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-   -   India-made VW Polo VRS with 140 hp launched in Indonesia (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian-car-scene/197900-india-made-vw-polo-vrs-140-hp-launched-indonesia.html)

Hoping to leverage on the brand equity of the vRS which seems to draw more customers into showrooms than VW's own performance brands such as the GTI, VW has launched a performance version of the Polo in Indonesia calling it the Polo VRS and manufactured out of its Chakan plant in Pune. This is probably the first time the vRS badge is used along with VW branding.

Volkswagen’s official distributor in Indonesia, has launched the VW Polo VRS at the ongoing Indonesian International Motor Show (IIMS) 2018. The highlight of this new variant of the Polo is its 140 hp power output.

The Polo VRS is based on the fifth generation Volkswagen Polo and is imported from VW India’s factory. It is powered by Volkswagen’s 1.2 L TSI turbocharged petrol engine. However, the power output has been upped to 140 hp from 105 hp. Torque has gone up to 230 Nm from 145 Nm. The transmission is the stock 7-speed DSG.

Visually, the car gets a black front spoiler, a black roof mounted rear spoiler, black alloy wheels, and black ORVMs. There are decals running along the sides that read ‘VRS’. There are black side skirts and rear bumper extensions present as well. The cabin doesn’t seem have any major changes. The Polo VRS does get a different 340 G RCD audio system with SD Card slot and USB and iPod support along with smartphone connectivity. The other addition is a an armrest for the driver.

The VW Polo VRS is priced at the equivalent of INR 14,69,160 in Indonesia (IDR 308 Million). It is priced about Rs.143,100 more than the standard Polo.

This car could make it into Indian showrooms and find more customers than the GTI.

Source

How can an 1.2 Turbo produce so much power? am I missing something, is it twin-turbo please:

It's a simple remap. Many TSIs in India are running remaps from Code 6, Revo, Pete's etc and put out this much power.

Only difference here is that this 140bhp car still retains factory warranty!

I was thinking VW would have changed hardware too like how Fiat changed Turbo and few other things in Abarth Punto to bump up the power to 145 HP.

Isn't 230NM perilously close to the DQ200 DSG's stated 250NM torque limit? Wouldn't it make more sense to use a different box on the vRS and give the enthusiasts (primary customer base) some room for tuning/remapping?

Fat chance of that happening given this same box is used on a 1.8 TSI!

The Tata 1.2L on the Racemo produces 187 BHP, if I recall correctly.

On the other hand, why can't VW offer this to the Indian market, at a reasonable price? Instead of launching a 2-door 200+ HP at an exorbitant price? I'm sure it would have had many takers compared to that.

Yes, this is above the limits that the engine power can "safely" be increased with just a remap. An ordinary remap to this level would reduce reliability levels and put a lot more stress on the engine. Aftermarket tuners get away with bumping up power as they don't have to provide warranty.

To provide this level of increase with factory levels of reliability, VW would have made certain other modifications - a slightly larger oil sump or radiator / larger turbo etc

The 1.2 TSI in its stock spec can handle upto 120 Bhp with more or less same levels of reliability as the stock engine.

The 2018 Polo has been released in various countries with a 3 cylinder 1.0 TSI producing 85kW (115ps) and 200Nm of Torque. If they can have a stock 1.0 producing this, then a 1.2 producing 120ps and 230Nm shouldn't be a surprise.

They might have been working on their TSI range to further improve performance. Most of their engines are already available in various states of tune. They must be adding more.

From the VW Australia website :

A true wolf in sheep's clothing :thumbs up. And a premium of just 1.5 lakhs? Would surely have some takers here! Wondering how the low-end would be, especially since VW's AT lacks a torque converter.

Can massage all the power they want out of these little engines, but turbo-lag & long-term durability would be areas of concern. Especially when we're talking of 180 horses from a 1.2L.

+1

Why indeed? If they're manufacturing it here already, what's stopping them from launching it in the domestic market? What other costs are involved apart from homologation? Besides, are homologation expenses that high that the volume will make it unfeasible? I highly doubt that.
What else? Media drives? Have a couple cars rotating between different publications until you've covered most of them, don't organize a conventional media event by inviting auto-journos to a 5 star hotel as you normally do.

Refrain from spending a lot of money on advertising it; Use social media for marketing, creating a buzz around a "Polo vRS" shouldn't be that hard, right?

Am I missing something? I genuinely want to know.

Mahindra is also developing a 1.2L turbo petrol which would produce about 135 ps of power and torque in the window of about 200Nm.

The 1.2 TSI that we have in India was developed a few years ago and maybe VW has upgraded the unit. Considering the current unit in India is still a cracker of an engine commanding a decent premium over its counterparts, they might be refraining from changing it here.

Or maybe it's done a few months down the line as production is increased for the upgraded unit.

Even after One and a half years and 26k Kms with the GT TSI I was not feeling bad as the upgrades provided by VW were not very much in 2017 and 2018. But if this version is made available in India for this year's festival season, then I'll start feeling bad. I'll have the same engine and GB but with just 105BHP!

But as a consolation, the Power and Torque rating of the VRs being closer to it's maximum limits, has a higher probability of a GB failure. Which means I can be a bit more relaxed :)

This car and it's mods on the outside are ugly IMO! Thankfully owners can remove those.

There is no point in increasing power in the Polo in its current form. The Indian Polo has pathetic brakes and a suspension set up that is very fragile. VW has localised these parts with very poor quality levels. They use the same cheap spec brakes on the GT TSI as the regular slow poke variants and these are just not able to cope with the power and speed of the 1.2 TSI + DSG combo. Brakes lack stopping power from high speeds and start judderring probably due to warped discs that cannot handle the high temperatures. The suspension gives way if the car is driven anywhere close to enthusiastic levels. My 15K driven GT TSI suffers from both these problems and I have not pushed this car at all. In fact it is so bad that I am scared of driving this car on the highway. The engine takes the car to tripple digit speeds in no time and then you have no brakes.

I am the last person to say no to performance variants, but if VW is thinking of launching a 140 hp Indianised Polo with the same cheap brakes and suspension, I wish they drop the idea :Frustrati.

OT : didn't know where to post this. Is this car coming to india any time soon?
Also when are they launching the new polo?