Volkswagen Virtus - Topline 1.0 TSI AT : Comprehensive Review

The Volkswagen Virtus is Vento’s replacement and must thus hold up to a lot of standards and expectation the Indian market had on its predecessor. The Virtus is based on the heavily localized MQB A0 IN platform which also the Taigun from the VW Stable is based on.

As to what the name means –

Virtus stands for several qualities including Valor, manliness, excellence, courage, character, and worth it was mainly perceived as masculine strengths. Because of this it was a frequently stated virtue of Roman emperors. It was thus symbolized as a deity.

Exteriors

The Volkswagen Virtus is the widest sedan in the segment and is great to look at. What we have here is the top-line AT variant in silver color.

Up at the front the car gets an all led setup for the headlamps which also includes the daytime running lights. You also get a halogen unit for the foglamps to aid with visibility, a chrome strip runs to either ends just below these lamps. The front also has a chrome insert with the Volkswagen logo in the middle and this runs all the way in the middle and appear to be an extension to the head light which is a neat touch. The car also has prominent and muscular lines on the bonnet and has a great stance from up front.

Moving on to the side, it has a very prominent shoulder line throughout that accentuates the length of the car. The A, B and C pillars are blacked out and again a chrome insert runs through the window line. ORVM’s and door handles are body colored whilst the door handles have a chrome portion to them. The car appears slightly raised towards the back and the ground clearance is apparent. This makes the 16-inch tires appear a tad bit smaller. Diamond cut alloys look great.

The back has the led tail lamps which are good to look at. You also have the Volkswagen logo in the middle. The Virtus name is present here along with the TSI badging. At the bottom runs a chrome insert at the ends of which there are reflectors for safety. Reverse parking sensors and a reverse parking camera is provided at the back. A shark-fin antennae also adds up a feather.

Underbody protection is provided at the front. Panel gaps are also tight and consistent.

On the whole the car has an appealing and striking design with lots of sharp and angular lines that makes it superb to look at. It looks a lot a like the VW Jetta which is great. In my opinion,  VW has nailed it in the looks department.

Interiors

For getting inside the car, request switches are provided on either sides of the car which is a neat touch. The ORVM’s also open and close automatically when locking and unlocking the car which adds to the bells & whistles.

The doors open wide in three steps and closes with a decent thud. There are a lot of hard plastics all around but the quality is good, there are no harsh edges anywhere which is great. The interiors are a combination of beige and black and this adds to the roominess of the cabin.

The dashboard’s design looks good and has an island like shape between which the infotainment screen is located whilst the rest of the portion is covered with glossy plastic. This island goes all the way to either ends. Quality of power window switches appears to have gone down but is decent, nonetheless. Only the driver side window gets one-touch up and down functionality.

Glovebox is cooled and is decently sized so you can place all things necessary. There are also plenty of storage spaces on offer including one below the leatherette slidable armrest, two cup holders right next to it, a card holder and a charging pad to place your phone. You can choose the option available whether to charge your phone or not which is neat.

Storage spaces are also offered on all four doors are decently sized, all of them can hold 1 L water bottles and some more. Back pockets are also provided at the back of front seats.

Infotainment system offers a host of functionalities and is super responsive to use which is quite important. It of course has Android Auto and Apple CarPlay apart from this GPS is provided and You can view several stats of the car and it also has a host of apps for you to access. There is also a valet mode that limits functionalities and shows information such as the max speed at which your car was driven, km’s driven or if the boot was opened among other information. The 8-speaker system does not include an amplifier and sounds decent. A non-audiophile will not have any complaints here. The car has climate control and it’s controls are all touchscreen which might be a bit difficult to use when on the move. AC vents are also provided at the rear and the car is cooled quite fast.

The instrument cluster is all digital but it does not cover the complete space and has gaps on either ends. It has various views you can choose from however the two semi circles at either end’ s are consistently there. Here you have all the essential information that may be required, including the temperature, odometer, fuel range, gear position indicator and so on. The controls to change the information on the instrument cluster is located on the steering wheel where you can select the exact info you want displayed.

As far as ports go, you get a 12V charging socket along with two USB type c ports at the front and two of them at the back which are very useful.

