[mr_hardcore]

Originally Posted by suhaas307

That's looks sweet! Where did you get those exhaust-finishers and how did you manage the bumper cut-out?

Sourced locally from CP. The bumper was cut with a regular knife and the edges then finished to perfection with a grinder and some real experienced hands

[RavenAvi]

Nice! Hearty congratulations, my friend.

You have made a superb choice. The GT TSI is a real hoot to drive. Once you turn on the ignition and press the pedal, everything else goes out of the mind (and the vision ahead!). I can't wait to see Pete's remapped tweaks injected into that sweet little engine, to pull out more power and torque for your sheer delight.

The white + black combo looks wicked. Add a dash of red to the front and back (like the fantastic GTI grille posted above), and it will add a lot more to the already-stunning looks. It will certainly stand out from the crowd, wherever she is parked. I can imagine the envious glances from all onlookers when you unlock the car and ease in!

Enjoy your hot hatch to the full in the days to come. Rev' her real hard, but drive safe. Wish you plenty of wide-grinning miles ahead!

[ventoman]

Originally Posted by suhaas307

...The Polo GT TSI, with its tweak-able engine and sound dynamics, is the perfect canvas to work on!..

This 'take-it-or-leave-it attitude left a terrible taste in my mouth and at that point, I couldn't wait to drive the car out of the dealership. The experience with the dealership was par, at best.

The actual delivery experience was quite pleasant. I was introduced to the technician who will be in charge of my car. Along with the keys, I was given some goodies including a box of cute little VW Beetle shaped chocolates, a few key-chains and a voucher for 10 liters of petrol among other things.

A month into ownership, I have received several calls from the dealership asking me to provide them with my feedback on the booking and delivery experience but not one call with regard to the car. However, I did get a call a few days back asking if one of them could drop by at my place and clear any doubts, if any, in so far as my car is concerned.

Congratulations Suhaas on your purchase. I too purchased my Vento TSI from VW Palace cross and it was in fact my second purchase with them. However, my experience with them has been quite positive from start to end, probably due to my in-house Insurance purchase.

Same experience on the calls from dealership and they were literally pestering me to go on a long drive, as I had done only 1000 kms then.

Originally Posted by suhaas307

..

And here is a list of features that ought to have been there on a car that costs 10 lakhs:
..
Indiscriminate cost-cutting tactics employed by Volkswagen:

..
..
NOTE: Cost-cutting notwithstanding, VW has steadily increased the price of the car and is now a good 75k more than what it used to be when it entered the market.

Fully agree with you on VW's cost cutting.
I have seen few equally horrible cost cuttings on my face lifted Vento TSI, such as lack of dead pedal , inferior BCM (although its 087 series), lack of cruise control (that's available on Rapid), inferior Parking sensor (cannot enable visual display with after market HUs)

Originally Posted by suhaas307

In the city, the TSI and DSG7 work together brilliantly, making the commute effortless! Puttering around town is an effortless exercise and the car's small dimensions ensures great maneuverability! The gearbox works through the ratios seamlessly and before you know it, you're in 6th doing just under 60. The car gets to cruising speed in no time! The shifts seemed to be a little jerky initially and the fuel economy wasn't great either. I was told that once the engine sets in and the gearbox adapts to the driver's style, the FE should improve and the shifts would be less jerky.

..
I've noticed that driving in the city has gotten a lot less stressful, now that I don't need to constantly engage the clutch and change gears. And one thing's for sure, I no longer need to switch off the air-conditioner if and when I need to get going.

TSI+DSG is a boon for bangalore's b2b traffic and I feel that the DSG starts adapting to your driving style quite quickly. I'm finding my car gradually improving and closing in on my driving style (w.r.t gear shifts) every 100-200kms or so.

Originally Posted by mr_hardcore

Sourced locally from CP. The bumper was cut with a regular knife and the edges then finished to perfection with a grinder and some real experienced hands

Nice mod Hardcore.

Would like to do it on my Vento and a friend's GT. Does it amplify the exhaust note?

[Bhodrolok]

Lovely car... I have test driven all 3 versions of it since the original release. Wondering if I should actually pull the trigger or hold on for another year so that the new Polo comes around. I am sure the next version will solve the issue of not enough features and creature comforts.

