[silverado]

Impressive list of features and superb looking colours is the highlight of AMEO. Ideally, they should have kept the same boot size as POLO, but should have increased rear leg room and added armrest from vento.

I see the reasoning behind giving 1.2 3 cyl engine, they feel buyers in this segment are average conscious.

[puneeth2]

I wonder why a car has to be under 4 meters to be eligible for lesser excise duty. If it is owning to reduce congestion then it makes no sense. They can rather make it 4 and a half meters and spare us from these disproportionate wanna-be sedans.
They should have gone ahead and made a fastback instead of trying to squeeze a sedan within 4 meters. Boot looks like it is from another car altogether. They could have made it like the Audi A3 hatch, which has a big enough boot. I don't understand the thing with people buying compact sedans, I really don't.

That said, yet another great review!

[SmartCat]

I just had a tiny revelation - the 4m sedans will look a lot better if the rear windshield angle is 45 degrees, instead of the current 60 degrees. Take a look at this 4 metre beauty -







The windscreen should "complete" the sedan shape rather - note how the windshield curves around the body, and shows up prominently in the side view.

Another design option should be to have a station-wagon shape for 4m cars.



Although the above car is not a 4m car, if such a design philosophy is adopted, one can have much higher bootspace than a hatchback and still NOT look odd.

[libranof1987]

Brilliant review.

So, there's enough reason for someone to consider the Ameo over the DZire: better build, standard safety features, features list, comparable price. But, theres' one big reason against: dealer and A.S.S. network.

Time will tell how much of an impact the Ameo can manage.

Originally Posted by smartcat

Although the above car is not a 4m car, if such a design philosophy is adopted, one can have much higher bootspace than a hatchback and still NOT look odd.

What I think is: there's a certain segment that wants a sedan. It could be an odd-looking, disporportionate, hatch+boot kind of vehicle with barely any improvements over the hatch it is based on, but it has to be a sedan.

Perception.

Otherwise, no one would want an Ameo over a Polo.

[reignofchaos]

One more weird sub 4m sedan. VW is the last company one would expect to make quirky designs but here is one for a change. Really weird!

The sad part of this entire endeavor is that all the good things of the polo - great engines and timeless designs are gone. This car has no redeeming factors whatsoever.

Let's hope the diesel engine comes out in a hurry as the 3 cylinder will just not work.

[dark.knight]

VW still missed the point.. the point was not to have a faux-sedan under 4 meters, nor was it to squeeze a 3 box shape with 3 inches of play-room added to the existing Polo. I'm certainly not a critique against compact-sedans, I truly believe that in a congested, literally choked-to-nothing city, the 4m sedans will truly be most useful.

Case in point - 2 examples which are the best VFM compact sedans so to speak - the Xcent and the Amaze. Both have plenty of space and I mean p-l-e-n-t-y. Having sat in many Xcents when using Uber, I had over 4-5 inches of knee room and I'm 5'10".. the quietness and the refinement of the engine even in its 3-cylinder diesel avatar is ridiculous.. it is pin-drop silent. The Amaze according to all reviews has the most legroom of all compact sedans.. edging even the Xcent thanks to carved out front seats and intelligent packaging. To boot, literally.. both have 400 litres+ of luggage space (Amaze 400, Xcent 407) which is stunning given the length of the cars and is usually more than adequate for ANY luggage of 4 people. Even full size sedans peak out at hardly 50-60 litres extra and they are a whole 16-18 inches longer!!

This is where the Dzire fails, but one can excuse it since it was never intended to compete with sub-4m sedans, it was simply a Swift with an added boot. The Hyundai and Honda to compete, packaged their products brilliantly and with the new dashboard the Amaze makes good sense too, both have fantastic proportions given the restriction. VW had all the time in the world to contemplate the strategy and they simply didn't live upto it.. its a poorly proportioned car with 35 odd litres of extra boot-space and a few more added goodies to differentiate from the Polo. The rear-space which matters the most for such a car is simply not there.

To those wanting diesel-DSG maybe the Ameo will make sense as long as proportions do not matter.. for the rest I'd recommend the Polo all day long. If you want a boot get the Vento.

[McLaren Rulez]

Strangely, the Ameo Trendline is both cheaper than the Polo Trendline and it offers ABS while the Polo doesn't. That makes it amazing value for those who care about safety! There are other equipment differences e.g. the Comfortline Ameo gets cruise control while the Polo does not and so on.

It does seem like the base and mid level Ameo are better value than the Polo, provided you can digest the ugly CS design. This pricing strategy is certainly interesting!

[avdhesh15]

Awesome review!

What a half hearted attempt at making a new car! Very unimpressive and I don't see much going for this car unless the other engines are introduced.

I saw one near iMagica yesterday and actually thought why would someone choose this over the competition? Well, I couldn't answer my question so let's wait and watch the sales numbers!

