[suhaas307]

Now before I get into details, I'll give you guys a little bit of a background:

As some of you may know, I bought my Polo in April 2015 for about 10.5 lakh. It was a huge upgrade from my 10+ year old Hyundai Santro, and as you can imagine I was over the moon! Finally, a solid car with a sweet engine and a quick-shifting gearbox. And of course, as illustrated by several members on the Forum, it's the ideal canvas for upgrades and modifications.

As soon as I'd taken delivery of the car, I swapped the godawful MRFs for a set of premium looking Continental MC5s and the car was thereafter pressed into service - daily office commute, grocery wagon, chauffeuring for my folks, trips to the veterinarian, etc. I'd even driven the car a few times to Sakleshpur, Coorg, and I'd even driven with my colleagues to Dandeli - the furthest the car has ever been from Bangalore (500 odd kilometers one way).

The car performed remarkably well during these drives, but I did notice that the ride was a bit on the firm side. I brushed that aside as a quirk of the car or perhaps, the tyres. Opinions of people on the Forum who exclaimed that the Polo's ride is plush truly baffled me! There was no denying that the ride was firm!

In a nutshell, I was thrilled to be driving a solidly built turbo-petrol car with decent dynamics and practicality. The fact that VW had removed little things like fabric on the door cards, leather on the handbrake lever, etc. didn't bother me too much.

Little did I know that VW had steadily removed little creature comforts and premium touches not just on the surface but also under its skin.

Unfortunately, I'd bought the car at the end of the 1st quarter of 2015 - arguably the worst period to have bought the GT TSI because they not only removed some of the premium bits from the car by the time I'd bought mine, they began sprucing up the GT models with a host of features immediately after I'd taken delivery! *Face palm*

VW has since added at least a dozen new features - electronically foldable ORVMs, blinkers integrated into the ORVMs, auto-dimming mirrors, cruise control, cooled glove-box, new touchscreen HU, rain-sensing wipers, 16" alloy wheels, and most recently - a new colour option and GTI inspired Tartan fabric upholstery. Most of these features were introduced within one year of purchasing my car, and I couldn't have been more disgruntled about it!

Now, during April 2015 and December 2018, the car visited Volkswagen Palace Cross (Rajaji nagar) 3 times for routine service, during which time I managed to develop a rapport with one Mr. Vinay Kumar, a senior engineer who used to attend to my car and address my questions. He is a good man and although he wouldn't oblige to some of my requests, he would make it a point to indulge me whenever I visited the service center. I made it a point to complain about the stiff ride and the tight-ish steering - a flaw that had developed some time in 2017. The service guys did nothing about it though.

And then in March 2017, a freak accident involving a large branch left my parked car with a badly damaged windshield and a little dimple on the front fender. I had to take the car to the Hessaragatta service center to get it changed.

Late 2017, I got married and moved into an apartment closer to my office which is located on Lavelle Road.

With my daily Home-Office-Home commute reduced to 3 km, I would often let my car sit in my building basement for long periods (this probably explains the low 28k odo reading) and get my wife to drop me to work () or take the occasional walk back home.

During the car's routine annual service in March 2018, I had again complained about the tightness of the steering and the ride quality that had now breached the line between firm and stiff. Mr. Vinay brushed it aside again and said that the suspension was fine and required no change.

Having driven a grand total of 4000 km in 2018, my car's battery went flat late last year. Jump-starting it with leads, courtesy our friendly neighbourhood moderator Ajmat, didn't work because the battery was truly dead. What else could I have expected, considering that my commute to the office took no longer than 5 minutes, even during rush hour. To avoid the hassles of contacting VW and claiming warranty to replace the dead battery, I spoke to a friend who owns a battery shop and he promptly swapped the dead battery for a brand new one in the basement of my building.

Assuming that it was my lack of fitness that gave me a routine back ache, and not the car's super stiff ride, I'd brushed it aside and had driven the car extensively to Devanahalli, Nelamangala and Anekal without giving it too much thought.