Anyway congrats to OP on the new hottie! Drive safe.

[mr_hardcore]

Originally Posted by ventoman

Nice mod Hardcore.

Would like to do it on my Vento and a friend's GT. Does it amplify the exhaust note?

It's purely for aesthetics with no changes in performance and exhaust note.

[aurelino]

Originally Posted by Bhodrolok

Wondering if I should actually pull the trigger or hold on for another year so that the new Polo comes around. I am sure the next version will solve the issue of not enough features and creature comforts.

But then you are depriving yourself of all the fun you could have right now. Auto-folding ORVM are nice to have but are they a deal breaker for you?
The 2014 facelift GT is still pretty good. Since the launch, they've already started downgrading things like tyres and leather wrapping on the gear shaft. If new features are introduced, they'll come at a price too, so there's always a trade off.

[suhaas307]

Originally Posted by coolboy007

How is the steering on Octavia compared to the Polo TSi? If there is one thing i have not got used to after so many years is the light and lifeless steering. Really spoils the fun and even after running 205 tyres, the steering remains much lighter than i would have wished for. Vento is a family sedan but VW should have provided a quicker ratio, well weighted steering on GT models.

Apologies for not answering the questions earlier..

Both steerings feel equally light. They do weigh up but not enough. Suffice to say, this is how it's going to be, going forward.

Originally Posted by Turbo_asd

With regards to your feature wishlist, VAGtune retrofits a lot of these parts such as electrically folding ORVM's and reverse cams. A trip to their branch at Hosur may be helpful.

I did give this some thought but decided against Vagtune because of their ridiculous prices. 30k for auto-fold mirrors. Another 30k for the flip-type reverse-camera (not to mention another 30k for the headunit which is required).

Also, I'm not completely convinced as far as reliability is concerned. The thought of messing around with the car's wiring is scary and not something I'd want to get into.

Originally Posted by RavenAvi

Nice! Hearty congratulations, my friend.

Enjoy your hot hatch to the full in the days to come. Rev' her real hard, but drive safe. Wish you plenty of wide-grinning miles ahead!

Thank you so much for the warm wishes!

Originally Posted by ventoman

Fully agree with you on VW's cost cutting.
I have seen few equally horrible cost cuttings on my face lifted Vento TSI, such as lack of dead pedal , inferior BCM (although its 087 series), lack of cruise control (that's available on Rapid), inferior Parking sensor (cannot enable visual display with after market HUs)


TSI+DSG is a boon for bangalore's b2b traffic and I feel that the DSG starts adapting to your driving style quite quickly. I'm finding my car gradually improving and closing in on my driving style (w.r.t gear shifts) every 100-200kms or so.

Thanks Ventoman!

My experience with Palace Cross was a mixed bag.

Yes, I've noticed that the DSG has quickly adapted to my driving style and it continues to 'learn' as well.

Originally Posted by Bhodrolok

Lovely car... I have test driven all 3 versions of it since the original release. Wondering if I should actually pull the trigger or hold on for another year so that the new Polo comes around. I am sure the next version will solve the issue of not enough features and creature comforts.

Anyway congrats to OP on the new hottie! Drive safe.

With the Vento up for a major facelift and the Vento-based compact sedan around the corner, don't count on it. I expect VW to flog the Polo / Vento for some time, perhaps even after the global unveil of the new car. Get it now before it gets too late!

PS also I suspect VW will introduce the 1 liter 3 cylinder petrol engine in an ordinary state of tune for the Indian market.

[Akshay89]

Hi congratulations on the fantastic buy, the car is a BOMB!!!
Could you tell me where did you buy the arm rest from and the price?
I am actually looking to buy one.

[F150]

Welcome to the DSG family, city drives are luxury personified. You just sit back and relax.
which tyre size did you upgrade to ? Any plans to upgrade the ICE to Philadelphia 835

[Sankar]

Congrats Suhas!
How does the car feel on Continental MC5, and did you consider any other tyre before deciding on MC5?

The alloy wheels is made by Ronal in Spain. http://www.ronal-wheels.com/en-int/home.html
Did the pre-facelift Polo highline get the Ronal made wheels?

Did you import the center handrest directly or buy it through Petes? I'm also looking forward to install one in my car.

