Vento Tips & Quirks

Alarm, stop, I guess by unlock, lock, unlock sequence

Run the car for 2 minutes after long drive and before drive also Logically You should.

Vento (TDI) is tuned for adaptive idling RPM to make it more forgiving. The idling for 1.6
CLNA TDI is 800 rpm (when standing still and in neutral or clutch depressed). But moment
the car is moving (or in motion) and then slotted in Neutral or clutch depressed, the idling is
at 900 rpm. 

Planned acceleration and braking on the road is hypermiling. You let the car coast as much
as possible and avoid pressing the accelerator for too long. When you accelerate less, the
rate of consumption of fuel is less and so the Distance To Empty (DTE) increases. The DTE
is dependent on the rolling average mileage achieved multiplied by the detected amount of
fuel left in the tank . So DTE is likely to show increased value if one is light on the pedal. it
will show higher DTE even on broken roads as the car is likely to "sense" a higher amount of
fuel in the tank with it sloshing around . Thus DTE is at best a rough estimation, nothing
more.

one feature in Vento TDI is about auto accelaration at specific gears If i keep it in 1st gear
and release the clutch but don't accelerate then it maintains speed upto 10kmph, in 2nd
gear it maintains speed upto 20kmph, in 3rd gear it remains upto 30kmph, in 4th gear it
goes upto 40kmph and in 5th gear it goes upto 50kmph.This is a feature in all modern
diesels.i20 Crdi also does the same speed at the above mentioned RPM's. The ECU does this
to prevent engine from stalling. Maybe its also due to the enormous torque at lower RPM in
diesels. This feature is called as auto governing IIRC.

Even if the gear is in neutral, if you dont depres the clutch (or keep it engaged) the starter
motor will rotate the engine, flywheel, clutch, and the input shaft of transmission. Incase
you depress the clutch it will not rotate the clutch and input shaft. Thus less load on starter
motor. Not much but still a good practise.

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

Clutch

 clutch of the Vento has a long travel range and has a pretty annoying bounce back
action. This gets a little better with time (or you get used to it), but you need to really
master the release position to avoid jerk during gear changes. You will notice this jerk
all the more when you release the clutch pretty quick during a up shift/downshift. You
can minimize the jerk or bounce if you release the clutch at zero accelerator dip point -
illustratively, take your foot off the pedal and then release the clutch. This should help.
 There is no escaping from the hard clutch though. Or if you are not at the right speed,
transition the clutch and accelerator pedals exactly at the same time, albeit slowly (not
sudden release and press). You can avoid the jerk. You will learn this quickly.

Reverse Gear Function n Tips

During reverse Once you are too close to the object on reverse gear there is a continuous
audio beep. But when you change the gear to first, the beep still screams till you move the
car forward. The reverse sensors I know on few cars stop beeping once you disengage from
the reverse gear. This actually is a useful feature. Suppose you are in an incline. You shift to
reverse and you see a block in your sensors. You put your forward gear, it still gives you a
feedback as to how much your car can go back while you engage your clutch (For some
people, engaging the gear and taking forward the car in an inclination is a big challenge).
Now if the feed back stops the moment you engage your forward gear, you would have to
take a guess as how tight the reverse distance is.

If want to engage reverse, push down the gear lever and then push forward to engage. If
its to 1st, just push it forward. No need to depress the gear stalk when you are reverting
back from the reverse gear - once you have pressed the clutch , just pull the gear stalk
towards the neutral position . The force has to be purely horizontal , take it out of your
mind that you had to depress the the stalk while engaging the reverse.

