We had the Volkswagen Virtus in our garage for a month and I drove the car for a little over 1000 kms in this duration. Our test car was the 1.0 TSI AT Topline variant which costs Rs. 19.50 Lakh (on-road, Mumbai). I have driven the Virtus on numerous occasions and the last one which I drove was the 1.5 MT variant, so in comparison the 1.0 AT was totally different.
I’ll be honest, I drove the Virtus in Mumbai’s daunting traffic everyday and out of these 1000 kms, probably 100 kms were during a joy ride and the rest for work commutes. A smooth automatic gearbox, decently punchy engine and comfortable seats are all you need for daily commuting and the Virtus scored high in these departments.
The 1.0 TSI is a very good engine. Being a 3-cylinder unit you do feel some of the vibrations. There is nothing to complain about the performance. While it excels in city duties, it doesn’t feel tired on the highway too. Cruising at 120 km/hr all day long isn’t an issue for this engine. In fact, last year we drove the Skoda Kushaq 1.0 TSI AT all the way to Rishikesh and none of us had any issues with the performance.
One thing I found peculiar was that in creep mode the car had a tendency to leap forward a little too fast. Usually when you slot into D and leave the brake pedal, the car must start moving slowly but the Virtus caught me off-guard for the first time. My thoughts were reconfirmed when a colleague who owns and drives a Tiguan said the same thing.
Happy to state that I didn’t find any issue with the auto-up feature of the driver’s side window which tends to act funny on MQB-A0-IN cars. Apart from my work commutes, the Virtus also doubled up as a support car on a very big shoot and it was on duty for 24 hours non-stop. Even though we did just 200 kms in those 24 hours, the Virtus always up on short runs and the massive boot was full of shooting equipment.
As far as the fuel efficiency goes, the worst number I got was 9 km/l and the best was a little over 15 km/l. Averaging at 11.5 km/l, the Virtus 1.0 AT had a running cost of a little less than Rs. 10 per km. The engine can deliver even higher numbers on long highway drives though I reckon the 1.5 TSI Evo would be a little more efficient. I never sat in the rear seat of the car and was at the wheel all the time. I really liked the driving position and the support offered by the seat though I feel the cabin could do with a few more premium bits.
That’s it for now. We had to say goodbye to our Virtus rather soon. When we get the vehicle again, we’ll try and take it for a few long drives to off-beat locations. In the meanwhile, you guys share your experiences with the Virtus in the comments below. Let’s discuss!
