[dhanushs]

Originally Posted by Parm

if some one wants 'good milage' buy an alto or a nano! they will give 'very good milage'!

i think VW should come out with F1 style steering wheel, with everything on it, even climate control!

Friend, the Indian market does look at the 'mileage' part quite seriously. Infact the 1st question someone asks on seeing a new car is 'whats the average'. Not only alto's & nano's, even in the premium segment The Skoda 1.9TDI set the sales charts on fire was due to the 'low Rs/kms' factor, inspite of a 'not so good' rear seat comfort.

I agree that a few petrol heads (including me), wouldn't mind mileage, for the sheer pleasure the car delivers but then, we are just just about 2-5% of the entire driving population of India. So the car manufacturers must consider the interests of the remaining 95-98% of buyers.
In the end it boils down to Profit.

Cheers

P.S- This is based upon my limited knowledge. Please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

[HammerHead]

Originally Posted by dhanushs

Friend, the Indian market does look at the 'mileage' part quite seriously. Infact the 1st question someone asks on seeing a new car is 'whats the average'. Not only alto's & nano's, even in the premium segment The Skoda 1.9TDI set the sales charts on fire was due to the 'low Rs/kms' factor, inspite of a 'not so good' rear seat comfort.

I agree that a few petrol heads (including me), wouldn't mind mileage, for the sheer pleasure the car delivers but then, we are just just about 2-5% of the entire driving population of India. So the car manufacturers must consider the interests of the remaining 95-98% of buyers.
In the end it boils down to Profit.

Cheers

P.S- This is based upon my limited knowledge. Please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

For masses VW has Polo and they introduced it with 3-pot 1.2ltr engines precisely for FE. Polo 1.6 is for enthusiast. Lets not bring in FE when we discuss Polo 1.6 .

Climate control? Oh yeah not cause I'm too old to show off but 70-80% of the time I will be driving it in back to back traffic and there I can enjoy climate control and all the goodies like steering mounted audio/phone controls and so on.

Even Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano provides dual-zone climate control! Would people stop buying a Ferrari if there was no Climate control?

[Neur0t0xin]

Price in Bangalore, VW palace cross

Price (Ex-Showroom) - Rs.6,21,476
Insurance - Rs. 25,298
Life time road tax - Rs. 95,708
Regn and handling - Rs. 6,000
On Road Cost - Rs. 7,48,482.

The sales person told that the features and interiors are the same as 1.2 highline.

[ampere]

Did he say anything about delivery dates?
So effectively we are saying no more bells and whistles over and top of 1.2 Highline. Was expecting something more.

[nowwhat?]

Originally Posted by Neur0t0xin

Price in Bangalore, VW palace cross

Price (Ex-Showroom) - Rs.6,21,476
Insurance - Rs. 25,298
Life time road tax - Rs. 95,708
Regn and handling - Rs. 6,000
On Road Cost - Rs. 7,48,482.

The sales person told that the features and interiors are the same as 1.2 highline.

Thanks a lot for this info, Neur0t0xin!

Asked VW Downtown Bangalore the price today and I still haven't heard back from them.

I booked the 1.6 in June and I thought they would at least have the common courtesy to call me and inform me about the price once they came to know about it.

[rohanjf]

Originally Posted by theragingbull

Acc. to Wikipedia, the 1.6 M/T (South African model) returns the following mileage
City: 5.3 L/100 km
Hwy: 9.2 L/100 km
Combined: 7.0 L/100 km

Volkswagen Polo - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

That is like an average of 14kpl!!! Too ambitious?

I have driven it on the roads of South Africa and have got a mileage of some 18+ kmpl on their motorways (where the speed limit is 120 kmph). If we have similar roads in India, even we will get similar figures!

[luky_13]

I called up Elite motors Bangalore to cross check on the availability of 1.6 Polo, the lady on the phone said "Saar, we will be getting the demo vehicle by Sept end and deliveries by another 3 to 4 months" This is contrary to the information given by Downtown VW which was that the TD vehicle would reach bangalore by 15th Aug... Not sure which bit of information to believe?

[crackingride]

Originally Posted by luky_13

I called up Elite motors Bangalore to cross check on the availability of 1.6 Polo, the lady on the phone said "Saar, we will be getting the demo vehicle by Sept end and deliveries by another 3 to 4 months" This is contrary to the information given by Downtown VW which was that the TD vehicle would reach bangalore by 15th Aug... Not sure which bit of information to believe?

You may want to believe either or none as the case may be! Given that they are the same organisation with two different showrooms in two locations, either the right hand doesnt know what the left is doing, or more likely, the whole 1.6 hatch thing is just too premature right now.
I have shared my reservations on this before. All bookings for this hatch are dodgy in my opinion, given that there are serious issues with delivering the existing lineup, without having to compound it with the Vento and the 1.6.
I still feel dealers are taking 'reservations' rather than bookings on a purely speculative basis. No one has any official word on pricing or release, so what's to book?
Not that it seems to be preventing people from putting their hankie on the seat and saying, "this one is mine!"

