Excellent Car

 

Exterior Excellent Exterior with nothing left to spare. Wish they had added the side indicators on the wing mirrors. Reverse light is a bit dim for me. Reverse indicator and guidance system should be available. Dealer has some obsolete system. No provision for the visual aid system even if you wanted to fit one yourself. Dealer said warranty will expire if someone else tampered the wiring. Well VW, wake up and smell the roses. Provide accessories and the means to fit them or stop giving nonsense about expired warranties.

 

Interior (Features, Space & Comfort) Very comfortable. Being quite tall, very long drives make me cramped and caused my rear to ache. Needs a bigger rear view mirror. Wonder why they did not add the cooler in the glove box. Even the Skoda Fabia has that. REAR AC could have had some form of blower control. The Airflow felt a little mild, particularly when you are just getting in the car on a hot day. Once the main AC has cooled out things, the rear ac seems fine. Driver armrest is very nice but awkward. Seems to interfere with the hand brake but you can actually operate the hand brake with 2 fingers so I don't have to strong-arm anything. Sloping Rear Panel behind seats makes it impossible to keep anything there (no I don't plan to keep a stuffed toy there!).

 

Engine Performance, Fuel Economy and Gearbox Smooth drive, smooth engine, fluid gear shift. Braking was soft and efficient. At times pickup seemed sluggish for a couple of seconds but I think I need to get used to the correct gear ratios for the required pull.

 

Ride Quality & Handling Excellent. Braking hard seemed to make the vehicle glide a little, perhaps the ABS which I am not used to as yet. Often I am travelling at 100 kmph, but the cabin is so quite that I can't tell this unless I look at the speedometer. Engine is super smooth and quiet, as I would expect from the Germans.

 

Final Words People see VW logo and gracefully get out of the way. Thats what I like and thats what I bought this car for (and because I cant afford a BMW or Merc ... yet). Extremely comfortable for all passengers. Interiors are bleak and missing a few features but Germans are minimalists. Maybe they will get the hang of Indian tastes soon. I just got the car for a week and I have yet to ascertain the mileage.

 

Areas of improvement

1. Wider REAR VIEW mirror is definitely needed. The present one is tiny.

2. Reverse light needs to be brighter.

3. Reverse guidance system needs to be available with dealers and required provisions to be in dashboard instrumentation. Don't want to see devices stuck on top of the dashboard which is what happens if you want this type of system installed.

4. No place to keep tissue box. Weird but I am a sweaty  guy so I need my tissues and my kids are messy.

5. Instrumentation on steering would help set this car apart

6. The most limited range of accessories that one can think of are available with the dealers. And most of those that are, are not in stock. I am waiting for my seat covers and am told it will be 10 days to get them! Jeez! Visited local accessories guy and he showed me tons of stuff! Again VW needs to take the pointer from us innovative Indians!

 

All you need is built in this carAccessories availability, No speed control on rear AC, Sloping panel behind seats