Dec 29, 2014 08:24 PM
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IGNITION
Slotting the key in the ignition is a little difficult when the steering lock is engaged, one has to turn the steering wheel with effort to slot in the key - Annoying.
If the cranking fails, one has to go back to switch off position and redo rather than from the intermediary position(true of TDi) – annoying in traffic.
DOOR LOCK
Auto Lock feature – HL and AT Ventos have the speed linked auto lock feature. The doors auto lock when the car crosses 15 kmph( This can be enabled at the workshop if not already done at the time of delivery).
Got a confirmation that the doors can unlock automatically on removal of car keys from ignition too
Doors always “unlocked” from the inside – Unless child lock is enabled(applicable for rear doors) the doors stay unlocked from the inside.
As VW says this is a safety feature allowing faster exit from the car in case of accidents. The locks, including child lock, unlock automatically on impact in case of accidents to enable rescue from outside
Remote Locking – Can be done either silently or with the horn honking. Visit to the workshop is required to change it from one to the other.
Locks with Memory – If one tries to lock the doors(manually or through remote) when one of the 4 doors are opened, the lock does not get engaged however the car does remember the instruction so that once the open door is shut the lock gets engaged without any further press of the manual / remote button – the confirmation of the same is through either the glowing of the “lock engaged” button on the driver’s side or through short bursts of the indicator lamps.
I am quoting Noop’s practical example which would help illustrate this in a beautiful way – “Say you need to get shopping out of the back seat and have your hands full to lock the car. What do you do? Simple.
Lock the car BEFORE you close that last door(it will lock with a click, not the horn-honk) and then collect your stuff and kick the door closed.
It will give you the "locked" horn-honk/blink blink signal! I love this feature since my daughter sometimes dozes off in the back on longer trips and I can just pick her up in my arms and lock the door this way! “
Boot lock/unlock – The boot can be independently opened using the remote while all the other doors are locked – no need to unlock the car for opening the boot.
Unlocking the boot activates the boot light which glows for a certain time duration only(around 15 min I think) beyond which the boot has to be opened and closed again.
Motion Sensor – Prevents someone from locking his/her kid(s) inside the car . It also would sound out an alarm if anyone tries to cut the car window to steal stuff, pretty effective!
REMOTE LOCK.
Windows can be rolled up/down from a distance – Press the “lock’ button and hold it down to roll up the windows from a distance.
Press the “unlock” button and hold it down to roll down the windows. Useful if you have parked the car in a hot place and would want to allow the hot air to get out of the car as you walk towards it or if you get caught in a sudden shower and would like to roll up the windows
Lights(Headlight / Parking / Indicator / Cabin Lights)
All lights(including cabin lights) except parking lights gets switched off when locks are armed using the remote lock, great relief for those souls who have blown up a few batteries through their forgetfulness.
I believe that the parking lights also turn off after a while though I haven’t been able to check that.
If you pull out the key from the ignition key hole with the lights on, there is an audible warning beep.
If one switches off the car’s ignition with the indicator lights on (i.e. the indicator stalk is engaged to show that one is taking a turn) and arms the remote lock, the parking lights would remain on.
AC
The blower switch needs to be turned a few twitches more for the AC to be power off.
The AC starts with a noticeable lag which allows sufficient time for the driver to crank the engine and only then is the AC switched on.
This is a very useful feature as it ensures that the AC does not drain battery power and gets switched on only after the engine is running. Of course this can be manually overridden if anyone so wishes.
The car remembers the last AC settings prior to switching off and starts off with exactly the same settings when the car starts.
MID
MID2 does not reset unless the MID2 is held down for a few seconds. Along with with MID 1, which resets on inactivity of 2 hours, this option adds a few possibilities.
Time of travel – It measures the time the engine has been on and does not count any time it would have been switched off( Mumbai-Goa journey – if you stop for an hour to take lunch, the MID would discount it and the same would get built into avg speed, etc).
Top right corner displays the recommended gear for the speed, this pretty much optimizes FE if followed prudently - true of manual too
WIPER
7 speed - The 7 levels are single wipe, Low(4 speeds), Medium & High . Very useful speed levels for tackling the monsoons especially the 4 low speed graded options when in erratic weather.
HANDBRAKE
There is a clear audible beep if the handbrake is not cleanly dis-engaged and one starts moving the car – Useful feature as most handbrakes have some play in the last 1-2 inch.
SPARE WHEEL
The spare wheel is kept upside down - so if one has to check the pressure the entire unit has to be taken out which is silly.
POWER WINDOWS
The power windows(all 4) continue to operate till anyone opens any of the doors:
A. even after one switches off the ignition.
B. even after one removes the key from the ignition slot.
