AUDI Q3 - Luxury , ride and review

Having driven my Audi Q3 35 TFSI for almost 5000+ kms I think I am in a position to share with you my first insights into how this luxury car-ish SUV feels to drive. 

Bought in July 2022 

Price: 64500 AUD 

Accessories: None except Window tinting - had no money left :(

Positives:

 - Quite cabin - very low road and wind noise

 - Stable ride at high speed like 120 Kmph

 - Spacious (550 ltrs) and usable boot

 - have done Airport runs with 3 max size suitcases

 - Powerful AC - Good Projector Lights and a cool Cockpit

 - Comfortable seats - Amazing built - feels like a tank! 

Some of the positives above were some key negatives in my erstwhile car that I owned - a Honda Civic. 

 

Negatives:

- 35TFSI seems to have a less power to weight ratio as a result you feel the car not pulling up through low gears (Recommend upgrade to 40TFSI)

- In harsh road conditions you feel the ride quality is on a tougher side i.e. not as plush as a Lexus 

- Missing ADAS , only available at higher grades - how could you AUDI! 

Questions:

What's the mileage like?

With 58 Litres full tank I have been able to drive around 760 -780 so approximately around 13 Kmpl.

Note: It drinks premium Unleaded fuel in Australia but things are different in Canada & US where sulphur content in the fuel is lower.

I have often been asked that whether I regret buying an Audi Q3 when the same money would have bought me a Mazda CX9 or Toyota Kluger? - Yes I Do - when I go for camping or I have more than 5 people to accommodate. But again you don't go to camping every weekend and you can hire a car if you have 9 people!

Buying a dream home in Sydney!

     What are the key things to consider while buying a house?
1.       Do I buy a House / Villa/ apartment?
2.       Do I buy Re-sale or new?
3.       How do you decide on a budget:
a.       How much you can borrow?
b.       How much saving you have?
Suggestion: Do not dig into all your savings. You might need it for renovations after you buy.
1.       Area
2.       Schools
3.       Transport
4.       Grocery stores
5.       Safety
Suggestion: Give preference to area and if required stretch your budget reasonably. This will ensure two things; one, peace of mind and higher returns in long run.
 
Do I need a pre-approval of loan for buying a house?
·       It is advisable that you do it either through a bank or a mortgage broker
·       It is also useful if you go for an auction property

What are the key aspects to check when going for an inspection?
1.       Ensure the house has good Sunlight and air circulation
2.       Walk around and see there are not external and internal wall damages (Not all but some agents do hide them)
3.       Take a look at the roof to if there are any visible damages
4.       Ask for the age of the house and ownership history
5.       See whether the kitchen has a gas or cooktop connection (Some people prefer gas connections)
6.       Have a look at the neighborhood – watch out for safety around.
7.       If you are interested then, ask the agent whether they have an inspection report, if yes then get or buy it – worth an investment. Read it to see whether the super structure is sound, there are no major damage repair required or Termite/ant infestations.

    How do you quote a price?
Generally, a property for sale will have a lower and upper limit. E.g. 700,000 to 760,000
·       Look for property reports from the real estate website, it will give you an indication of price
·       Ask, for a property valuation price from your mortgage broker.
Most often than not property indicative property prices will be near/below the bottom end of the above sale price limits.
·       If you reckon that this ticks all your checkboxes and the property on inspection looks good then put forward your best price e.g. 720000

    What happens after you quoted your price?
·       The agent should accept your offered price formally
·       Then the agent will present all offers to the owners and it is up to the owner’s discretion to move forward
Suggestion: Sometimes agents generally plays to push the prices up, ensure you do not get trapped in a counteroffer game, try to be around your budget. Remember you are not in an Auction or price discovery game!

    What happens once the offer is accepted via a private treaty?
·       If offer is accepted, you have a 5-day cooling off period and you a pay non-refundable .25%
·       During this period ensure you do the following activities:
    o   Engage independent solicitor to go through all documents as provided by the seller’s solicitor.
    o   Engage independent building inspection with respect to pest / termite/ structural / roof aspects
·       The word independent is important, because neither the solicitor nor the building inspection guys should have any vested interest in completing the deal. This is the only last time you have to find whether you have a lemon!
·       The steps after these are pretty much governed by the NSW fairtrading and you can refer to the following site for further details:
https://www.fairtrading.nsw.gov.au/housing-and-property/buying-and-selling-property/buying-a-property/gazumping
 
How’s an auction different and what is the best strategy?
·       An Auction is a price discovery game where the highest bidder wins it !. (Ensure you are clear about the rues of the auction - read through i and know your rights.)
·       Generally, if you win the auction you will have to buy the property in what ever condition it is in, hence it is advisable that you do get the inspection report upfront or get it done if there’s none available from the seller.

