The first feeling is that the Vento is your regular German made medium sized saloon. Well sculpted, sleek and designs that are underplayed make it look sturdy. While the road clearance is good the drawback is that the 15 inch wheels don not quite utilize the arches. The Vento does make up with larger back tyres than its Polo cousin allowing for a large back space.
Once you are inside you get what you wanted. The designs are really underplayed with no nonsense flashy dashboard. The controls are easy on the eye and the interior quality comes as a surprise when compared to its Indian competition. The finer details are all taken care of like the front occupants seat that can be leveraged using a lever from the back seat. The back seats are relaxing with good height support allowing up to three passengers at the back. Like the trademark Volkswagen style all the seats are well cushioned and have a good finishing.
Volkswagen is available in 1.6 liter, 105 horse power petrol and diesel variants. These engines are accompanied by five speed manual gear. You can also go for a six speed auto version in the spark ignition variant. The auto version though might not speed up as quickly as you would like. It involves a bit of gear work during the overtaking maneuver. The engine does make you zoom around the city streets and even cruise at high speeds.
As mentioned earlier the auto gear lacks the punch in the power department as they wanted to be cost efficient. The Vento has a normal torque converter transmission. So if you want to just stroll across your journey the auto transmission is what you need. The gear transmissions are silent and the delay ratios are a no fuss. But the fun part is really thrown out of the window as the shifts are pretty slow and the engine starts panting when compared to the manual gears. The lack of dead pedal is surely a huge miss in an auto gear.
The common rail diesel seems to have all the right nodes to it. Though you will manage to stay away from the bog zone you cannot escape the lag. The Vento is reliable, safe and a simple rider control makes for easy drive in the city traffic. The tyres are really gripping but there might be a hint of body roll. It takes every terrain in its stride. A few bumps did manage to sneak in but that was when we were four up and fully loaded.
All the brothers and sisters of the Vento come with rear armrest. The dashboard sure makes for a dashing appearance with a music player, climate control, electric mirrors, alloy wheels, remote locking, trip comp and a couple of airbags.
The Vento surely is not the one to be overlooked for the solid build, the underplayed class and for its diesel version. It starts from Rs 6.99 lakh for the trend line petrol and goes on to Rs 9.23 lakhs for the high line diesel.
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