High speed stability of the Virtus is the highlight and inspires confidence similar to how our beloved Polo used to.
BHPian tsi_niks1989 recently shared this with other enthusiasts:
2 years, 24000 km Update:
The GT celebrated its 2nd birthday on 9th Sep, 2024 with more than 24000 memorable KMs. Ownership has been uneventful with only 1 adhoc visit to the service center. Before I brief on the 2nd year service, let me go back to August this year when we had a Pune-Goa trip planned.
The Adhoc Visit:
I had got puddle lamps installed from the authorized dealership in May. During the installation the rubber pad near the front door which covers the wiring was not attached properly by the service engineer. One week before our Goa trip, while returning from office the front door lock mechanism started auto switching modes (lock/unlock continuously without any input). I called the service advisor who has been taking all my earlier service/accessories request and I was asked to bring the vehicle next day. Next day 9:30 am I reached BU Bhandari, Hadapsar and as per the process a job card was opened for troubleshooting. After approx. 1 hour, I was told the rubber pad is loose and has resulted in short circuit since water would have gone. They asked to drop the vehicle as the part was not available and it would come in two days. No aftermarket fitment has been done till date and I was not in the mood to pay for the improper fitting done by them for puddle lamps. They mentioned this cannot be covered under warranty citing various reasons to which I politely argued. After few calls with the senior service advisors, CRM and manager they agreed to pay for the part which was around 3900 INR. I got the car back 2 days before the trip and I would thank BU Bhandari, Hadapsar VW service team for this. Issue was resolved in couple of days and the car was back to normal.
Coming back to the car, I would say it has been a joyful experience owing this despite the shortcomings on the interior quality. The pros have a significant weightage over the cons. Total service center visits till date have been 5 (Swagat service, 7500KMs free inspection, 1st year annual service, 1 Adhoc and 2nd year annual service). I had purchased the Service pack at 27000 INR for 4 years and have not paid anything till date for servicing. The 2nd year service experience was great, no addons were pushed, battery is good and the brake pads/discs were not required to be changed as per the service advisor. I was surprised as many folks have reported pads wearing out in less than 15k KMs itself. Out of curiosity I enquired my advisor, what would be the 2nd service amount had I not bought the SVP, he gave an invoice without GST for 9585 INR. With SVP I am paying 6750 INR per year for servicing the 1.5 TSI, which is very reasonable.
The Good:
- Performance: Under 20L today, 1.5 TSI with DSG is the perfect engine gearbox combo if one drives majorly on highways. The rigid MQB A0 IN platform adds to this, helping the driver remain connected to the car mechanically(with a big fat smile ) and not remotely. Steering is precise and braking is good given the drum setup at the rear.
- Comfort: Feedback from people using the rear seats has been positive till they are two in number, the car is butter smooth on highways but struggles on bad roads. Our Skoda Kushaq’s suspension seems to tackle bad roads better than the GT. High speed stability is the highlight and inspires confidence similar to how our beloved Polo used to.
- Efficiency: It can be a mile muncher or a fuel guzzler based on your driving. We have been getting 18+ consistently on straight highways and even 20-22 for Pune-Mumbai drives. Recently we got a return trip mileage of 16.5 kmpl with 5 people onboard and boot fully loaded for Pune-South Goa-North Goa-Pune, which has lot of ghat sections and poor-quality roads. City mileage has been 9-10 max given the mess, traffic in Pune has become .
- Practicality: Another advantage of a sedan apart from better performance is the practicality. Boot space is huge enough, it took 2 medium suitcases, 2 cabin luggage and 2 backpacks easily in our recent trip with space left to keep couple of more backpacks. Higher ground clearance is helpful and till date it has touched couple of extra-large speed breakers when the rear seats were occupied.
Could have been better:
- Interior quality: Car does not rattle but compared to the competitors, the interior quality levels are either on par or down which was not the case with the PQ25 platform cars. VW as per the premium charged should have used better grade of plastics.
- Camera: It is average at best, does the job. Hopefully they will fix this in the facelift.
- Ambient Light setup: Not sure who passed this design but if a Taigun gets an ambient light throughout the dashboard why does a Virtus gets only for co-passenger area and not full.
- AC: I don’t have issues with the AC performance but this could be due to the usage restricted to Pune being pleasant most of the time. AC performance is moderate and it takes more time and lesser temperatures to reach cooling levels of its competitors.
It is good to see Virtus leading the sedan segment in whatsoever ways it is able to. Kudos to the group for investing in a dying segment and bringing the sedans for few of us who still prefer this body style over the pseudo SUVs available. Hope the upcoming facelifts next year will continue to keep this segment alive and help VAG sustain numbers. Adding few pics from the service, the part failure, Goa and Mahabaleshwar trips.
Happy Motoring!
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