Volkswagen Vento Review

Volkswagen, the German Car maker has proved its worth by sheer technology in Volkswagen Vento. Volkswagen Vento is designed to give direct competition to the market leader Honda City. Honda has dominated the mid size premium sedan segment in India for a long time now but Volkswagen Vento gives neck to neck competition in the race to take the number one spot in terms of market share of entry-level sedan cars.

Vento was the fourth car introduced by VW group in India in 2010. This was the time when the demand for diesel cars was taking off in India. Thus, Vento achieved great heights near 2010.

 The car is manufactured at Volkswagen's new factory at Chakan in Pune. This facility is used in the production of Volkswagen Polo, Skoda Fabia and Volkswagen Vento. The company has plans to sell around 25000 units every year. Volkswagen Vento is positioned as a premium category car, same as Volkswagen Polo which is in line with a higher brand value of the company. It fought hard with market-leader Honda City, and easily decimated other petrol sedans like SX4. It also managed to beat the old Hyundai Verna, which was also offered in diesel but never had the finesse and sophistication of a Vento. That happiness however, lasted only for 7 months. Hyundai brought in the redesigned fluidic Verna, and Vento’s leadership was quickly usurped and then Skoda Rapid aggravated the woes of VW Vento in India.

What Volkswagen Vento has in comparison to its competitor Honda City is that the former sells in both petrol and diesel version unlike the latter which is available only in petrol version. The diesel version of Vento has more buffs than the petrol one. The Volkswagen Vento comes with the same engine as is available in Volkswagen Polo i.e. 1.6 L petrol and diesel engines. While both petrol and diesel engines are capable of producing power of 105 PS, the torque figure varies.  The diesel engine generates a thumping torque of 250 Nm and the petrol trim generates 153 Nm of max torque. Volkswagen Vento is introduced in India with manual and automatic transmission. The petrol version is equipped with a 5 speed and 6 speed automatic gearbox with triptronic while the diesel variant comes with only 5 speed manual gearbox.

The Volkswagen Vento has the same dynamic exteriors and interiors. The front view of the sedan is simply killing with its centrally positioned company logo at chrome finished grille and chrome horizontal thunder flash headlights. The front air intake is designed in chrome and fitted in well-designed cluster. The Volkswagen Vento comes with green tinted heat absorbing glass that keeps the temperature inside, constant. The bumpers, rear view mirrors and door handles are painted in body colour. The rear view of the car is compact with simple and sober designing job. The rear side has high mounted brake light that cautions other drivers to keep their car at a safe distance. All the exterior design is done with neat and clean joining lines.

The Volkswagen Vento is dressed with appealing interior features that are capable of attracting Indian car lovers. The dashboard of the car is wrapped in two tone anti-glare black and beige. The dashboard houses meters, glove box, premium sound system, climatronic AC, air vents, etc. A huge storage space for cups, magazines, luggage etc. are carved inside the cabin. The higher end variant of the Volkswagen Vento comes with chrome package and leather wrapped steering wheel, gearshift knob, hand brake lever and gearshift boot.

The Volkswagen Vento has been loaded with driver and co-driver side airbags, front and rear fog lights, front disc brakes, ABS, electronic anti-theft engine immobiliser, manual day/night interior rear view mirror, height adjustable 3 point front seat belts, anti-theft system with interior surveillance and back up alarm, pinch guard safety for all 4 power windows, etc.

As far as the comfort features are concerned, the Volkswagen Vento is equipped with adjustable power steering wheel, central locking system, electronically adjustable rear view mirrors, height adjustable driver seat, Radio with CD/MP3/WMA player and 4 speakers, climatronic automatic AC with rear vents, dust and pollen filter, power door locks with LED, etc.