Anamit Sen drove out of Bombay to Karnala to check out the Volkswagen Vento. Karnala is on the Bombay-Goa highway, about 12 kms from Panvel outside Bombay . It has a densely forested bird sanctuary and also, a fort. The fort is said to offer pretty decent views of the Matheran and Hajimalang mountain ranges as well as the Sahayadri mountain ranges and the Patalganga river. The origin of this fort is not clear but it is thought that both the Devagiri Yadavs(1248–1318) and the Tughlaq rulers(1318–1347) used Karnala as the capital of the north Konkan districts during their respective reigns. The fort has changed ownership several times being under the command of several people, including the Gujarat Sultanate, the Portuguese, Shivaji and Aurangzeb. The bird sanctuary on the other hand is reputed to have a lot of birds (obviously!) and other wildlife and it is also popular as a picnic spot and a trekking route.
I have used phrases like 'said to offer' and 'reputed' because I unfortunately never managed to get to the fort or the bird sanctuary . I had an errand to run first which meant I could not get out of Bombay before noon and Bombay is infamous for unruly traffic, especially at the 'naka's. What I did get though was a fabulous, undulating, curvy road that goes to and past Karnala towards Pen.
Why am I talking about Karnala? Well, I was in Bombay on work and I had a diesel VW Vento with me over the weekend for the first of a few drives. So I figured the best way to check out the Vento would be to take it out of Bombay, which is how I landed up at Karnala, albeit at the wrong time of the day.
The Vento, to put it simply, is VW's entry level saloon car in India currently. It is based on the Polo and like the hatchback looks very business-like with its simple yet understated elegance. It comes with a choice of two engines, a petrol and a diesel. Each fuel-variant comes in two trims, Trendline and Highline. Both petrol and diesel units have the same engine capacity, 1598cc and are tuned to power outputs of 105bhp at 5250rpm and 4400rpm respectively. The difference as expected is in the torque figures - the petrol develops 153Nm at 3800 while diesel develops much more, 250Nm from 1500rpm to 2500rpm. The petrol also has an automatic transmission option which the diesel does not. The Vento measures in at a length, width and height of 4384m, 1699mm and 1466mm respectively. The wheelbase is 2552mm and the ground clearance is 168mm.
Read Full Test Drive Report : A VW Vento for the city
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