesel and the Verna CRDi the diesel Vento in Highline trim is more expensive than a top-of-the-line Verna or Linea and VW might just want to take a look at the pricing on the Highline diesel, which we think would be a fantastic purchase. We just hope Volkswagen India can produce Vento's fast enough to meet immediate interest levels, since the Polo already has a long waiting periods and consumers may not really wait a couple of months in the near future to get the keys to their shiny new Volkswagen Vento. Stay tuned for a first drive report soon!
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