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-   -   VW Polo - Maintenance and Service cost and dos/don'ts (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/technical-stuff/101925-vw-polo-maintenance-service-cost-dos-donts-108.html)

I have compared quotes from FNG with the authorised service stations for few of the works & felt the authorised service centre prices are at par with FNG ( I checked with different FNG each time). Better get an estimate from both to ensure we compare apple to apple & then take a call...if both are at par, I would prefer to go with authorised service centre.

Thank you for the suggestion Surprise. I will get in touch with VW ASS as well to check if they are charging for clutch overhauls in a similar price range.

Got an arm rest fitted to my '16 1.2 comfortline Polo for 6K by the A.S.S here in Pune. I was about to shell out 10k and order it from vagtune, but I decided to check once with the showroom and they did it for way cheaper.

Another weird issue cropped up on my sisters Polo 1.2

The reverse light was turning on and off when the reverse gear was engaged. I noticed this when the car wash guy was moving the car and later when I was reversing in the dark. I had to take the car to the service center today for an issue with the power windows making noise when being engaged and mentioned this to them as well which as usual could not be replicated since it worked fine then.

I came back home and was parking the car and there was a Etios parked behind and I could see my cars tail lamps reflection on the chrome strip on the boot of the Etios. Which is when I noticed that the reverse lamp does not light up when the reverse gear is engaged, instead it lights up when the clutch is slowly released in reverse. And the brightness depends on how much the clutch is released. The moment the clutch pedal is pressed again, it turns off.
Sadly I did not notice this earlier to inform the SA as it worked fine in the service center.

Has anyone faced this issue and any fix for it?

The good news is that it almost 100% a very simple problem. The bad news is it might be very difficult to diagnose where the actual problem is.

When you get these sort of weird symptoms it is almost always due to some simple problem in the electrical circuit. Something like a ground, a chaffed wire, something corroded. The problem is finding where.

You might get lucky and find somebody who has come across it before, but even that might not guarantee yours is the exact same.

I would check all the obvious easy ones first. Check battery condition, voltage, connectors. Then check the appropriate fuses, pull them out, check the fuse and the fuse holder for obvious signs of corrosion. Open up the reverse light and check for bad contacts, corrosion etc. Where possible, visible pay particular attention to the grounding. When you see one, don’t just look at it, but undo it, check and clean and put back together.

You might get lucky. If not you really need the electrical diagrams to dig deeper.
You might want to try some of the UK/USA VW Polo forums. I have found them very useful when we are working on my eldest son VW Golf.

Good luck

Jeroen

"When a VW visits the service station with an issue, it returns back with two"
I was very well aware of horrific ownership experiences of people, along with even more horrific tales; when I decided to bite the bullet and get the Polos (Yes, 2 of them, altogether). One diesel (December 2015) and one petrol (January 2016).

As of today, one car has covered 1,19,300 kms (the diesel one), while another has covered 70,400 kms (the petrol one). So, that makes me a qualified nearly 2 lac kms ownership experience holder of VW cars. And I must say that owning the VW has been a wonderful experience so far for me.

Pros of the car:

• Solid build - no panels will rattle even after a lac of kms of usage
• Driving experience - it's after the needle crosses the 100 mark; when you actually start appreciating it (EPE has 120 kph speed limit)
• Driving position - tilt + telescopic steering wheel + height adjustable driver's seat
• Strong diesel and peppy petrol (the 1.2 petrol has poor outright performance though)
• Thoughtfulness, it has less features; but they are very thoughtfully added ones. Anti pinch and one touch for all windows is the one I rate highest

Cons of the car:

• Space!
• Ground clearance!
• NVH and performance in 1.2 petrol
• 60k and 120k kilometers service cost! lol:

Every review says that VW service is horrific, some call it a hit or miss. Well, for me; it has been wonderful so far. My service station is Volkswagen Gurugram (One in Behrampur, near Hero Honda Chowk in Gurgaon) and what has impressed me is the fact that I have seen cars coming down from as far as Roorkee and Haridwar to get serviced here - over 250 kms away, and not visit the nearest service stations or the ones in Delhi or Noida.

But with time, I realized the fact that these guys have got the right set of people to take care of the right set of things. You just need to inform them of the issue and it will be gone for sure. Not just this, I have seen these guys finding the faults themselves in a very sincere manner and rectifying them. Have talked to customers in the service station and they also have a similar feedback to share.

My Recent Case:
My adviser has been Navneet Saxena (Since over 4 years) throughout my ownership of both the cars. His honest feedback has always kept me thoroughly impressed, hence he is my first priority whenever I visit there for a service (the entire staff is very nice though).

So I had two things to be dealt with; one was the ABS light in instrument panel of my petrol car and second was the insurance (BTW I have always got a very competitive quote from their insurance division too). So I sent the car for the replacement in extended warranty. After two days I got a call stating that it's not just the ABS sensor, but AC compressor also has issue (thanks to winters, I never knew), and a few more things. When the car returned back, I could sense that the guy has sincerely worked on the car and rectified every single issue (half of which were there but I didn't even report thinking that these are ageing issues).

Thoroughly impressed with this service station and the staff there. No wonder these guys are enjoying a wonderful loyalty rate among all in NCR region.

I was going through my previous bills and they stand as follows (approx figures):

The maintenance cost per km is hidden, mentioning it here:

• Diesel: 1.11/km
• Petrol: 0.65/km

Both the cars are running on factory clutch and their second set of tyres; MRF Perfinza 195/60 R15 sized.

Mod note: Post edited. Please avoid quoting an entire large post for a short reply, which affects readability. Thanks.

Thank you so much for this. My car (2016 Petrol) is nearing it's 4th yearly service and I was wondering if I should visit an FNG. Thanks for your recommendation:)

It has been good for me too, also on my second Polo. Maybe the reviewers who write otherwise are not actually long-term VW owners! Same goes for DSG reliability: yes there are problems, but rumour has, I suspect, vastly increased the number!

I can't deny, though, that those who want never to be more than a stone's throw from the nearest service station will have to stick with Tata/Maruti. I don't know if VW has penetrated much outside the cities, but the number of VW dealers/service-stations in my city has increased greatly since my first Polo day.

Take 7 year extended warranty and enjoy the peace of mind with A.S.S., instead of heading towards FNG.

I'm sorry to bother with a question I should (and did) know the answer to, but what is the recommended oil for a between-services top-up for a GT TDI?

Last year it didn't need it. The year before, all I can remember is buying something Shell.

The Castol Edge 5w-40 Fully Synthetic is VW 505 01 compliant and is what they used at the service centre during regular service. It should work fine.

Could you share pictures? How much did it cost? I was looking at some options online but they seemed low in quality and hence refrained.

Here are some pictures.

It costed me Rs.6000/-

This is a genuine VW product which is being used in polo's and vento's, so you can go for it without any worry

Awesome. You got this done with the showroom or the service centre? Also, was the amount all inclusive?

It was the showroom, the accessories department. Yes that amount is all inclusive.
You should try calling the sales team and ask them if the armrest for polo is in stock. There are two colours black and beige. It takes them 25 - 30 mins to install it.