However, it was late last month when Vidyut and I had met up on a weekend to sample the Harrier that I had decided to take the deteriorating ride quality a bit seriously. It was when Vidyut and I had swapped cars from the Tata showroom on Hosur Road and had driven to a coffee shop in HSR Layout that I'd realised that even the EcoSport's stiff ride felt like a freaking Mercedes S Class in comparison to my Polo's! The moment we reached the coffee shop, Vidyut was wide-eyed and immediately told me that there's something very broken in my chassis and that I better get it checked. And that was the push I needed to get my car examined thoroughly.

Although I could have approached VW Palace Cross and exercised my extended warranty, I knew that VW would either reject my claim citing that the potentially worn parts was the result of usual wear and tear, or allow my claims only to replace the potentially worn parts with another set of sub-standard parts.

Having acquired the contact of one Mr. Azaan Sait from a friend who owns and services his Laura TSI at Azaan's independent garage, I'd decided to give him a call and fix an appointment.

On the 4th of February, I drove the car to the workshop and Azaan promptly put it on the lift and removed the wheels, only to discover that the struts were leaking terribly and looked in bad shape. Upon further examination, we noticed that most of the components were either entirely worn or on their way out! In fact, Azaan asked me if I've been off roading my car, because there was no way the suspension would be worn to such an extent!

A photograph of one of the leaky struts up-front:



Now, people who know me are aware that I am a stickler for good driving and road etiquette. Whenever I'm driving down a road, I'm constantly scanning the tarmac for undulations and potholes, and I carefully negotiate them without causing trouble to the car or its occupants. Thus, I simply couldn't fathom how my suspension was in the state that it was in!

And then it struck me! It wasn't just the terrible state of the city's roads, but also the super hard Continentals and of course, the sub-standard suspension components VW decided to use on all Polos after 2014. The first batch of Polos in 2010 came fitted with German OEM suspension parts. Post 2014, VW went on a localizing spree in a bid to reduce manufacturing and assembly costs by replacing the OE components with Made-in-India Gabriel parts. However, the prices of these cars only went up!

Disgruntled with not just VW as a manufacturer (for skimping on quality parts) but also with the service center for not seriously considering my requests, I told my mechanic friend to undertake a complete suspension overhaul and he got to work immediately.

At first, my mechanic friend suggested I go with either Sachs or TRW for the struts, but I was insistent that I get a set of Bilstein B6.. up until I calculated the estimate for the suspension overhaul. The estimate was predictably an eye-watering 50,000 and I decided to hold off on the Bilsteins for another day. And since I was getting the chassis overhauled anyway, I asked my friend to give it a thorough service as well.

Initially, I was informed that the imported Sachs parts were not available and that I will have to go with TRWs. Thereafter, my friend told me that there's a full Sachs suspension street package available in stock but requires to be shipped from his warehouse in Coimbatore. Incidentally, this Sachs street package is identical to the chassis and suspension fitted to the first batch of Skoda Fabias that were sold in India!

The parts were shipped to Bangalore in a hurry and the team got down to brass tacks, removing the offending parts and installing the new package. The break-in of the service and suspension package may be found below:

Engine Oil 3800
Oil Filter 660
Fuel Filter 1430
Front Struts 12600 (2)
Front Strut Mounts 1600 (2)
Rear Shocks 7600 (2)
Rear Shock Mounts 2200 (2)
Lower Arms 9000 (2)
Stabiliser Links 2800 (2)
Tie Rod Ends 3000 (2)
Steering Ball Joints 4400 (2)

New struts:





After about 36 hours, the car was ready for delivery. I swung by the workshop, collected it, and immediately noticed the improvement in ride quality.

