[no_boundaries]

YA, I agree. Once you go GT, you can never go back.

Originally Posted by Vik0728

So, I got the 3M folks to give me a Glossy wrap and here are the results:

The car looks brilliant !!
In fact I was contemplating the same with some Blue or Green.
Looking forward for your Kerala experience.

[nakul0888]

Originally Posted by Vik0728

So, I got the 3M folks to give me a Glossy wrap and here are the results:

Hi Vikram, I too have been thinking about doing that gloss wrap on the grill for some time. Recently I noticed some scrape marks near the Gt badge. Some of the chrome has gone. Maybe stone chips or most likely someone had a go at the Gt badge.
How much did it cost you to get the wrap done? I am thinking of going wrapping the roof along with the grill as well? How much would that work out? Any clue?

[Vik0728]

Originally Posted by ajaypjayaraj

You got me thinking you were going to Petes! It hit me later what you meant.

Hahaha I wish Ajay that this Kerala trip was for that, but it surely will not be.

All due respect to Petes in Cochin but personally I think we have enough punters like Shibin and T-O-T in Namma Bengaluru, whom I would go to for a remap.

Originally Posted by no_boundaries

YA, I agree. Once you go GT, you can never go back.

The car looks brilliant !!
In fact I was contemplating the same with some Blue or Green.
Looking forward for your Kerala experience.

Couldn't agree more with you no_boundaries. Once a GT, nothing else 'G'e'T's close !!

Blue or Green bro ? I did not quite get the idea here, can you please explain ?

Originally Posted by nakul0888

How much did it cost you to get the wrap done? I am thinking of going wrapping the roof along with the grill as well? How much would that work out? Any clue?

Thanks Nakul and yes not only is chrome a personal eye-sore, I just hate chipping off !!

This was a mere 150 bucks for the chrome strip, which I think is for the way it transforms the look from the front.

Here are the prices at 3M as on 8th Dec '14, for the stuff I have planned in the near future:

- Polo Gloss black roof 3M wrap - ~8.8 k

- Polo Wing mirrors gloss black 3M wrap - ~1.7 k

- Polo 3M 35% Tint - ~6 k (I guess, not sure)


P.S -Even 3M does not support installing tints as it is against the motor law in India.

[no_boundaries]

Originally Posted by Vik0728

Blue or Green bro ? I did not quite get the idea here, can you please explain ?

I meant instead of a black wrap on the front grille chrome strip, I wanted to get a blue or a green color wrap. Mine is a black GT. Though all black would look killer, I wanted to try some color on the front.

[Vik0728]

UPDATE: Under 9 months & 12,000 Clicks.

Make - VW Polo 1.6 GT TDi
Name - The Red Devil
B'day - 17th June '14
Zipped - 12000 Kms







Yes, it has been blissful ownership of the 1.6 GT TDi.
Have loved & loved every single minute & meter behind the wheel of this German engineering.

Love the:

- Fact that I have realized my dream of living & driving a true hot hatch in India.
- Beast of an engine in a Beauty of a design.
- Frugal nature of the engine though a simple jab can spook those butterflies in the belly.
- Attention to detail inside out.
- Red color that has just grown on me, which was never my choice of color.
- Ground clearance which has never bothered me with BBMP's practical classes.

Hate the:

- Paint chipping that probably due to stray stones on highways.
- Stopping power of the GT TDi, which can make your eyes pop out !!
- Visual Non-differentiater from a regular Highline.

Just hanging back on the modification front for now, but looks like the itch is getting itchier, considering some beautiful ideas from other GT owners such as Supriyo, Raj, Robie, etc.

Some more pics of 'The Red Devil':

[Vik0728]

Mods - Please edit the Title as 15k/1yr Service update


Yes, my Red Devil went past the 15K km with over 2 months left for her 1st Birthday.

I have loved every minute and meter of being with this German Missile. I can only fathom how it would be to drive and own my dream hatch, VW SCIROCCO !!

Anyways, coming back to reality, I started getting the reminder screen every time I turned the ignition on:



Though I had few hundred Kms and over 2 months left, I did not want to wait till the fag end and thought of getting it serviced. I also checked with Gannu on what are the costs that I must lookout out for, which he was very kind in reverting with.