[landcruiser123]

The Ameo was a waste of time, effort and money when you consider how old the Polo is. They could have just made a LWB polo with more rear legroom.

VW just wants to show us Indians that they've made a new car. The result of the effort is ridiculous-The engine choices are pathetic, the rear seat is not very spacious and the boot is small (relatively). VWs ASS is not good either.

Why would anyone want the Ameo? Simple: Indian mentality-> Sedan=High social status.

[VeluM]

Lovely review despite this car being a mix-and-match from the Polo and Vento parts bins. Rated 5 stars.

I love that VW has provided features at a price on par with the Polo and competition. These are stand out features, and in my opinion are very useful features - the auto wipers, electrochromic rear mirror, reverse camera and sensors, boot release, auto up and down on all four windows.

Just the auto up/down windows save so much trouble in the summers when one needs to shut all of the windows while driving after opening them to vent the car, if caught with the windows down in the rain, to vent the car with the remote while walking up to it, and most frequently at toll booths.

However, the biggest problem with VW is the lack of sales/service in tier 2 and 3 towns, and their service perception in that order. In my observation compact sedans sell very well in such cities. I see a lot more compact sedans like the Zest in these cities compared to the abundance of Ventos (a lot of them TSIs) in Bangalore.

VW is trying with their standard and extended warranty and maintenance packages, but they will plateau very quickly if they don't extend their presence beyond the metros and larger cities. Chicken and egg again I suppose, but worth the effort with the Ameo because the brand still has a certain draw to it even to the non-metro residents.

Originally Posted by Aditya

Exterior

Foglamps with cornering lights. The latter activate in the direction of the steering:

Are these separate dedicated cornering lights? That would be cool, because as far as I know the Polo uses the fog lamps as cornering lights. If these are separate, I wonder if they can be retrofitted into the Polo/Vento. Another DIY for Gannu.

Originally Posted by Aditya

Good to see 4 parking sensors on a cheap sedan at a time when some 20 lakh cars give merely two

Originally Posted by Aditya

Interior - Front

Center armrest is a segment first. It's positioned well - you don't need to take your arm off it to operate the gear lever. No height adjustment though. Soft black fabric padding on top makes it comfortable:

It does lock in position at various levels if not pulled all the way to the top. From the lowest position, pull it up slightly beyond your preferred height and then lower it to lock it at the desired height. Unless this is a cheaper version which doesn't have the mechanism.

Originally Posted by Aditya

Plastic buttons to hold the floor mat in place:

These buttons are quite helpful in keeping the beige carpeting clean. VW provides a transparent plastic cover (as seen in this pic) for the entire mat which prevents dirt from getting into the carpet. This extends all the way up behind the pedals, and it is easy to clean too. The mats can be locked in place over the plastic preventing them and one's feet from sliding around. So the beige carpets are not that big an issue for the front, IMHO.

Could be trouble when one forgets to lock the mats in position again after getting the car cleaned though.

The rear carpet is protected too, though the mats slide around because there are no buttons to hold them in place.

[NiInJa]

Excellent review as always, just before reading this one, I read the one by Zigwheels and boy, every line meant 'we have sold this review to VW'
Big thanks to team-bhp for honest and unbiased observations !

Coming to the car, I personally did not like it in flesh as well, the boot is too 'abrupt' and doesn't go well with the entire car.
With just about 30~ L more boot space than Polo, I wonder why would anyone buy this over the Polo.
I would rather buy a Polo, park her in my office and admire her looks and proportions while I walk towards my desk.

Also, based on my experience, a hatchback's big boot door (hatch) also facilitates loading bigger items. We have successfully loaded a friend's washing machine in his Honda Brio. Same could not be done in a Swift Dzire.

I test drove the Polo 1.2 three years ago and was impressed by her driveability in city, something which the Honda Brio is not very good at. Definitely meant for sedate and relaxed driving couple that with those awesome gearshifts.

Hope Ameo's safety ratings are comparable to Polo. If yes, sub 4m Sedan buyers have a safer alternative to Hyundai Xcent and Dzire.

[sudhirnam]

5 star review here. I found Ameo to be a decent package except for the mediocre engine. Hope VW brings out a GT version soon as they did with the polo.
I feel the compact sedans are popular because it gives extra boot space and leg room (not in the case of Ameo) for an affordable price. I purchased a CS for the same reason and not because it is going to bring extra high social status!

[VeluM]

Originally Posted by tbppjpr

Would like to understand whats the definition of 'long term reliability'? What actually makes Japanese or Koreans more reliable than Germans?

The reliability of the Japanese and Korean cars in general was mostly to do with their simplistic construction. Most German manufacturers (and better European brands in general) have gone with a modular approach to everything including the electronics with mini computers controlling physical functions including simple ones like the central locking system, headlights, wipers and whatnot. In the event of the failure of a module it cannot be repaired, and replacement is at a cost people consider disproportionate to the issue reported.