[pgsagar]

Originally Posted by suhaas307

...Let's get one thing straight. This ain't no rocket ship. It cannot be, even remotely referred to as a hot hatch either. It's at best, a warm-hatch. I'm not even sure if it's worthy of the GT badge to be completely honest. It is reasonably quick though and the out-right-punch sort of reminds me of the 1.3 MJD powered Swift.

I have to admit, after having driven the Octavia 1.8 TSI on a regular basis, the Polo feels rather tame. Sure, it's an unfair comparison. But I can't help it given that the gearbox is pretty much the same and the engine is from the same family. That being said, the little TSI feels quite sprightly in its own right and owing to the sheer lack in bulk and considerably smaller footprint, it feels even lighter off its feet than the big brother Octavia.

The throttle-response is good but not lightning-quick. In fact, I find that the old i10's Torque-Converter AT to be more responsive in bumper-to-bumper traffic. Light throttle inputs in the i10 AT make the car lunge forward, allowing you to close gaps in chock-a-block traffic senarios.

Congrats Suhas! And thanks a lot for an honest review (quotes in bold). Most Polo owners go overboard and make it sound like it is fastest car there is. I mean superlatives like, DSGs smoke other cars, blow others into weed etc. etc. I drove Laura DSGs and Cruze DSGs back to back and did not understand what all the fuss about DSGs was. I mean it did not seem faster accelerating than conventional torque converter. At least to my naked eyes and ears. Acutually I found Cruze AT better accelerating than Laura DSG. Anyway, to each his own. And congrats once again. And red is the best colour in Polo, I guess.

[CoolBlueBiker]

Congratulations on your new ride Suhaas !!

From the pictures posted, looks like you went to Madhus near Shanthinagar. Just as you did with your VW, took my i20 crdi from the showroom to Madhus. The ASC had put hideous looking clip-on weights on the alloys Could not stand the sight of my alloys getting spoilt and took the car straight to Madhus. Changed to sticker weights immediately.

Hope this is not the case with VW. If so, please get the sticker weights installed next time you are at Madhus. Mr.Gopal should be able to help you out. cheers

[arunphilip]

Congratulations on your car! While white may not be my preferred colour, who cares when you're in that gorgeous cockpit!

Originally Posted by suhaas307

Modifications and Accessories:[*]Osram Nightbreakers / Philips Xtreme Vision headlight-bulbs

Is there any way you can borrow/try out these bulbs first? I'm asking because the interaction between bulb and reflector influences how effectively a combination works (both objectively and subjectively).

For instance wilful tried out the Osram Nightbreaker+ based on my recommendation and use, but he found the high beam to be unnecessarily scattered, and ended up switching to imported Philips Xtreme Vision. Since I putter around mostly on low beams, I'm fine with the NB+.

Originally Posted by wilful

Got my new set of Philips Xtreme Vision +130 on Saturday - fixed them yesterday. Here are some pics. They seem to be somewhat better than Osram NB Plus on low beam. The high beam of Osram was pretty scattered while these are less scattered but focussed a lot more upward (even with the levelling set to the lowest position as in the pic) leaving dark spaces down below. These dark patches can be reduced with the light from the fog lamps.

[Santoshbhat]

Originally Posted by pgsagar

Congrats Suhas! And thanks a lot for an honest review (quotes in bold). Most Polo owners go overboard and make it sound like it is fastest car there is. I mean superlatives like, DSGs smoke other cars, blow others into weed etc. etc. I drove Laura DSGs and Cruze DSGs back to back and did not understand what all the fuss about DSGs was. I mean it did not seem faster accelerating than conventional torque converter. At least to my naked eyes and ears. Acutually I found Cruze AT better accelerating than Laura DSG. Anyway, to each his own. And congrats once again. And red is the best colour in Polo, I guess.

It may not be fast by global hatchback standards, but by Indian hatch standards I think it carry off the title of a hot hatch. You'd be surprised at how many cars it can outdrag from a traffic light. More than the engine its the DSG that makes it quick. I can totally relate to what Suhaas has mentioned as we have an i10AT as well as a GT TSI in our garage. There is a mild lag in transferring power in 1st gear with the DSG, which makes it tough to close small gaps from standstill, whereas the torque converter in the i10 is instantaneous. But thereafter there is simply no comparison. The i10 box will whine and moan where the DSG unit is literally on song keeping the engine in the meat of its powerband. Another beautiful thing about the DSG box is its intuitive nature. Its almost seems to read your mind, altering shift points or holding gears based throttle inputs alone.