I called up my trusted SA Mr. Jayaprakash (Jay) from VW Palace cross (Rajajinagar) to fix up an appointment. It was blocked for 8th April 9am. The moment I entered the workstation, Jay was waiting to attend my vehicle, which was very pleasing.
I honestly did not have any real issues to report except for a faint rattle that I would hear from around the hand brake panel. Jay noted that and assured me that everything will be taken care. Since I had done the wheel alignment, rotation and balancing couple of weeks back, I requested Jay to cancel the same, which he agreed. Also, I had a very bad time cleaning the polish off the dashboard that was applied by the VW service guys during the 7.5K kms general checkup. Hence I asked Jay not to wash or polish the car, which he agreed to as well.
I was given an estimation of about 11k and the time was 3.30 p.m.

Promptly, I got a call from Jay and 3 p.m to come and collect my GT as the service was done and she was all set to annihilate another 15K kms.

When I reached the workstation, I was pleasantly surprised to see the car washed, waxed and glistening in the bright Bangalore Sun. But Jay had ensured that the interiors were only cleaned/vacuumed and no polish was applied to the interiors. BRILLIANT.

Jay explained the parts that were replaced and also showed me these worn out/beaten up parts like air filter, a/c filter, etc. They looked quite bad and I was really glad that they were all replaced.

So, here is the breakup of the service:



TOTAL COST for 15K KMs service - INR 11, 042/-.

I think this is really great for a German Diesel car, which seems to have gathered quite a notorious reputation for being insanely heavy on pocket.

I did mention to Jay about the pre-facelift Polo weak headlights and checked if I can swap it with the current double barrel one. He informed me that it was possible but would cost a lot, both as a product and labor since it requires lot of wiring change. He suggested me an upgrade and informed me that as long as the wires/cables were not split/spliced, warranty would hold good.

This is exactly what I wanted to hear from a long time and so, went ahead and upgraded the Headlight bulbs to 90/100W Hella, the exact setup that Brraj has on his GT. I got the same from EVO, Bangalore for a total cost of INR 1,400/-, which is really great.

Here are the pics of the same:





This has made a world of difference to my night drives. The road ahead lights up really well and offers splendid visibility.

A parting shot of THE RED DEVIL that I have totally been swept off my feet by.

[Gannu_1]

Didn’t I insist not to get the brakes checked? At 15k km, this is precisely what we call a con job! There is absolutely no need to get the brakes inspected, if you are not facing any issues with it. The service center usually insists this be done at the 30k km/2 year service but this is insane!

The AC disinfectant service as well - spraying some aerosol can into the A/C outlet ducts doesn’t do any disinfection AFAIK.

Were you facing any issues with the door locks? This is what the lock cylinder lubrication is all about:



Not sure why this was done unnecessarily. You could have easily shaved off 1700 odd Rs from the bill. Your trusted SA is conning you.

[aurelino]

Originally Posted by Vik0728

Magic of 1.6 TDI !!

Last weekend me and couple of my friends had tested my GT TDI against 2 other sports versions, 90 HP Punto & I10 (Sportz) for Performance, In-gear acceleration & driving experience.

One a long drive early morning today, wanted to check what GT TDI is capable of, if driven with FE in mind.

Method was to accelerate gently in each gear and as far as possible kept the car below 80-90 km/hr. Allowed the engine to slow down on its own when de-celerating and some open roads also helped in cruising.

The result, well was astounding:



GT TDI is really one of the best things that VW India have given us. It is not only one of the fastest sub-20 Lks car but if need be, can also be one of the most Frugal !!

Absolutely. Even though mine is a 1.5, I still got this the other day!

[Vik0728]

Originally Posted by Gannu_1

Didn’t I insist not to get the brakes checked? At 15k km, this is precisely what we call a con job!

Your trusted SA is conning you.

Hey Gannu I agree completely with you on stuff you had alerted me about but I did have few issues with braking, where I felt the bite had reduced from already deplorable stage.

I had told me SA about the A/c being a bit ineffective of late, probably he used this as a reason to run the AC disinfectant.

The door was a fleece and I did point this out to the SA who informed me that this was part of their routine service thing. I guess, I had to bite the bait here !!

Originally Posted by aurelino

Absolutely. Even though mine is a 1.5, I still got this the other day!

Woah aurelino even for a 1.5 TDi, those are some mind boggling figures !!

I have come to realize that the thought "Germans know how to design & deliver the Best Diesel Engines" is actually true.

[no_boundaries]

Hi Vikram,

On the important milestone.

Has the first service made any difference to the car in terms of refinement, response and mileage.

Mine is at 14600 Kms and I have booked an appointment for this monday for the 15K service. As part of a service camp, it was discovered the steering rack is defective. I had complained of a minor rattle at sub 40km/hr speeds on certain kind of roads or crossing a speed breaker at 10-15 km/hr. So the part was unavailable then and has been procured now, so that would be changed on the GT this service. Apart from that the car has no troubles except the occasional jerk/knock while releasing the clutch. This needs to be addressed too.