[luky_13]

Originally Posted by crackingride

You may want to believe either or none as the case may be! Given that they are the same organisation with two different showrooms in two locations, either the right hand doesnt know what the left is doing, or more likely, the whole 1.6 hatch thing is just too premature right now.
I have shared my reservations on this before. All bookings for this hatch are dodgy in my opinion, given that there are serious issues with delivering the existing lineup, without having to compound it with the Vento and the 1.6.
I still feel dealers are taking 'reservations' rather than bookings on a purely speculative basis. No one has any official word on pricing or release, so what's to book?
Not that it seems to be preventing people from putting their hankie on the seat and saying, "this one is mine!"

You are right on the money there friend, in fact on my visit to VW last month for a TD which i could not get as 1.6 has not hit the showroom yet, the sales person kept telling me to book one to avoid the long 'queue'. I resisted the temptation. Booking a vehicle without a TD did not make logical sense at all, and i felt the same as these are reservations not bookings. They do not even have the final OTR price of the car and it is officially not launched yet. These shady deals !

[njh]

Originally Posted by kavesh55

I guess Volkswagen should launch the polo in two door models. giving the rear doors as a formality does not help.
Yes, its a great car with a good pedigree, quality, ride and handling, but a rear seat space is needed, for a car costing nearly 6 lakhs on road mumbai.

i would agree with you if we were in the united states or europe. i feel it would not go well, simply because a two door polo makes it a lot harder for, say a lady wearing a saree. i dont think it would be very practical in india.

[Thad E Ginathom]

I don't think people will even get as far as thinking out the practicalities, I think they will just feel short-changed because they got two less doors --- whether they ever use them or not!

Whilst a car of this size really can look better as a two-door, I find that, even with usual-maximum-two in our car, the back doors still get plenty of use.

It's ridiculous that I am not 100% certain (16 years ago) but I think my Golf was 2-door. Much bigger car, still worked pretty well and looked good.

[rajushank84]

2-door was kinda fun. But it always meant "we kids" always had to get in the back in my dad's Dolphin because mom couldn't/didn't want to. So we never go to ride in the front seat. I thought that was about to change, when dad got another car - but guess what? He got a Gypsy soft-top! So.. same story - kids sit in the back!

@Thad: You don't remember how many doors your car had??!

I'm guessing you would've been in USA or somewhere when you owned that Golf. How come you came back, leaving those wonderful cars (like Golf)? Let me guess, for the sake of manual gearshift?

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by rajushank84

@Thad: You don't remember how many doors your car had??!

Well, now... there was the one I used to get in and out through, and there was the hatch at the back, and we could stuff quite a lot of computer equipment in there if I had to take with me what I was installing and... No, not for sure. But I seem to remember one of the seat release cables broke, and if had been a four-door, it wouldn't have had them.

Company car, had it for two years, which is how long the job lasted. Golf 1.6 Ryder, which was the poor man's GTI, with many of the external bits, but lacking the engine.

That was my VW experience, apart from later hire cars, Golf or Passat, for holidays, as the next job did not come with a car.

Left me wanting to be a VW owner ever since! Even if that cheeky little Micra does keep winking at me...

[PlatzdaTurbo]

Its actually the prospective diesel 1.6 that has caught my attention more than the petrol. I dont know if it is confirmed news , but if the diesel 105 hp is coming in the polo alongside the petrol, it means same power, more torque (200 odd NM right ?) and ofcourse diesel running costs. Expecting it to be launched with an Auto tranny is wishful thinking IMO. Nonetheless, even with a manual, i would jump at the hint of the polo with the 1.6 oil burner.

[nowwhat?]

Originally Posted by luky_13

I called up Elite motors Bangalore to cross check on the availability of 1.6 Polo, the lady on the phone said "Saar, we will be getting the demo vehicle by Sept end and deliveries by another 3 to 4 months" This is contrary to the information given by Downtown VW which was that the TD vehicle would reach bangalore by 15th Aug... Not sure which bit of information to believe?

Having dealt with VW Downtown (Elite), I must say that I am not very impressed with how they treat customers. They seem to believe that they are selling a Merc or a BMW, rather than a mass-market car. VW better get their act together from the get-go in India.

I personally feel for Polo 1.6 TD car, August 15 is too ambitious and September end too late. I think it is more likely to be somewhere in between, say in the first half of September.

Why? Because the car hasn't been launched yet and I have been told to expect my car by September end.

Originally Posted by crackingride

I still feel dealers are taking 'reservations' rather than bookings on a purely speculative basis. No one has any official word on pricing or release, so what's to book?
Not that it seems to be preventing people from putting their hankie on the seat and saying, "this one is mine!"

True!

The only solace for us early bookers is that the Polo 1.6 is a tried and tested hatchback in half the world. So no reason to expect anything different.

Originally Posted by PlatzdaTurbo

Its actually the prospective diesel 1.6 that has caught my attention more than the petrol. I dont know if it is confirmed news , but if the diesel 105 hp is coming in the polo alongside the petrol, it means same power, more torque (200 odd NM right ?) and ofcourse diesel running costs. Expecting it to be launched with an Auto tranny is wishful thinking IMO. Nonetheless, even with a manual, i would jump at the hint of the polo with the 1.6 oil burner.

1.6 diesel on the Polo would have been terrific! Unfortunately I don't think VW has any plans for it. I haven't heard of anyone at VW Corporate mention about it except for the Vento.