DOOR LOCK

 Speed Based Auto Lock – 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.
 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 . How this feature works is: Driver exits the
car and closes the door. Now there is something in the back seat / front seat / boot, that
you need 2 hands to carry. You open relevant door, and press lock button on the
remote. All closed doors have their locks engaged. Now, you pick up your stuff, and
close the open door with your bum. The last lock engages and the car indicates this with
a single blink.OR Driver exits the car and closes the door. Passengers are still exiting,
while driver needs to go somewhere quickly. He presses the lock button and leaves. As
the passengers close their doors they get locked on their own, and as the last door
closes, the car is fully secured. This works for all doors and boot lid, except driver door.
 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.
 Bonnet Lock - You cannot pull the bonnet release lever unless the driver door is open.
An inconvenience at malls where parking security often insists on peeking under the
 hood and you have to open the bonnet for them. Its quite embarrassing to first open the
door then release the bonnet.
 The boot release switch will work only when the car is stopped.
 Fuel Lid Lock - a consistent behavior of this fuel lid opening when you unlock the car.
1. Lock the car using the remote. 
2. Try opening the fuel lid. (As expected, it wouldn’t open since car is already locked).
3. Now unlock the car using the remote. fuel lid was also opened.
It surely looked like, car is remembering the open action performed on its fuel lid.
Possible usage. You are in a petrol pump and wants to fill in the fuel. The attendant
comes along and tries opening it, finds it locked and then asks us to open the lid. Now
only thing the we need to do is to press unlock button.
the fuel lid does not have a separate popping switch. As long as the car is not centrally
locked, it can be pressed open. Incase the petrol pump attendant is filling fuel and you
lock the doors before he closes the lid, when you unlock the door next time even the lid
will get unlocked and pop-out (and will ofcourse not pop-back in when you re-lock).
 using the key(-hole) to unlock the car again unlocks only the driver door! Rest three
doors remains closed
 On pressing the unlock button on the fob first time only the drivers side door is
unlocked. To unlock the rest of the doors you need to press unlock button again that too
not immediately.
 If you want the rear doors to remain locked from inside too, you can enable the child
locks for each of the doors. However, this would mean that the passengers in the rear
will not be able to open the doors from inside even when the auto-lock is switched off.
 The purpose is to lock doors from outside when you begin a journey and it stays that
way till the time someone wants to get down. The doors (and the fuel lid) remain locked
even if the car slows down below 15 km/hour. They have allowed disabling of the auto-
lock when any one of the doors is opened from inside so that the passengers can exit
quickly in case of an emergency.
 Boot lock & auto lock are being enabled normally by the dealer before delivery
 if the door which is kept open is the driver door. If the driver door is closed and any or
all of the other 3 are kept open, and if we lock using remote, it gets locked after the
doors are closed. But if it is the driver door which is kept open, then pressing of lock
button in remote is not at all triggering any action.
 In the Vento, all the doors need to be shut for the lock to be armed - if any door
remains open , then the lock would not be armed and if the lock is not armed then the
windows cannot be rolled up as sequentially the actions that are performed are door
shut > lock armed > window roll up . You would note that the window roll up happens
after a noticeable pause post the arming of the lock.
 You can roll down when the door is open since keeping a door open does not interfere
with the disarming of the lock which precedes remote rolling down of the window.
 Having recently activated the auto unlock fucntion which activates on taking out the
keys from the ignition slot I noticed that the unlock function only works when the locks
get armed due to the speed of the car crossing the threshold of 15 kmph - it
does not unlock when the lock is armed by manually pressing the switch on the driver's
side door.
 If the doors are locked and the car is jacked up to remove a tyre, it starts sounding the
horn alarm! Seems like a neat security feature against wheel thieves! (Need to check)

REMOTE LOCK using Keys

 On continued press of the Lock button (as when you try and roll up the windows
remotely), the parking lights blink only if all is secure. i.e. Doors/Boot closed & Windows
rolled up. This 'blinking lights' are indeed a final confirmation.
 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. One Honk for Lock. 2 honks for
open.
 The honk is not sounded if any doors are open / not fully shut.
 The honk is sounded even if the window glasses are not fully rolled up.
 Without the horn activated, you will have to see the blinking lights.
 the lock does not get armed unless the driver door is closed (you can try manually
locking or with the remote lock while keeping the driver's side door open , you won't
hear the click)
 When one locks using the remote key and then opens the boot using the remote key ,
the lock light ( on the driver's side door) glows . So effectively the unlock makes the
"lock" light glow
 Say you unlock the car by remote, but get pre-occupied in some other task. The car
locks itself after waiting for around 40 odd seconds. (normal light + horn action)
 unlock the car by remote and do not access any of the doors for close to 30-40 seconds
after which the car auto-locks itself.
 unlock the car and open and close one/multiple doors and then leave the car alone for a
while - the car does not auto-lock (have tested this for 3-4 minutes).
 you should get enabled are speed activated door auto lock (gets activated after 15
kmph), all door unlock when ignition key is taken out of key hole or any door unlocked

