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Old 3rd February 2015, 15:08   #1
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Flash Red VW Polo GT TDI - Little Beast EDIT: Sold!

My Baby, GT Tdi-The Beast
Flash Red VW Polo GT TDI - Little Beast EDIT: Sold!-gttdibeast2.png

Flash Red VW Polo GT TDI - Little Beast EDIT: Sold!-gttdibeast2.jpg

This is my second ownership thread and it all started with a casual test drive of the Polo GT 1.6.

Flash Red VW Polo GT TDI - Little Beast EDIT: Sold!-welcome2vw.jpg

The link to my ownership thread of the Ritz is: http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-d...-ritz-vdi.html

My Ritz Vdi had traversed 67000 Kms in a time span of around 4.5 years and was running absolutely fine with no major issue.
Flash Red VW Polo GT TDI - Little Beast EDIT: Sold!-ritz1.jpg

Once the car covered 60000 Kms, I got the two front tyres and the left hand side drive-shaft replaced. Also, I was getting a feeling that the clutch might need an overhaul but my regular SA checked it and found it to be in a proper working condition. Thus, everything was perfectly normal and the car was doing its job perfectly fine.

But a casual test drive of the Polo left an everlasting impression on my mind. Within few days of the test drive, Vikram posted his thread about his Polo GT. http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-d...ml#post3460993. This thread was like hitting the final nail in the coffin that aggravated my thought of going for a change from Ritz to Polo.

After driving a Maruti for close to 5 years, I could immediately feel the difference in the quality between Ritz and Polo GT once I sat inside the test drive GT car. No, it was neither the engine nor something else. The plastics, the power window switches, the wiper stack etc was just awesome. I am not saying that the quality of Maruti cars is bad, but the Polo is definitely of a higher quality.

Yup there were a few things in my Ritz, which I felt was better compared to the Polo. In the Ritz, tall persons like me get a lot of head room, seats are higher, and 60:40 split rear seats. With respect to 60:40 split rear seats, I tried to remember the last time I used the 60:40 seats but I could not recollect any recent instance of using that feature. Hence I knew that it is not going to make any significant difference. Regarding the headroom space and other related aspects, Polo was providing me with a height adjustable seat, which ensured my comfort at the driver seat after few adjustments.

Now came the biggest part of convincing my home minister (Wife) to buy a new car. Ritz was my first car and we were emotionally attached to that car. We had a lot of memories attached to that car like long drives, unplanned trips and what not. Also, the biggest dilemma was to start paying EMI for a car once again as we had closed our car loan a year back. Anyway I gathered some courage and then asked Wifey about the thought of the new car. She knows my love towards cars and thus was fine with the thought but wanted to make sure that we don’t spend too much on a car as we are also in the process of buying a home like everyone. Hence we decided to give it a shot and see how it goes.

Weekends are working days for me. Thus on one fine weekend while I was at work, I decided to call one of the VW dealers to see if they have a red colored GT TDI available with them as I came to know that VW had temporarily stopped the production of the GT twins and will be launching the new Polo soon. Firstly I called the VW dealer Apple Auto - Whitefield and the person who attended my call immediately connected me to a Sales Executive named Naveen Kumar. He informed me that they do a have Red Polo GT TDI in stock. According to him this was actually the last piece available in Bangalore at that point of time. I requested for the VIN # and he promptly sent me the same. I told him that I plan to buy the Polo only after exchanging my Ritz and will be visiting them the next day to see the car. He told me that he will have their used car evaluator available at the showroom when I visit them.

Next morning, while parking my car in front of the VW showroom, I received a call from Naveen who wanted to know the time of arrival at the showroom. He was actually surprised when I told him that I am already there. I wanted to see the car but Naveen told me that the car is in stock yard and not in the showroom. Thus he asked me if I would like to have a test drive of GT. I agreed for the test drive, which enabled my wife and son to also have a feel of the car.

We went for a short drive. Oh Man! The way that RPM was touching the 5k mark was just pure fun. Wifey also liked the car but she felt that the space in the back seat was more or less the same our Ritz had. She also felt the ride quality was better than our Ritz. Our Ritz was running on 195/60/15 tyres and 65k old suspension. Thus I knew why she was praising the ride quality of the Polo. But yes, the ride was definitely better compared to our Ritz. One more advantage in Polo was the Auto A/C. In the Ritz, wifey used to ask me to switch the A/C off during long drives as the car used to get really cold after using the A/c continuously. In the Polo, we have the option to set the temperature and keep it running at the set temperature. Thus, I highlighted the advantage to Wifey too.

