Readers of this blog know that I am a fan of the excellent Austin Rover Online web site. It is a treasure trove of everything automotive from the BL days right up to the latest from those marques.
One of their contributors is Richard Truett who is based in the US. Richard has written of his ownership of various British cars here including a Sterling purchased on Ebay. His latest buy is a 1981 fuel injected Triumph TR7 with just 712 miles on the clock. You won't believe what he paid for it.
The Vento is a very important car for the Indian market. For a very long time, there has been a void in the Indian mid-size car segment. Although there are cars like the DZire, Fiesta, SX4, Verna, and Linea trying to fill up this space, either they do not look the part, or the engines are not good enough. The City comes across is a very good car, but then it’s very expensive. The Vento in that sense presents itself as an all-round package. It’s a well engineered German sedan which is powered by good engines. We are sure it will create a dent in the Honda City sales, and take some customers away from the top variant customers of the rest of the brands as well. Here’s all that you need to know about this handsome new German saloon.
Brief Overview: The Vento is the first sedan from Volkswagen to be designed and built for a market like India. It is the company’s second volume model after the Polo in India.
The Vento is designed on elegant, understated lines. It was developed in Germany and built in India
The Vento is 4384mm long, 1699mm wide and 1466mm tall. Vento has a wheelbase of 2552 mm and a turning radius of 4.97m.
The Vento has two engines.
A 1.6 L petrol engine with 77kW/105 PS. This engine can attain a maximum fuel efficiency of 14.4 km/litre for the AT version and 15.83 km/litre for the MT version.
The 1.6 L 77kW/105 PS diesel engine will attain the highest fuel efficiency of 20.54 km/litre. This version is not available in AT
The Vento is available in two trims – the Trendline and Highline in both the petrol and diesel variants.
Front: The Vento offers a smart and elegant look. The front maintains the typical Volkswagen design look like that of the Polo. It comes with chrome trimmed front radiator and line grille that adds to its elegant, very well proportioned look. The chrome finish on the front air dam and the fog light surrounds of the Vento add to the elegant front.
Rear section: Just like the rest of the car, the rear too is neatly designed and offers a harmonious look. The wide rear window offers good visibility behind the sedan while continuing to maintain its strong dynamic lines. The squarish tail lamps give a stylish contour to the Vento and perfectly blend with the rear design. The rear light clusters with the chrome lining add a touch of elegance.
The Vento offers 480 litres of boot space for its passenger which is good enough for a family for pack their bags and drive away for a week for a holiday.
Side profile: The straight and muscular lines on the side profile of the Vento are typical of VW design DNA. The Vento looks sturdily built from the sides, with a strong emphasis on the big wheel arches which lend the car an air of muscle and sturdiness. Additionally, the body coloured side mirrors and door handles in the Vento Highline add to its slick look. The extended C pillar ensures ample space in the rear of the car is clearly visible.
Front Passenger Seat: The interiors aredone up in two tone trim, and the dashboard has been designed to cut glare.
The Highline variant of the Vento offers power steering wrapped with genuine leather and can be easily adjusted according to the driver’s convenience.
Driver’s seat is height adjustable for comfortable driving.
The front door is equipped with 1 litre bottle holders, sunglass compartment inside the glove box
Center console includes 2 cup holders, front center arm rest, sun visors with ticket holder on driver’s side, vanity mirrors on passenger side
Rear Passenger Seat: The Vento with a long wheelbase offers good legroom
The Vento has rear AC vents for the passengers seated at the rear seats of the car.
A unique feature provided in the Highline variant of the Vento which no other car in any category offers to customers is the ability for the rear seat passenger to push the co driver’s seat from the rear itself, thereby further enhancing passenger comfort.
Standard features of the Vento: Exterior
The Vento is equipped with 14″ steel wheels with full wheel caps
Chrome inlays in front grille to the left and right of the Volkswagen logo
Body coloured bumpers
Black exterior door handles & mirrors
High mount brake light
Day & night rear view mirror, Front disc brakes Electronic immobilizer.
Halogen headlights, heat protection glass with green tint, partially zinc coated body with 6 years anti-rust warranty.
Paint: Solid colors only
Interior features (Apart from the features listed in passenger comfort earlier) Fully lined trunk and trunk floor, Trunk illumination
Foldable roof handles with coat hooks Warning triangle holder Front center console including 12V outlet Rear seat headrest, The gear lever surround, inner door handles & AC vents with chrome. “Livon” fabric upholstery & Interior lights at roof front & centre. Power windows front & rear with driver side one touch down Electric trunk opening from the front driver’s side Rear AC vents equipped with dust and pollen filter, Central locking, Rear defogger, White instrument back-lights, Parking lights
Additional Equipments/ Features in the Highline: Body colored outside mirrors and door handles
15” Alloy wheels, Chrome strip on trunk, Paint, metallic and pearl effect, Chrome finish on front air dam and fog light surrounds, Green wedge at top section of windshield.
