[vedirah]

Originally Posted by fine69

Doesn't make sense for a car that's out of production now.

Disagree there. It could be of help for those who are in the used car market.

[Legender]

I've been a keen follower of Team-BHP for many many years now, reading through wonderful posts about vehicles and travelogues and life lessons and gawking at the pictures posted. Now I feel its time to have my first ever post here. I wouldn't call myself an enthusiast but I do like to drive - the 4 wheeled variety that is.


I've been driving a 2008 Hyundai i10 Magna MT which for the most part served the purpose which is to crawl through the Bangalore traffic between home and work. In between there were some memorable long drives mostly with friends but most of the 65k kms on the odo was within the city. The ownership was largely uneventful, usual overpriced Hyundai maintenance but the car did its job. But age was surely showing - the suspension needed an overhaul, a few creaks while going over bad roads, AC efficiency going down, quite a few marks and dents all around. Also had to replace the clutch twice - the second occassion the only time the car failed on me while driving. I quite loved driving this in the city and decided that I would go through an overhaul in 2023 and get the car registration renewed. In any case I was in Bangalore for maximum 2 weeks a month so spending on a new car didn't sound like a wise choice. Then Mar 2020 happened and since "offices were to be closed for 2 weeks", I drove down to my hometown in Kerala.

We have two cars at home - a 2019 Ford Ecosport Titanium+ petrol AT which my wife drives and a 2020 Hyundai i10 Nios AT for my parents. So when the old i10 came home, I had to park it in the yard. Who knew it would lie there for 2 years in the sun and rains of Kerala. Lack of running plus exposure to the severe rain and sun really took a toll on the car. The window beading started coming off, plastics and rubber parts were breaking off, the car started smelling weird, the AC became almost useless and there was quite some suspension noise. The final straw was in early 2022 when the EPS failed while driving around and I couldn't turn the steering wheel at all. We had an old Ambassador in the late 90's so hard steering wasn't really new to me but that was 20 years ago. Managed to drive it home and took it to the ASC the very next day. They suggested replacing the motor for the power steering to see if it would fix the issue, else they would need to replace the ECU which would cost more. After a week or so, the part arrived and once the motor was replaced, the EPS worked ok. I felt the feather light steering feel was gone and the car didn't feel right. That's when I felt the 14 year old car had to go.

Here are some pictures:

Muzhuppilangad beach:


Somewhere in Muthanga:



The search:
I knew the usage would be limited but since my employer made it clear that it would be mixed mode of working - whenever that would be, I needed a vehicle. I started looking at possible options. It had to be a petrol AT hatch, no dual clutch and certainly no AMTs. This meant most of the options were out. The three options I considered were Honda Jazz, VW Polo and Renault Kiger. I was keeping an eye on Altroz but I came to know that it came with a dual clutch tranny. I felt the Honda Jazz was bigger and frankly unremarkable since Honda seems to have lost interest in it in India. Kiger was new, looked funky (a bit too funky) and came loaded but the reviews I read here made me a skeptic. To be honest, I wasn't sure about Renault sticking around in India. I did take a test drive but didn't like the feel of the car.

Mar 2022. Now down to my last option - the VW Polo. I wasn't even sure if it was available anymore since I heard the news about VW stopping the production of the Polo. I called up VW Kochi and the SA told me they were still taking orders for it. I have driven my friend's 2014 Polo GT MT quite a bit and also the DSG version and I felt it was the best car to drive in this price range. But yeah, backseat was a joke and the interiors were from another century. Nevertheless, I took a test drive and found the interiors slightly more appealing. Heck, the ICE had Android Auto which seemed to do the business. I made it clear to the SA in Kochi that I would be getting the car from Bangalore to conform to the CLC (company lease car) policy of base location. I started pushing the paperwork and in a week it was all sorted out. I got the reference of an SA from Apple Auto Whitefield and made a booking for the Highline+ variant. I didn't see a point in spending 26k extra on the ex-showroom price just for the GT badging and a spoiler. And the higher priced GT was missing the central armrest, rear AC vents and an extra 12V port. Selected the Carbon Steel color and I was told the waiting time was 2-3 months.

Meanwhile I saw the announcement from VW that they were ending production and there would be a final lot of 700 cars. I wasn't sure of getting one but no harm in waiting, right.

