[nowwhat?]

Originally Posted by AvonA7

Last month, once I drove my car in approx. a feet of water, after that for a week or so, every morning when I used to start the car, a screeching noise used to come with movement of steering wheel and when applying brakes - but only for the first 100 mts or so, after that it used to vanish.
But after a week or so, it is gone and never appeared again - so may be because of driving the car in waterlogged street caused that.

Definitely the Polo doesn't like water much.

My wife drove in about a feet of water once when it was deluged in Bangalore and her fog-lamps still have some condensation in them.

The brakes too squeaked a bit after that, but drying the brakes as per the manual solved that.

I think best to follow what veedub89 says and apply the hand-brake gently and use the gear lock.

[CANPUSH]

Originally Posted by nowwhat?

Definitely the Polo doesn't like water much.

My wife drove in about a feet of water once when it was deluged in Bangalore and her fog-lamps still have some condensation in them.

Germany, the homeland of Polo is wet for larger part of year. its strange that Polo doesn't like water very much.

Condensation and water are common across the board. Couple of days ago I saw new Estilo with about 1 inch water in its tail lamp.

[AvonA7]

Hi Friends,

An update

With more KMs covered, car is more smooth now, no issues as such to report.

In these few months of ownership, the 03 things that I like most about VW Polo 1.2 Petrol would be -

• Gear - very smooth
• Horn
• High Speed Handling (~120Km/hr)

Things not happy with -

• the head light focus is not straight IMO - any idea how to adjust?

Yes, the front RHS power window got stuck for approx. a minute on 12th Jan`11, after that it started working fine, I faced this issue after almost 04 months.

Couple of weeks ago, on a leisurely drive on a weekend, suddenly heard a strange noise coming from the front LHS tire, stopped the car to investigate, couldn't find anything. The sound was scary, as if two loose metal plates rubbing against each other - and being a Team-BHPian and reading many ownership experience first thing came to my mind is there might be some issue with brakes (I remember reading an issue reported by Driver2000 on his Polo), anyways, drove the car slowly to my apt. parking (hardly few KMs).

Called VW toll free no., received a call within 10 mins and was directed to a technical consultant, who listened to the problem and assured me that someone from VW dealership would contact me next day morning (.i.e., MON) as it was already 9:00pm that day.

Monday morning, received a call from VW dealer at sharp 10am, explained him the issue, the advisor listened carefully, asked me few qs. and requested me to bring the car to the showroom as he suspected some stone getting stuck in the brake caliper area.

Confirmed with him that the sound is really scary and I would only drive to the showroom (~14kms from my place) if he can assure me there won't be any damage to the brakes and the brake won't go loose in these 14 kms.

He assured me, went to the showroom driving very very slowly, the stone was removed and the car is as smooth as before. Total work done within 40mins. of me reaching the showroom.

Misc Updates

I am not sure about other cities, but here in Pune and with my recent experience in visiting the VW showroom, the VW logo is in high demand in 'Black Market' (or if I may say chor bazaar!). I saw at least 7-8 cars that includes (Polo, Vento, Jetta) with the VW logo missing. Yes, rear side VW logo in Vento (different to that of Polo, in the sense its not a boot opener) also removed.

Lots of Polo`s and Vento`s awaiting delivery, good to see the no. of cars in the showroom compared to when I visited the showroom first in Mar/Apr`10 when the showroom used to be more or less empty. Noticed 01 Phaeton with some issues - not happy to see a car of that price (is it 70-80 lakhs?) in need of some serious attention of technician.

Good to see more and more people buying VW, showroom doing good business, which give some assurance that service, parts and *** is only going to affordable and easily available.

Fuel Efficiency

Personally more than satisfied, last 04 tank full returned 13.4 to 14.2 km/ltr : mostly city driving (75%) with less AC (20% max).

* Just to give an idea, I stay in a place where the first 1.5Kms (yes 1500mts) of road are very very good, BUT with 19 (yes I counted, its nineteen) speed breakers. So, you can understand, most of the time its in 01st/02nd gear, and even a small 5km return drive would consists of at least 38 speed breakers (excluding the flyover constructions/no. of traffic signals etc, and this being my First car).