Interior Chrome package, Genuine leather wrapped steering wheel, gear shift knob, hand brake lever and gear shift boot
Rear centre arm rest, “Livon” superior upholstery ABS, Front Airbags for driver and co-driver Anti Theft system with interior surveillance, Fog light, front & rear Electrically adjustable outside mirrors Climatronic automatic air conditioning Multi function information display including door opening warning Radio with CD player MP3 and four speaker including roof Atenna
The Vento Price List**
Engine/ Trimline Price Index (INR in Lakhs) 1.6L Petrol Trendline (Manual) 6,99,000 1.6L Petrol Highline (Manual) 8,23,500 1.6L Petrol Highline (Automatic) 9,21,500 1.6 L TDI Trendline (Manual) 7,99,000 1.6L TDI Highline (Manual) 9,23,500
The Vento is a very important car for the Indian market. For a very long time, there has been a void in the Indian mid-size car segment. Although there are cars like the DZire, Fiesta, SX4, Verna, and Linea trying to fill up this space, either they do not look the part, or the engines are not good enough. The City comes across is a very good car, but then it’s very expensive. The Vento in that sense presents itself as an all-round package. It’s a well engineered German sedan which is powered by good engines. We are sure it will create a dent in the Honda City sales, and take some customers away from the top variant customers of the rest of the brands as well. Here’s all that you need to know about this handsome new German saloon.
Brief Overview: The Vento is the first sedan from Volkswagen to be designed and built for a market like India. It is the company’s second volume model after the Polo in India.
The Vento is designed on elegant, understated lines. It was developed in Germany and built in India
The Vento is 4384mm long, 1699mm wide and 1466mm tall. Vento has a wheelbase of 2552 mm and a turning radius of 4.97m.
The Vento has two engines.
A 1.6 L petrol engine with 77kW/105 PS. This engine can attain a maximum fuel efficiency of 14.4 km/litre for the AT version and 15.83 km/litre for the MT version.
The 1.6 L 77kW/105 PS diesel engine will attain the highest fuel efficiency of 20.54 km/litre. This version is not available in AT
The Vento is available in two trims – the Trendline and Highline in both the petrol and diesel variants.
Front: The Vento offers a smart and elegant look. The front maintains the typical Volkswagen design look like that of the Polo. It comes with chrome trimmed front radiator and line grille that adds to its elegant, very well proportioned look. The chrome finish on the front air dam and the fog light surrounds of the Vento add to the elegant front.
Rear section: Just like the rest of the car, the rear too is neatly designed and offers a harmonious look. The wide rear window offers good visibility behind the sedan while continuing to maintain its strong dynamic lines. The squarish tail lamps give a stylish contour to the Vento and perfectly blend with the rear design. The rear light clusters with the chrome lining add a touch of elegance.
The Vento offers 480 litres of boot space for its passenger which is good enough for a family for pack their bags and drive away for a week for a holiday.
Side profile: The straight and muscular lines on the side profile of the Vento are typical of VW design DNA. The Vento looks sturdily built from the sides, with a strong emphasis on the big wheel arches which lend the car an air of muscle and sturdiness. Additionally, the body coloured side mirrors and door handles in the Vento Highline add to its slick look. The extended C pillar ensures ample space in the rear of the car is clearly visible.
Front Passenger Seat: The interiors aredone up in two tone trim, and the dashboard has been designed to cut glare.
The Highline variant of the Vento offers power steering wrapped with genuine leather and can be easily adjusted according to the driver’s convenience.
Driver’s seat is height adjustable for comfortable driving.
The front door is equipped with 1 litre bottle holders, sunglass compartment inside the glove box
Center console includes 2 cup holders, front center arm rest, sun visors with ticket holder on driver’s side, vanity mirrors on passenger side
Rear Passenger Seat: The Vento with a long wheelbase offers good legroom
The Vento has rear AC vents for the passengers seated at the rear seats of the car.
A unique feature provided in the Highline variant of the Vento which no other car in any category offers to customers is the ability for the rear seat passenger to push the co driver’s seat from the rear itself, thereby further enhancing passenger comfort.
Standard features of the Vento: Exterior
The Vento is equipped with 14″ steel wheels with full wheel caps
Chrome inlays in front grille to the left and right of the Volkswagen logo
Body coloured bumpers
Black exterior door handles & mirrors
High mount brake light
Day & night rear view mirror, Front disc brakes Electronic immobilizer.
Halogen headlights, heat protection glass with green tint, partially zinc coated body with 6 years anti-rust warranty.