6 weeks passed and the last week of April, I got a call from the SA. He informed that a Carbol Steel GT was available if I was interested. He said its from the last lot with 'Legend' branding and there wouldn't be anymore. I decided to go with the GT and got an updated quote. I was shocked to see the on road price increase - almost 75k compared to the Highline Plus - thanks to the '10L tax slab'. So I lose the central armrest, rear AC vents and have to pay 75k extra for a GT badge and a (frankly) useless spoiler. The SA didn't really give me too much time to decide and finally I said yes. Within a week, the quote was updated and the car was ready. All this while I was in Kerala, so I didn't do any PDI. I knew it was a new car since it was the Legend edition and hoped that nothing was broken, not very smart I know.

The sale of the old:
I decided to get rid of the old car in Bangalore since it was registered there. So I drove down in my trusty i10 one last time to Bangalore and immediately called up Cars24, Spinny and CarDekho. I also mentioned it to the VW dealer. In two days, all parties did their vehicle inspections and the bidding 'war' started. It started off relatively low at 1.7L from Cars24 but every hour since, I was getting better quotes. VW folks said they wouldn't go beyond 1.85L but Spinny and Cars24 were in no mood to let go! I had decide I would give it to the VW guys since I would at least have a place / contact to follow up on RC transfer. Finally, Cars 24 folks called up and said "what if we transfer 2L in 15 minutes". I respectfully rejected their generous offer and decided to go with the VW folks. I was hoping I would get some 'good will' from them, only time will tell if I made a stupid decision of going with a lower sale price.


Bringing home the new:
Apr 29, Friday. I decided to go to office for the first time in over two years. So for one final time, I drove down in my i10 to office. The plan was I would drive the car to the VW dealership, drop it there and drive home the new one. I reached around 3.30 pm and handed over my old friend which barely had any fuel left in the tank! And just like that, my 14 year association ended.

On to the present - the Legend was ready for delivery all wrapped up. The formalities were quickly completed and I unwrapped the car. And saw the Legend for the first time - all gleaming under the showroom lights. Did a quick walk-around check and didn't find anything off. Tyres weren't overinflated and it had 5L of petrol. The good thing about buying the Polo is that the SA didn't have much to explain as far as features were concerned. After the customary photos, I shook hands and drove home in the new car. I was aware of the aggressive creep of the GT so I was extra careful.

Customary delivery pic:


Drove straight to the Shell on Old Madras Road and asked them to do a full tank. I was slightly taken aback when I looked at the bill. They had filled Shell Super and I had specifically told, normal petrol. Fuel attendant said "saar, its a new car and Super is super for it"!! Well, Super it is then and I drove home. I had asked the dealership to fix the number plates and Fastag since I was planning to drive back to Kerala on Sunday morning. The number plates were fixed, but not the Fastag. They promised they would send someone on Saturday with it. On Saturday, they registered the Fastag over phone but I still didn't have it in hand. Afternoon, I was planning to meet friends so I couldn't really go and get it myself. The guy who dealt with the old car lives nearby and he said he'll bring it on his way home. And I went on my merry way to meet my pals. There was a bit of drama though. Since it was the last day of April, the dealership folks supposedly had work late into the night. By the time, I got the Fastag, it was 12 am!! I was fretting till the time I got it in my hand. And my plans for starting at 5am on Sunday was no longer viable.

Well, I decided to wake up whenever I did and slept off. Maybe it was the excitement to drive the new car, I woke up at 6.30 and was out by 7.15. Fixed the Fasttag first thing and I spend a few minutes trying to setup Android Auto but for some reason, it wasn't working. No wonder since I was using an almost 5 year old phone! So with nothing to distract, except for some music on a thumb drive, I started off. Pretty slow till I crossed the eCity toll. The Fastag worked and I was relieved.

Traffic was light as it was a Sunday morning and the weather was pleasant. The car was eager and so was I. I felt the TC gearbox was much better and smoother than in our Ecosport. The car was well planted and the response was great, so I couldn't help flooring it a bit. There was no comparison with the old i10. I didn't really push it since it was brand new. Not sure if the run in / break in stuff is valid in newer cars, but I didn't want to risk too much. I was very happy that the speed warning beeps were barely audible unlike the Nios. The rest of the drive was fairly uneventful. Took a break for breakfast and another one for a quick lunch and I was home by 3 pm.

Legend is home:


Observations:
The car is a hoot to drive, though a bit thirsty in the city limits.