Once we came back from the test drive, the car evaluator was ready to check our Ritz. I told them all the modifications that I made to the car, explained about the things that have been recently changed, full service history etc etc. After inspecting the car for more them 30 mins, he was impressed with the condition of the car and the way I have maintained a 4.5 year old car. They asked me my expected selling price of the car. I promptly quoted 5 lacs as I was very clear that I don’t want to take a loan more than 5 lacs. The on-road price for the GT then was around 9.8 lacs. VW was giving an exchange bonus of 20k at that point of time and the evaluator quoted 3.5 lacs + 20k exchange bonus for my Ritz. I just said “NO” to that offer. So after discussing with his senior, he gave a final price of 3.7+20k exchange bonus. I was not sure if I would like to sell my car at that price. They were also giving a cash discount of 32k on the GT.

I made a note of all the things and asked for a day or two to confirm on the same.

Thus I was in a dilemma now - Should I opt for this 1.6 GT or wait for a new GT, which was about to be launched in a 15 days’ time. If I opted to wait for the new GT, I would also get a chance to sell my car on my own. But I was just not able to make up my mind to let go off this 1.6 TDI and wait for 1.5 TDI because I knew there would be difference for sure in the engine. Moreover, the reason why I was looking for a new car was the way this 1.6 GT drives. I was really confused.

I was following the new Polo thread for quite sometime. Thus I knew that the new Polo would have changes in interiors, alloys, steering, bumper, etc. But the only thought that kept me confused was whether it is worth to wait for these changes rather than picking up the present Polo GT. After a lot of thinking, we finally decided to let go this 1.6 GT and wait for the new GT as the new GT will have other new things that will make up for the downsized 1.5 engine. Moreover we don’t buy cars every day, so I didn’t want to repent at any point of time thinking that I could have waited for new GT and got these new things.
Flash Red VW Polo GT TDI - Little Beast EDIT: Sold!-polonewfeatures.jpg

So with a very heavy heart, I informed Naveen that I would wait for the new GT. He being a salesman tried his best to make me buy this 1.6 GT but I had just made up my mind to wait for the new GT.

On 15th July, VW launched the new Polo and I started following the thread where fellow bhpians started putting their thought about the new Polo explaining how it felt to drive and how it looked and so on. I visited the VW showroom and checked out the new Polo. I took it for a spin and found it to be good.

Now the wait started for the new GT, but there was no news on the same. In the meantime, I had put my Ritz for sale and was getting frequent queries for the same. But I was not in a position to let go the car without having a replacement car for me as I use the car daily to drop Wifey to office, pick my son from his day care, weekend shopping etc etc. So the thought of managing without a car was scary.

So I called up Naveen and asked him the expected delivery date of the new GT if i book it now. He replied that he should be able to get it for me by 1st week of September. But I was not sure about booking a car costing close to 10 lacs without a test drive. But there was no news about the launch of GT or a test drive vehicle being available.

While I was still waiting for the GT to be launched, I found that the comfort line Polo TDI was also a very good option. Interiors and safety features of the GT and comfort line are same. Hence why not go for a comfort line and get it remapped after sometime? Comfortline was almost 1.2 lacs cheaper than the GT and VW was giving 18k cash discount too. So I decided to give the comfortline a closer look. But the new steering with controls, Auto A/c, and the warranty factor made me wait for the GT.

This is how the steering looks in a Comfortline Polo
Flash Red VW Polo GT TDI - Little Beast EDIT: Sold!-steering-comfort.jpg

And this was how the steering in Highline Polo looked.
Flash Red VW Polo GT TDI - Little Beast EDIT: Sold!-highline-steering.jpg

In the meantime, there was a sudden requirement at work that made me travel to Dubai on a business trip. While I was at Dubai, I used to see those cars that I have only heard of but never seen.
An example :-
Flash Red VW Polo GT TDI - Little Beast EDIT: Sold!-img_20140925_091525.jpg

During that time, I spent a lot of time reading the A.S.S experience of almost all the manufacturers. And one thing that came out very clear was that the after sales service of most of the manufacturers apart from Maruti and Toyota are not upto the mark. To move out of maruti stable and buy a car from a different manufacturer meant that I can't expect the same type of service and I need to set my expectation right.