Leather seats are offered with 5 adjustable headrests and seatbelts. The front seats are ventilated which is very helpful in our hot weather conditions. It’ s controls are present near the drive mode gear lever.

Both the front seats are height adjustable although it can only be done manually it is a good addition. Otherwise, seats are comfortable, contoured and bolstered well and you will have no issues here.

Moving on to the back, you have a good amount of legroom on knee room on offer to sit comfortably. Thigh support could have been a little bit better but it’s not a pressing issue. Headroom was no problem for me, I am around 5’11’’ but taller passengers may have an issue.

You also get an armrest with two cupholders at the back and the armrest is at the right place to rest our hands comfortably. Two people can sit very comfortably here, but because of the seats contouring and that little hump at the bottom will make it squeeze for the third adult to fit in.

You also get iso-fix child mounts at either ends along with a top tether that is neatly concealed which is neat. The roof line has a bit of a flex to it at certain places and could have been done better. Sunroof is decently sized and enhances the sense of space withing the cabin whilst bettering ventilation.   Grab handles are provided at all ends.

Vanity mirror with no lights is provided at the passenger's side up front while the driver's side does not get one. White LED lights are provided at the front and back and they do a good job at lighting up the cabin when required. You also have the option to turn on all the lights in the cabin at once from the front which is a good feature.

Boot Space

The large 521 L boot provided is well shaped and has loads of space to store all your luggage’s with ease. Below this you have your tools, the first aid kit and the spare tyre. Insulation Is provided only at a certain portion. Loading lip is not that high and you will not have difficulties loading up your luggage.

The Virtus also features a 60:40 split seats from enhancing luggage space if required and is a good addition.

Driving

The Volkswagen Virtus is power by a 999cc TSI direct injection engine that is turbocharged. It puts out 115 Ps of power and 178 Nm of torque which are decent figures for the segment. There is however no insulation on the bonnet. The engine is mated to a 6-speed torque convertor unit.

The gear lever console good to look at and feels very tactile to use which adds to the experience. It is important to note that when moving the car from standstill there is bit of jerkiness and a tendency for the car to jump forward but after this point the transmission is quite smooth and shifts gears well. You have a driving mode, a sport mode as well as a manual mode. In the manual mode you can shift gears using the stick or using the paddle shifters. It however isn’t completely manual, and the car tends to shift gears when you are very high or very low on revs for a particular gear, it doesn’t tend to interfere otherwise. Gearshifts although not as flawless as that on a DSG is quite smooth and gets the job done well. There is also the added advantage that this doesn’t heat up as much with heavy use and is generally considered more reliable.

Power delivery from the engine is decent and doesn’t feel inadequate at any point. There is a bit of turbo lag at the lower end and the car has a brisky mid-range after around 2000 rpm and pulls cleanly from that point. It’s the mid-range you would want to be in compared to the top-end and the low-end if you wish to be in the best power band this car offers. Traction control can be turned on or off using the button on the infotainment screen. The Virtus has adequate power on offer in the city as well as on the highway and can reach three-digit speeds with ease. It also holds these speeds without breaking sweat which is great. Although there is no insulation on the bonnet, there are very little to no vibrations inside the cabin. Even the engine sound doesn’t creep in much. It is only when you rev the engine hard you hear the 3-cylinder engine.

Suspension is on the stiffer side, whilst the Virtus soaks up the smaller bumps well, the bigger ones are felt inside but not to the point where it affects the ride. It is a good setup. Because of this stiffer setup of the suspension, on higher speeds the car is definitely more stable. The car also tends to move less when breaking and taking sharp corners. This instils confidence and encourages you to drive faster.

Brakes work well and have a good byte to them. They are confidence inspiring even in tight breaking situations.

This car gets Goodyear Triplemax 2 205/55 R16 tyres and they offer a good grip on all surfaces, tyre noise is not that high and they also offer a good breaking performance so no issues in this regard.

The Virtus is also city friendly owing to that very light steering wheel at low speeds, you can turn it using just two fingers with ease. The steering also weighs up well at higher speeds and feels great to use. The quality of stalks used for the turn indicators and wipers are great and feel solid to use. It has good contouring to it and feels good to hold.

The switch for the headlight is a typical VW switch and is of great quality too. The controls for the cruise control are provided on the left side of the steering wheel and are of good quality.

