[Gannu_1]

Apologies for the delay in response guys. I was attending a training at Lonavla, Pune and was busy for the week. Back at Surat now.

Update:

Since the dead-pedal was badly missed, I sent a mail to Autopsyche and they sent me an absurdly high quote for a new one which was imported from the UK. Thus, I checked eBay UK for some used ones and found one based on the part number (which is 6Q2864777). I mean why pay for a new one when a used one can be had for as low as 7 pounds inc. of shipping? Clean it well with a mild liquid detergent wash, dry it and it is as good as new! The foam is missing that goes underneath the dead-pedal but I have a workaround for that.

I then asked a friend to have his sister ship it to India using Royal Mail and it came to 12 pounds. He received it in a week's time and no customs duties were charged. It is just a piece of plastic after all.

Here are some snaps he sent me over Whatsapp:





I am yet to get it from him. Shall get it installed possibly before the weekend.

Originally Posted by MH01BK0676

Quick question. Are you planning on going in for an ECU remap? Been mulling that over ever since I drove it out of the showroom. What do you reckon?

Congrats on your GT too! Indeed an ECU remap is in order but I wouldn't touch the electronics as long as the warranty expires. I am a bit worried about the VW service (as such the general response from the public isn't great) and I would only trust Pete's to do one for me. May be 2-3 years from now.

Waiting for the engine to run-in for now. Haven't crossed 95 kmph till date!

Originally Posted by Dhrubo

I did not even get a test drive

You should take a TD just to feel the raw power of the engine in a tiny hatch. I do agree that a stubby 6 footer will find it a bit hard on the driver's seat but once the seat is lowered, I do not think this should be a concern. When you do a TD, do lower the seat and check it out.

Originally Posted by Safeer

Wishing you miles of driving pleasure, and hopefully you'll clock atleast a Lac on the odo before thinking of a switch, if at all!

I will never sell the car - that is for sure! Even if I end up buying another one later. I recall how long my parents kept their first car - a Maruti 800 based on the older SS80 model they had bought before I was born in '87. We bought another 800 (the newer model) some time during 1992 and sold the older one with a heavy heart! They were emotionally attached to the car so much.

Thank you for the kind words Safeer!

Originally Posted by blurust

Any update on the fuel efficiency gannu ?
VW dealer in Guwahati is quoting two months of wait time to get the car. Is it the same everywhere?

The efficiency counter in the MFD now shows ϕ18.6 kmpl. Not bad really considering this is a mix of city + highway drives.

I am not sure of the waiting periods for the GT TDI. The GT TSI however has a waiting period that may vary depending on the region. Here, it was around 3-4 months back when I booked my car.

[MH01BK0676]

The run-in period is excruciating. I've done about 500 odd km.

You're probably right for waiting till the warranty expires. I'm all talk, haha, going to wait it out, too.

I still need to do a highway run.

Although, got to say, for a biggish Diesel engine, it gets off the line at signals pretty quick, doesn't it?

[Gannu_1]

Originally Posted by MH01BK0676

Although, got to say, for a biggish Diesel engine, it gets off the line at signals pretty quick, doesn't it?

Oh hell yeah!

Updates:

Got my RC smart-card (it is a card and not a booklet that is issued here by the Govt. of Gujarat) few days back and the RTO messed up the Financer Name part. They left it blank instead of mentioning the bank’s name. I may have to get it redone by the agent - another pain! Shall post a snap of it later.

Got the HSRPs (high security registration plate) installed yesterday afternoon. Went to the RTO, took a token from the counter and waited until my turn came up. Took an hour or so. The plates are being punched here at the RTO office itself. We noticed a bunch of press and punching machines inside and a whole lot of number plates stacked in various crates. The RTO charges Rs. 350 for a pair of plates including installation charges but the quality leaves a lot to be desired. For one, the rivets begin rusting after a monsoon; noticed a few plates here with rusted rivets - not a healthy sight I might add. The construction is also flimsy - the plates could have been a notch thicker IMO. And lastly, the border printing is irregular and pretty sure it will wear off with time. I guess we can't complain - for Rs. 350 a pair, this is the best they could provide!





A holographic sticker was also stuck on the top-right of the front windshield that has the registration number, chassis number and engine number. Shall post a snap of the sticker later.

Our first major (so to say) road trip is coming up this weekend. We’ve a trip planned to Ahmedabad for 2 days and 2 nights. Plenty of places to visit including a vintage car museum, step-well, dinosaur-fossil park, forts, ruins, Akshardham temple, lakes etc. Hope it turns out to be a good one.

[MH01BK0676]

Funny thing about the high security registration plates.

Went to this dealer at Colaba who said that they were deemed illegal or some such thing, and that the act of selling them would bring with it a Rs. 5,00,000/- fine and certain imprisonment.

Do you know why that is?

Yours look smashing by the way.

Have a great roadtrip by the way!

[MH01BK0676]

Drove up to Tiger Point, Lonavala, this Saturday night. It was one of those spur-of-the-moment-got-a-full-tank-and-just-enough-money-for-toll things.

