Volkswagen Vento [2012-2014] User Reviews

Exterior Personally, I find the exterior quite good, though not as striking as a Honda City or a  Hyundai Verna. It's simple and elegant with none of the looks screaming to get your attention, and I like that about the car. The body is well built and can easily be felt just by opening the door and realizing the solidity. Makes you feel safe inside. Paking sensors are helpful and fog lights decent enough, though I dont use them often. Ground clearance is okay but there's a thud sound when you go over a speed bump. Maybe its the spare tyre that's not placed properly in the boot. Ample boot space.

Interior (Features, Space & Comfort) Interiors are well laid out, and the look and feel of the cabin is soothing to the eyes; not flashy. The contrasting grey and beige interiors gives a sort of premium feel and I like that about the car. The first thing that I noticed while taking the test drive was the immense space in the cabin and ample leg and head room. I am 6 ft tall and have no issues while driving at all in either of these areas. I wont say the same about the features though. The multi-media panel in the front seems a bit buggy and you have to keep pressing a button to view the desired metric (kmpl, digital speedometer, etc). Would be nice to view them all at once instead of fiddling with the buttons. Frills in the interiors are okayish - cupholders, glovebox, mirror inside the sun-block, etc are all fine. Two areas of concern: (1) the music system provided in the car is sub-standard, though the speaker syatem is amazing. The display doesnt show the song being played through a CD and doesnt have a bluetooth or USB support. Dislike that a lot. You have to either buy another system or be content with an FM transmitter costing ~Rs. 500. I use none. I hate the radio by the way (not the system but the radio stations in general). (2) Some of the fittings in the interiors feel cheap and make clicking sounds unbearable to the ear. For example, the platic at the sides of the horn is cheap and so is the panel with power window controls. The compartment between the front seats is made of really cheap plastic and wobbles when the car is being driven. It also obstructs smooth gear shift with your elbow hitting it every now and then. The seats on the other hand are comfortable. I got a deal where they threw in leather seat covers which match perfectly with the interiors. So all good on that front. Seats are forward and side adjustible manually, though electric control could have been offered at this price point.

Engine Performance, Fuel Economy and Gearbox Engine without doubt is a gem by German engineering. Great power and torque at this price point. The throttle response is great once the engine warms up but may seem a bit sluggish at lower gears (2nd and 3rd gear specifically). The noise from the engine is something you cant really ignore and might seems intrusive when you are listening to music or having a conversation. But mind you that this is an OEM engine (I've heard) and comes strainght from VW Germany and Europeans like noisy engines. Hope VW does something about that. Another point of concern is power-weight ratio. With solid built, they seem to have compromised the P-W ratio, but to tell you the truth, it doesnt really have that much of a difference. The ride quality is great and you enjoy everytime the throttle is rammed. The gearbox is smooth and accentuates the driving pleasure. There are no "jhatkas" when you change to a lower gear, but might have to bear that when changed from fourth to third. Fuel economy came as a surprise for me. I am getting 15-16 KMPL from my comfortline petrol. There are two reasons for that. First, I drive around 25-30 KM daily (hence the petrol variant) and most of it is the highway (NH-8) which helps in achieving a little better fuel economy. Secondly, I am obsessed with getting good mileage and tend to drive cautiously which means not exceeding 80 KMPH on the highway and trying my best to get to the fifth gear as soon as possible at low RMPs. Read CarWale's tips on this. Should be helpful.

Final Words Go for a highline Vento if you want the premium features like steering mounted controls, climate control, etc. I bought comfortline simply because of my budget and the 0% finance deal. The ride quality, etc are same in all petrol variants at least. The other issue which concerns me is the lack of safety features. They could have easily done away with parking sensors, fog lights, etc and installed ABS or air bags. Big disappointment there.

Overall, I am very happy with my purchase and hope for a long and lasting companiosnship with the Vento in the years to come. Happy driving!

Areas of improvement Quite a few actually:

Lose the cheap plastic; it looks and feels disgusting.

Blueooth/USB: either of them should be made standard.

Keyless entry is missing; again something which should be made standard (i think 2013 model has that as a standard offering).

1st service at 15000 KM should be minimised to around 5000 or 7500 KM.

ABS and air bags should be made standard in all variants; at least one of them should be.

Reasonably good looking, decent fuel economy, nice interiors, spacious, easy to drive, comfortable.Some parts of the interiors feel cheap, engine a tad noisy, music system disappoints, safety issues.