On some empty sections of the city streets, I stretched its legs a bit and was astonished by the car's new-found dynamics! The steering immediately felt sharper, it was turning into corners more eagerly, it rode absolutely flat over a few bumpy sections and it even braked better! Finally, the car felt 'damped'! The annoying hissing sounds from the front end is history, the car doesn't bob around anymore, and the front end now feels properly planted! The rear still felt a bit skittish and I could hear the occasional thud but I'm given to understand that the suspension needs to bed-in a bit before it comes into its own.

My take-aways:

1) Other than the fact that I had to shell out some serious dough to set things right, I'm pretty happy with the results.

2) Needless to say, I will not be visiting VW Rajajinagar or any VW service center for that matter. Going forward, the car will be serviced only at independent garages such as Azaan's.

3) I will never recommend Continentals, especially the MC5s, to anyone ever again! I truly apologise to everyone to whom I'd recommended these tyres, especially Graaja and a couple of other members. The wear on the tyres aren't bad, but on a car like the Polo which is equipped with sub-standard suspension parts, it's just not worth it!

More modifications / upgrades are in the pipeline. There is definitely something interesting coming this month, if everything goes according to plan. Fingers crossed!

Watch this space!

P.S. Apologies for not documenting the entire service and suspension overhaul with sufficient photographs as I have been extremely unwell and unable to be present at the workshop to watch the overhaul take place.

[raihan]

Even though I own a Laura TSI I've always admired the little GT TSI for the tech & the looks.
All's well that ends well, how are your front rotors & pads doing?
Could you pl share the contact details of Mr Azaan as I'd like to take my Laura TSI to someone knowledgeable in future.

[lionell]

Originally Posted by suhaas307

Now before I get into details, I'll give you guys a little bit of a background:

The car performed remarkably well during these drives, but I did notice that the ride was a bit on the firm side. I brushed that aside as a quirk of the car or perhaps, the tyres. Opinions of people on the Forum who exclaimed that the Polo's ride is plush truly baffled me! There was no denying that the ride was firm!

Firm it is for sure. I had posted in another thread how my 21500km run GT TSI suspension started rattling early mornings. The rattles would die down once the car warmed up. Reason: both shocks are busted and that's causing the rattle. Got the left one changed and now there is a mild rattle on the right.

I stay in a small town and had thought of procuring Bilstein or Sachs but I may move out of the country soon and didn't want to invest more. Had no choice but the get the standard shocks from the ASC. Will have to get the right one changed soon.

It really sucks that VW have reduced the quality of parts

[ajmat]

I tagged along with Suhaas to collect the Polo. I have been facing some issues with my Jetta's AC which will be documented on my thread shortly. Azaan took a look and zero'd in on the cause and eliminated one other issue. Lest to say, I will be going to Azaan in the future.

Getting more to topic. B6 Bilsteins. Azaan clearly advised us against these. They are great on a smooth road but crashy on normal uneven roads.

Oh, compared to the Polo, my Jetta has done 65k km but the suspension is fine although the struts are a little wallowy with age but not so much. I have MC5's but the suspension can take them. Mind you I moved from even worse Goodyears!

[Santoshbhat]

Originally Posted by ajmat

I tagged along with Suhaas to collect the Polo. I have been facing some issues with my Jetta's AC which will be documented on my thread shortly. Azaan took a look and zero'd in on the cause and eliminated one other issue. Lest to say, I will be going to Azaan in the future.

Getting more to topic. B6 Bilsteins. Azaan clearly advised us against these. They are great on a month road but crashy on normal uneven roads.

Oh, compared to the Polo, my Jetta has done 65k miles but the suspension is find although the struts are a little wallowy with age but not so much. I have MC5's but the suspension can take them. Mind you I moved from even worse Goodyears!

