[shashank.nk]

Originally Posted by KarthikK

Thanks for the information shashank . So it will become 8.6L now, sounds much better than the 9.2L price tag which was on it all along. Out of curiosity, how much did you pay for the highline when you bought it?

Yes. That and it now has steering mounted controls with Bluetooth and USB connectivity. Also gets leather wrap on steering wheel,gear lever and handbrake,apart from new alloys and smoked headlamps. Good additions I must say.

I paid 8.2 in February 2012 for a Nov 11 make car.

[KarthikK]

Originally Posted by shashank.nk

Yes. That and it now has steering mounted controls with Bluetooth and USB connectivity. Also gets leather wrap on steering wheel,gear lever and handbrake,apart from new alloys and smoked headlamps. Good additions I must say.

I paid 8.2 in February 2012 for a Nov 11 make car.

That sounds much better now. I will have to update the VFM rating now for Polo. Strangely the sales guy hasn't informed me about this reduction in price. Are these guys making a fool of me and trying to sell the Polo to me at the old higher price?

Another aspect : Volkswagen Bangalore (on Hosur road - is that the dealer's name??) has not bothered to follow up with me after the test drives which were 10 days ago. Either they are not interested in selling the car or they don't consider me to be a prospective buyer after the way I abused their car and ignored their requests to cut short the TDs.

[shashank.nk]

Originally Posted by KarthikK

That sounds much better now. I will have to update the VFM rating now for Polo.

I was silently hinting towards that, glad you got the message I feel its a deserved once, the lack of features has been taken care of now (except ACC) all that remains is a proper 4cyl engine in my wishlist!

Strangely the sales guy hasn't informed me about this reduction in price. Are these guys making a fool of me and trying to sell the Polo to me at the old higher price?

Very much possible. They may be trying to sell you a 'old' model as i heard dealers have lot of stocks left with them.

Another aspect : Volkswagen Bangalore (on Hosur road - is that the dealer's name??) has not bothered to follow up with me after the test drives which were 10 days ago. Either they are not interested in selling the car or they don't consider me to be a prospective buyer after the way I abused their car and ignored their requests to cut short the TDs.

These VW guys are very arrogant. Even after paying the full money they continue to remain so. If you want a VW car you have to follow it up with them. Whether its a Passat or a Polo, its the same. Sad but true!

[Sheel]

Karthik - Liva's brakes are very good. Take my word on this, maybe you were given a battered Car.

The Figo does come with an option of black dashboard (I believe you already know this)

EDIT : I myself struggle with the Figo's ergos after a stint with the Swift. The seats are so damn good on the Swift.

[hyper-VTEC]

Can anyone throw some light on Swift Zdi waiting period in Bangalore and Chennai? I couldn't get time during the weekend to visit them. And also Polo Tdi HL if someone happened to visit them in last week or so. Thanks

[KarthikK]

Originally Posted by Sheel

Karthik - Liva's brakes are very good. Take my word on this, maybe you were given a battered Car.

The Figo does come with an option of black dashboard (I believe you already know this)

EDIT : I myself struggle with the Figo's ergos after a stint with the Swift. The seats are so damn good on the Swift.

The sales man was mentioning something about choosing the interior trim shades. I didn't think he was referring to the dashboard color. Thanks for the info . The test drive car which came home had a red dashboard, and I hated every bit of that.

Could have been a case that the Liva I was driving was badly maintained in that case. It just wasn't stopping in time, even in the city speeds and I felt it vaguely weak in that sense. Thanks for the correction Sheel!

Originally Posted by hyper-VTEC

Can anyone throw some light on Swift Zdi waiting period in Bangalore and Chennai? I couldn't get time during the weekend to visit them. And also Polo Tdi HL if someone happened to visit them in last week or so. Thanks

Swift ZDi in Bangalore - 6-7 months if you book now.

Swift ZDi in Chennai - no idea

Polo TDi Highline in Bangalore - 2-3 months if you book now

[Chitta Pradhan]

Originally Posted by KarthikK

Thanks for reading through this rather massive comparo post. I've just put forth my attempt at arriving at an unbiased decision. Hope the post wasn't too boring

What an exhaustive comparo. Top rated auto professionals/magazines will look bland against your thoughful writeup. Thank you so much for your valuable feed back. I am sure diesel hatchback is the most sought after segment now a days & your views will help many prospective buyers immensely.

Just felt in engine refinement Swift should score over Figo & Punto. Just my expereince from driving Figo/Swift/i-20/Ritz/Punto.

In my view: i-20>swift>Ritz> Punto> figo. I had driven a friend's diesel Fogo which sounded extremely coarse from inside the cabin.

But you suggest otherwise. Can you plz. elaborate little more.

[Pedaltothefloor]

The infamous gear ratios grow on you after a while and you learn to use them to your advantage. The 90 Hp is a hoot to drive and is literally a rocket once the turbo kicks in.

[shankar.balan]

An excellent post and comparo karthikk.
Thanks!
Helps me a lot in making a decision for the next car upgrade for my folks.
I am biased towards the Fabia though because it is higher off the ground and easier for elderly people to get in and out of.

[shashank.nk]

Originally Posted by ajay9252

Fantastic analysis ! Does anyone know if the VW Polo 1.6TDi will be launched ?

Hi ajay, don't know how I missed your post earlier.
The new polo with a proper 4cyl engine is expected to be launched in 2014. I don't think it'll get the same engine as the Vento,may be a sub 1500cc engine to avail the excise benefits.
Again,this is what's been reported by the print media, no news from VW yet.

[KarthikK]

Originally Posted by Chitta Pradhan

Just felt in engine refinement Swift should score over Figo & Punto. Just my expereince from driving Figo/Swift/i-20/Ritz/Punto.