Regarding VW specifically, their DSG 7 speed gearbox and diesel engine injectors along with the electronics (in that order) have been the primary source of issues, which have been amplified exponentially by their peerlessly poor warranty and service support.

Originally Posted by sidzzone

The only thing going for this car is it's features - it is loaded. But otherwise, the boot is small, rear legroom is less and it looks plain weird from many angles. But credit where it is due, the car looks like VFM with all the features.

Originally Posted by silverado

Ideally, they should have kept the same boot size as POLO, but should have increased rear leg room and added armrest from vento.

Agreed, they should have pushed the rear seats back a tiny bit. They could have if they actually spent the 700+ crore on it as they claim to have.

Originally Posted by dark.knight

This is where the Dzire fails, but one can excuse it since it was never intended to compete with sub-4m sedans, it was simply a Swift with an added boot.

The Ameo has the same excuse. In fact the new Swift was designed during the period that the sub-4-metre sedans became a thing in India. The Ameo has a better excuse then. I think the Dzire has very similar problems to the Ameo and doesn't have the benefit of high-quality interiors, build or features.

Originally Posted by dark.knight

To those wanting diesel-DSG maybe the Ameo will make sense as long as proportions do not matter.. for the rest I'd recommend the Polo all day long. If you want a boot get the Vento.

I agree with the proportions bit, but there is a significant price difference between the Ameo and Vento, so it is not that simple to upgrade to the Vento.

Originally Posted by McLaren Rulez

It does seem like the base and mid level Ameo are better value than the Polo, provided you can digest the ugly CS design. This pricing strategy is certainly interesting!

To be honest, if one can live with the design the Ameo is probably a better buy than the Polo because of the larger boot and features. Boot lid and opening are smaller, but that is only a problem when loading a single huge piece of luggage - so, rarely.

Originally Posted by Rajeevraj

I wonder why they did not work off the Vento instead of the Polo, the longer wheelbase could have ensured decent rear seat space.

The wheelbase is longer but so is the rear door and therefore the C pillar is further back, which wouldn't have allowed a "sedan like" shape. The Vento is nearly 4.4 metres long, and I assume they did check.

Originally Posted by Rajeevraj

Credit where it is due. Good to see no compromises on the build, Standard safety features, a good list of features and an excellent price.

Yes, build is a USP of VWs - both inside and outside. That and the safety features. The car will not feel cheap, or a compromise, though one will find the compromise when trying to get comfortable in the rear seat.

[Mithrandir]

Awesome review. The car looks so nice from front and backside. Elegant European style. But the side profile is bland ugly. Looks more like a rare-ended Vento. I never liked these sub 4 meter sedans. They just look ungainly no matter how hard you try. Now coming to the practical aspect, the question that needs to be asked is why one should buy Ameo?. Because, by the look of it, its just a Polo with 36ltrs of extra boot space (added at the cost of good looks). Rear bench leg room doesn't seems to be any better than Polo's. Interior styling, though classy, isn't any different. The engine is still 3 cylinder. So unless you are hellbent on adding some 36 liters of extra real estate to your car, Ameo has nothing much to offer. Polo has better options than Ameo. Frankly, I will not trade my 3 year old Polo for a brand new Ameo. Guess, this is a car that VW shouldn't have made. It just looks like an eyesore in the showroom beside ever classy Polo, Vento and other higher siblings. But, looking at the sales figures of DZire, Aspire and Amaze, I will not be surprised if I am proved wrong. 'Junta' seems to like sub 4 meter sedans.

[saket77]

Excellent review and as always, great attention to details.
Though the car looks good from front; the rear and the side profile is nothing short of being quirky. Honestly, even the face is now being over-used. The boxy rear design looks bad and the disproportionate tail lamps add to it.
But then good to see the good build and materials carried over as you expect from a VW. Evokes a question that if VW can give such a feature loaded car with good build at this price, why not the Asian competition? Probably because of the engine?
All said and done, the Ameo has the ability to be a hit with masses(who might not care much for the average engine) as a car. Not sure about VW as a manufacturer and service provider though and this is what will probably hold it back.

Coming to the topic of disproportionate sub-4 metres car designs, this is also due to the fact that most sub 4 metre cars today are based on their hatchback ancestors, which are already bordering around the 4 metre mark. This gives the designers less of area to play with and hence they come up with strange integration designs.
Look at the Peugeot above and even our decades old Premier Padmini/Fiat 1100D designs which were shorter than 4 metres and yet looked good. So, it is just not the Govt policy which is making the cars look bad, but the cost saving techniques of manufacturer too (by basing the compact sedans on hatchbacks).

Regards.