[TheLizardKing]

Originally Posted by smartcat

You really have to be a brave soul to test the anti-pinch feature with your hand!

I still remember how when I was told about it at the time of the delivery of my Polo, I had asked the executive to show it using his own hand.

[Gannu_1]

Here's another snap which was missed out:



Update:

Got hold of the Bluetooth based OBD II attachment thanks to Jaggu from the OBD thread. It was just a plug-n-play affair, the OBD port was hidden next to the fuse box on the driver side. The required apps were bundled with the minidisc sent along with the adapter - Torque Pro and Fun2Drive which were installed on the Nexus 5.









Connected the OBD adapter, paired the adapter and the phone, started the engine and we did a test run which returned some results:











Haven't fixed the dead pedal yet. The pedal needs to be secured using some special nut which I wasn't able to source. Looking around for that nut.

[Pedaltothefloor]

Looks fantastic Gannu. Did you calibrate the weight of the car with the scanner? You should go to a weigh bridge with a full tank and then add your weight to it.

What's the 0-100 recorded on Torque?

[ecosport rules]

Thats an awesome heartfelt review gannu.
Is that OBD you bought universal ? If yes where can I buy it
Can we get a similar OBD for ford ecosport?

[Gannu_1]

Updates:

The car has clocked 3450 km to date. This was a slightly old snap clicked a couple of days back:



The first and second 1000 km came in pretty quick thanks to the Ahmedabad and Bombay trips but the third one took a while since we did not do a long trip last month. But regardless, 3 months and 3000 km isn’t bad I guess. We’ve planned a drive for each month. The only issue right now is getting the offs sanctioned from work!

Also got a few upgrades to the car done.

Fixed a lamp for the boot space. DIY!



A boot lamp was sorely missed in the luggage compartment. The Indian spec'd Polo doesn't get one whereas the ones retailing abroad do (Link). The car is parked in ground floor of our apartment and it is rather dark in here because the apartment is surrounded by buildings all around. I was looking for a battery operated cabinet light and found one on Amazon US:



Cost me 12 USD from Amazon US (Link) but well worth the price I say. This thing is rugged, has a rubber casing around to protect it from falls and runs on 3 AA cells (Energizer cells were bundled). The tiny LEDs are very bright! Press the front of the lamp to turn it ON, press it again to turn it OFF.

Some snaps of the lamp:



The backplate attaches itself to the back of the lamp that has 3 magnetic attachments:


Notice the 3 dots - those are the magnetic attachments:


The outer rubber enclosure removed:


The AA cells inside:


The twist lock mechanism:


Made a hole on the plastic back of the lamp and screwed it beneath the parcel tray at the center:


Before:


After:


That snap doesn't really do justice. There's plenty of light in there! Very simple and effective. And doesn’t void the warranty since no wires were cut.

[Gannu_1]

Swapped the stock RCD320 HU with the Blaupunkt Philadelphia 835 unit.



Read about the HU upgrade in this thread.


Planned upgrade(s) in the pipeline:

1. Polo OEM arm-rest. The present one is flimsy in construction although I must admit the arm support was extremely comfortable during our long journeys. I shall be switching to the OEM one immediately.

2. Headlamp bulbs change to Osram Night Breakers Unlimited H4.

3. Tail lamp change to the ones in the Polo sold abroad. Costs 15-16k for a pair of VW OEM lamps. Pricing appears to be reasonable compared to the 1.2L tag that the OEM LED projector lamps carries! And replacing them is pretty simple.

4. ECU remap. Just wondering if I should do that before the warranty expires!

[etchemkay]

Hey Gannu,

Waiting on your detailed (as usual) post on your recent ICE upgrade. I read in the Vento ICE thread that you would be updating this thread with details soon. Waiting eagerly

FYI - I'm contemplating upgrading my GT TDi's ICE soon too.

[Gannu_1]

Originally Posted by Pedaltothefloor

You should go to a weigh bridge with a full tank and then add your weight to it.

What's the 0-100 recorded on Torque?

Shall do that when I tank up next time. I haven't recorded the 0-100 figures yet. Shall do it some day.

Originally Posted by ecosport rules

Is that OBD you bought universal ? If yes where can I buy it
Can we get a similar OBD for ford ecosport?

Thank you! Yes it is a universal OBD Bluetooth adapter compatible with the OBD-II compliant cars. I sourced mine from eBay India.

This is the one - Link 1

There is another variant - Link 2

I believe both of them should work with your Ecosport since it is OBD-II compliant. Do give it a shot.

Originally Posted by etchemkay

Hey Gannu,

Waiting on your detailed (as usual) post on your recent ICE upgrade. I read in the Vento ICE thread that you would be updating this thread with details soon. Waiting eagerly

FYI - I'm contemplating upgrading my GT TDi's ICE soon too.

