Replaced my Polo GT TSI with a Hyundai Venue Diesel after 45,000 km
It made immense value for money to get a 1.5 diesel with all the basic features for 9.99 Lakhs Ex-showroom in Chennai.
BHPian Masalawheelz recently shared this with other enthusiasts.
Ownership report of my 2022 Venue SX Diesel Manual
Hello to everyone reading this! I’m grateful to now be a part of this community which I have been lurking about for the last 10-15 years.
Cars have always been one of my biggest passions in life and I’ve always enjoyed my time with them!
My car ownership started in the year 2016, after two years as a lawyer, I earned and saved up a little bit to buy a pre-owned Honda Brio in May 2016. It was a fantastic little car that came with only 5000km on the ODO. My wife and I loved it and we took it everywhere we went, including on some beautiful long drives from Chennai (different trips to Bangalore, Mysore, Coorg, Ooty, Kotagiri, Coimbatore, Salem, Yercaud, Yelagiri, etc), I was always apprehensive that this variant (S) didn’t come with airbags. We sold the car after about 1 and a half years, after adding just 15,000km to the ODO and brought home a spanking new VW Polo GT TSI (1.2L) in December 2017. My dad and I bought our cars together, where initially we were to get a Polo GT & Vento TDI but my dad ended up picking the Ford EcoSport Titanium TCDI instead and enjoyed it for 5 years.
My own tryst with the GT TSI was a dream. The car performed like a miracle for 4 years and about 45k km with multiple trips to Bangalore, Mysore, Coorg, Wayanad, Madurai, etc. Once I learned to adapt to the nuances of the engine and gearbox, I was easily getting 12kmpl in the city and about 17-18kmpl on the highway, despite never being slow! She was a fantastic little beast who taught us valuable lessons on German engineering and refinement.
The first issue of noise and heaviness from the steering of our GT TSI led to the entire steering rack replacement on warranty. The second issue crept in at the end of 4 years and worried me quite a bit as the flooring on the driver’s side started getting damp. I kept checking and the dampness kept growing within a month. A detailed inspection by two VW ASCs didn’t yield any results and a known FNG indicated that it was with the condensation of the AC. Being in a coastal city and having seen the havoc caused by Rust, I bid farewell to the baby beast – our dear GT TSI with a heavy heart in December 2022 knowing that it would be quite impossible to replace her!
In the same year, my wife and I also made the biggest purchase in our lives. Our own little house by the beach in Chennai. We dumped all our savings into the house purchase and renovation of our flat so there was literally no budget for a new car! Out went our dream of upgrading to a Taigun 1.5 GT. As our budget was a very tight 11 lakhs, I didn’t mind sacrificing the convenience of an automatic to get a good engine, which I wouldn’t get bored of within a couple of years. I also wanted delivery of the car at the earliest as I was without one after the sale of our beloved GT TSI.
In came the Venue SX Diesel Manual. It made immense value for money to get a 1.5 diesel with all the basic features for 9.99 Lakhs Ex-showroom in Chennai. I always liked the blocky and geometric design of the Venue as well which sealed the deal. What I didn’t like were the unnecessary Sunroof, the ugly-looking tripod instrument cluster, the weird-looking wheel caps, and the patchy Bluetooth connection of the infotainment system. The lack of Rain sensing wipers and auto-dimming IRVM was a compromise as our GT had them 5 years ago! As this was more of a head-over-heart decision, we decided to go with the flow. While I wanted to go in for a white shade as usual, the wife demanded Red so we ended up with the Fiery Red shade.
We got delivery of the car within a month of booking as the Factory is in Chennai so we brought this fellow home in February 2022. He is definitely not a good looker with clean lines but damn he is immensely practical! The Diesel heart meant multiple long-drive plans without too much fuel budgeting and the torque of a diesel has been fun to play with.
So I returned to a manual after 4 years with the GT TSI.
The second head-over-heart decision was whether to invest on the stock alloys which were 35K or invest in better tires on the stock-styled steel wheels. The car came with Ceat tires which I wasn’t fond of so, in another head-over-heart decision, got the tires changed on the day of delivery to Continental UC6s which, in retrospect, was a good decision as the stock tires were of lower quality and quite noisy.
As it is a diesel which shockingly did not come with insulation under the hood, and as the door panels were vibrating a bit with increased sound, we got the doors damped with Dr. Artex Iridium damping sheets and the Hood damped with heat and noise-reducing damping sheets. This made a world of difference and I would strongly recommend anyone getting a diesel, or a Hyundai, or any of the Japanese kids (Honda, Suzuki, Toyota) to get damping done on the doors for better quality of the stock audio and a good decrease in road noise.
