2023 Volkswagen Virtus GT After Sales Service Experience

Volkswagen is one of the most infamous brands in the Indian automotive market in terms of the reliability and longevity of its cars. Expensive service and replacement parts play a major part in this, and the waiting period for those parts further adds to the nightmare. As a VW Polo owner for the past 12 years, moving on to the 2023 Virtus GT felt like a risky decision. Check out its ownership review here.

VW’s 2.0 Strategy, which claims to have significantly reduced the service and parts cost, became my biggest motivation to buy the 2023 Virtus GT. Was it a good decision? Let me explain the whole service experience point by point below.

Service Value Pack (VW SVP Package)

As part of their 2.0 Strategy, VW have introduced an optional Service Value Pack (SVP) along with their newer models for an additional Rs. 27,999 (INR) on top of the ex-showroom price. I found it to be very promising and opted for it back when I bought my 2023 Virtus GT. Getting this package was an absolute no-brainer, considering the reliability issues associated with the DQ200 gearbox.

The SVP Package, as VW claims, covers all the maintenance costs incurred in ownership of 4 years/60,000 kms for free. Bear in mind, that this package doesn’t cover any wear and tear parts like the Brake Pads (I’ll come to that later) or Clutch packs. Please refer to the image below to see what is covered in the VW’s SVP Package.

My 1st Visit to the Service Center

I had to visit the service center (SC) in the very first week of ownership itself, however, it wasn’t for any issues or malfunctions. I just hated how the factory-fitted horn sounded in my Virtus GT. As soon as I learned about the optional upgrade to the Wind Tone Horn, I jumped on the opportunity to install it in my car.

The experience at the SC was great. The VW people were inviting and executed the job well and in less time. One thing I must add, though, is that if you upgrade to this horn, the whole bumper of the car needs to come off. It could be a little painful to watch your two-day-old car getting stripped down. That said, these dual horns sound really good and I paid Rs. 3,999 for this overall visit to the SC.

*Note: Unlike most brands, there is no scheduled service for the first 1000 kms in the case of the 2023 Virtus GT lineup. The first scheduled maintenance service interval is set for 7,500 kms/6 months.

My 2nd Visit to the Service Center

Within 4 months of the ownership, my Virtus GT had clocked over 7,000 kms. Since I drive with a heavy foot, I thought it was the right time to go for the 7,500/6-month general checkup service. Within those 7,000 kms, I encountered a couple of issues with the car:

1st Issue: One day while cleaning the car (gotta keep the Pearl black, well, pearly) when I slowly arrived at the front bumper, I noticed some movement in the front “VW” logo. It was a minor play, but I couldn’t find in my heart to compromise on it. 

2nd Issue: The factory-fitted brake pads were making objectionably loud screeches and noises. On closer inspection, I could also figure out some rubbing marks being left on the rotor itself. These indications led me to believe that the brake pads had completely worn out, but just at 7,000 kms? This surely had to be looked into.

The general checkup service at 7,500kms or 6 months is just a thorough checkup of the car. Nothing needs to be changed. However, here’s the catch that I discovered on this visit – The general checkup service for Virtus GT cannot be ignored solely because the 1.5 TSi engine eats engine oil and VW SC says it is normal! If you own a Virtus GT, be sure of the fact that your 1.5 TSI consumes half a litre of oil every 7,500 kms.

My Virtus GT went through all the checkpoints of the car and the whole process, including the washing of the car, took around 3-4 hours. The engine oil was topped up, and then the issues I reported were looked into by the higher officials:

1st Issue Response: The front logo was inspected visually and then taken out along with the whole front bumper. The officials figured that there should have been 5 locking points around the logo to hold it in place, mine had only 3. Two of them were broken. Thankfully, the VW SC had a spare logo in their stock. The officials approved it and the new logo was promptly fixed in place. 

2nd Issue Response: On arriving at the SC, the service official put to my knowledge that the screeching of the brake pads was a common occurrence with the GT lineup. This issue was accredited to the new design of the brake pads. The new brake pads didn’t have a center dividing line in between to dissipate the heat and small sand particles that get stuck while driving.

Nevertheless, the brake pads were taken out and I could see that there was still more than 50% of life left in them. Sanding was done on the rotor and the brake pads, and they were re-fitted. The sound disappeared for a while but came back again after a few hundred km.

With everything done in my Virtus GT’s 7,500km/6-month scheduled maintenance service, the whole bill came out to be Rs. 500 (INR). This amount was paid only for the half liter of oil that was topped up.

My 3rd Visit to the Service Center

Within 9 months of the ownership of my 2023 Virtus GT, the time had come for its first full service as per the 15000 kms/1-year service interval. When I got this service done, my GT’s odo read 12,500 kms only. I couldn’t wait to achieve the 15000-km mark as the brake pads had again become screechy and this time I was sure they had completely worn out.

Before you judge the car, let me tell you I am a spirited driver (hence, the GT) and love to slam the accelerator a lot. Naturally, that also invites a lot of instances where heavy braking is a necessity. And the brake pads wear off sooner.

Took an appointment, went to the SC and checked in for the first full service of my car. The SA was generous and inviting as usual. Apart from the brake pad issues, I didn’t have anything to report this time.

This time around, it took almost 6 hours to get the whole service, including washing, completed. One thing to note is that they use mineral oil for these new engines rated at 0W20, and not synthetic oils. On inspecting the brake pads, they barely had any life left in them, so I got them replaced. 

The whole bill came out to be Rs. 8,000 (INR) which was only the price of the front brake pads that I had replaced. The rest of the work that was executed in my car was completely free. 

Special Highlights about VW SC in my experience:

1. Special attention is given to every issue reported to the Service Advisors. They fear escalation and try to sort out the issues at their end without seeking approval for each small thing.
2. In case your service coincides with their lunchtime, they order a full-fledged lunch for their customers too.
3. As a secondary option, they also offer a free shuttle service to drop you home if you opt for it.
4. Parts availability has improved over the years and the cost has surely come down - The brake pads (smaller than the ones in my Virtus) for my polo cost me Rs. 6,000 (INR). The GT’s cost me Rs. 8,000 (INR) despite being considerably bigger than the 1.0L Virtus. For further reference, the 1.0L Virtus’s brake pads cost under Rs. 6,000 (INR). All prices are inclusive of labour charges.
5. The SC lets you walk right up to your car’s service bay to maintain complete transparency while the mechanic works on it. Not even once does your car go out of your sight!

Verdict:

If a brand sells well, it has to deal with more customers in the SC. This means less time for each customer. With the 2023 Virtus GT, I bypassed this problem by getting on board with a brand that doesn’t sell many units yearly. That is why, I get undivided attention and plenty of time for each of my issues. So the overall ASC experience with VW has been a delight for me up till now and hope it stays the same in future as well.