I checked out the A.S.S reviews for VW and they also belonged to the same group other than Maruti/Toyota, but were improving.

So the day I landed in Bangalore, I called Naveen and asked him about the GT but he was not able to give a concrete answer. I visited the showroom next day to check more on the GT but didn’t get any positive response and came to know that the waiting period for GT was more than 3 months. I was no way ready to pay a booking amount of 50k and wait for 3 months.

That is when things started taking shape. VW usually take 50k as booking amount for cars, but Naveen told me that I can book a GT by paying only 10k. So I just booked a Flash Red- GT TDI on 14th Oct 2014 by paying only 10k along with a waiting time of 2-3 months. I was informed that the chances of getting the car before the waiting period of 2-3 months are only possible if there is a cancellation.

I read in some thread here that VW Mysore are able to get cars quite fast compared to other dealers. Hence I called them up to see if they could get me a Polo GT faster but they too told me the same waiting period. So I knew that I have to wait now.

But suddenly on 25th Oct, I got a call from Naveen who informed me that there is a good and a not-so-good news. Good news was that they just received GT TDI, which a customer had booked but cancelled it as he was looking for a black GT. The not-so-good news was that it is not Flash Red but a new grey color. He wanted to check if I would be interested in that color.
Flash Red VW Polo GT TDI - Little Beast EDIT: Sold!-newgrey.jpg

I discussed with wifey and thought of seeing the car first and then decide. I went to the stockyard along with Naveen and saw the car parked next to a RED Polo. I somehow didn’t like a GT in that color.
Flash Red VW Polo GT TDI - Little Beast EDIT: Sold!-red_gt.jpg

Especially the black spoiler and black ORVM were not that appealing compared to the one on the Red GT. Moreover the red Polo just looked awesome.

One more reason for me booking the red Polo was the mods which I had in mind. But that grey color just didn’t appeal to me like the way the red polo did. So I gave that Grey GT TDI also a miss. In the mid of November, we made a plan to visit my brother in Singapore during the Xmas vacations. That meant we will not be in India during the last week of December and 1st week of Jan’15. So I called Naveen to check the status of my booking and wanted him to confirm if i can get a car before 22nd Dec or in the 2nd week of Jan’15. He said that he will check and confirm within a couple of days time.

While we were waiting for the Polo, we decided to try out a few other cars. First on the card was the Tata Safari. I just loved the way it looked.
Flash Red VW Polo GT TDI - Little Beast EDIT: Sold!-safari.jpg

The ride quality and the seating position were just awesome. It is a big vehicle. During the test drive, I could feel the respect it commands on the road. People were just giving way to the beast. I really wanted to see if we can stretch our budget and get this beast, but Safari Lx itself was costing close to 11.5 lacs after all discounts. Thus the dream to own a Safari/ SUV will have to wait for some more years.

Then tried out the Duster and I just can’t understand why that vehicle costs 15 lacs for the Top end 110 ps variant. So the idea of going for a Duster was also immediately dropped. The next in queue was the Elite, yes i20 elite. The price of Elite and GT were almost the same, so thought of checking that too. I somehow didn’t like the rear of the car. I already had a car whose rear was not that attractive so I was really not in a mood to pick one with a similar kind of issue. I requested for diesel test car but they didn’t have the car and told me that they will get the car home in few days but no one bothered to do so. My primary reason to change my existing car was the fun to drive factor but I didn’t think Elite was the answer for the same. Also wifey was very sure that we are not buying the i20 after using a Ritz.

So it was now decided that our next car will be only a RED Polo GT TDI.

In the first week of December, Naveen called me and informed that they have been billed a Red GT TDI. The customer who booked it didn’t want to take that car as he wanted a 2015 model and wanted my confirmation before billing it against my name. I asked him to hold on to that car till the time I see the car and do a quick PDI. I reached the showroom within an hours time and he showed me the RED GT TDI that they had received the day before.