·       Isn’t that risky?
o   Yes it is, but sometimes during these price discovery sessions the real value comes out which might be below and could be a real gain. Remember an auction is primarily geared to benefit the seller so if you are in an Auction do your homework well and ensure that you exit at the right price and do not exceed your budget!

Last but not the least, I do not see many homes for sell now- why?
·       There is a season to this too!
·       Primary season for selling a home is during the following period:
    o   Spring: Sept – Oct – Nov
    o   Second season - March- April – May
·       Have patience – give at least 6-9 months to find your perfect home!
 
I hope this helps you in finding your dream home and I definitely wish you have a hassle free journey.
 
Disclaimer: The views discussed here are from my own personal experience and in no way is related to any other party. It is important that the reader do their own independent verification before buying.
 

Brisbane : A relaxed river city

I stayed in Brisbane for a couple of months and I have never seen a city so warm.... not for its climate but for the warm nature of the interactions I had with people !

Having stayed in Sydney, where it feels like everyone is busy and running from one place to another and hardly having a time for a warm smile ...Brisbane came as a pleasant surprise. As I started visiting places and interacted with people their smile seemed genuine, their warmth was affectionate ...

Now quickly coming to the point - Should Brisbane be on your Australia Itinerary ?

Definitely Yes!
All major cities in Australia gives you an amazing beach experience, but this city gives you an amazing river experience and just an hour drive you can be at one of the most exciting beaches - Gold coast!

Below is a snapshot of the city...
There are three key areas to explore:
The areas marked in green - is where the city eats...amazing restaurants
The two tracks Red ( 1.5 - 2 hrs walk) and Blue (1- 1.5 hrs walk) are the city exploring tracks.
Apart from this there are some night kayak tours on Friday and Saturday as well - a must do experience!

Here are some snapshots of the city which where taken while running/ walking & scooter-ing through the exploring tracks..

The beautiful City Botanical gardens. (Can be explored while on Red or Blue tracks)

A view of the river , while walking through the river side on the blue track. Far away you can see the story bridge.

A view of the city from the Kangaroo Cliff point, which falls on the blue exploring track. From this point, a free boat service is available every 15-20 minutes to sail across to the other side of the river, to the river front.









Below is a view from the South Bank Parklands (which falls on the red exploring tracks). this parkland has a unique feature - it has an artificial beach ! (yes you read it write).
Apart from this some very good restaurants (marked on green)

The Brisbane city hall, which is a landmark in itself. A lot happens around this area and is has numbers of good restaurants

 Now for some quick useful info:

• How many days should be good ? : 3-4 days
• Any other places to visit : Gold Coast (1-1.5 hrs card drive)
• From Airport (Domestic/ International) you can directly travel to heart of the city using a train service - AUD 19 one way. Get down at central station or any station nearest to your accommodation. Book your tickets online from https://www.airtrain.com.au/
• A good 3 star hotel, within the city will cost you around 120 AUD and above per night
• Some good restaurant which I personally had first hand experience:
• Pochana - Thai
• Ichiban  - Japanese
• The famous Pancake manor (It's an experience in itself - visit it to believe it!)
• Govinda - Veg hindu meal
• Vapiano on Albert street (Italian) - This one makes amazing pizza
• Panda on Elizabeth street ( Korean - lunch only) - try XO Chicken fried rice

Brisbane - an amazing relaxed city with amazing experiences, food and very warm people ! 

Spirit of Tasmania : A ferry or a ship?

I first saw Spirit of Tasmania ferry 2007, docked in Melbourne...since then I always dreamed to take a ride on it... now in 2019, finally it happened after 12 years...

I was with my family, and to avoid feeling sea sick I booked a late evening ride from Melbourne (7:30 PM dep), so that most of the time spent sleeping...

The check in arrangements where good, the service was courteous - specially the announcements regarding the departure and access to vehicles. Not a showstopper but the check-in lounge could have been great with a coffee shop...

We where directed to our room and the first thing that hit me was the immense size of the ship...why do people call it a ferry... probably I might know the definition😏

We where booked in a 4 bed cabin which had ample space and had porthole looking straight in thwe direction of the bow...which was sometimes scary...since you could clearly see the ship going -up and down...but since it was a night journey...it did not bother us much...

The bathroom was spacious and the most important thing was it was clean...though the cabin had a typical smell of the cleaning chemical smell..which you get used to after sometime...

Once we we had tucked our luggage and had something to eat, we went to the lounge and listened to some soothing live music ....it had a full fledged bar and a restaurant with a limited menu...but the lounge was spacious and had a good sized children's play area and a video game parlor !!

I stood outside viewing the ship leaving the Melbourne dock....leaving the city behind ...

We strolled out on the lighted deck...sailors where working on the ropes...the weather had a chill to it and the sea gulls kept following us for long time...

