Team-BHP - Volkswagen Ameo @ Auto Expo 2016. EDIT: Starts at Rs. 5.14 lakhs!

Quote:

Originally Posted by GranvilleDsouza (Post 3975236)

From the front I know it's a Volkswagen, from the back, I wonder if the designer of TATA or Maruti was hired?
What is that design? Is that even design?

A little OT, but bro things have changed with Tata, have a look at the Tiago, Kite 5 Sedan, Nexon, Hexa. They are going to have a solid line-up of awesome looking cars, their designers have hit the right chord this time.

VW on the other hand are just busy trying to fit a boot on the Polo in different ways i.e Vento and Ameo. The sheer driving experience of the germans will be the sole reason for people to buy the Ameo IMO.

I am wondering what does the Ameo offer more than my humble old Polo.
2 cm more length and a ghastly boot!

Also, I am a bit confused here.
Do Compact sedans like this offer more space than their hatchback cousins (especially when both the hatch and sedan are almost same length)?
I would have thought that for the same length, a Hatchback would offer more space in the cabin, especially the rear headroom area.

Quote:

Originally Posted by harpreetkanwar (Post 3975641)

Because the indians want a maruti or a car with dikki.

But VW is too late to the party. 'Unchi' is the new 'lambi', or tall is the new long- As Maruti Suzuki puts it.

Anyways, will this be able to crack open the compact sedan segment? I doubt it.

1. Pricing this one is going to be a marketing nightmare as Polo already competes against the compact sedans in price. Plus Vento is not too expensive either!

2. No major USP over the competition (and specially its own stablemates) except for the DSG automatic. I love the fact that it has cruise control as well. But I doubt this variant will bring in many sales thanks to the price.

3. Troubles with launching the diesel variant initially. A petrol only model will sink in the market, and there is no hope if the diesel is launched too late!

Quote:

Originally Posted by abhishek46 (Post 3975645)

If you ask me, it offers nothing more compared to regular polo apart from the hideous boot and 2 cm more length. I'd prefer Polo anyday over this contraption because
- Ameo doesn't offer more space at rear than Polo
- Looks
-Better loading capacity in hatchback because the seats can be folded and taller objects like a bicycle can be loaded into a hatch.

Anyways, I always fail to understand how VW managed to squeeze a boot into the almost 4m long Polo.:D

Quote:

Originally Posted by abhishek46 (Post 3975645)

If the hatch & sedan both contain the same height & width along with the length, then the sedan will actually compromise some legroom in order to provide a little more boot space when compared to their hatchback counterparts.
However, there are other parameters at play - So, the manufacturers also play with the height, width and with this, they also do some clever seating arrangement so there is more space felt inside the cabin, while also having more boot space.
For example, if the height is more, more head room will be liberated, and seats can be put a little more upright, thus giving more space. If the seats are comparably thin, then that also some more space is obtained. If the interior is in beige colour, passengers "feel" the car is more roomier than it is. Added to this, new age hatchbacks have the rear glass highly sloped - e.g - Consider the rear glass area of i20/Baleno vs Swift/i10. Highly sloped rear glass means, that area is not of much use & is mostly similar to the sedan type sloping of the rear glass.
Put together all these points, better designed Compact sedans are actually equally roomier with an added bootspace compared to premium sedans (e.g Xcent vs i20).
This especially makes sense for those who require a bigger boot.
However VW Ameo is a special case - where the Polo itself is nearly 4m length. One needs to actually sit inside the Ameo and see whether it satisfies the interior space & boot requirements.

Quote:

Originally Posted by abhishek46 (Post 3975645)

Also, I am a bit confused here.
Do Compact sedans like this offer more space than their hatchback cousins (especially when both the hatch and sedan are almost same length)?

Amaze and Xcent are based on smaller hatchbacks and had more space to play with. That's why both of these cars also offer about 400L of boot space. Even Tiago will follow this formula.

All the other compact sedans had serious length restrictions during the design stage, most of them also offering only about the same boot space as their hatchback siblings.

Quote:

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR (Post 3975705)

One minor thing to note CrAzY dRiVeR. Both the Brio and Grand i10 are hatchbacks considerably smaller than the 4m mark.

Quick comparison of overall lengths:

Brio = 3610 mm, Amaze = 3990 mm (difference = ~380 mm)
Grand i10 = 3765 mm, Xcent = 3995 mm (difference = ~235 mm)
Polo = 3971 mm, Ameo = 3995 mm (difference = ~25 mm)

Also, the wheelbase of Amaze and Brio are different, leading to more space in Amaze.

In the case of Polo and Ameo, their wheelbase and overall length are the (almost) same. Hence the difference in space might not be significant.

If anything, the added practicality of a hatchback boot (to carry odd sized items) is probably more useful than a stubby sedan boot.

Just read the comments above, Ameo initially been launched with just a petrol engine option is absolutely a disastrous decision by Volkswagen. They are already killing the product by this move, I would say instead they should simply delay the car to iron out issues with the diesel engine but launching it with that dull 1.2L MPi 3 Cylinder engine is certainly not the right move. The average performance of the same is going to turn down a lot of potential customers building a negative in the market.