I've long believed that the road to Amby Valley is the best test of a chassis this side of Mumbai. Anyway, the car held its own on the quick succession of hairpins and even though I drove super lightfootedly (run-in period) and short shifted a lot, I found the torque, should I say, ample.

Decent fuel consumption too. The MID says 20.4kmpl for the trip but, I don't know how far I can trust that figure. I'll know once I top up the tank but anything upwards of 18 and I'll be all smiles.

I'm so glad I bought the TDI over its flashy petrol cousin.

This little getaway made me realise that I'm all about driving stick.

[Barron]

Isn't the kerb weight 1156kg and not 1145kg? If the weight mentioned is true, no wonder polo GT TDI has so many praises.

[Gannu_1]

Update:

We came back from our short Diwali trip to Ahmedabad yesterday evening and it was a fun filled trip albeit a bit short. We were under the impression that Ahmedabad has nothing much to offer tourists and boy, were we wrong! There were so many places to see in and around the city, some a bit far from the city and some within the city limits. All in all, it was a good drive and 711 km thoroughly enjoyed! Shall post a mini travelogue sorts later once we have all the snaps sorted out and cropped.

The Surat-Ahmedabad route is a 4-lane expressway built and maintained by the IRB and L&T IDPL. This is the same route from Bombay to Surat that further extends to Udaipur as a part of the Golden Quadrilateral. There were at least 4-5 tolls on this 270 km odd stretch but the lanes are in top-notch condition. The commuters observed the lane discipline including the private/state transport buses and heavy vehicles.

There was one 50 km stretch between Baroda to Ahmedabad that had absolutely no breaks in the central dividers nor any branching roads! That's right - 50 km! In case someone took that wrong detour, they are screwed! I have no idea what do they do in such a case. Call up the helpline for assistance perhaps?

We also drove down to the 3M Car Care outlet but since it was Diwali they were about to close down after wrapping up the work. We did a quick inspection of the underbody and the outlet manager suggested that the coating need not be done since most of the underbody is not exposed metal. Some parts were protected by plastic covers as well. The exhaust piping route, the fuel tank and the spare wheel well were the only places exposed. The fuel tank had a black coating.

The only gripe during this entire trip was when we were fined by the traffic cops when we entered a one-way road. Sadly, none of us noticed that one-way signage, I was worried if someone would bang my car thanks to the retarded sense of traffic in Ahmedabad (no offense to anyone, Surat also has bad traffic sense with no one obeying the rules of the road but Ahmedabad is on a different scale altogether) and the other two friends were busy with their GPS applications on their phones. We entered the road and realised the road is a bit too narrow. A cop reached the spot in no time and helped us reverse back to the junction. Paid a fine of Rs. 200 *sigh*, collected the receipt and he gave us the correct directions.

Originally Posted by MH01BK0676

Decent fuel consumption too. The MID says 20.4kmpl for the trip but, I don't know how far I can trust that figure. I'll know once I top up the tank but anything upwards of 18 and I'll be all smiles.

Dude, you are in for a surprise!

During our onward journey, I had reset the fuel efficiency counter and by the time we reached Ahmedabad, the average fuel efficiency indicated by the MFD was 17.3 kmpl. That was because I drove at a high speed (not recklessly!) because the lanes were mostly empty towards the Ahmedabad side. And btw, the top-speed went well above the mark reported by VW in their brochure. However, for the return journey, we did not have any hurries to reach back Surat so we limited the top speed to 100 kmph, averaging about 80-90 kmph, enjoyed the slow drive and the end result when we touched Surat city outer limits was this:



Believe it if you want to!

The trip meter shows the overall distance we had covered for the entire round trip from Surat to Ahmedabad, Ahemdabad to Gandhinagar plus some roaming in the city and finally, the return trip from Ahmedabad to Surat.

I was pleasantly surprised that the diesel engine can actually return a good fuel efficiency if you choose to drive properly.

Originally Posted by Barron

Isn't the kerb weight 1156kg and not 1145kg? If the weight mentioned is true, no wonder polo GT TDI has so many praises.

Actually I got that figure from a couple of websites while I was compiling my review. There were a multitude of figures quoted by different websites. But GTO has mentioned the kerb weight as 1156 kg in the official review so that should be the correct one.

[MH01BK0676]

I stand corrected, Gannu.

Reading your journey log has got me thinking about a little driving vacation of my own.

I'm thinking Goa sometime soon.

If only I had some privilege leave left over.

The highest kmpl figure I've ever been responsible for was when I drove to Candolim, Goa from Marine Drive, Mumbai.

It was my friend's Yeti and I got about 18 odd kilometres to the litre.

Paying less for our foot stomping pleasures is so rewarding, is it not?

[Immix]

Originally Posted by MH01BK0676

Decent fuel consumption too. The MID says 20.4kmpl for the trip but, I don't know how far I can trust that figure. I'll know once I top up the tank but anything upwards of 18 and I'll be all smiles.

