[Immix]

Originally Posted by Immix

I got mine delivered last Wednesday. While I haven't had the chance to do an extensive test drive yet, I did make the Mumbai-Pune-Mumbai trip this weekend and overall I seem to agree with the short Autocar India review. Here are my findings so far:

1. Power - Outstanding power delivery once you start moving. I don't like how the car takes off in the first gear. It just feels too heavy but maybe this is true for all diesel engine cars. I haven't driven the Vento or Rapid TDI yet, so I can't make that comparison. The power delivery characteristics are on par with my 2000 Audi TT till about 80-100 KMPH. After that speed, because of only 105 horses, the power delivery tapers off. I must say though, the 100-140 acceleration is still a cut above the competition. I also owned a 2007 Mazda RX-8 but the power delivery characteristics of the RX-8 with its high revving engine are completely different from that of the turbo charged diesel. So no point making a comparison there. My last car, the Hyundai Santro, is no comparison except for the take off in first and second gears. The torquey 1.1L engine of the Santro was simply superb when taking off. Overall, I am very impressed with the power delivery characteristics of the GT TDI. The car simply turns into a rocket once you put it in the second gear.
2. Ride Quality - There are no unwanted vibrations due to the diesel engine inside the cabin and even the engine clatter noise is kept to a minimum. Though I must say that when all the windows are rolled up and AC/music system is turned off, one can hear a faint diesel engine clatter inside the cabin. But most of the times the passengers won't even know that its a diesel car. The soft suspension setup takes care of most of the undulations and pot holes of Mumbai roads. So overall ride quality checks out to be OK.
3. Handling - I am not very impressed with the soft suspension when it comes to handling. It makes the car much less fun to drive on the open road. This combined with the thin 185 spec tires and quite a bit of understeer make the car very uncomfortable on twists and turns at high speeds with a lot of body roll. Add to this the lifeless steering, and you find yourself holding on to the steering wheels very tightly at high speeds due to which the fatigue sets in to your arms pretty soon. I was able to take it to a top speed of 170 KMPH on straight stretches of the expressway and was doing 80 on most of the bends in the ghats section. But I couldn't muster a lot of confidence in the car driving through the ghats because of reasons mentioned above. A wider tire and stiffer suspension upgrade can help alleviate some of the handling concerns but the understeering and no feedback steering will still put a damper on the sportiness of the Polo. Please keep in mind, these findings only apply to people who want to take their car to the limit and as such most of us will find the car absolutely fine to drive. In fact the Polo was intentionally given such handling characteristics to make the ride quality superior.
4. Clutch and Gear shifts - Lots of vibration in the clutch which is not good for the driver. If you have the habit of putting your left leg on the clutch (pressed a little) most of the time, like me, then chances are that you are not going to like it. I also thought that the first gear was a little bit short but that is the case with all diesel engines I suspect. Having driven all Petrols so far, I was a bit disappointed there. The gear shift is also not very smooth. I had taken a test drive of i20 CRDI a few weeks ago and found its clutch and gear shifts to be very smooth. You couldn't tell the i20 diesel apart from the i20 Petrol working just the clutch and gears. Its that smooth!! Then again, I thought the gear shifts were not as harsh as the Punto 1.3 MJD. The travel of the clutch pedal is quite long, because of which the left leg gets fatigued a little earlier than most other cars. But overall it is not a terrible kit and I can live with it (Read: I will get used to it). I also thought that a 6th gear was required at high speeds. Not a deal breaker for me though.
5. Interior Quality - Top notch and exactly what is expected from VW. The plastics although not soft are high quality. There is one area though where the higher quality soft plastic has been used (the bottom spoke of the steering wheel). All the plastic parts are fixed together pretty well. You won't hear any rattling sound coming out of the interiors even while driving on rough roads. So absolutely no complaints here.

To conclude, apart from handling, clutch vibrations, and lethargic take off characteristics, I like everything about the car so far. I am sure I'll get used to the diesel engine pretty soon and as such handling will become the only concern for me.