Paint: Solid colors only
Interior features (Apart from the features listed in passenger comfort earlier) Fully lined trunk and trunk floor, Trunk illumination
Foldable roof handles with coat hooks Warning triangle holder Front center console including 12V outlet Rear seat headrest, The gear lever surround, inner door handles & AC vents with chrome. “Livon” fabric upholstery & Interior lights at roof front & centre. Power windows front & rear with driver side one touch down Electric trunk opening from the front driver’s side Rear AC vents equipped with dust and pollen filter, Central locking, Rear defogger, White instrument back-lights, Parking lights
Additional Equipments/ Features in the Highline: Body colored outside mirrors and door handles
15” Alloy wheels, Chrome strip on trunk, Paint, metallic and pearl effect, Chrome finish on front air dam and fog light surrounds, Green wedge at top section of windshield.
Interior Chrome package, Genuine leather wrapped steering wheel, gear shift knob, hand brake lever and gear shift boot
Rear centre arm rest, “Livon” superior upholstery ABS, Front Airbags for driver and co-driver Anti Theft system with interior surveillance, Fog light, front & rear Electrically adjustable outside mirrors Climatronic automatic air conditioning Multi function information display including door opening warning Radio with CD player MP3 and four speaker including roof Atenna
The Vento Price List**
Engine/ Trimline Price Index (INR in Lakhs) 1.6L Petrol Trendline (Manual) 6,99,000 1.6L Petrol Highline (Manual) 8,23,500 1.6L Petrol Highline (Automatic) 9,21,500 1.6 L TDI Trendline (Manual) 7,99,000 1.6L TDI Highline (Manual) 9,23,500
The second SABCC movie night was very well attended with almost forty members of SABCC, Panhandle British Car Association and the Mardi Gras MGs gathering to watch The World's Fastest Indian.
The Garagemahal Theater and Oil Change Emporium - OK, the workshop at Richard and Donna Cuninngham's home in Daphne - was the site for the event. The shop was cleaned out of various projects underway and the theater "lobby" was separated from the movie house side by black drapery. The theater concession stand was set up near the entrance to the movie to make sure everyone had a full supply of popcorn, candy and soft drinks.
A short subject about the MG marque was running when people began to arrive and stake out their seating for the main feature. There was plenty of room to spread out and relax.
The main feature, being set in 1960's New Zealand, brought out the car spotters in the crowd. We picked out Morris Minors, Vauxhall Wyverns and many others. In fact, if you really want to geek out you can get a list of all cars in the movie at the Internet Movie Car Database. As an added bonus, SABCC'er Don Pritchett brought an article from a 1965 Hot Rod magazine with a photograph of the movie's hero on the salt at Bonneville.
We had a short intermission to allow everyone to grab another popcorn and soft drink and stretch their legs. Now when was the last time you went to movie with an intermission?
At the film's end I'm sure there were a few moist eyes in the crowd as the main character in the film - Burt Munro, played by the immensely talented Anthony Hopkins, made his way back to his home in Invercargill, New Zealand.
As always, the club owes a debt of gratitude to Richard and Donna for allowing us to have our activity at their home.
Most of you know that I own an MGB roadster (tourer?) and I certainly enjoy open air motoring. A top down drive puts you closer to the world around you and you discover that there are cool spots near water, flowers by the roadside are fragrant and the wind in the hair (that's left) is a pleasant experience.
There are, however more than a few cars that look better (in my humble opinion) in their closed version. Flame away if you must, but here's my list of the more attractive tin tops:
MGA Coupe
I love the rounded roof line and I think it gives the MGA a more athletic look. It also came with a more civilized interior and it had genuine door pulls (!).
Jaguar XK Series
The XK series cars were some of the most beautiful cars that England ever produced. Granted, by the time of the XK-150, the sporty Jag had gotten a bit large, but it still had the same gorgeous family look. The XK-120 in coupe form is somewhat reminiscent of prewar French coachbuilt cars. The wheel spats suit this car, too.
Jaguar E-Type
OK, my asbestos underwear is on for this one. My personal preference in E-Types is the coupe. To me, nothing says style and grace more than the E-Type coupe. The flowing lines are much more graceful and the side hinged hatch is just cool.
Triumph GT6
Right, I know this is not a roofed Triumph Spitfire, but just look at it. The flowing roofline takes the humble Spitfire in a new direction, looking much more muscular than the open Spit. A poor man's E-Type? Maybe. Very pretty? Definitely.
That's my short list - tell me about yours or tell me why I'm wrong. Go ahead, I'm used to it.
I can't seem to stay away from the video web sites for too long. I always seem to find something worth sharing here on the blog. This time it's an early US TV ad for the new Triumph TR7. I have to admit that for its day, the wedge looked pretty swoopy!
You may have noticed by reading this blog that the South Alabama British Car Club is celebrating the twentieth anniversary of it's founding. The high point of this anniversary year is British Car Festival - one of the longest running all British car events on the Gulf Coast.