Surprisingly, Android Auto works just fine. I now have a AA Wireless (via Kickstarter) adapter connected to the Polo and it works just fine. Need to figure out a cleaner way to connect the cable. Hate that the USB port is way up on the ICE and is visible prominently. I was worried that the dongle would be powered on even after I switch the car off, but the USB port seems to lose power after 15 mins or so, which is great.

Accessories are no longer in stock, I did manage to get floor mats and the central armrest from VW Kochi. But I would have preferred the Highline+ AT which was significantly cheaper and came with the armrest / rear AC vents and a 12V port.

Even though I love the stock seat design on the Polo, I decided to get a (relatively cheap) seat cover done since fabric seats tend to get shabby. RightFit in Kochi did a decent job and the seat looks good and comfortable. Only downside is, it gets way warmer than the stock fabric seats.

The car completed 1k on the ODO just after a month and I got it serviced in Kochi. I'm yet to get the Jio dongle setup, VW Kochi said I should get that sorted out from where I bought the car!

Headlamps are just adequate, I suspect it might need an upgrade if there is some night driving. I don't like the OVRM adjust joystick thingy, but I guess that's how it is on VW cars(?). I miss the auto headlamps from the Ecosport.

Generally happy with the car so far, hoping for a decent VW service experience. Fingers crossed.

[Vipin Kumar]

Is any more Polo TSI available in the inventory anywhere now?

[Legender]

Originally Posted by Vipin Kumar

Is any more Polo TSI available in the inventory anywhere now?

VW folks when they called me up mid Apr said this was the last lot of Polo. I had in fact booked a Highline+ AT but they said the Legend edition is all there is and wanted me to confirm that same day if I wanted to go ahead with the booking. They said they had quite a few bookings which they couldn't fulfill. Same story here in Kochi as well, so I think it maybe out of stock for good.

[TeaYesEye]

Originally Posted by Legender

Generally happy with the car so far, hoping for a decent VW service experience. Fingers crossed.

Congratulations on your new car, Legender. Welcome to the TSI family.

[Sen]

Welcome to the TSI club, hope you enjoy that car!

I wanted to get the AA Wireless from their website too, it just works™ according to everything I've read about it.

I picked the manual just to avoid the automatic trouble (and the TC box for me), and so far, I'm loving the gearbox too. Slick and precise.

For the service, my only advice is, if you can, stay with the car and have strict standing instructions to not touch your car without your presence. If they say according to their workshop regulations you can't be with the car, they are lying and you should take your business somewhere else. Even their official email address is lazy and never responds to queries (customer.care@volkswagen.co.in), and i wrote in April. Truly a terrible experience in after sales, but the car has more than made up for it.

The one service i wasn't with my car, it came back with problems that did not exist before, including a super annoying rattle that took me 3 visits overall to fix.

For Bangalore, I've had good experience with VW Mysore Road service so far (yes, I live on the other side of town in E-city and i go there still, NICE road is fun to get to the service center via )

Any BHPians have good experiences with any other service centers in Bangalore, please pitch in!

Overall, great acquisition. See you around on the roads!

As a suggestion, make your own ownership review, it gets you a lot more visibility and lets other owners discuss their issues and troubles and any other relevant stuff/suggestions too! Always an upside having a thread to yourself.

Originally Posted by Legender

Generally happy with the car so far, hoping for a decent VW service experience. Fingers crossed.

[vishaljawahar]

Originally Posted by fluidicjoy

The twist in the tale is Volkswagen has continued to keep an extra wiring socket for the horn in the left of the bumper. It is tied with a zip tie and covered with a weatherproof connector. Ideally, on older vehicles, a Low Tone Horn could be separately purchased and connected here from the mounting hole you can see.

Hey fluidicjoy, I’ve got the low tone horn and other required parts but, to access the horn connector that is behind the fog light, how to remove the plastic trim housing around the fog light in Polos that have GTI like bumper (2020 model and above)? I understand in the previous versions of Polo there is a hole near the fog light and a hook that has been provided with the tools can be used to pull off the trim but I don’t see the hole anywhere in the latest variant.

[fluidicjoy]

Originally Posted by vishaljawahar

Hey fluidicjoy, I’ve got the low tone horn and other required parts but, to access the horn connector that is behind the fog light, how to remove the plastic trim housing around the fog light in Polos that have GTI like bumper (2020 model and above)? I understand in the previous versions of Polo there is a hole near the fog light and a hook that has been provided with the tools can be used to pull off the trim but I don’t see the hole anywhere in the latest variant.