Other cars that I could have considered buying are the i20 CRDI and Punto 90HP. The Punto is not very powerful compared to i20 and GT TDI. In addition the first two gears of the Punto are fairly short, which I didn't like. The i20 is powerful but has a perceptible turbo lag (not very apparent in the GT TDI). It also suffers from the same handling issues as the Polo. In the end, with the options we have in India for a hatchback under 10L, the GT TDI wins my vote hands down. For a hatchback under 10L, I think this is absolutely a must have. It lacks the sportiness/handling of my previous two cars (TT and RX-8) but for the price I paid compared to the TT and RX-8, I think I am happy and satisfied

Few more points about my first drive of the GT TDI on Mumbai Pune Expressway:

1. Fuel Economy - Since the time I picked up the car from the dealer, I have driven around 400 Kms. This includes ~190 Kms of expressway traffic, ~80 Kms of highway traffic, and ~130 Kms of City traffic. I reset the MFD at the dealer and haven't reset it again so far. For the first two days that I drove in the city (~10 Kms), I got a very poor fuel economy of ~10 KPL. But that is understandable given the short travelling distances (<1.5 kms). Then when I set out for Pune, the avg fuel economy in the MFD started increasing and reached ~13 KPL when I touched the expressway. When I reached Pune, the avg fuel economy was ~17 KPL. Driving back from Pune, the avg fuel economy touched a high of 18.1 KPL. Right now the MFD show the avg fuel economy of 17.2 KPL. Frankly I am pretty impressed by these numbers. As I understand reading multiple threads on diesel engine cars here, the fuel economy increases as the odometer reading increases.
2. Music System/Bluetooth - Decent. The mids are not very crisp and the low frequencies seem to over power the higher ones. I played around with the EQ settings for a bit but have not been able to find an optimum EQ level to my liking. Bluetooth works wonderfully. I have a Galaxy S4 and my wife has a Nexus 4. Both phones paired without a hitch and started playing songs from all kinds of apps (Music, Saavn, Slacker) even displaying the track information. The steering controls were also available for all of these apps for next track, previous track, pause, etc. The call integration also seems to be OK as nobody I talked to has complained about the sound quality so far. Even I was able to hear them pretty clearly. Once the phone is connected to the music system, you can keep the radio or any other mode of music on. But if a call arrives, the music system will automatically switch to phone for you to be able to take the call. One thing I miss is voice activated dialing. I thought the button on the steering control was for voice activated dialing but all it does is it pauses music playing from the phone when pressed.

I will add pictures of the car in two weeks time as I am out of Mumbai presently. But I will keep adding bits and pieces about my driving experience as and when I recollect something. I would request other GT TDI owners to chime in with their experiences as well.

Originally Posted by shetty_rohan

Congratulations on your new ride.

Have you test driven GT TSi? If "yes", can you please share your thoughts(comparison between TSi and TDi)?

I haven't driven the GT TSI. Unfortunately the VW dealer in Andheri doen't have a TSI for test drive. But I did test drive an Audi A3 petrol (2.0L 200HP) with DSG a few years ago in US and somehow I didn't like the feel of the automatic compared to the thrill you get from a manual transmission. I realize that DSG is supposed to be one of the fastest automatic boxes out there but I still thought that it was inferior compared to manual purely in terms of sportiness. Of course I was comparing my TT (manual tranny) with the A3 (DSG) then.

The context here is completely different and I would love to see the comparison between the GT TSI and the GT TDI. In fact, I think that driving a manual in India is way too much trouble especially if you are driving in the city. It is for this reason that my first choice was the GT TSI. But after having seen the long waiting periods, I didn't think twice booking the GT TDI as soon as I got the chance.

For someone, who is deciding between a TSI and a TDI now, it makes a lot of sense to see this comparison or better yet take a test drive of the two and then make a decision as the waiting periods for the two models must be similar by now.

[shetty_rohan]

Originally Posted by n:CorE

Whats the best profile to be upgraded to in the stock rim itself (15''). I personally wouldn't want to go for aftermarket alloys as well

I have booked Polo GT TSi, and after reading couple of articles(and reviews) I have made up my mind to upgrade to Michelin Primacy 3 ST 195/60R15 Speed rating V which would increase the diameter by 2%, so one would get little more ground clearance.
Though 205/55 R15 has the least error(i.e 0.58%) I feel 205 would be too much for this rim.

[brraj]

Originally Posted by shetty_rohan

Michelin Primacy 3 ST 195/60R15 Speed rating V which would increase the diameter by 2%, so one would get little more ground clearance.