Yes the Bilsteins will make the ride busy on uneven roads, especially at slow speeds. They come into their own at slightly higher speeds. In fact at higher speeds the ride is better than stock. The increased damping of course, has a very positive impact on high speed handling and stability. I'd recommend Bilsteins for those doing a lot of highway driving. For Bangalore roads Bilsteins are best best avoided. For Polo I would avoid too, but for the Jetta I think I would go for it

[d_himan]

Originally Posted by Santoshbhat

Yes the Bilsteins will make the ride busy on uneven roads, especially at slow speeds. They come into their own at slightly higher speeds. In fact at higher speeds the ride is better than stock. The increased damping of course, has a very positive impact on high speed handling and stability. I'd recommend Bilsteins for those doing a lot of highway driving. For Bangalore roads Bilsteins are best best avoided. For Polo I would avoid too, but for the Jetta I think I would go for it

Having owned the B6s for a while now on stock springs, on perhaps worse roads in Mumbai, my view is they make a massive difference if you're an aggressive driver. Else, can avoid.

-ves: busier ride on uneven surfaced roads, louder over expansion joints - remedied to an extent with 26-28 psi.
+ves - very silent shocks with no hiss, transforms the polo into a supremely stable darty machine , absolutely no up-down movements, feels very 'duster' like at higher speeds over potholes, can go off-road/off-shoulder with grace, highway drives are in a different league with high triple digit speeds feeling extremely 'slow'.

For aggressive city driving, I think B6 suits the Polo GT TSI as a package very well, maybe much better than the Jetta. For this size of car - perfect width and no boot - the sheer space it frees up for everyday maneuvers for getting ahead of city traffic is very, very special - like a supremely stable autorickshaw on steroids. I can only imagine the insane fun they would be on the Polo GTI.

[Santoshbhat]

Originally Posted by d_himan

Having owned the B6s for a while now on stock springs, on perhaps worse roads in Mumbai, my view is they make a massive difference if you're an aggressive driver. Else, can avoid.

-ves: busier ride on uneven surfaced roads, louder over expansion joints - remedied to an extent with 26-28 psi.
+ves - very silent shocks with no hiss, transforms the polo into a supremely stable darty machine , absolutely no up-down movements, feels very 'duster' like at higher speeds over potholes, can go off-road/off-shoulder with grace, highway drives are in a different league with high triple digit speeds feeling extremely 'slow'.

For aggressive city driving, I think B6 suits the Polo GT TSI as a package very well, maybe much better than the Jetta. For this size of car - perfect width and no boot - the sheer space it frees up for everyday maneuvers for getting ahead of city traffic is very, very special - like a supremely stable autorickshaw on steroids. I can only imagine the insane fun they would be on the Polo GTI.

I had the B6 on my Laura and loved it to bits. My usage was mostly highway. My experience was that the slow speed ride suffered a bit especially when driving solo. With passengers on board, things used to improve. On the highway they were absolutely fabulous. I bought the Polo TSI thereafter for city use and felt the B6 would make the ride too harsh, so stuck with the stock suspension and had a really tough time resisting the temptation to go for the B6. Now I've had the GTI for a year and the suspension on this car is very different from the stock Polo. The car sits lower and the ride is quite stiff in the city. The damping on the highway feels very similar to the B6 and the handling is very tight. If I switch to B6 for the GTI it will be to fix the slow speed ride if anything.

[Redline6800]

Originally Posted by Santoshbhat

I had the B6 on my Laura and loved it to bits. My usage was mostly highway. My experience was that the slow speed ride suffered a bit especially when driving solo. With passengers on board, things used to improve. On the highway they were absolutely fabulous.

+1.

I was very fortunate to have my pre-worshipped Jetta fitted with Bilstein B6s.

In a word, wow!

I think Chetan clocked about 50,000 km on those shocks and I have done about 5,000 km.

The shocks still appear brand new to me in terms of performance!

They are a little crashy over sharp bumps but overall ride quality is great when one considers the brilliant performance on the highway.

To sum it up : 80:20 Highway /City running - Bilstein B6

80:20 City/Highway Running - stock replacement shock absorbers should do when one considers the cost difference where you could replace your shock absorbers twice over.

[suhaas307]

Quick Update:

Having driven roughly 300 odd kilometers since the suspension overhaul, I thought it would be a good idea to update this thread with my experience.