Hi, you can go through my previous post here again (Volkswagen Polo 1.0L TSI : Official Review) but I'll share some details here.

The mounting hole has been removed on the newer Polo cars, but I had a hole drilled here at the dealership. This involved removal of the front bumper and then the hole could be drilled and only then could the horn could be installed properly.

The plastic trim on the newer bumper needs to be pried off. It can even be done with bare hands, but having a plastic trim removal tool can be more helpful.



You can start from the notch, and then pry along the trim. I have shared a useful YouTube video which should help you remove the trim confidently.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ni4r8zzxmc

[VishTks]

Hello BHPians,

Let me share few pictures of my Polo Tsi, a car which I had been waiting to add in my garage. I was lucky to get my hands on this German hatch a year and a half back.

Let me state the Pros and Cons of this Hot hatch in my ownership experience so far :

Pros

* Clean European styling - timeless, Sporty stance. Just spot on.

* Build quality, fit and finish & materials used are unmatched even by present day standards.

* The 1.0 Tsi - the reason why many fall in love with her. Yes, there is turbo lag before the 2k Rpm mark. But bury the throttle beyond that and the pull is relentless. Midrange pushes you back and keeps you pinned. The DOHC setup means that the top end is very strong and speeds are still gained rapidly. Yes, 0 - 100 kmph in 9 seconds means very few cars can even trail behind in this side of 25 lakhs. Overall, this engine is an absolute cracker.

* Ride and handling is exemplary. But the facelifted Polos from 2020 have been given a softer suspension setup compared to the older gens. This means that the ride is soft and comfortable, but body roll compared to the older gen polos is higher.

* Stability on straight lines are phenomenal. One can even take their hands away from the steering at high speeds and the car would still remain absolutely straight. Overall, stability is proper Germany standards.

*Braking - Brakes are strong and very predictable. Modulation is easy.

* Interior - To be honest, I personally love the interior. Yes, there are many complaining about lack of modern day features and gizmos. True, but the interior of this German hatch has used materials which feel very good to touch and give a sense of premium feeling compared to any other car of this segment. Even the new i20 cannot match the quality of materials. Nevertheless, some features are lacking and let me state them in the cons.

* NVH - Definitely not the most silent by segment standards. But could be most silent 3 cylinder. Overall, not intrusive but gets loud at higher RPMs in a sporty note. Some may like it, some may find it loud .

Cons

* Considering the engine, suspension could have been given a stiffer setup for sharper handling.

* Lack of basic features like Reverse camera, LED drls, push button start, coloured MID display are not justifiable for a car priced above 10 lakhs!

* Turbo lag below 2k rpm mark is quite noticeable.

* Rear legroom is extremely limited. Average sized adults can probably manage but tall people will find a hard time getting comfortable.

* Fuel guzzler when pushed at and above the turbo zone. Personally, I have seen the number go as less as 6km/L.

Conclusion

Overall, The Polo is the best driver's car and is a car which gives you proper German quality at this price point or even betters some cars 2 segments above. It is an emotional purchase for people who know the Polo community. It is not a car to please your family with rear seat space or a car which will wow you with crazy gizmos. But all that is forgotten the minute you get behind the wheel with it's engine and the chassis complementing each other to push the car and get your adrenaline pumped with a rush and that is extremely addictive. This addiction is why the Polo has created a huge fan base ( save for the hefty amount of Mods available aftermarket) and has made this car an Icon.

Peace out BHPians ✌️

[vishaljawahar]

Originally Posted by fluidicjoy

The plastic trim on the newer bumper needs to be pried off. It can even be done with bare hands, but having a plastic trim removal tool can be more helpful.

Need your inputs again. So, I was able to remove the plastic trim and could find the wire for the horn but now I’m a bit confused with the connector.
Here’s how the pre-provisioned connector socket in the car looks like. It appears to be concealed and there are no "slots" for the pins on the horn.
Do I have to get an additional part for this or am I missing something here?



Here's how the pins on the horn are -

[vishaljawahar]

Originally Posted by fluidicjoy

The plastic trim on the newer bumper needs to be pried off. It can even be done with bare hands, but having a plastic trim removal tool can be more helpful.