Michelin Primacy is a good tire but dont you think the sidewalls are soft?
Test drove a polo GT TSi with stock tires on NICE roads with the car hitting top speed. I was impressed by the Apollo Acelere (185/60/15).

[shetty_rohan]

Originally Posted by brraj

Michelin Primacy is a good tire but dont you think the sidewalls are soft?

ST tires are meant for Asia Pacific, So I was under the impression that they are not soft(sidewalls).
Have you found any article/review which says "Michelin Primacy 3 ST" has softer sidewalls? If so, can you please share it??

[brraj]

Originally Posted by shetty_rohan

ST tires are meant for Asia Pacific, So I was under the impression that they are not soft(sidewalls).
Have you found any article/review which says "Michelin Primacy 3 ST" has softer sidewalls? If so, can you please share it??

Reviews says it has soft compound and its grippy, but guys who have used it can confirm regarding soft sidewall.
http://www.tyrereviews.co.uk/Tyre/Mi...rimacy-3_2.htm

[shetty_rohan]

Originally Posted by brraj

Reviews says it has soft compound and its grippy, but guys who have used it can confirm regarding soft sidewall.
http://www.tyrereviews.co.uk/Tyre/Mi...rimacy-3_2.htm

The link points to "Michelin Primacy 3" which indeed has softer sidewalls. Whereas "Michelin Primacy 3 ST" is made for Asian countries, and I assume it has harder softwalls.

[brraj]

@shetty_rohan - If you are sure then even i will check with the dealer when buying.
When are you getting your car delivered?

[shetty_rohan]

Originally Posted by brraj

@shetty_rohan - If you are sure then even i will check with the dealer when buying.
When are you getting your car delivered?

Hi Raj,
I have booked the car on 14th Oct, and the SA has told me that he would deliver the car in November.

I could see many of the "Ford EcoSport" owners are upgrading to Michelin P3 ST. I am still researching on Michelin Primacy 3 ST, and I might be wrong(about the softer sidewalls). In case I get to know about the concrete information, I will surely let you know.

I have also noticed that you are looking at "Bilstein b6", in case you findout more information please let me know(like price, handling changes)

[n:CorE]

I booked my Polo GT TDI just yesterday on 9th October. I have been promised delivery in the last week of this month.

Dealership: VW Nerul (Autobahn Automotive)
Registration: Panvel/Kalamboli RTO (MH 46)
Colour: Deep Black
Discount/Deal/Offer: Free Mudflaps, Rubber Mattings & Car Cover + Insurance saving of Rs.11,366/-
Final on-road price: Rs.9,14,405/-

Can't wait to get my hands on this baby now!

[prithwi-81]

Driving Notes from the testing -

i20 is the softest suspension setup, helpful at corner entry under braking and totally lost mid corner.

GT TSI is is moderately stiff but totally disconnected in steering, with NO feedback coming thru. This stiffer setup makes corner entry under braking more confidence inspiring, but leaving you to do guess work steering corrections mid corner. Since you cant setup the car correctly mid corner you cant get the best exits. Once you get a bit more used to the lifeless steering it gets a bit more predictable, but remains mostly guesswork on the front wheel slip. Still better than i20. But not very sporty.

Punto 1.4 is the best stock suspension setup on a hatch so far. Yes the stock suspension height is awful, but the entire setup along with the steering rack and chassis is so communicative, it really inspires a different level of confidence in you. I'd be more comfortable throwing the Punto around and doing stupid stuff in it which I couldn't imagine doing in the other two cars. Now if only Fiat India woke up and gave this chassis an engine it deserves..

[akshay4587]

Mod Note : Team-BHP's review of the Polo GT TDI has been taken live at this link. Please continue the discussion over on the review thread. Thanks!

Originally Posted by prithwi-81

Punto 1.4 is the best stock suspension setup on a hatch so far. Yes the stock suspension height is awful, but the entire setup along with the steering rack and chassis is so communicative, it really inspires a different level of confidence in you. I'd be more comfortable throwing the Punto around and doing stupid stuff in it which I couldn't imagine doing in the other two cars. Now if only Fiat India woke up and gave this chassis an engine it deserves..

Height is due to the Stupid GC upgrade that fiat did late 2011/early 2012.
2009-2011 Models with previous suspension set up behave better.
And with Abarth coming in soon,prayers will be answered for power hungry people.