Ride quality: Low speed ride has improved. Yes, it's still a bit 'busy' and still transmits every single bump / ridge / undulation into the cabin.. but it's supple now and there's that "damped" feeling as you ride over some of the rough stuff. Suspension noise is virtually non-existent now.

High speed ride has transformed, and how! The car feels incredibly composed over undulations and bad patches. It absolutely smothers them! It doesn't feel even the slightest bit skittish anymore. I'm amazed by the manner it now hugs the road surface!

Handling: One word - fantastic! I simply wasn't prepared for the improvements in the handling department. The car now handles like it's on rails (nearly) and suddenly seems eager to turn into corners and it holds its line so well around them too! What a transformation it is from the tight stressful steering I had to deal with earlier! Make no mistake, it's no Ford Fiesta, but it's pretty great!

I'm sure set of Bilsteins (B6) would take it to another level, but this Sachs street suspension package is proving to be a great balance between ride comfort and handling.

The suspension now is so good, that I've started noticing the minor rattles and squeaks inside the cabin, as well as the annoying tyre-noise from the stiff Continentals.

In fact, the squeaks and rattles were so noticeable that it began to annoy me, and I decided to do something about it.

Predictably, there is a solution that claims to address this very problem right here on the Forum: d.himan's DIY thread (DIY - VW Polo/Vento: Getting rid of Door Rattles). I promptly purchased the quarter-inch pipe from Amazon last week and decided to try out the DIY at home today.





As you can see, this is the same sort of pipe that is used to dispense water from your average household water purifier.

The DIY involves merely sliding the tube into the rubber beading that sits on top of the doors. This gives the beading some firmness and shape, preventing it from squeaking against the metal around the internal frame of the door.

The DIY took me no longer than 10 minutes to execute. Unfortunately I do not have Collinite wax and therefore had to be content with sliding the tube into the door's rubber beading.

Here are my observations:

1) I am happy to report that the rattles and squeaks are more or less gone! The doors now shut with an even nicer sounding 'thud' and a very reassuring vault-like "swoopb". The squeaking was noticeable the most when negotiating culverts, certain speed breakers and particularly over tar patches, and it's amazing how some white tube has addressed this issue. The cabin is now super silent and the only thing that bothers me is the annoying road noise from the Continental tyres.

2) Initially there was some wind-noise that filtered into the cabin immediately after carrying out this little home-remedy/modification, but it seems to have disappeared.

3) The driver's door requires a firm shove to shut completely. Perhaps the tube requires a bit of an adjustment, or maybe some "bedding in", I'm not sure.

In short, I'm pretty pleased with the little DIY. All credit goes to d.himan for discovering this hack!

Stay tuned for more updates in the coming months.

[suhaas307]

UPDATE:

For sometime now, I've been toying with the idea of getting my Polo remapped. But the idea of spending such large amounts of money that I didn't have, for power that I didn't need, wasn't my idea of a good time.

In fact, I wasn't particularly enjoying driving my car, with its back breaking ride and the thought of having to deal with insane Bangalore traffic.

But now that I'd sorted my suspension, I suddenly felt the need for a power bump. I spoke to Vidyut on his experience with Code6, and I spent my lunch-breaks reading threads with people's experiences with Code6. Vidyut then put me in touch with Sajan and over the last few weeks, I'd been picking his brains about the various remaps that could be applied to my car.

Sajan told me that for the map to work well, I will have to install a less-restrictive air-filter. With that in mind, I did a little reading on the options available to me. I ruled out the conical filter / short-ram intake options as the heat from the engine would get pulled into the intake making the whole exercise of fitting such an intake counter-intuitive.

And then I came across Philip Mathew's thread on his GT TSI which was equipped with a K&N 57S 9505 Air-box and also the Euro Air Channel / Duct.

The 57S Air-Box is a larger unit and is less-restrictive when compared to the stock box, which has a large flap inside it. It also comes with a larger air filter element. Further, the stock air-channel is not really a channel to begin with as it is plugged. VW has apparently done this so that the stock air filter and air-box can deal with the dusty city roads and highways.