Originally Posted by Gannu_1

During our onward journey, I had reset the fuel efficiency counter and by the time we reached Ahmedabad, the average fuel efficiency indicated by the MFD was 17.3 kmpl. That was because I drove at a high speed (not recklessly!) because the lanes were mostly empty towards the Ahmedabad side. And btw, the top-speed went well above the mark reported by VW in their brochure. However, for the return journey, we did not have any hurries to reach back Surat so we limited the top speed to 100 kmph, averaging about 80-90 kmph, enjoyed the slow drive and the end result when we touched Surat city outer limits was this:

I don't think the MID shows correct figures for fuel consumption. I went to Bhopal for my Diwali vacation and came back to Mumbai yesterday. I did a lot of hard driving (hard acceleration and high speeds most of the time) on my way to Bhopal and got an average of ~13.5 Kmpl (tank to tank measurement) while the MID showed an average of 14.5 Kmpl. On my way back to Mumbai, I eased on a little bit (hard acceleration only a few times and speeds around 110-130 most of the time). I got an average of ~16 Kmpl (tank to tank) but the MID showed 18.3 Kmpl.

[Gannu_1]

Originally Posted by MH01BK0676

If only I had some privilege leave left over.

Tell me about it! I have run out of any offs for the current year and am desperately waiting for Jan 1st, when the next batch of offs would be credited. Until then, we have decided to visit some places nearby which are quite doable for weekends like Daman, Bombay, Saputara etc.

A trip to Goa sounds good! Good luck and hey, do open an ownership thread here. We don't have many threads on the GT TDI compared to the TSI, we need more!

Originally Posted by Immix

I don't think the MID shows correct figures for fuel consumption.

I could at best rely on the MFD for the mileage figures. There are bound to be slight inaccuracies but since the figures on the forum were quoted from the MFD values, I chose to mention it here.

[prithwi-81]

The full dead pedal is a two piece. The top is held by the platic nut and the bottom is clipped to the foam module which ur missing. The foam module is held to the transmission tunnel by a screw and nut which is missing in the GTs. So you will need to either glue it to the exposed metal, or get a screw with a 3m back to stick to the metal. And the foam sits below the carpet line so u will need to cut out the carpet in the shape of the foam. What you have ordered is just the top plastic piece, which will flap around in the footwell without the foam module, unless u find a way to clip it elsewhere.

Originally Posted by Gannu_1

Apologies for the delay in response guys. I was attending a training at Lonavla, Pune and was busy for the week. Back at Surat now.

Update:

Since the dead-pedal was badly missed, I sent a mail to Autopsyche and they sent me an absurdly high quote for a new one which was imported from the UK. Thus, I checked eBay UK for some used ones and found one based on the part number (which is 6Q2864777). I mean why pay for a new one when a used one can be had for as low as 7 pounds inc. of shipping? Clean it well with a mild liquid detergent wash, dry it and it is as good as new! The foam is missing that goes underneath the dead-pedal but I have a workaround for that.

[Gannu_1]

Thanks prithwi. I shall be taking the car to a friend's garage this weekend. Shall figure out something.

Update:

We drove down to Bombay during the weekend, met a few friends, stayed at Ghatkopar, drove to the Worli sea-face through the Bandra-Worli sea-link, did a photo-shoot here, spotted a Red 458 Italia (IINM i.e) roaring through this stretch, had a late night dinner around 3 AM and returned back to Surat the next day. The 4-lane/6-lane roads were good (not as good as the Baroda-Ahmedabad expressway though) and there were around 5 tolls in the Surat-Bombay NH-8 stretch. All in all, a fantastic road trip. We covered around 650 km in this trip and she has finally crossed 2k on the odo.

We were cruising at 100kmph for the whole journey (barring the city drives) and this was the mileage as reported by the MFD:



Next trip - Saputara before the year ends. It is winter and it is going to be one hell of a drive!

[mango_pal]

I look at that mileage figure with pure envy. In the city I get an average of a fraction over 10 kpl. And on the highway it's anything between 12 and 16 depending on how I drive.
But the joy of the Polo TSi with the dsg is something. and I'm getting it remapped tomorrow!

Glad to see you've clocked 2k so quickly. I've done about 1600 in 40 days...

[Gannu_1]

Originally Posted by mango_pal

I look at that mileage figure with pure envy. In the city I get an average of a fraction over 10 kpl. And on the highway it's anything between 12 and 16 depending on how I drive.

I was pleasantly surprised the car could return these figures. When ARAI put the figures as 19.7 kmpl, I was expecting a bit lesser but thanks to the driving pattern and the roads here during my commutes to work, the mileage is fairly decent. We have planned a trip to Daman next month - let us see how that pans out. Good luck on the remap - waiting for the figures.

These were some of the snaps clicked at the Worli sea-face last Sunday at 2 AM. Many thanks to my friend Yogi who clicked these and post-processed them using Lightroom.









The cops as usual were doing the rounds and when they saw us with the equipment, they stopped their vehicle and asked what we were up to. They left the scene after we told them we were doing a photoshoot.

[kalpeshc]

Absolutely awesome snaps - looks pretty techno. The roads at Surat are much much better than the roads in Mumbai. I have a feeling that you're getting to enjoy your car more in Surat than in Mumbai. Some of the roads going out of Surat towards some villages are pretty fabulous. Quite a few of them are completely covered with tree canopies and have lush green fields as your surroundings.