[shashank.nk]

Originally Posted by KarthikK

Remap could be an option with the Swift, no chance I would want to take a risk with the Punto / Polo . I would stick to the plain old piggyback tuning boxes for European cars (Italian / German). At least I can disconnect the box and continue to get the car serviced as usual without the worry of something getting screwed up somewhere. A remap will definitely void warranty, they might even detect it on the OBD port and I would be asking for trouble .

I'd ruled out remap earlier as it means warranty goes for a toss. But kiirus maps are not so detectable unless they specifically look for it. One of our members got it done on his rapid so will keep a tab on his ownership report to see if the remap is detected.

You're right, better be safe than sorry at the end of the day. But the quest for more power is very tempting

[swiftnfurious]

Happy to know everything is fine! And I should appreciate your confidence in the car. If it were me, I probably would have settled for another one. Shows how much the rest of the car has impressed you!

[shashank.nk]

It was a combination of lack of options and the financial loss which resulted in me sticking to the Polo despite the issues.

I hope the car lives up to my expectations and stays trouble free!

[shashank.nk]

Update:

Took the car on a long overdue Tirupati visit. Engine wise she performed flawlessly on the highways and the ghats. I find the 5th gear the best on the open-road, the ratio allows you to maintain speeds of 80-120kmhr and the throttle response in this range is simply superb, so overtaking is a breeze. I find the acceleration upto 120 also reasonably quick, post 120 the progress is slow.

180nm of torque may not sound like too much, but I managed to go up tirupati ghat in 4th gear for the most, only time I shifted down was to overtake slow moving traffic. This with 5 adults onboard and moderate luggage. I guess the good mid range helps.

The only downside is the tyre noise which is too much post 100km/hr, as you near 120 the engine also joins the party and together they make the passengers complain, so its better to keep this car between 100-110km/hr and restrict 120+ speeds to spurts. I also managed to keep company with a very enthusiastic swift diesel driver for quite sometime, he got ahead of me as he was doing speeds in excess of 120 all the time. I went upto 130 for a short duration, but quickly slowed down in the interest of safety. Even with a warm engine, the noise is unbearable on ghat roads if you decide to drive with the windows rolled down,my mom complains of excessive engine noise every time we're on the highway.

I had a heart-in-mouth situation where the brilliant dynamics helped. Just after mulbagal on the double lane highway a cyclist on my left lost balance and fell on the road, i was doing 60km/hr may be and on seeing him lose balance i swerved to the right to avoid him,just then a Innova appeared out of no where and blinded me with high beam on what was a 90/100 lights so had to swerve left almost as soon, the car behaved superbly, not a hint of nervousness and even the passengers weren't scared. This is why I prefer a good handling car even with a very average engine, our highways can throw surprises anytime and a bad handler will be quite a handful in such emergency maneuvers.

I guess its time to change the wipers and headlights. The wipers leave me temporarily blinded for a few secs after every sweep and shudder on operation. Highbeam on NB+ is pathetic on a double lane highway with heavy traffic in the opposite direction. With rains, it only gets worse and is akin to driving with candles on these highways.

FE for the entire trip was 18kmpl (speeds of 100-120km/hr). I'm not sure how good it is in comparison to the other hatches with 5 onboard and moderate luggage.

MOST important, its been 1000 kms since the massive fuel leak and all is well as of now. I hope it stays that way. Fingers crossed

[coolboy007]

Nice to know that the Polo is doing good after a lot of visits to the service centres and one problem after another, seems it was just passing through a bad time. I had a long TD of the Polo when we were considering our next car and its fairly impressive for a 3 cylinder engine, only downer was that the engine noise gets extremely high as revvs climb but then thats with all VW group diesels.

Originally Posted by shashank.nk

I guess its time to change the wipers and headlights. The wipers leave me temporarily blinded for a few secs after every sweep and shudder on operation.