Car pulling left ?

May be its psychological, but I must admit that now I also feel (sometimes) that car is pulling slightly towards left - say, the car would change lane 2 from lane 1 in ~200mts when hand removed from the steering wheel on a flat and straight road. Yet to decide on what to do, as of now I am fine with it, shall update on future actions taken, if any.

Pic of an attempt to steal the VW logo

Stupid thief ! tried to steal the boot logo (~8K INR) and in the process put some scratches.

[Vroom barabar!]

Hey AVONA7 congrats on ur Polo!
Does the trendline come with foldable keys or are they the simple ones? If possible can u post a pic of the trendline keys? Thanks

[AvonA7]

Originally Posted by Vroom barabar!

Hey AVONA7 congrats on ur Polo!
Does the trendline come with foldable keys or are they the simple ones? If possible can u post a pic of the trendline keys? Thanks

Polo 1.2 Petrol, TL-no fold-able keys, it comes with standard keys with immobilizer.

[AvonA7]

Took my car to VW Pune with prior appointment for the LHS Pulling. Left car on THU morning and got it back on SAT morning, with a complete water pressure wash (exterior, no charge). Am asked to bring the car to the showroom after 1.5K KMs for another round of inspection.

No tire rotation, rest I am not sure as they don't allow customer to visit the actual service area. However, I am told that they did some alignment / correction to reduce this LHS pulling.

Too early to comment, but in these few KMs covered after that, the LHS pulling seemed to reduce a bit but not 100% rectified. No problem in driving though as it is very minimal.

Strange thing happened though - now, when crossing any speed breaker or any small uneven surface hearing a HISSS sound (kind off), as if some air is going out kind of sound ...mostly from the front part of tire/suspension.

I cross the speed breaker very very slowly, initially thought of as a puncture, but took my car to a good tire shop and had both (front, rear) the tire checked, no puncture found.

The sound is ignorable and won't be heard if glass closed or music ON or when running on a smooth road, but still this is the first kind of any unwanted sound hearing from my Polo, so a bit skeptical ! Planning to inform this to showroom in my next visit after 1.5K KMs.

Is this something related to suspension? Anybody any idea.
I could have understand if its an air suspension, but its not, so no idea as to why this sound!

[AvonA7]

Took my car to VW showroom as per the above mentioned post for LHS pulling issue.

Previous SA left job, new SA assigned. Went with prior appointment, requested SA to take a ride on my car (Polo, 1.2L TL, Petrol) for the HISSSS sound coming out of front suspension (mostly!) and the LHS pulling (though 80% resolved I must say). SA agreed, took a small test drive with me driving and SA driving - 50-50 of the test drive distance covered.

Got my car the same day, evening @5pm, left car at showroom @11am.

Driven, 400KMs+ after that, LHS pulling is 95% resolved, car is smooth, BUT the HISSSS sound is still present and am told that most of the VW Polos are with this sound and nothing wrong or worrisome with the car, so I can freely enjoy my ride.

Please note the sound is very minimal and cannot be heard with windows closed or when driving in plain/smooth roads.

The car is still fantastic driving on b`ful NHs, had to see the speedometer to believe the speed @120-130km/hr, I am enjoying it, though 120-130km/hr is reached or sustained only for few seconds, probably 15-20secs max.

FE ? with 30% highway and rest city, last tank fill returned 15.75 km/l (highest so far for me) with ~ 40% a/c.

Complaints - hhmmm, RHS power window !
Every now and then (in the last few weeks at least thrice) got stuck in very inappropriate places - toll booths (where if the window glass refuse to roll down it is very difficult to open the doors too, shopping complex parkings

But ufortunately could never replicate this same issue ever infront of the SA at dealership. So far so good.

Would expect any experts comment on the hiss sound from front suspension, please pour in your expert comments, thanks in advance.