POWER WINDOWS

 The power windows (all 4) continue to operate till anyone opens any of the doors:
o even after one switches off the ignition.
o even after one removes the key from the ignition slot.
 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
 after a drive when you switch off the engine / key removed from ignition and even if you
pull out the keys, the windows can be operated from inside using the power window
switches for a couple of minutes. Only after few minutes, the entire power supply is
disconnected and windows cannot be operated through the switches.
 Once the battery terminal is disconnected and reconnected, the power window one touch
up/down, convenience operation of all power windows using remote and pinch protection
(roll back on sensing obstacles) have to be configured all over again. 
Good thing, all the three can be configured by a single step - 
- Close all doors/windows
- Turn the key to "ignition on" position
 - Hold the power window regulators on the driver side armrest up for about a couple of
seconds. 
- All the above 3 features should now be activated. 
recheck all the system after servicing, but it doesn’t state in manual these needs to be
re-activated again if the battery terminals are disconnected.
 If any of the doors is open, the window doesn't go down (via remote), although it closes
for sure.

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.
 If you pull out the key from the ignition key hole with the lights on , there is an audible
warning beep.
 if you keep you cabin lights on (not on via door open or initial unlock but manually on)
and try to lock ur car, the lights strobe/flicker to warn that you have forgotten to turn of
the lights and they eventually go off, even in ON position. This prevents the battery from
draining
 If the indicator stalk is engaged to either side, the indicator blinks when ignition is on. If
the indicator is engaged, and key is removed, the front & back parking light of the
relevant side glows, and the car indicates this with 3-4 chimes as the keys is removed. If
you don’t need this Just get back into the car, push the indicator stalk back into the
centre position and you'll be fine.
 The headlights switch on as soon as the ignition is in the on position, even before you
start the car. They stay on when starting the car again. However, like other cars, they
dim a little when cranking the engine.
 Lets say that both the blinkers are on since you have pressed the emergency/ hazard
switch at the center. Now, in between if you use the left/ right turn indicator; the
emergency blinkers stop automatically and only the single turn indicator (left or right) is
activated. After the turn is completed ; the emergency blinking i.e. both blinkers resume
automatically. (don’t drive using emergency blinkers)
 When you need to change the lanes, just depress the indicator lever a bit. The lever
would pop back immediately but the indicator blinks for 2-3 times. Very useful in 4 lane
highways.
 Say you switch off the ignition but forget to switch off the headlights - there is a small
alarm notification for the same. Not sure if the headlights switch off on their own later.
 The interior light comes up when you unlock the car (by remote/door) - the same goes
off once you start the ignition.
 For the left parking light - basically, if you stop the engine while the indicator was still on
and you alight the car, the parking light stays on.