After a little more reading on the subject, I realized that I could avoid buying the K&N airbox and simply remove the restrictive flap in the stock airbox with a hacksaw and maybe even unplug the stock air-duct, making it a proper channel again. But the thought of using a hacksaw and removing bits and bobs gave me the jitters, and I decided to take the plunge and buy the whole lot instead.

I spoke to Azaan who arranged the K&N Airbox and then I spoke to my VW Palace Cross service guy who placed an order for the Euro-Spec Air Channel.

This morning, I drove straight to Azaan's workshop with the Euro-spec Air Channel that I bought at VW Palace Cross Rajajinagar over the counter, and his team promptly installed the new Air Box and the Euro-spec Air Channel. After the installation, I could immediately tell that there was a slight difference as the car was responding better to throttle inputs.




K&N 57S Air Box in place


Picture of the Euro-spec Air Channel / Duct, placed on top of the battery for the photograph. The only difference between this and the stock duct is the gap (through which you can see the the engine in the above photo) that is plugged in the stock duct.


Notice how you can now see right through?



I then drove straight to Code6 and met with Sajan who was reserved initially but then opened up a little by indulging me and my seemingly frivolous concerns.

After a brief discussion, I'd decided to go with a Stage-1 map as the Stage-2 would require me to swap out the stock exhaust for a less-restrictive one. Having spent a bomb on my suspension overhaul and service, I knew I couldn't go the whole hog, i.e. Stage-2 (with pops and bangs), DSG remap and the full exhaust system. Stage-2 + DSG map + exhaust will have to wait for another day.

Sajan then got down to business by first by plugging in the scanner and then his laptop with which he applied the new map on my car.



A few moments later, the car was ready and we pulled it out of the garage and into some insane traffic. A few short bursts were enough for me to feel the improvements. The car instantly felt more eager to rev, the rev-needle seemed keener to find the red-line, and the car felt no-doubt a whole lot punchier.

Happy with the outcome, I closed the deal and embarked on my journey back to the city. A found a few stretches where I could stretch the car's legs a bit and boy, does it move now! I can feel the less-restrictive airbox doing its job (even Sajan remarked that the airbox and the air-channel has made all the difference), and I can feel the car being a lot more rev-happy and eager to fly down the road.



I can't wait for my next long drive out of the city!

Also, this is not the end of it. There's a whole lot more to come. Stay tuned!

[raghav.carfreak]

Hey
Congratulations Suhaas
Looks great,can you put up a video too? Is the air filter noisy when you revv?

[suhaas307]

Originally Posted by raghav.carfreak

Hey
Congratulations Suhaas
Looks great,can you put up a video too? Is the air filter noisy when you revv?

Hi Raghav,

I did shoot a video but unfortunately there isn't much to take away from it.

The car doesn't sound any different. On a quick drive in and around the CBD this evening, my wife says the engine sounds more aggressive. There's none of that induction sound you get from an open conical filter, if that's what you are expecting.

But you can definitely tell that it's made a difference.

Top take-aways from the 1.5 hour drive this evening:

1) Throttle response (top-of-the-throttle) has improved significantly. It feels eager to react to throttle inputs.

2) Engine pulls strongly from 2500 RPM, particularly from 2.5k to 4k RPMs.

3) Feels like a larger capacity engine in the mid range (to be fair, so does the stock 1.2 TSI), but now I get the feeling that it has reserves of torque and power waiting to be tapped. There's a sense of effortlessness now, in the way it delivers power especially after you breach the 2500 RPM mark.

If this is what Stage-1 feels like, I can't wait to try out Stage-2 + exhaust (w/ pops and bangs) along with the DSG remap.

But with some other things planned at the moment, I may need to hold off on the Stage-2 map for a while.