Yes, the thread is in the Assembly Line. I have posted as many snaps and details as possible. It will be merged with this thread soon.

[baludharmarajan]

You have written a great review on the car. Could you let us know the FE of the car. Please share the link where you have bought the port adapter for your car.

I have noticed that you are using ambi pur in you car, please check the link
ambipur-car-perfume-harmful on ambipur in the car. I have removed it the day I saw the link.

[Gannu_1]

Originally Posted by baludharmarajan

You have written a great review on the car. Could you let us know the FE of the car. Please share the link where you have bought the port adapter for your car.

I have noticed that you are using ambi pur in you car, please check the link
ambipur-car-perfume-harmful on ambipur in the car. I have removed it the day I saw the link.

Thank you balu! Appreciate your feedback.

1. Fuel efficiency varies from our city drives to long highway drives. Presently we are getting about 16.5-17 kmpl during our city commutes. The figures are low due to the stop-n-go kind of traffic and the roads are being repaired so some detours have rough patches. However, during our long trips to Ahmedabad, Bombay and Daman, the we got about 22 kmpl. These roads are near-perfect expressways so we are on the 5th gear most of the time averaging 80-100 kmph.

2. Yes I did come across that thread sometime later. The ambi-pur lasted barely a couple of months and replaced it with a can of My Shaldan later. I had mentioned it here - Link

3. Refer my previous post for the OBD adapter eBay links.

Hope this helps!

[Vid6639]

Excellent upgrade to the head unit Gannu. This HU looks to be the perfect must have accessory for any VW/Skoda.

With the features it has and the Blaupunkt name it's making the chinese Witson, Caska units pointless.

Have you planned to upgrade your speakers. Those will make a huge difference now that you have a decent HU.

[Gannu_1]

Originally Posted by Vid6639

Excellent upgrade to the head unit Gannu. This HU looks to be the perfect must have accessory for any VW/Skoda.

With the features it has and the Blaupunkt name it's making the chinese Witson, Caska units pointless.

Have you planned to upgrade your speakers. Those will make a huge difference now that you have a decent HU.

Thanks Viddy!

Driver upgrades not very soon but yes they are in the pipeline. With the stock speakers, the SQ saw a massive improvement! Even to the untrained ears. It begs to be heard!

The good thing about this HU is, it has everything built in so we need not invest in separate components like the Bluetooth kit, separate mic harness etc. that the RCD510 requires. Flawless integration with the steering controls, display of ACC (only on Laura/Jetta and better cars), reverse assist display with stock sensors on the bumpers, display integration with the MID when upgraded to a better cluster and navigation features. All under 43k INR - I couldn’t have asked for more honestly!

[Rajeevraj]

Congrats once more on the HU. Great review of the unit also. Since i swapped out the old system within a couple of days of purchase, I did not know about many of the cons with the stock system you mentioned. So that made me feel happier with the purchase.

On a side note: Not very happy with the MMI Maps. Already noticed a couple of instances in Bangalore City itself where the route it recommended was not the right one because it did not know the existence of few internal roads. And on my recent drive through the Palakkad Country side, it did not know of several sections. (Note: For the same route Google Maps navigation was perfect and I could follow it blindly)

[Santoshbhat]

Nice review of PH 835 unit. I got one installed in my Laura recently and I agree with most of your points except that I hardly find any difference in the sound quality! Not that I am complaining. I was more concerned about losing the sound quality from the stock setup which is pretty good in the Laura.

I also found the interface to be a bit 'non -Blaupunkt'. You are right these modern touch phones have spoilt us. I was initially feathering the screen like we do in our phones! One grouse I have is that when I engage reverse, the screen does not show the parking display if the unit is switched off. In the stock HU, the parking display would show up even if the unit was off. THe boot up lag is irritating

Originally Posted by Gannu_1

The only gripe right now:
Attachment 1186741
Must think of an alternate routing for the USB cable. This one sticks out like a sore thumb although it doesn't interfere with the driving in any way. I had originally thought of routing it through the glovebox but that requires drilling a hole - not really worth it and it may spoil the looks.

There is a USB port on the face of the unit. Or is it that you don't like USB sticks sticking out in the front?

Lastly, get rid of that safety information sticker, will you?

[Gannu_1]

Originally Posted by Santoshbhat

Or is it that you don't like USB sticks sticking out in the front?

Exactly. A USB drive (even the Sandisk Cruzer Fit that I have right now) plugged on the front USB port sticks out and doesn’t look very nice with the remaining buttons flushed with the front panel. I believe the SD card should resolve that but when I tried one last time with the stock HU, there was a slight lag in reading the contents from the drive so switched back to the USB drive.

Originally Posted by Santoshbhat

Lastly, get rid of that safety information sticker, will you?

Haha yes will do that.

Have you stuck another one? These guys shouldn’t have given the instructions there. Otherwise that would have served as a nice scratch guard.