We got window tints for the 4 windows and the read windshield along with 3M CR70 for the front windshield and the sunroof glass. We also got Ceramic Coating done on the car in June 2022 as the Red shade actually had depth which was fading due to routine maintenance. A friendly neighbourhood garage did the Ceramic Coating as we were looking for budget-friendly options for it. Both – sun films and ceramic coating were mainly because the car is parked on the road during the day and in the open, inside the building at night, and is therefore subject to all elements of nature throughout the year.
The engine has good tractability and pulls cleanly from low RPMs. While I do feel that this engine has much more potential (Read–Remaps), I’m a little worried about its effect on the long term life of the engine and the fact that the braking is absolutely not confidence-inspiring. I have therefore left the engine bone stock. My biggest grouse with the car is the stupid single Horn given by Hyundai which is loud but sounds pathetic. (I don’t understand the step-brotherly treatment when they can give a good Horn on the Creta). As it is a single Horn, most of the accessories stores say that they will not convert the Horn to the Skoda, VW, or Audi Horns which sound awesome. Members – please throw light on possible solutions to this!
I have always found the clutch on Hyundai to be inaccurate. The clutch is light and has little play but the exact level where the clutch engages/disengages is always a mystery and is not progressively noticeable like in other cars. I also regularly drive my colleague’s 2021 Ertiga petrol which also has a light clutch, but the action and engagement are precise compared to Hyundai. Have any other members felt or noticed this or is it just me?
This car is truly a silent workhorse that hasn’t caused a single DPF issue since the date of purchase. The engine is very refined, especially at higher speeds and we have clocked 26k KM in 20 Months which isn’t too much running but was definitely more pleasurable in a Diesel. The total ODO includes trips from Chennai to Bangalore, Mysore, Thekkady, Cherai Beach, Coimbatore, Madurai, Tirunelveli, Trichy, Karur, and a wonderful 2500km trip to Goa and back this year. The full black interior, although claustrophobic, is a breeze to maintain and the 3D mats that Hyundai sells for just 3k are absolutely worth it!
My daily runs are about 30-40km – 5 days a week and the Venue gives an average of about 15kmpl in the city. On our Highway drives, I have seen averages of between 18kmpl to 22kmpl depending on the average speed, traffic, number of passengers in the car, and extent of use of cruise control. This is very good mileage as my dad’s EcoSport, in comparison used to give about 15kmpl in the city but never more than 17-18kmpl on the highway. The AC deserves a special mention – it is an absolute chiller and I have realised that keeping it on Auto mode actually improves the average mileage – not sure how though!
The Conti UC6s have made a world of difference in our long drives. This is coupled with the fact that we have been carrying out wheel balancing, tire rotation, and nitrogen air refilling only at our neighbourhood MRF outlet. I was surprised to find out that the “Nitrogen” air advertised by most fuel outlets is not really Nitrogen. The best part is that we top up free Nitrogen at the MRF outlet once every 3 months or 3000km as I retain 33psi which goes down to 30-31PSI only after 2000-2500km.
For general cleaning and maintenance, I use a non-waxed duster to wipe the top layer of dust off the car and then use Proclear Raw Extreme CX (initially) and Proclear Raw Extreme CRC (presently) for daily maintenance and this gives a good clean and shine on the car. Once every 2 months, I have the car pressure washed at the same neighbourhood garage, and once every 6 months, I get a maintenance coating done for the ceramic coat.
Got the 3 free services completed at 950km, 8900km & 18,000km in a period of 14 months based on consequent trips planned in the car. The Service, I would say has never been accurate. Yes, they are prompt in follow-up and pick up but there is no clarity from the Service Advisor on what is involved in the service, how much time it would take, or the specification of the engine oil (I wanted fully synthetic engine oil and not mineral oil). I tried two service centres based on proximity – Kun Hyundai & V3 Hyundai and both were pretty similar in service. In fact, during the 3rd service, one of the guys soiled the sun shade and roof liner in a couple of places with his greasy hands which could never be fully removed.
In conclusion, this guy is a sensible and frugal mile muncher who goes about quietly doing his work. All he wants is some highway action every now and then to keep his internals clean (DPF) and periodic maintenance to ensure he is in top shape! Looking forward to more mile munching with this guy with a 1200km trip planned in two weeks.
Cheers!
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