re: VW Polo GT TDI ownership log EDIT: 9 years and 178,000 km later... Quote:
Originally Posted by Gannu_1 She has finally breached the 1L km mark:
|
Congrats!! You have really made the GT your own what with all the mods and helped fellow owners like me no end. Enjoy the next 1L. Quote:
Man, quite a feeling it is! Just couldn't get over it as we crossed Vellore yesterday. The pros here who’ve done a million km must be chuckling but believe me, I never thought I’d reach this day soon and in a VW, no less! It took about 3 years, 8 months and 16 days to cross that figure.
|
After three cars close to or over the 100000 km marks it still feels special. Quote:
[list=a]The heavy clutch - couple that with the slow moving traffic here in Chennai and my left leg hurts like hell! This is like one of those tradeoffs that us manual TDI owners have to live with and I didn’t realise it until I came to a city which has maddening stop-and-go traffic! Anyways, I’ve decided that my next car would definitely be an AT – sorry but I am done with that hard-core stick-shift enthusiast theory!
|
The German way of forcing you to take a break while driving. Can be terrible in traffic. Quote:
[*]The stock seats’ poor comfort – the stock seats offer very poor lumbar support and minimal under-thigh support. As for the rear seat, the short wheelbase and the floor hump doesn’t help either. During a long drive, I always make it a point to take timely breaks - step out of the car every 2 hours and stretch. Plus, the oyster-white shade of the aftermarket upholstery is a pain to maintain! Sometimes, I miss the stock fabric-upholstered seats. In this regard, the seats of our first gen. Swift Dzire are supremely comfortable! That’s one thing I love about that car when I get to drive her. Perhaps I’ll have the upholstery reworked after sometime.
|
One reason I did not go for seat covers was that I felt I would loose the support and bolstering from the stock seats. They have impressed my wife's bad back so much that she occasionally raises the slogan "German or nothing" as the next replacement. Thigh support though for reasonably tall people is lacking. Quote:
[*]Poor braking. At times, I have felt that the braking was inadequate and could have been improved. VW could have easily given disc brakes at the rear which would have largely addressed this issue but no, because cost cutting. After all, when none of the hatchbacks in this price range offers disc brakes at the rear, why should they?!
|
Not sure if this is a result of riding on 205s but I have been very happy in this department. Of the cars that I have owned so far, the GT has been one that has given me the most consistent performance in this department. Quote:
BUT, *touchwood* she has been extremely reliable to this day! She has never broken down, no component failures (not taking into account the wear-and-tear parts such as brake pads, battery etc.) and no replacements under extended warranty. I just pray and hope that it continues that way. I've always prescribed to the timely service schedules and have followed the replacement of critical parts as per that. And with these German cars, a little bit of extra TLC goes a long way in ensuring a trouble free ride. Ask my friends and folks, I treat her like a part of my family and not just another four wheeler to transport people from point A to B. A lot of BHPians subscribe to that school of thought.
|
I wouldn't so far as to put the reliability tag on VW but I feel a lot of reliability issues are related to the lack of attention to detail in VW service centers. Japanese and Korean cars are built relatively stupid proof in the service aspect but the VWs need a bit more attention. The engineering to ensure reliability is there but you need to exploit the features. However bug bears around electronics, transmissions etc still remain. Doesn't help that VW is not very committed to this aspect as well. Quote:
Here's a step-by-step pictorial DIY on how to replace the stock fog lamp bulbs with these bulbs:
|
Do these substantially improve the throw compared to the OEMs? Quote:
[*]Timing belt change – I intend to take this up within the next 10k km considering the car would cross the four-year mark by then. I might get it done from an FNG if the prices are significantly better. Will ask the VW service center for the indicative pricing for this service. I’ll take care of the rest of the scheduled services at every 15k km interval myself. A good friend of mine has his friend who works for VW and has agreed to help me source the parts. I just need to source some tools like a good quality torque wrench to tighten the drain plug (I’ve tried removing one from my car at the service center during a service and it was next to impossible! Evidently, they have tightened it manually using a ring spanner) and the wheel bolts.
|
I am coming up to this shortly. What are your thoughts on replacing only the belt as opposed to the pulley, tensioner along with the belt? Is that really necessary? Quote:
e. I will be swapping the rear drum brake with discs shortly. And if my research goes well, I might end up changing the stock ABS controller to the one that supports ESP and TCS. There's some work involved w.r.t changing the terminals on the connector, changing the stock mounting bracket and a couple of new brake lines.
|
I can's wait to see this. Will be a fantastic mod.
Drive on,
Shibu
Last edited by shibujp : 5th July 2017 at 10:29.
|