AC

 The blower switch needs to be turned a few twitches more for the AC to be power off.
How it works is: when the AC is on, turn the knob to the left till lowest position (all the
bars vanish). Now pause for a moment (very important) and then twist it left one more
time. The AC will shut off (i.e. display screen will go blank in daytime or jus plain blue in
nighttime).
 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.
 one observation regarding the idle rrrrrr noise of the engine - I felt that the noise
reduces noticeably if under cold start the AC is switched off and also if the ignition kicks
in without the clutch depressed
 Fogging occurs mostly when the temperature of the windshield itself is different than the
air in contact with it, and when the air contains a lot of water vapor. Also, the
evaporator coil will condense vapor present in the air, while the A/C is on, and thus
drain some water vapor that was present as fog. Hence, the fan alone won't be able to
reduce the temperature difference fast and also to remove the vapor. But, soon after
your windshield is cleared, direct further air away from the windshield, but maintain the
same temperature used for defogging to cool/warm the cabin air, or else the glass will
again attain a different temperature than the air in contact, this time may be from the
outside so that you might need to use the wiper.AC turns on automatically when the
blowers are turned to the windscreen defogging position.
 The ACC blower is automatic regardless of whether ‘AUTO’ mode is selected. For
example when starting the car on a hot day, even with AUTO de-selected, the blower
starts at a higher speed then settles down when the cabin temp reduces.
 When the sky is partly cloudy, I’ve noticed that when the sun disappears behind clouds
the blower goes down a notch and when the sun reappears it goes up a notch! 
 Raising the selected temp causes the heater to activate momentarily to immediately
raise the temp.
 If you have activated ‘AUTO’ and change the blower speed, the ‘AUTO’ gets cancelled. If
you change back to the earlier blower speed the ‘AUTO’ gets enabled again.
 The default air flow direction, when no specific direction is selected, is towards the face.
 For faster chilling in the rear seats , reduce the front vent flow through using the
rotatory rolling knobs provided alongside each of the front vents. This would ensure that
the rear vents have a larger volume of (cold) air flowing out which would serve your
purpose.
 if you have parked your car in the sun - lower the windows for a few minutes (with or
without the AC turned on), helps in faster cooling. make use of the remote to roll down
the windows while walking towards the car to let the warm air escape, run the AC for a
couple of minutes before rolling up the windows.
 in the re-circulation mode, once in about 15min or so, the unit brings in outside air to
refresh the air quality inside the cabin and also help in humidity control.
 vento has pollen filter to avoid the dust particles from entering in the cabin when the
A/C is in fresh air mode. this part is changed as a part of your first service at 15k kms. 
 Another awesome feature- In auto AC mode (without recirculation mode)- the moment
you engage reverse gear, the ac turns on the recirculation mode to close all external
ducts so that the exhaust fumes are not allowed to enter the cabin.
 Recirculation mode: when the cabin air is recycled (donated by a symbol of air being
recalculated within the cabin on the ACC) - generally this mode removes the "auto"
symbol from the display though the ACC is still regulating automatically. there is a
button which shows the air circulation mode. When you press it , there is a 're-
circulation' icon which appears in the AC console display which shows that it has been
activated. Unlike most other cars , when the AC is in ventilation mode there is no
specific icon which appears - the re-circulation icon just vanishes
MID