Flash Red VW Polo GT TDI - Little Beast EDIT: Sold!-stockyard1.jpg
Flash Red VW Polo GT TDI - Little Beast EDIT: Sold!-stockyard2.jpg
Flash Red VW Polo GT TDI - Little Beast EDIT: Sold!-stockyard3.jpg

I did a quick PDI of the same and asked him to go ahead with billing and also start the paper work to apply for a loan from SBI.

In the meantime, I got a buyer for my Ritz who was ready to pick the car ASAP. Now, we were traveling to Singapore on 22nd Dec and returning back on 6th Jan. Hence there was no point in taking the delivery of the car before our travel. Thus I asked the sales executive to register the car in the first week of January and keep the car ready for delivery on 10th January, to which he agreed. As I will be out of country for 2 weeks, I wanted to complete all the pending paper work and finalize all things before I travel.

The first thing on my list was insurance. I had informed the dealer that insurance will be arranged on my own. I already have insurance with Bajaj Alliance. Hence, I called their Bangalore office inquiring about the process of getting the NCB transferred. After discussing with them, I came to know that if I take an insurance from them for the Polo, they can get the NCB transferred to the new car without any hassle or extra paper work. Hence I got the quotations from them for the new insurance.

I visited the VW showroom the same day to complete all the paper work for the loan. After completing the same, Naveen asked me about insurance and was willing to get me insurance from the dealership itself after matching the price that I am getting from outside. VW was also providing insurance from Bajaj alliance. I was shocked to see that VW was quoting 30k for a regular insurance and 8k extra for bumper to bumper. Then I found out the story behind the same. The insurance amount for a 1.6 ltr engine is higher compared to a 1.5 lt engine and VW was still quoting insurance for a 1.6 ltr engine for the GT TDI models. I quickly pointed out the same to the dealership guys and told them that Bajaj alliance was giving me a regular insurance for 13k and 21k for the bumper to bumper insurance after transferring the existing NCB.

After some discussion amongst themselves, they agreed to sell the insurance on the prices that the regular Bajaj Alliance dealer had quoted. I agreed to buy the regular insurance for 13k saving close to 17k straightaway. I gave them a cheque of Rs. 500 for the existing policy and asked them to process the NCB transfer and take care of the new policy. Next was the best part of the whole deal. I asked Naveen that regarding the list of things that he was going to give me along with the car.

He replied "Don’t even think about any freebies or discounts as this car has 3 months waiting period and people are willing to buy it by giving full cash". But I was not giving up. As the saying goes that a mother also doesn’t feed a baby if the baby doesn’t cry, so how can I give up without a little drama. I asked him to let me talk to the sales manager so that I can discuss the same with him. He didn’t agree to it but instead went and discussed something with him and came back with a smile on his face.

Once he came back, he informed that VW was giving 15k cash discount, original Polo floor mats and mudflaps for this month even on GT models and he was not aware about it. I gave him a small smile and looked at the display counter to see if I can squeeze something else along with these. I saw seat covers that were not that great and window visors on the display board. I asked him to give me the window visors also. After initial resistance, he agreed to give that as a part of the deal.

Thus initially there was 0 discount and 0 freebies along with GT but now I was getting 15k cash discount, free floor mats, mudflaps and window visors. So the lesson learnt is that until and unless you ask, you even might not get the things which we are supposed to get. So don’t feel bad to bargain with salesmen.

In the mean time, I started looking for 16” alloys for the new GT and finalized the Momo Revenge Black.

Flash Red VW Polo GT TDI - Little Beast EDIT: Sold!-momo-revenge.jpg

I was about pay the amount to Mr Sarvana from Hercules Tyres when I found about the limited choice of tyre in 205/50/16. We only had Yoko in that and nothing else. I was never very confident about the Yoko. So I decided to hold on to the upsizing for now and informed Mr Sarvana to cancel the order for Momo Revenge for now.

I called up Madhu’s to check the tyre available for 205/55/15 and made a note of the brands and prices.

Now that we were ready to hand over our car before going out of the country, we decided to take the delivery of the new car the day we come back. Hence I called up the salesman and asked him to keep the car ready for a 7th January delivery between 13.00 hours to 14.30 hrs.

On 21st December, we handed over our Ritz to the new owner. I almost had tears in my eyes but somehow controlled it. Now while I was out of country, I contacted Nikhil and asked him about the availability of ZLO 205/55/15 tyres and after his confirmation requested him to a book a set of 4 for me.