We where back in our cabin..tucked up for a good night sleep...
I could feel a smooth sail for the first 3 hrs when the ship was in the bay area...as soon as it entered the sea (Bass Strait) you could feel a slight heave...probably the decision to have a night sail was right!

We woke with the early morning arrival announcements and where given ample time to check out...which was again a smooth affair.

We had spent less than 12 hours on this ship and I felt that every dollar (465 AUD to be precise) was worth the experience...and I would suggest that anyone who is travelling between these two beautiful states in Australia i.e. Tasmania and Melbourne...should give it a try!

Experiencing Air Asia...

After a long time, I am back with another review...a review of another low cost international air line - Air Asia.

Our journey was marked during the Christmas break and as usual we did no book our tickets early and had to scramble for tickets. To keep it within my vacation budget, I started looking for cheap air tickets from Sydney to Kolkata and voila !.. there was Air Asia - It was cheaper by 40% from any other full benefit airlines in that route!

Having experienced a similar airline earlier (Scoot Review) I had my apprehensions.

But Air Asia turned out to be a surprise package - the winner for Air Asia was its food - It was delicious and served hot.

Now for some very subjective rating w.r.t. different aspects:

Seats: Comfortable

Service: Good

Price: Affordable

Food: Very good !  this was surprising - considering it was served hot and delicious as well!! - water still doesnot come free :( 

Timeliness: Average- was delayed by an hour in the transit in KL.

I would say that other low cost airlines must take few cues from Air Asia to understand how a low cost airline can feel premium and at the same time can be affordable too.

Stylishly Civic...

Honda with its world wide launch of Civic 2017 has re-defined its design language.....and there is no second doubt that Honda has created a beauty yet again..after City!

I have now driven more than 2000 Kms, with a major chunk of it on highway... with 1.8 ltrs - iVTEC  (104 kW@6500 rpm) engine it gives you the right balance of power and elegance...to help you take it confidently over the highways as well as city driving. In mixed driving conditions I have been getting an average fuel efficiency of 11 Kmpl, which I hope should stabilise somewhere around 13-14 Kmpl as I clock more kms.

The suspension is well tuned to absorb mild bumps / pot holes and the ride quality remains stable up to speeds of 100 -105 kmph, beyond which it feels less planted. The speedometer looks a bit sci-fi (I will say a bit overdone to my taste). The sleek center console adds to the overall clean design of the dashboard. You must be wondering where is the power brake; well its replaced by a small push button (marked in pic below)!

Most of the controls like audio & cruise control are conveniently provided on the steering.  Basic version i.e. VTi (in Australia) comes with good amount of gadgets and features.

The seating comfort is good for both the front and rear passengers; though a lot could have been done for lowering the NVH levels which becomes a bit loud over speeds of 80-85 Kmph.
Boot space is decent - but surprisingly less than a Honda City!

Coming to the Pricing bit - In Australia the price range starts from AUD 25 K and goes up to AUD 37K (5 different variances). I am hoping that when they launch it in India later this year - they might do it in three variances - starting from 13 lacs to 18 lacs and hope they do not give a less powerful engine.

Over all a good package  and definitely a value for  money buy....
Parting shot..

Scoot - The new affordable carrier from Singapore airlines

Indian aviation story has never been the same after Air Deccan started flying in the Indian Skies. It revolutionized the way we thought of how affordable flying is? After 14 years I had a chance to fly an affordable international carrier names Scoot, owned by the renowned Singapore Airlines.

On occasions I have traveled on Singapore airlines and I found them doing an amazing job. Now, I wondered how an affordable offering from them will look/feel like. I am consciously trying not to use the word "Low cost"!

The basic cost of a ticket for scoot will cover only for your basic seat / Hand-baggage. Rest all comes at an an additional cost i.e. Check-in baggage, better seat selection, Food, beverage, entertainment and water too!

There are couple of seating options in Economy class - Standard, Super and Stretch. There is also a scoot business class. I had chosen the super seats which gave me some good leg room and is a good value for money. Opt for stretch seats only if you don't mind the immovable seat hand-rest in between. (Movable hand-rests becomes handy for family folks like us, who want their kids to lie down on parents lap with their legs stretched !)

Now for sharing with you some pics where you can have an idea of the leg space in a Super seat - good for average height folks. 

 Also, a design flaw - where you could see the ....reading lights switch / assistance call button on the handrest , this was annoying as it used to get switched on and off whenever we used to keep our hands on the hands rest....not sure whose thought was that!

Now for some very subjective rating w.r.t. different aspects:

Seats: Good (super seats - with a bit more leg room)

Service: Average

Price: Affordable

Food: Average

Timeliness: Good

I am sure Scoot will find the sweet spot with a specific traveler segment, but it's important to realize that for long flight duration certain things are bare necessities like water...!