 One needs to wait for the glow plug indicator to disappear from your IP, before cranking
the engine. This is true for all diesel engines. In normal operating temperatures this will
almost be instantaneous (glow plug indicator will immediately disappear) whereas in
extreme cold conditions - it can take upto 10 seconds or more for the glow plug to
disappear. 
Yes, as long as you keep the revs under control till engine warms up during cold starts,
you are absolutely fine. No need for any wait.
 Set the speed to your desired limit and once it's crossed it beeps. A speed limiter kind of
thing. Pretty useful feature although it can easily be tampered. Best for Indian
Highways For example 80kmph for expressway.
 Driving early morning and suddenly got a beep from the MID. It was showing 4 degree
Celsius. At first I got worried as it seemed to be a warning. it is a feature built in that if
temp drops to 4 deg C, the MID shows a beep and snowflakes sign.
 there is another figure of 98 besides appears beside the clock It is the number the days
to next service (by the 365 days criteria)
 Once the service is less than 1200 km away , the MID always flashes the km to service
for a good few seconds when the ignition key is inserted before reverting to the usual
display .
 ABS sign will not light up when it kicks in. It will only light up if the ABS unit
malfunctions .It will momentarily flash during the vehicle start-up when all the systems
are checked for any issues but not thereafter. 
 Time of travel – It measures the time the engine has been on and does not count any
time it would have been switched off (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
 FE (fuel efficiency) indicator - When the car starts moving, the numbers shown are really
high (and unbelievable) but it settles down to more realistic values after a while :). If
any of those initial values (like 60, 80) were to be remotely true
 You only hear a beep when the reverse gear is engaged
 When you switch on the reverse gear, the optical display comes up displaying a 2D
picture with possible obstacles in the back (and the beeping sounds); and the music
level (of the player) goes down. Once you switch back to normal gears, the volume goes
up to the earlier level.
 Battery - There is no warning signal built in the instrument panel. However the
maintenance free Exide battery that the Vento comes with have a small light, if that
lights up, means that the battery needs maintenance. But for that, you would need to
open the hood and check regularly. Battery lived for 2 years and 2 months has to be
dhkka start after battery dead ac and breakes and car only works not other gizmos.
 TRIP METER - Vento has 3 trip memories! The first one, which I will call the PRIMARY as
it’s accessible by single touch and also measures distance traveled in 1/10 KM
increments, is displayed in place of the Odometer by pressing the 0.0/SET button below
the MID. You can switch between the Odometer and the primary trip displays and reset
the trip details by long pressing the same button. There are two other SECONDARY trip
memories accessible by the OK/RESET button on the wiper stalk. All three memories run
 concurrently but can be independently reset. I noticed that the two secondary memories
have separate timers.
 MID2 does not reset unless the MID2 is held down for a few seconds. Along with MID 1,
which resets on inactivity of 2 hours, this option adds a few possibilities
 The second memory (Trip 2) is actually a long term timer. It can be used to monitor
multiple trips logged in Trip 1. The manual says Trip 2 is a "Total journey memory" and
Trip 1 is "Trip memory". Regarding trip meter 2, the manual says that it will reset every
20/100hrs of driving or 1000/10000km. I see, at least on my Vento, that the reset
happens for the lower thresholds (20hrs or 1000km).
 To summarise, MID2 resets after:
1. Time: Any number of individual journeys of 19hours 59 minutes each or a total
single journey of 99 hours & 59 minutes
2. Distance: Any number of individual journeys of 1999.9km each or single journey
of 9999kms.
Where each journey is calculated as a separate journey if the car stops and starts
again within 2 hours of stopping.

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
 one can adjust the Vento's windscreen spray up-down and sideways and this can be
done using ones fingers only.
 After switching off ignition (it works even immediately after taking off the key), press
the wiper stalk down once. The wiper blade will come to half way and stay there (service
position). You can now pull them front to clean the windshield. The next time when you
switch on ignition push the wiper stalk again and it will go back to the idle position.
 The Wipers make a strange sound at the last two faster settings, although seemed quite
effective in the heavy rain.

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

ICE RCD 310

Applicable for RCD 310 + steering mounted audio controls.

 If the mute/pause button is activated using steering mounted audio control, the audio
can be unmuted/resumed by turning the volume control knob on the head unit. Useful
for front passenger - he/she can unmute/resume if driver forgets to do
 In radio (FM) mode, the Mute button on the steering acts like a Mute button
 In Media (USB) mode, the Mute button acts like a Pause button! The song actually
pauses playing instead of just muting.
 you can connect your mobiles and use it as a usb drive; just connect your (mobile's) usb
cord to the player's usb cord, and the phone gets detected as a pen drive!
 Say the music system is on with the ignition on but headlights off. The moment you
switch on the headlights, the small red/orange indicators light up inside the car, and
simultaneously the white backlight of the player goes a shade down. Visa versa when
you switch off the headlights.
 Steering controls consist of volume up/down, song next/previous, a bluetooth call button
& a mute button.
 While the Vento ICE works even after the ignition is turned off, the steering controls
don't.
 TP button on the new ICE player is useless - this is mainly used for traffic (public)
announcements in Europe - however no use over here. When pressed, a small message
pops up - "No announcements".
 music system has speed adaptive volume. The volume increases as the speed and hence
engine noise increases ..