In fact, with the remap and the new suspension, I'm starting to feel the need for better brakes. The current ones are doing the job, but it's just about okay.

Any recommendations for upgrading the brakes? I've been looking at Brembo drilled rotors and brembo pads. I've read conflicting reviews.

I'm also open to other suggestions and recommendations. Please feel free to share your ideas here, or drop a PM. (The GTI steering has caught my fancy).

[Vid6639]

Ajmat and myself got a chance to drive Suhaas polo post remap and suspension fix. And whoa!!!

This car seriously moves. Low rpm has a lot more poke and you can drive around just tickling the throttle pedal. There's none of that hesitation from before and the gearbox is ready for a downshift earlier than before.

The D mode feels better than the previous S mode and in S mode it's properly fun. The remap makes this car super fun to drive now. The DSG seems to work better now and more decisive.

The K&N and remap also give the car a raspy note and throaty growl. Sounds good as you go up the revs.

The suspension has made a world of a difference. Earlier it was crashing and all over the place. Took some sweeping turns and it stayed planted even at faster speeds. Tyres have good grip but towards the end of their life.

[suhaas307]

UPDATE:

So I've been looking to apply a few tasteful touches to make the car feel a bit premium and add a touch of convenience because as you know, although the GT is the most expensive car in the range, it's missing a bit of that premiumness, for reasons best known to Volkswagen.

The GTI armrest I had installed at the time of delivery is one such addition that has added much needed convenience to the package.

Reading the forum gives you ideas and d_himan's posts on the headlight switch with the Auto function is a nice little feature to have.

What also piqued my interested in the switch was that it required no wiring looms and removal of trim or fixing of any sensors. It's plug and play courtesy a built in sensor, and unlike the original VW OEM part that creeps beyond 10k, this one is just under 3000!

But to be honest, it's not the Auto function that interests me as much as the lovely brushed aluminum finish on the switch does. Again, for reasons best known to Volkswagen, the GT models get the same switch the Trendline variant gets, and that's a new low in my books.

The switch was ordered on Ali express and delivery took a couple of weeks. Once it arrived, it literally took 5 minutes to remove the stock switch and put this one in.



As you can see, there seems to be a rough edge in the aluminum bit at the bottom, and it's really messing with my OCD. I wanted to buy one more but the item is not available in stock.

A bonus feature of the switch is the coming-home function.

Also, while the switch works well, it is a little inconsistent (it took more than a few seconds once or twice to switch on) and sometimes the coming-home function doesn't work. Oh, and it got pretty confused during sun set, as it randomly switched off and then turned itself back on again. Does anyone have any tips for configuration?

I guess I may have gotten a piece from the last batch. Sigh. I suppose it's the price you pay for buying Chinese parts from Aliexpress. All that's left to see now is just how long the part lasts.

Anyway, moving on.. since the last service earlier in February, I've asked my caretaker not to wash the car as he insists on cleaning it his way, which introduces several new swirls to the existing ones. This meant that the car got incredibly dirty and as it hasn't rained in a while, I needed to get it washed properly inside out.

But before the wash, I needed to drive the car a little and get a thorough feel of the remap and new chassis. With my office being literally 5 minutes from home, I've been looking for excuses to drive the car more and for longer periods, so I leave a little later - around 9:30-10 - from work, and go for a short burst around some of the nicer and wider roads in the CBD. But these short 20-30 minute runs didn't do it for me, so I called Vidyut and setup a lunch meet with Ajmat for them to give it a go. Late this morning, I topped it up with V-Power and drove straight to Viddy's house. These are my top takeaways from the short drives after work and today's 80 km run:

1) Throttle response has improved dramatically. Earlier, you really needed to feed the throttle to get it going, as the top 25% of the throttle's pedal travel didn't do much. Now it does! With barely any throttle applied, the car moves with a little more intensity and lunges forward at 50% throttle even in D! In S, the car simply flies even with small throttle inputs and the engine feels incredibly eager to rev.