Bravo ! for Light upgrade. I'm going to do that before my next long drive to Hyd.

BTW, the car looks "Redder" than before. Killer looks.

@Gannu_1 : Thanks for the heads up on the fleecing techniques. Will knock 'em of the park

[Gannu_1]

Originally Posted by Vik0728

Hey Gannu I agree completely with you on stuff you had alerted me about but I did have few issues with braking, where I felt the bite had reduced from already deplorable stage.

Has it improved after the service? What did the service center do other than removing and replacing them back? Not new brake pads for sure since I can't see them in the bill.

[Vik0728]

Originally Posted by no_boundaries

Hi Vikram,

BTW, the car looks "Redder" than before. Killer looks.

@Gannu_1 : Thanks for the heads up on the fleecing techniques. Will knock 'em of the park

Thank you bro and here's one for you on the Milestone completion !!

I am not quite sure if the service has done this, but I can surely notice a lot more refinement in the diesel clutter, which was a bit on the higher side before. The car seems to be revving a bit more freely now as well and a recent "Rainy" morning drive within the city returned a mileage of about 16.5 (MID reading), which I think also attributed a lot to lesser Sunday morning commuters.

In short bro, service seems to have done a lot more Good to an already Brilliant car.

Importantly, please do watch out for the stuff Gannu has pointed out to.

Originally Posted by Gannu_1

Has it improved after the service?

I am honestly quite positive about the braking improvement Gannu, though they have not replaced the brake pad. The SA did tell me that they have thoroughly cleaned the brakes.

I can assure you that braking has improved by a notch or two.

[Gannu_1]

Then they must have skimmed the rotors on a lathe perhaps? Never seen official service centres with a lathe though.

[Vik0728]

It has been 13 months & 19000 Kms of exhilarating journey with my RED DEVIL.



I have loved every single time I got behind the wheels and have loathed the times when I could not. I could not have asked for a more satisfying car ownership albeit a BMW ownership is a distant dream. In fact, this is the first car amongst the 3 which I have left stock/un-altered this long. I guess that in itself speaks volumes on how good a machine this really is.

This is just an update of all my personal learning/observations of this German Engineering:

- To date 1.6 GT TDI seems to be the real 'Sports Diesel Hatch' in India and nothing else in this category even comes close.

- The car really surprises you with everything and more. For example, on a recent drive with 5 adults & tiny bit of baggage in the boot, the car returned a mileage of 22.3 km/l during a 200km drive. All this with speeds of about 100 km/hr and AC running 70% of the time !!

- The car is not the best when it come to the stopping power and I have rather adapted my driving to it. It still gives me "Oh Freak...." kinda moments at times.

- Polo GT (TDI/TSI) were designed to induce fun to the driver and at the most a co-passenger. If somebody wants to buy either of these, they have to keep one thing in mind that this ain't no people mover or luggage carrier.

- I am just not completely convinced but I honestly think that VW after sales seems to have improved a lot. I can see a close resemblance to Hyundai A.S.S at times, but only with respect to the way I have been attended to for now.

- I recently drove a colleagues Ecosport and realized how low the Polo actually is when it comes to the seating. I personally am a huge fan of low slung cars and I could not have asked for anything more on this front.

- Thoughtful features are something that I have fallen in love with and which seem to have completely ignored by the manufacturers even on their latest launches, viz:

• All 4 windows One touch Up/Down with Pinch guard
• Roll down/up windows with the key (remotely)
• All 4 window switches illuminated
• Telescopic steering column with reach & rake
• About 4 modes available for Wiper blade operation
• Speed sensing door locks (not a unique feature though)
• One feature which is really brilliant is the locking of the doors. If any of the doors were left open or not closed completely and one locked the car, the rest of doors are locked. Now all you have to do is, open that particular door and shut it correctly to lock the car, no need of pressing the lock button again!!
• Visual & Audible notification of Low fuel & Hand brake engaged

I have been following Gannu's thread very closely and have loved every bit of swap/upgrade he has gone ahead with. I have noted down every single thing that I am sure will eventually be incorporated into my GT as well.



For now, I only have some more pics of my RED DEVIL to showcase.

[hemanth.anand]

Is your car made out of metal or Gorilla Glass!
That is so glossy that I can hear a squeak even in these pictures!

It is a pure driver's delight as much as it is a delight to look at from outside.
Today morning a Red hot Polo GT with black roof and black alloys overtook my car and I was seeing it in awe and a pinch of jealousy

By the Way, I see a KA 14 registered Mahindra in the second picture. is that a Thar?