Ground clearance at a 179mm is no issue at all and the car didn’t scrape even over the bigger potholes and speed breakers which is great and absolutely a must for our Indian terrains.

From within the cabin there is good visibility all around, but the ORVM’s and auto dimming IRVM’s which are great to look at but seem to be a tad bit smaller. Wipers are adequately sized and do a good job cleaning up the windshield. Looking back from the driver’s seat, the view from the rear windshield is restricted partly because of the three headrests. You can make it up with the rear parking camera while reversing.

Rear view camera is of decent quality and the rear parking sensors are useful but the car doesn’t come with adaptive guidelines which could have been included.

The car also has a start stop functionality which turns off the car when you stop and starts it fast when you need to move. This is a feature added to better fuel efficiency and this can be turned on or off using the button near the gear box which is good.

Speaking of fuel efficiency, the car has an ARAI rated mileage of 18.1 km/l and offers somewhere around 13 to 16 km/l in mixed driving conditions which is a good figure. This number may get higher or lower based on how and where you drive the car. This being a turbocharged engine is sensitive to throttle inputs in terms of the fuel efficiency and if driven in a comfortable manner without pushing it too hard it should offer decent figures and vice versa. The car has a 45 L fuel tank which in on par with other cars in the segment.

Lights are great to look at during night and provide adequate visibility. Inside the cabin, ambient lights are provided that helps better the overall feel inside the cabin. The power window switches, headlight switches and gearbox and other switchgear are illuminated and are good to look at. There are also lights placed at thoughtful spots such as this one here.

Safety

The Virtus also comes with a host of safety features including ABS, EBD, ESC, 6 airbags, hill start assist, tyre pressure deflation warning and more. All seat belts are 3 point seat belts but are not height adjustable which is a bummer.

The car also obtained a five-star NCAP rating in the GNCAP Latin NCAP crash test which is great.

It also has several features including cornering headlamps, auto coming/leaving home lights, automatic headlight, push button start/stop, rain sensing wipers, rear defogger and more. It also comes with My Volkswagen Connect which works through a smartphone app and has a number of features including live tracking, driving behavior, safety alerts, trip analysis, anti-theft alarms, fuel station locations and a lot more which can prove to be very helpful. Horn sounds decent but the tone is a bit different from what I'd expected.

Variants

The 1.0 L TSI comes in three variants the comfort-line, high-line and the top-line with options of manual or AT whilst the 1.5 L TSI comes in just one variant the GT Plus with the DSG automatic gearbox.

Those of you who require that addition power on tap can go for the 1.5 L TSI variant that offers 150 PS of power and 250 Nm of torque.

Competition

Competition comes from the likes of Skoda Slavia, Honda City, Maruti Suzuki Ciaz and Hyundai Verna. We have posted the review of the new Honda City on our channel recently so make sure to check it out.

Conclusion

At the time of recording this video the Virtus has an ex-showroom price Rs. 11.32 lakhs for the manual comfort-line variant and Rs. 18.42 lakhs for the one with the 1.5L TSI and DSG transmission.

4 years or 1,00,000 km warranty is provided as standard which can also be extended if required to 7 years and 1,50,000 km’s. 4-year road side assistance is provided which can be extended up-to 10 years. 3 free services are also provided at 1000km, 7500 km and 15,000 km.

Overall, the VW Virtus looks good,  the interiors are of good quality, good amount of space is offered on all fronts, it has a good engine coupled with a smooth transmission, has good boot space, has plenty of features on offer including ventilated front seats, a well sized and responsive infotainment screen, sunroof among several others. The safety part has been taken care of as well.

However, if we are nit picking a few improvements would be - bigger sized ORVM’s and IRVM’s, better quality roof lining, height adjustable seat belts and an electronic seat height adjuster at least for the driver’s seat.

On the whole the VW Virtus is a great package and hits at the right spot by getting most things right. If you do decide to buy one you will be happy with your decision.

That wraps up the Comprehensive review of the VW Virtus. Do make sure to like the video and subscribe to our channel for more automotive content that we can interest you with. Do share this video with your friends who may find it useful.

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Check out the full review on our YouTube channel : Virtus 1.0 TSI AT Topline Comprehensive Review

Thank you for reading and I will catch you in the next one soon.

DRIVE SAFE …