Have experienced the exact thing, the wipers are too thick and cause a lot of distraction. As for the lights, changed the lights on my Vento after thinking about it a lot (for warranty issues etc as mine is just 2 months old) but went ahead and got a 90/100 setup with relay, also changed the fog lights and my oh my - the lighting is brilliant. The high beam is just perfect for occasions when its needed.

Will update on my thread in a few days, everything costed under 3k.

[shashank.nk]

Originally Posted by coolboy007

Nice to know that the Polo is doing good after a lot of visits to the service centres and one problem after another, seems it was just passing through a bad time. I had a long TD of the Polo when we were considering our next car and its fairly impressive for a 3 cylinder engine, only downer was that the engine noise gets extremely high as revvs climb but then thats with all VW group diesels.

Have experienced the exact thing, the wipers are too thick and cause a lot of distraction. As for the lights, changed the lights on my Vento after thinking about it a lot (for warranty issues etc as mine is just 2 months old) but went ahead and got a 90/100 setup with relay, also changed the fog lights and my oh my - the lighting is brilliant. The high beam is just perfect for occasions when its needed.

Will update on my thread in a few days, everything costed under 3k.

You're very right about the engine noise. Even the 1.6TDi is fairly audible despite being a 4cyl unit, to me both sound the same at idle but 1.6 doesn't get as noisy as the 1.2 at high revs. Somehow VW doesn't make the most refined engines say like Hyundai.

I also wanted to go for a proper 90/100 setup but the problems my car's given me and the risk of losing warranty left me no choice but to stick to the stock setup, but this is pure danger on highways other than GC. If everything goes according to plan and if we have to travel on this stretch frequently, will definitely upgrade to 90/100 setup. Wipers, i guess i'll get the dyna edge.

[shashank.nk]

While I enjoy bird photography and to an extent bird watching, they clearly don't seem to like my car be clean. Look what they did to the poor thing when parked under a tree for 6+hours!

It was 11pm when dad got back home and i saw this! Initially thought i'll use ONR+MF+water and get rid of it, but looking at the amount of poop everywhere decided to give it a wash.

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by shashank.nk

Step 3: Wax/Polish
I'd recommend using Collinite 845 insulator wax as i've read its more durable than Turtle or Formula 1 waxes. Its not entirely carnauba, its a blend.

3.Blackfire Gloss enhacing polish and wet diamond paint sealant~3760

Between the Collinite and the Blackfire, I understand one is a wax and the other is a polish - but how much difference it will show? I'm more interested in the shine (All the more difficult to acheive on my white).

Is it possible to order the blackfire products in India? And how good it will be on the BNW Punto?

[shashank.nk]

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

Between the Collinite and the Blackfire, I understand one is a wax and the other is a polish - but how much difference it will show?

Is it possible to order the blackfire products in India? And how good it will be on the BNW Punto?

I've not used collinite but from my reading on these products,collinite has to be better in terms of pure shine. Its a blend which contains carnauba so it'll definitely give you a better shine when compared to any synthetic paint sealant.

Having said that,its a wax so won't last more than a month in our conditions,is also tough to apply when compared sealants.
Since you're open to trying BF,get the combo from Sanjay of bringingbest.com. It has the polish and sealant,you'll be very satisfied with the results

The shine will not be as deep as you get with a wax, but the protection will last 2 months easily,and requires comparatively less effort to apply.

[shashank.nk]

An update after a very long time, odo is now at 9500 kms and there hasn't been any issue/niggle to report, its now 3k kms since the diesel leak happened.

I've been driving the car over the last month and I notice a good improvement in FE, whether its because of the winter season or my driving style I have no idea.

I get between 13.5 to 14 kmpl in the city with B2B traffic most of the time and 100% AC. When i switch the AC off, the MID (which is pretty accurate) goes up as high as 17-18 kmpl in the same driving conditions! On an average though, 14kmpl in lovely bangalore traffic is pretty good

On a recent trip to Tirupati, I achieved phenomenal figures, a light foot, speeds between 80-100 km/hr resulted in a FE of 22.63 kmpl for the entire journey with 3 adults and moderate luggage. Its great to see such figures after the 18 kmpl that I got last time.