Remote Key 

 Looks good but not very much practical. Have to press the buttons really hard to
activate the functions. Also, the key has to be pointed towards the car for it to work.
 There is another interesting tid-bit about the key's, they may go out of synch with the
ECU if someone keeps pressing the lock/unlock button when the car is out of range and
may stop working. There are steps detailed in the owner's manual on how to synch it
back once again with the ECU. Can happen with kids at home, who keep fiddling around
with the keys if they manage to get hold of them.
 If the system detects a key in the ignition then the secondary key becomes inactive. You
cannot lock/unlock using the buttons on the second key. Only the primary key buttons
work while the key is in the ignition.

ORVM

A special note to guys who drive in really congested roads. A taxi guy recently banged his
ORVM onto mine when going at 30kmph. Since the Vento's ORVM is rigid and doesnt move
easily, the cover came off. I was able to fix it back. But since it's really rigid and not city
friendly, it can cause real problems. Expecting the set to be around 6k+ so be careful.

Visibility 

The windshield is angled at a weird angle making the front windshield really small. Also, the
IRVM is really small and kinda completely useless. It also blocks the left/Right side view.

Horn 

 Hard to access. You need to really press it hard. Precisely, you need to use your wrist.
This is due to Air bag is integrated in Steering Wheel. But sounds great!
 can't blow the horn in case ignition isn't on. do miss it at times when I do need to honk
while the key might not be in the ignition mode.

Arm Rest
There are 4 positions of the arm rest , my most comfortable position is the 2nd position
from the lowermost level. In this position the armrest points upwards at an apprx 5-10
degrees tilt rather than being completely horizontal and the hand brake can be pulled up by
just moving the wrist alongside the armrest and extending fingers. (need practice) 
As far setting this position is concerned , the arm rest locks at each of these position unless
you move it up (by a significant margin ) to reach the next higher position till you reach the
reset position which is the highest.

Cup Holder

the two cup holders below the AC controls have a supporter which can be flipped open to
provide support so that the contents don't spill while braking.

Fuel Tank – Air Lock

There is a small air lock button at the inlet of the fuel tank which can be depressed to
release potential air locks. This allows 6-7 liters of incremental fuel in the tank. The actual
capacity of the Vento tank IMO is around 60 lts rather than 55 lts. In fact the drain pipe is
different from the air release button. The drain pipe is just below the diesel inlet, outside of
it. It is as you mentioned to drain any excess fuel spilled. But the air release button is inside
the hole. You need to insert your finger inside and the button is towards the left side. Which
can be pressed and you will clearly hear the air being released.

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
 However, with each upgrade they paste a sticker near the spare tyre to keep a track of
what is loaded.

SERVICING

Now this may not be really useful for the user/driver, but here it is. Under the hood, below
the battery, there is a lever, titanium silver in color, shaped like an ornate door handle, that
lets you shift the gears from outside the vehicle. Like i said, more of a feature for the
mechanic.

fusebox / fuses, - Just above the battery under a cover.

about a service interval of 15,000 km - these are some of the things that one has to be
watchful about . AC filter, air filter , oil filter given that India is much more dusty and oil
quality is much more suspect than that in Europe or US . In case of any noticeable dip in
performance its always good to pay a visit to the workshop.

Others

The squeaky door issue seems to exist on all VW group cars, from the Golf to the Passat. 
the squeaks are between the felt lining and the painted surface, The solution? One of these:

 Spray WD-40 on the felt lining.

 Apply petroleum jelly to the felt lining.
 Any other lubricant on the felt (which does not spoil your hands every time you open the
doors!)
 Clean and wipe the door gaps everyday
 Apply carnauba wax to the painted surface that comes in contact with the felt.
 Stick some felt tape on the painted surface that comes in contact with the felt lining
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypPJRq6pxXU

Smoking under hard acceleration is pretty common for diesel engines. As long as the smoke
is black, you have no reason to worry.

Rain noise insulation on the top is very low, so there is a lot of rain noise inside