[gaurav_chopra04]

@AvonA7, there is an absolute minor pull towars left on all polos and least should you worry about it until you have uneven wear of tyres.

Secondly, if I am not wrong, the HISS sound you are refering to is evident on all cars (all Brands) with Gas filled Shocks. Again nothing wrong in it. Our Polo has that noise and the our 5 Speed 800 has that noise. Oil filled shocks wont have that noise, instead, there is a slight tuk with oil ones whenever you go over a bump.

Lastly, there is nothing much we can do about the driver side power window. It has its own mind and service station is the last place it will stop working .

[AvonA7]

Originally Posted by gaurav_chopra04

Secondly, if I am not wrong, the HISS sound you are refering to is evident on all cars (all Brands) with Gas filled Shocks. Again nothing wrong in it. Our Polo has that noise and the our 5 Speed 800 has that noise. Oil filled shocks wont have that noise, instead, there is a slight tuk with oil ones whenever you go over a bump.

Thanks Gaurav for explaining the cause, relieved to know its normal across Polo and other cars

[tburman]

Originally Posted by AvonA7

Driven, 400KMs+ after that, LHS pulling is 95% resolved

Check your tyre pressure. I too received my car with the claim that the issue is resolved. I found it to be better, but not perfect. The next time I checked tyre pressure, I noticed that the front-left tyre was overinflated by about 5psi. Correcting the pressure reverted to the old LHS pulling issue.

Now the SA says there's an adjustment to be made to the tie-rod. Let's see how that works out.

tushar

[AvonA7]

Originally Posted by tburman

Check your tyre pressure. I too received my car with the claim that the issue is resolved. I found it to be better, but not perfect. The next time I checked tyre pressure, I noticed that the front-left tyre was overinflated by about 5psi.
Correcting the pressure reverted to the old LHS pulling issue.

yes, you are correct.

But to be honest, SA in my case clearly told me that if I want to reduce the LHS pulling, I may increase LHS front tire pressure by 3 psi, which obviously, I didn't agree.

Anyways, 2nd time when I went to the showroom as advised by SA(after 1.5K KMs after the first attempt to reduce LHS pull) and I took delivery of the car, next day morning, I made sure the tire pressure to be same across 04 tires (31psi) and my comments above is based on the 400KMs+ drive with same tire pressure in all 04 tires.

I hope its OK as I already mentioned its not 100% resolved, but now, the pull is very much neglible.

Originally Posted by tburman

Now the SA says there's an adjustment to be made to the tie-rod. Let's see how that works out.
tushar

I do not know about the %age of LHS pull in your case (I mean how strong is the pull), still would like to share one conversation with another Polo owner, who was having the same problem of LHS pull -

Frankly, I do not remember the exact terms but sounds similar to what you mentioned about "...tie-rod" and he had a not so good experience in the sense, he felt the steering to be rigid and not so smooth even though LHS pull still exist in his case.

IMO, unless there is any drastic deterioration of same problem, I am happy with the present driving characteristics of my car and I would avoid visiting the showroom, just for SA`s to use my car as a trial-and-error tool to gain expertise on the problem.

Do keep us, Polo owners, updated with your LHS pulling status.

[AvonA7]

• Time is really not good at the moment - scratched the front bumper on a pillar, totally my fault. Happened at my parking place
  
  
• Crossed Pune station, awaiting a traffic signal just before Central @ BundGarden, saw the red light with 53 seconds, turned off engine, scrolled down the window glass, enjoying the pleasant evening wind... Bang!, car shook, came out of car and noticed an AutoRickshaw hitting the rear bumper.
  
  As it followed -
  
  me : Kya hua? auto me brake nahi hai kya? (what happened? your auto doesn't have any brakes?)
  
  auto driver (an old man) - galti hoe gai! (my mistake!)giving a strange smile with fear!
  
  me : iska kharcha kaun dega? (who will pay for the damage?)
  
  auto driver : saab, galti ho gai!
  
  me : agar mere se ye galti hoti to hungama khara kar dete? (If I was in your place, then you would have made a chaos out of it)
  
  auto driver - galti ho gayi saab (my mistake sir)
  
  By now, few people joined the Tamasha, signal turned green, noticed the damage, luckily the rear number plate was hit and it took the maximum impact, it is hardly noticeable from a distance (~05 feet) and there is a small dent on the rear bumper (just below the number plate). Turned on the engine, went on instead of arguing with the auto driver.
  