In my view: i-20>swift>Ritz> Punto> figo. I had driven a friend's diesel Fogo which sounded extremely coarse from inside the cabin.

But you suggest otherwise. Can you plz. elaborate little more.

Thanks a lot

In my experience, the Swift sounded more coarse and gruff although it was the same engine as the Punto. This could be due to 2 reasons :
1. The NVH levels (I feel) are better controlled in the Punto than in the Swift. Punto's cabin has extremely good sound insulation.
2. It could be that the specific Swift test drive vehicle I drove was not well-maintained, and the demo Punto could have been better maintained. Then again, I would blame the dealership in that case since the test drive vehicle is the one on which buyers would form their opinions about the actual vehicle.

The Figo clatters more at idle if you stand outside the car, but once you get into the cabin, you hear very less of the noise compared to the competition. Once you get moving, it is very silent and refined.

The i20 is simply the segment best here, and nothing else comes close in terms of refinement.

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

An excellent post and comparo karthikk.
Thanks!
Helps me a lot in making a decision for the next car upgrade for my folks.
I am biased towards the Fabia though because it is higher off the ground and easier for elderly people to get in and out of.

Thanks a lot sir!

I do agree with you. Ingress/Egress is superbly designed in the Fabia. Interiors-wise also, it is the segment-best in my opinion. Apart from the Figo which sits rather low-slung, most other hatches are more or less the same in terms of ingress/egress ease (keeping other ergonomics aspects aside). I didn't concentrate on this particular feature at all, thanks a lot for bringing this up; will check it out next time I visit the showroom(s).

[KarthikK]

My Swift ZDi booking stands cancelled. The sales guy appeared to be annoyed with me for cancelling the booking when my priority # was 1! He didn't seem to care much about the loss of a customer. What was 1 customer in a pool of millions, anyway? His team-lead tried to appear a little apologetic about my experience, especially when I told him about us being treated this way, in spite of being repeat customers at Sagar Automobiles (even our Swift was bought there in 2006). Anyway, my deal with Maruti is over, for good! The refund cheque should be here in a day or two.

On the Punto front, just minutes ago I had a chat with Mr.Praveen, the helpful team-lead at Prerana motors. He had sent me VIN details about 3 Red Punto Sport cars which are in their stockyard, around 40km away from town. All 3 are May 2012 manufactured. They have a white too in stock.

Tomorrow, I will be going to Prerana motors first thing, to 1. make a token advance booking for the Punto sport, and 2. make a trip later tomorrow in the afternoon, to their stockyard to do beginner level PDIs on all the 3 Red Punto 90s. I will choose one vehicle for myself after some scans. The elaborate PDI will be done later when I plan to take the delivery (sometime around next month). Prerana motors have been kind enough to arrange a Punto 90HP itself to take me to their stockyard and come.

I will update this thread with pics and opinions after the stage 1 PDI is done tomorrow. After paying the token advance (which is to block my car), I will be having a rather long wait till this month end to try to arrange some more $$ for the downpayment, so that the loan amount can be reduced as much as possible. As of now, tentative delivery date looks like the first half of october and the red rocket will sit in the stockyard waiting till then. Not a problem, since I know my car will be safe and sound with these guys .

[parimal_g]

Sounds great karthik, regarding pdi do take the pen drive with you to check the media player and its features also press horn while paying song my car skips to radio or CD player when I use horn. Also check for the uneven panel gaps expecially at front right door, which is bad in my car. All the best for new punto its stunning car am loving every bit of it. :-)

[vb-saan]

Originally Posted by KarthikK

On the Punto front, just minutes ago I had a chat with Mr.Praveen, the helpful team-lead at Prerana motors. He had sent me VIN details about 3 Red Punto Sport cars which are in their stockyard, around 40km away from town. All 3 are May 2012 manufactured. They have a white too in stock.

Good going! So the red beauty is soon going to give company for the black beast
The red Punto sports come with black OVRMs right? I feel that’s a bit less flashy (and looks better) than the red OVRMs on the white and black.
Any idea if those stickers are something which can be removed neatly?

[KarthikK]

Originally Posted by parimal_g

Sounds great karthik, regarding pdi do take the pen drive with you to check the media player and its features also press horn while paying song my car skips to radio or CD player when I use horn. Also check for the uneven panel gaps expecially at front right door, which is bad in my car. All the best for new punto its stunning car am loving every bit of it. :-)

Thanks a lot parimal_g for your wishes. I'll definitely keep that PDI advice in mind, especially the areas you pointed out.

Originally Posted by vb-san

Good going! So the red beauty is soon going to give company for the black beast
The red Punto sports come with black OVRMs right? I feel that’s a bit less flashy (and looks better) than the red OVRMs on the white and black.
Any idea if those stickers are something which can be removed neatly?

Thanks a lot vb-san

I agree with you, the black mirrors on red in fact look a little understated. This reminds me of how the trends have changed in color preferences. Just a few years back, top end variants of most cars would project 'Body colored mirrors' as the in-thing to have, and lower variants would get black mirrors and handles. Today, with the Punto, lower models like dynamic and Emotion get 'Body colored mirrors', while the top end Sport variant gets 'Black mirrors' or 'differently colored mirrors' projected as cosmetic enhancements. Ironic how color design preferences have changed, isn't it?

I had a look at those stickers. They can be peeled off neatly by any tom, dick and harry passing by my car on the road. In fact, team-bhp stickers are better stuck to the body than these decals. The rear 'sport' decal is okay (looks more robust) but the side strips look like an add-on job. This was more easily visible on the white sport that they had on display. I don't think I will need to waste my effort stripping the stickers at all. Chances are some vandals will already have done it when I take the car out to a mall or shopping complex the first time *lol*.