2) The engine sounds buzzy at low revs and raspy as the revs climb. It really snarls now, as you apply throttle. And a lot of that has to do with not just the remap and the larger and less-restricitve air box, but also the new functional air channel behind the grille, I suspect. Unfortunately, I've failed to capture on video this difference in sound as it simply refuses to come through in the recording. It's got none of that blow-off valve like "phsst" noise because the intake is a closed unit, but induction noise has definitely increased andmore than just a touch.

3) The car pulls strongly through the mid-range and I reiterate, it feels as though there are now reserves of power and torque waiting to be tapped. It feels like a proper larger capacity engine. I'd say it just got a lot closer to the 1.4 TSI in terms of feel. It's not as creamy as the 1.8 TSI, but it's more than sufficient for bursts in the city and on b-roads.

4) The car now feels properly damped with its new suspension. I highly recommend those with Polos to swap their suspension out for the Sachs Super Touring chassis because it makes a world of a difference, especially at speed where undulations just don't bother it one bit, and the car feels absolutely planted. The car also holds its line a lot better and feels quick to turn into tighter corners. At low speeds the ride is busy, but damped enough not trouble you. But it really comes into its own at highway speeds. I'd driven to Devanahalli, and today to Anekal - over the E-City expressway, and the way the car complied with the expansion joints and particularly the ridge at the bottom of the exit ramp was thoroughly satisfying!

5) The DSG no longer hesitates to downshift, and the gearbox doesn't confuse itself between 2nd and 3rd in slow traffic. This probably has a lot to do the power and torque bump lower in the rev range. I can get a DSG Stage 2 Map that not only increases the torque threshold but also enables faster/more aggressive shift times and as well as launch control, but that's for another day.

6) The brakes do the job of stopping the car, but the non-responsive pedal especially the top 40% of the brake pedal's travel, is highly disconcerting, not to mention that at times the brakes can feel a bit grabby when they do bite. There is a fix for this and it's definitely a priority in my list of potential future modifications.

7) The tyres surprisingly still grip plenty. Buddy got the rear to marginally unstick whilst going hot 'round a corner near the E-City E-Way, but there's no denying that they've gotten had and ride a bit stiff, most noticeably over the reflectors over the lane markers and sharp edges on the road. I think it's time for an upgrade.

8) I do still feel the lack of power in the top of the rev band, particularly above 5000 RPM. You really don't need to rev it out to extract maximum power, but some top end poke would have been nice. I believe this can be achieved by swapping out the exhaust for a less restrictive one and applying the Stage-2 map. Presently, I'm not inclined to tinker with the engine by cranking it up even further, in the interest of longevity and long term reliability. So I may stick with the Stage 1 map for now.

However, that is not to say that I will stop here. There's a lot more in store for the car.

Unfortunately, certain failed commitments - and a deal that may possibly fall through this week - have resulted in delays. By now, I should have had at least two of the planned upgrades on the car. However, I have a few warm leads that may help me achieve some of these upgrades by month end. My fingers are firmly crossed.

Here's a pic of the car after a quick wash at Feynlab's today.



I'm eagerly waiting for all the modifications to come together, so that I can finally put the finishing touches I've bought for this car and do a proper photo shoot with it.

Originally Posted by raihan

All's well that ends well, how are your front rotors & pads doing?
Could you pl share the contact details of Mr Azaan as I'd like to take my Laura TSI to someone knowledgeable in future.

Apologies for the late response to your post.

The rotors are doing fine, and Azaan was a little surprised to see that the brakes were in great nick whilst the suspension was in tatters.

Do PM me for details. Thank you!

[ajmat]

Originally Posted by Vid6639

Ajmat and myself got a chance to drive Suhaas polo post remap and suspension fix. And whoa!!!

.

Adding to this. the car was well planted. It lost the hesitancy that most DSG's sometimes end have. It remained unfazed when going over speed bumps. Tracks well on fast turns. All it needs are paddle shifters so that you can play tunes whiles having fun!