  Spoke with VW service, shall take the car later this week for inspection/estimate. Shall share the estimate and try and post pics sometime later this week.
  

[Schoudhury]

Originally Posted by AvonA7

• Time is really not good at the moment - scratched the front bumper on a pillar, totally my fault. Happened at my parking place
  
  
• Crossed Pune station, awaiting a traffic signal just before Central @ BundGarden, saw the red light with 53 seconds, turned off engine, scrolled down the window glass, enjoying the pleasant evening wind... Bang!, car shook, came out of car and noticed an AutoRickshaw hitting the rear bumper.
  
  As it followed -
  
  me : Kya hua? auto me brake nahi hai kya? (what happened? your auto doesn't have any brakes?)
  
  auto driver (an old man) - galti hoe gai! (my mistake!)giving a strange smile with fear!
  
  me : iska kharcha kaun dega? (who will pay for the damage?)
  
  auto driver : saab, galti ho gai!
  
  me : agar mere se ye galti hoti to hungama khara kar dete? (If I was in your place, then you would have made a chaos out of it)
  
  auto driver - galti ho gayi saab (my mistake sir)
  
  By now, few people joined the Tamasha, signal turned green, noticed the damage, luckily the rear number plate was hit and it took the maximum impact, it is hardly noticeable from a distance (~05 feet) and there is a small dent on the rear bumper (just below the number plate). Turned on the engine, went on instead of arguing with the auto driver.
  
  Spoke with VW service, shall take the car later this week for inspection/estimate. Shall share the estimate and try and post pics sometime later this week.
  

Oooh oh , bad.
I also had a similar kind experience recently when a verna guy brushed the side of the rear bumper while my car was waiting for the signal to go green, and left a deep scratch on the rear bumper .
I don't understand why people are in hurry even if there stop signal.

[Guderian]

Originally Posted by AvonA7

• Time is really not good at the moment - scratched the front bumper on a pillar, totally my fault. Happened at my parking place

Hi AvonA7, Just read through your ownership report.
Firstly - delayed congratulations on acquiring a very capable set of wheels !
Secondly terribly sorry to hear about the 'run in' with the auto. Hope you get over the dismay and annoyance over the incidence soon.

Last year had visited the VW factory at Chakhan 3 times, as my previous company has a major contract there, and was on each occasion taken around the factory on a chukker and saw the Polos being manufactured. On the first visit saw the Fabia being born !
What impressed me about the Polo, as I saw a few units 'flying' above me on the lines, was the underbelly protection and all other 'toughen me up' kits being installed. A good friend who is a senior marketing chappie in VW explained later that these kits were for Indian conditions, though they install it elsewhere too.
Came back quite impressed.

And love the Polo for its design and interiors. The next upgrade for the LoH's car would possibly be the Polo after about couple of years from the Alto K-10.

[degakc]

Originally Posted by gaurav_chopra04

@AvonA7, there is an absolute minor pull towars left on all polos and least should you worry about it until you have uneven wear of tyres.

Secondly, if I am not wrong, the HISS sound you are refering to is evident on all cars (all Brands) with Gas filled Shocks. Again nothing wrong in it. Our Polo has that noise and the our 5 Speed 800 has that noise. Oil filled shocks wont have that noise, instead, there is a slight tuk with oil ones whenever you go over a bump.

Lastly, there is nothing much we can do about the driver side power window. It has its own mind and service station is the last place it will stop working .

Hi Gaurav, i am having the very same issue with the driver side power window. Have u found a solution yet? I noticed that it acts up whenever it rains. Not sure if this is just a coincidence.