I'm also very happy with the sound insulation in the cabin, roll the windows up and the outside world stays outside. No annoying auto clatters, excessively loud horns to bother you. I've gotten so used to it, I hate driving with the windows down now. One of those small little things, but makes such a difference to the overall driving experience.

A moment's lapse of attention lead to me driving over a half foot stone carelessly left at the side of the road. I heard a loud "krruck' noise, and thought the oil sump had cracked, luckily it hit the sway bar (?) so whenever i steer right, i hear a 'jhung' like noise and the vehicle pulls to the left if I let go off the steering. Will a wheel alignment and balancing help or am I looking at a huge repair bill here ?

[el lobo 6061]

Originally Posted by shashank.nk

A moment's lapse of attention lead to me driving over a half foot stone carelessly left at the side of the road. I heard a loud "krruck' noise, and thought the oil sump had cracked, luckily it hit the sway bar (?) so whenever i steer right, i hear a 'jhung' like noise and the vehicle pulls to the left if I let go off the steering. Will a wheel alignment and balancing help or am I looking at a huge repair bill here ?

Sorry to hear about, but don't worry your car should be back to normal sooner. Refer to the post of mine in the two threads of Polo & Vento should help you. VW is increasing the GC by 10 mm in 1.2 TDi cars free of cost, the sway bar shall also be checked & rectified.

Link 1.

Link 2.

[shashank.nk]

Originally Posted by el lobo 6061

Sorry to hear about, but don't worry your car should be back to normal sooner. Refer to the post of mine in the two threads of Polo & Vento should help you. VW is increasing the GC by 10 mm in 1.2 TDi cars free of cost, the sway bar shall also be checked & rectified.

Link 1.

Link 2.

Hey thanks rohan, will surely get the GC update done when I drop my car for first service in a month's time.

Is the steering update applicable to Polo's also ?

[el lobo 6061]

Originally Posted by shashank.nk

Is the steering update applicable to Polo's also ?

Well I didn't ask about it, whether it was specific to Vento or even Polo is included. When you would go for the service and the SA will generate the job card it would reflect in the system for the service bulletin due for your car.

[KarthikK]

Originally Posted by shashank.nk

A moment's lapse of attention lead to me driving over a half foot stone carelessly left at the side of the road. I heard a loud "krruck' noise, and thought the oil sump had cracked, luckily it hit the sway bar (?) so whenever i steer right, i hear a 'jhung' like noise and the vehicle pulls to the left if I let go off the steering. Will a wheel alignment and balancing help or am I looking at a huge repair bill here ?

If it hit near the wheel, more than sway bar, your symptoms (especially the sound when steering) makes me suspect the CV joint is what is busted and punctured. Check if there are visible signs of leak there. See if you can get this replaced under warranty, if it does turn out to be a CV joint issue. Unless they can find visible damage signs, there is no way to prove that a cv joint problem happened due to your fault.

[shashank.nk]

Polo finally hit the 10k mark on a recent 650km long drive! The odo is now at 10,700 and its also been a year since I have the car. The first year hasn't been very memorable, I hope the next few years are a lot better.

The FE has improved tremendously, in the months of August last year a 13km/l on the MID would have me grinning, but now 13 is a rare occurence. I mostly see 15 km/l in peak traffic (14.5 km/l in the tankful-to-tankful method) and when there's less traffic its always 15+ and sometimes even as high as 18km/l in a few stretches. On the open road, 20km/l is a given provided I don't revv the engine excessively. Its like some magician worked magic on my car's engine and its started returning brilliant FE, may be it was also the winter season effect.

Somehow the engine feels sluggish even as the revvs climb, it may be because the air filter is clogged after close to a year of driving. I hope it goes away after the first service is done. I'm yet to take an appointment and will update the thread with the cost and a detailed one year ownership write-up once done