Our Volkswagen Passat went back before we could upgrade it with the VW Connect system, but that’s hardly a problem since the replacement in my garage is the Volkswagen Tiguan that the press department very kindly decided to kit out with the connectivity dongle before sending it across with Ashok, their press department driver. So what does the system do? There’s a dongle that connects to the OBD port that has an in-built SIM card (no headache of applying for a new one and then the Aadhar or no Aadhar verification) that interfaces with the VW Connect app on your phone (Apple and Android). It takes 5 minutes to set up and that’s that. The App monitors your trips, tells you where you’ve gone, how much fuel has been consumed, where the car is parked, even requests service appointments with the nearest dealer. And if you’re in the mood for it you can unlock challenges, most of them having to do with how efficiently you can drive. That, surprisingly, was what impressed me the most on my first Pune-Mumbai-Pune run returning almost 13kmpl, that too with my press-on driving style. Looks like I will graduate from Beginner very soon.
Date acquired: Dec 2018
Total mileage: 14,819km
Mileage this month: 510km
Costs this month: Rs 0
Overall kmpl: 13.1