Originally Posted by vishaljawahar

Need your inputs again. So, I was able to remove the plastic trim and could find the wire for the horn but now I’m a bit confused with the connector.
Here’s how the pre-provisioned connector socket in the car looks like. It appears to be concealed and there are no "slots" for the pins on the horn.
Do I have to get an additional part for this or am I missing something here?

Never mind, I figured it out. Thanks for the inputs!

For those interested, the pre-provisioned socket comes attached to a dummy connector and needs to be removed in order to connect the horn. Here's the dummy part which has the concealed slots after removing from the connector.

[vedirah]

ICE'd my Polo!!

So I had been thinking about this since the time I was a kid and my dad owned an Indica - I wanted to install some kickass JBL subs and amps and some JBL components at the front. Too bad my dad isn't into music as much as I am. Fast forward to now, I purchased my own car and now I have the chance to install these. So that's what I did. I liked the stock sound as it is, so did not want to change much. I wanted to add some bass to round up the sound, and some nice tweeters to increase the soundstage.

Here's what I've installed so far:

• Head Unit: Stock
• Amp: JBL Concert A652 (2-channel)
• Speakers: Infinity Reference 6530CXF Components
• Sub: Sony XS-AW8 under-seat subwoofer
• Damping: Blaupunkt Damp3.0 (or was it 2.0? I don't remember)

The installation was done at Feel Up Car Accessories in Narayanapura, Bangalore. To be honest, the installation was not up to the mark - I expected them to do clean wire splicing using wire tap connectors, but they did it the old school way by removing the insulation and tapping manually. So they did touch factory wiring, and I'm worried about my warranty now. I'm hoping there shouldn't come a time when I need to use the electrical warranty in the next four years.

One more complaint I have is that they did not cleanly reinstall the plastic panels - there were a few gaps and they broke a clip on the driver side door panel.

Coming to the audio quality:

Bass: The bass has definitely improved a lot from stock setup. It is tight and punchy with good low end presence. The Sony underseat subwoofers come with a remote gain controller which looks and feels nice, and it is very handy to have.

Mids: To be honest, I was expecting much better. There isn't much of a step-up from the stock speakers which were actually pretty good at mids already. I think I'm spoiled by my excellent bookshelf speakers at home.

Highs: The Infinity tweeters add a nice edge to the highs. They are tight and come on strong. I prefer a bright sound, and these do exactly what I want. I still have to spend some time to get used to the bright highs, but the clarity is amazing. Vocals are brought out very nicely.

Soundstage: The soundstage has definitely improved. I could tell this from the song "Too Shy - Kojagoogoo". However, the soundstage is more in your face than laid back. Will take some getting used to.

Damping: To be very frank, I thought damping the doors was a gimmick. I felt the Polo is already well damped. But holy-moly! The damping actually made the cabin a lot quieter! I was pleasantly surprised at the improvement. I highly recommend damping.

While I'm overall satisfied with the setup, the lingering question in my mind is whether the splicing of wires behind the head unit will render the electrical warranty null and void? Please please tell me the answer is no!

Will post some pictures soon.

[gt3t0uring]

Hello everyone,

My 5 month old Polo's battery has drained, but everything works fine just the engine cannot be cranked. 16 days back it was driven for 28kms and showed no signs of discharge. Is it normal for a 5 month old battery to die this soon? Is it advisable to push start the car as it is a manual?

(The vehicle is sparsely driven, usually within a gap of 15 days)

Regards.



This is what VWConnect app shows, also this app has a mind of its own earlier it used to be accurate but now it seems to have lost interest.

[nerd1200]

Originally Posted by gt3t0uring

Is it normal for a 5 month old battery to die this soon? Is it advisable to push start the car as it is a manual?

I would propose to invoke RSA. Anyway your battery is covered for 2 years.

[Sahil00090]

Originally Posted by gt3t0uring

Hello everyone,

My 5 month old Polo's battery has drained, but everything works fine just the engine cannot be cranked. 16 days back it was driven for 28kms and showed no signs of discharge. Is it normal for a 5 month old battery to die this soon? Is it advisable to push start the car as it is a manual?

(The vehicle is sparsely driven, usually within a gap of 15 days)

Regards.

Attachment 2339437

This is what VWConnect app shows, also this app has a mind of its own earlier it used to be accurate but now it seems to have lost interest.

This isn't normal, please contact your dealer or workshop associated. As mentioned, it should be covered under warranty.

Just to be sure, is there any electrical modification on the car?