India is awash with a sea of sub-compact SUVs, compact SUVs and a lot more, and I get the fad. I understand that people want big, brawny vehicles that offer decent space and the required road presence. But if you ask me for my opinion, while SUVs are great, I still prefer sedans simply because they feel a lot more engaging and fun to drive and satisfy the cravings my petrolhead heart desires. The one automaker that has really been carrying the beacon for sedans in recent times is Volkswagen with Virtus.
The Virtus GT hosts a plethora of blacked out exterior trim pieces
Frankly, the Virtus has always piqued my interest ever since it was first launched, especially in its GT guise. I certainly felt that its 1.5-litre TSI motor has all the right ingredients to make my heart content, and I couldn’t wait to pounce on the keys to the vehicle when it came to us for a long-term stint. Now, after having clocked nearly 2500 kilometres in just one month of usage, I think it’s a good time to summarise my experience with this report.
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Starting things off with the exteriors, all the black accents, such as the contrast black roof, black ORVMs, black alloys and that tiny little boot lip spoiler, really started to grow on me. However, if I could, I would upsize the alloys to 17-inch alloys and install lowering springs on the Virtus because I appreciate the 179 mm of ground clearance; I personally can make do with a little less ground clearance but a lot more visual appeal.
The red accents are only offered with the GT variant of the Virtus
The Virtus also bowled me over with the space it actually has on offer; during my time with the car, I took a trip to Nasik, and its 521-litre boot space gobbled up all the luggage I had. Also, I was able to seat 5 adults comfortably in the Virtus. Also, the sedan doesn’t feel sparse and actually does offer quite a bit of tech, although the only ones I used the most were the ventilated seats and wireless Apple Carplay.
The Virtus has quite a spacious rear seat and can fit three adults in comfortably
Sadly, I do have a few crucial pointers that really irked me personally; the first was the touchscreen controls for the AC; to operate those while driving and get the temperature just right, you really need the hands of a surgeon because it feels fidgety to use. Secondly, while the wireless Apple CarPlay connects seamlessly, it would suddenly disconnect on its own and would never connect again until I deleted my device and added it back again. For that reason, I saw myself using a wire to connect to the system since I didn’t face any issues then. Lastly, for a car that costs nearly Rs 20 lakh, you cannot be content with such a bad resolution. The quality of the reverse camera is below average, and the screen is not fully used when engaging the reverse gear, which worsens the experience.
The Virtus GT is such a joy to drive owing to the 1.5-litre TSI motor
Now we come to the piece de resistance of this vehicle, which is the 1.5-litre TSI engine. This turbocharged petrol motor produces 148 bhp and 250 Nm of torque, making it a joy to drive! While driving in the city, the motor chugged along effortlessly without any issues, but my true experience with the engine came when I took it out on the highway. Its 7-speed DSG transmission shifts seamlessly and really aids in putting the power down smoothly, making my highway journeys feel so effortless.
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While I was delighted behind the wheel of the Virtus, my wallet definitely wasn’t. Yes, the GT comes with a 2-cylinder mode, which does improve the fuel economy. If you drive as spirited as I drove, you are most likely going to be good friends with your local petrol pump attendants. During my drives within the city, I was getting merely 9-10 kmpl from the GT and the numbers only increased gradually to around 15-16kmpl while driving on the highway. Bear in mind that for the sake of being fair, I also did a fuel run of around 45 kilometres within Mumbai, and the best figure I could extract from the Virtus GT was 14.02 kmpl. Now, you might say that with great performance comes bad fuel economy, but for a vehicle that I drove in the city for the majority of the time and didn’t really push the motor, I expected slightly better fuel economy.
The Virtus GT certainly kept the petrolhead in me quite happy!
Alas, my time with the Virtus comes to an end, as VW has taken the GT back, and if I do have to summarize my experience, I did really have fun with the vehicle, and it did satisfy the petrolhead within me. Yes, it might have certain grimes that really irked me, and my wallet did a little celebratory dance when I handed over the keys to the driver. But all in all, I did really have fun with the GT 1.5-litre TSI, and it somewhat retains a hope that sedans are still relevant even in today’s day and time when compared to SUVs.
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But as I write this report, I begin to ponder if all that extra money you spend for the GT guise compared to the 1.0-litre motor is worthwhile or not? That is probably something that might be answered quite soon, so stay tuned for that.