The stock horns of the new polo were just too bad. Hence after checking with fellow bhpian who had just installed another horn on his polo, I asked my salesman to add another horn to my car. The extra horn costs me 2.9k. We came back to Bangalore close to midnight of 6th Jan 2015 and reached the showroom next day around 12.30 AM. Before going to pick the car, we bought a nice Titan Watch for Naveen, our salesman.

The car was parked outside and ready for delivery. I did the payment of the residual amount and went straight with a detailed PDI.
This was clicked by my 4.5 year old son using a DSLR .That's me crosschecking all the points of teambhp PDI checklist .

Flash Red VW Polo GT TDI - Little Beast EDIT: Sold!-me_pdi_001.jpg

Some More pictures from the day of delivery. Side View

Flash Red VW Polo GT TDI - Little Beast EDIT: Sold!-2_001.jpg

Nice alloys, but i think i will get them painted black

Flash Red VW Polo GT TDI - Little Beast EDIT: Sold!-3_002.jpg
I think the car will look better without those mudflap

Flash Red VW Polo GT TDI - Little Beast EDIT: Sold!-7_003.jpg

Rear spoiler
Flash Red VW Polo GT TDI - Little Beast EDIT: Sold!-8_004.jpg

Steering of the GT
Flash Red VW Polo GT TDI - Little Beast EDIT: Sold!-9_005.jpg

Decent boot space, but no 60:40 split seats.
Flash Red VW Polo GT TDI - Little Beast EDIT: Sold!-10_006.jpg

Ready to take off
Flash Red VW Polo GT TDI - Little Beast EDIT: Sold!-11_007.jpg

New VW front emblem
Flash Red VW Polo GT TDI - Little Beast EDIT: Sold!-13_009.jpg

Side view of the headlamps.
Flash Red VW Polo GT TDI - Little Beast EDIT: Sold!-14_010.jpg

That badge says it all

Flash Red VW Polo GT TDI - Little Beast EDIT: Sold!-16_011.jpg

My son handing over the gift to Naveen as a small token of appreciation

Flash Red VW Polo GT TDI - Little Beast EDIT: Sold!-gift-sa_050.jpg

Our new family member

Flash Red VW Polo GT TDI - Little Beast EDIT: Sold!-soncar_054.jpg

My Babies

Flash Red VW Polo GT TDI - Little Beast EDIT: Sold!-my-babies_052.jpg

The welcome kit from VW.

Flash Red VW Polo GT TDI - Little Beast EDIT: Sold!-welcome-kit-vw.jpg

Last edited by Schoudhury : 12th February 2015 at 23:03. Reason: Spacing :)
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Old 4th February 2015, 00:11   #2
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re: Flash Red VW Polo GT TDI - Little Beast EDIT: Sold!

Filled close to 38 litres of diesel and drove straight to Madhu's to get the tyres replaced. While i was on my way to Madhu's ,gave them a call to remind them about the tyres that were booked for me .
The moment i reached, the car was put on the ramp and they started changing the tyres.
Flash Red VW Polo GT TDI - Little Beast EDIT: Sold!-madhu1_051.jpg

Flash Red VW Polo GT TDI - Little Beast EDIT: Sold!-dsc_8786_040_015.jpg

Nikhil was also present in the store that day, but was busy in a meeting. There was a small confusion regarding the tyres. I had asked them to keep a set of 205/55/15 ZLO for me, but when I crosschecked the tyres i saw they were 195/60/15 ZLO instead of 205/55. So i asked them to stop putting those tyres and pointed the same to store manager, he promptly got the 205s and asked them to fit the the 205s. While they were putting the tyres i just happened to check the mfd of those tyres and it read 42/13, that meant 42nd week of 2013. I was very surprised to see such old tyres being put in my car. Upon further checking they found that these tyres were delivered to them few months back only and none of MRF dealer had 205/55 ZLO in stock for now. I was really confused what to do, as i was not very keen on Yoko S drives. By that time Nikhil had finished his meeting and came up to me to see how things were going. The store manager informed Nikhil about the situation. I asked Nikhil if it is ok to use 42/13 tyres. He after thinking a while asked me to go for them as it will not make much of a difference. His reason was very simple, an average tyre life is close to 4-5 years and with my running of close to 15k km in an year these tyres will get replaced before 5 years , which i will before he life span of a tyre. His logic made perfect sense to me and on top of that he gave me discounts on those tyres. So i requested the staff to continue with 205 Zlo's . I paid 6.5k for 4 tyres which included buy back to stock tyres and hunter balancing, not that is not bad, right !!