The club has set up a shop where you can order all manner of T-shirts, caps, mugs and other goodies to commemorate this milestone. Also, don't forget to register your entry for British Car Festival 2010!
I was thumbing through a copy of Motor Trend from December 1960 when I ran across this ad. As you can see, our friends from Lucas are proud of their customer base and would like you to know that they have offices here in the US of A.
Lucas later became (through a merger with American Varity) Lucas Varity and was later acquired by TRW.
For most of us, MG means small, sporty cars. In pre-war England however, MG built some rather large cars aimed directly at SS (Jaguar's original name). I've admired the 'big' MG saloon cars from day one, but as you can imagine they are thin on the ground here in the US of A.
The one that always gets my attention is the MG SA 2- liter car. The tall, imposing grille flanked by large chromed headlights gave it a real presence. Going up against marques like Jaguar and Bentley, the car was luxurious with all leather seating, walnut trim and fine wool carpets. It was also one of the first MGs to offer a radio as an option.
The Tour of the Empire series of evening dinner gatherings has been an enjoyable experience for the members of SABCC. To date we've 'visited' Hong Kong and India. Our next stop on the tour is Jamaica.
The flavors of this laid back Caribbean island are like nothing you've experienced if you are new to Jamaican cuisine. A combination of sweet and savory with a little heat thrown in for good measure form the basis of most Jamaican dishes. Jerk chicken is probably the best known dish, but you can also enjoy other delights such as curried goat, oxtail stew and eskovitch.
We'll meet at the Jamaica Vibes restaurant at 3700 Government Boulevard at 7:00PM Saturday, September 18th for the latest leg of the tour.
While I feel like I'm firmly grounded in reality, no real car guy can resist a little automotive fantasy now and then. One of my favorite places to visit via the web is Wire Wheel Classic Sports Cars. I first ran across the folks from Wire Wheel during my forays to the Rolex 24 at Daytona in the early aughts. Wire Wheel would bring a couple of interesting cars to show at the vendors corral and they always found time to run them on the parade laps prior to the start of the race.
Wire Wheel specializes in mostly British iron. They normally have a good selection of TRs and MGs, but they also have the occasional TVR, Lotus or other unusual marque. For a while, they seemed to have the US market for Marcoses cornered. They also have an interesting array classic and modern competition cars on hand. If you look hard enough you'll see that they have been able bring in some "not legal for use on public roads" cars - an MG-ZT260 for example.
Right now they've got a Lotus Europa Twin Cam in eye bleed green that's got my juices flowing. My enthusiasm is high, but my bank balance is low. Ah, fantasy.
Some years back I started researching an article that I was going to submit to the MGB Driver - the publication of the North American MGB Register - about two songs I had heard about MGB GTs.
One was by Peter Tork, the former Monkees band member who played a slow-witted character on the 1960s TV show of the same name. His song MGB-GT (surprise, surprise) is an upbeat little ditty that recalls the fun and escape provided by his "little red MG". The song can be found on his 1994 album Stranger Things Have Happened.
I contacted Peter through his music publishing company and exchanged emails. It turns out that in his Monkees days, he did own a red MGB GT (probably a '67 or '68 model) that he bought with one of his first TV paychecks. You can hear part of his song here.
The other song was by Richard Thompson, an English rock guitarist and singer with sort of a brooding sound. You may be familiar with his work with the group Fairport Convention in the late 1960s.
His version is about restoring an MGB GT, taking pains to point out that he "took the Rostyles off and put spoked wheels on", and mentions the Lockheed discs and twin SUs. Altogether a little more technical. Here's a link to Amazon's page where you can hear a short clip.
South Alabama British Car Club will be celebrating the 20th anniversary of the founding of the club and it will be the 20th British Car Festival. I'm putting up a photo of the official art work for this year's event. It will be on dash plaques, tee shirts, banners at the event and a couple of very special goodies that only BCF2010 entrants will receive.
We're featuring the MG TC since that was the car that kicked off the sports car craze in the USA. We're hoping for nice turnout of MG T series cars (I'm looking at you Mardi Gras Ts!) since they are always a crowd pleaser.
British Car Festival is October 23, 2010 at Fairhope Beach Park. Check out the SABCC web site for the latest information.
SABCC'er Tom Schmitz shared this video with me and it's too good not to pass along. Everyone I know wears seatbelts (it's the law, you know) but there are still few drivers who don't. The video was produced for the Sussex (UK) Safer Roads Partnership so that's why the driver's shoulder harness appears to be reversed - right hand drive, you know!
Readers of this blog know that I am a fan of the excellent Austin Rover Online web site. It is a treasure trove of everything automotive from the BL days right up to the latest from those marques.