The basic 4 spd torque convertor unit actually makes the capable 1.2 VTVT unit seem pedestrian whereas the DSG makes 1.2 Turbo unit perform like a 1.8L unit. For me atleast (someone had been driving torque converter AT and MT cars) the DSG has truly lived up to all the hype.

[suhaas307]

Originally Posted by Akshay89

Hi congratulations on the fantastic buy, the car is a BOMB!!!
Could you tell me where did you buy the arm rest from and the price?
I am actually looking to buy one.

Thank you!

I've already mentioned it a few times in this thread, once in the first post of my ownership report.

I bought it from Pete's, Bangalore. It was a little expensive. I do not wish to disclose the price, so kindly as PM me.

Originally Posted by F150

Welcome to the DSG family, city drives are luxury personified. You just sit back and relax.
which tyre size did you upgrade to ? Any plans to upgrade the ICE to Philadelphia 835

Thanks! I've been a part of the family since September last year when the Octavia came home.

I've upsized the tyres to 195/60 R15.

I'm planning on getting a pair of components. That should suffice for now. Other suggestions regarding ICE are most welcome!

Originally Posted by Sankar

Congrats Suhas!
How does the car feel on Continental MC5, and did you consider any other tyre before deciding on MC5?

The alloy wheels is made by Ronal in Spain. http://www.ronal-wheels.com/en-int/home.html
Did the pre-facelift Polo highline get the Ronal made wheels?

Did you import the center handrest directly or buy it through Petes? I'm also looking forward to install one in my car.

Thanks Sankar!

The tyres are great! The grip levels are good and the car stops on a dime and without drama. I did briefly consider the MRF ZLO and Z-Sport in 205/55 R15.

The wheels on the current GT are the exact same ones on the pre-facelift Highline, as far as I know.

The armrest was bought and installed at Pete's. It's much better than the ones on Aliexpress and what the dealership offered.

Originally Posted by pgsagar

Congrats Suhas! And thanks a lot for an honest review (quotes in bold). Most Polo owners go overboard and make it sound like it is fastest car there is. I mean superlatives like, DSGs smoke other cars, blow others into weed etc. etc. I drove Laura DSGs and Cruze DSGs back to back and did not understand what all the fuss about DSGs was. I mean it did not seem faster accelerating than conventional torque converter. At least to my naked eyes and ears. Acutually I found Cruze AT better accelerating than Laura DSG. Anyway, to each his own. And congrats once again. And red is the best colour in Polo, I guess.

Thank you!

Yes, I was expecting it to be very quick, and while it is fast, it certainly isn't a rocketship. The punch from the motor is akin to what you'd feel in a diesel Swift. What makes the difference though is the DSG. The gearbox shifts gears so quickly that it saves you the 2 seconds you lose while engaging the clutch and changing the gear. For a better explanation, kindly refer Santoshbhat's post on the same page.

The Cruze is a torque monster and that's why it feels quicker off the mark.

Red is indeed the best colour but I couldn't see myself driving a red car for more than 3 years and this car is a keeper.

Originally Posted by CoolBlueBiker

Congratulations on your new ride Suhaas !!

Thanks, and the tips are appreciated!

Originally Posted by arunphilip

Congratulations on your car! While white may not be my preferred colour, who cares when you're in that gorgeous cockpit!

Is there any way you can borrow/try out these bulbs first? I'm asking because the interaction between bulb and reflector influences how effectively a combination works (both objectively and subjectively).

For instance wilful tried out the Osram Nightbreaker+ based on my recommendation and use, but he found the high beam to be unnecessarily scattered, and ended up switching to imported Philips Xtreme Vision. Since I putter around mostly on low beams, I'm fine with the NB+.

Thanks!

White wasn't my first choice either and I opted for it after eliminating the other options. Ideally, I would have loved the dark blue colour available on the regular Polo.

As far as the bulbs are concerned, you've got me thinking! I use the low beam about 70% of the time.

I have a question though and it may sound like a noob-question, so apologies in advance. Should I get a set of 4 (considering that the headlights are now dual-barrel) or will a pair be sufficient?