Flash Red VW Polo GT TDI - Little Beast EDIT: Sold!-dsc_8799_048_016.jpg


Later in the evening , seeking blessing from THE Almighty

Flash Red VW Polo GT TDI - Little Beast EDIT: Sold!-dsc_8806_052_018.jpg

Panditji going through the rituals

Flash Red VW Polo GT TDI - Little Beast EDIT: Sold!-dsc_8807_053_019.jpg

Flash Red VW Polo GT TDI - Little Beast EDIT: Sold!-dsc_8808_054_020.jpg

Flash Red VW Polo GT TDI - Little Beast EDIT: Sold!-dsc_8812_055_021.jpg

Flash Red VW Polo GT TDI - Little Beast EDIT: Sold!-dsc_8817_057_022.jpg

The new headlamps surely enhances the looks of the car .

Flash Red VW Polo GT TDI - Little Beast EDIT: Sold!-dsc_8820_058_023.jpg

Ready for the lemon crushing ritual

Flash Red VW Polo GT TDI - Little Beast EDIT: Sold!-dsc_8822_059_024.jpg

Closeup of the headlamp

Flash Red VW Polo GT TDI - Little Beast EDIT: Sold!-dsc_8829_064_025.jpg

Top view of the car, a nice white racing stripes or black roof will surely look nice.

Flash Red VW Polo GT TDI - Little Beast EDIT: Sold!-dsc_8836_065_026.jpg

Some more shots of the GT

Flash Red VW Polo GT TDI - Little Beast EDIT: Sold!-dsc_8960_068_027.jpg
The fuel lid is on the right hand side of the car compared to the left side on my old car.

Flash Red VW Polo GT TDI - Little Beast EDIT: Sold!-dsc_8963_071_028.jpg

Flash Red VW Polo GT TDI - Little Beast EDIT: Sold!-dsc_8964_072_029.jpg

Flash Red VW Polo GT TDI - Little Beast EDIT: Sold!-dsc_8967_075_030.jpg

Flash Red VW Polo GT TDI - Little Beast EDIT: Sold!-dsc_8972_079_031.jpg

The badge of honour

Flash Red VW Polo GT TDI - Little Beast EDIT: Sold!-dsc_8975_082_034.jpg

I think a thin red line on the black ovrm would enhance the looks .

Flash Red VW Polo GT TDI - Little Beast EDIT: Sold!-dsc_8973_080_032.jpg

These stickers says it all
Flash Red VW Polo GT TDI - Little Beast EDIT: Sold!-dsc_8978_084_035.jpg

We all need to do this .

Flash Red VW Polo GT TDI - Little Beast EDIT: Sold!-dsc_8981_087_036.jpg

Tweeters

Flash Red VW Polo GT TDI - Little Beast EDIT: Sold!-dsc_8983_089_038.jpg

Clip on rear view mirror

Flash Red VW Polo GT TDI - Little Beast EDIT: Sold!-dsc_8984_090_039.jpg
The anti slip mats

Flash Red VW Polo GT TDI - Little Beast EDIT: Sold!-dsc_8989_095_040.jpg

The anti slip mats for door pockets

Flash Red VW Polo GT TDI - Little Beast EDIT: Sold!-dsc_8993_096_041.jpg

Those tail lamps are nice but I think I will swap them with the Euro tail-lamps .
Flash Red VW Polo GT TDI - Little Beast EDIT: Sold!-dsc_8803_050_017.jpg

The LED parking lamp and the fog lamps

Flash Red VW Polo GT TDI - Little Beast EDIT: Sold!-parking-lampfog_001.jpg

List of accessories added till date :-
1. Osram Nightbreaker for high beam
2. Rockford Components / Coax speakers
3. Rockford 4 channel amp
4. Sub Woofer
5. Clip On rear view mirror
6. Osram parking lamps - LED
7. VW Polo Interior door storage box cup silicone mat anti-slip pad.
8. Volkswagen RED Silicone car key cover
9. Chrome Door Handle Latch Cover Handle Cover For Volkswagen Polo
10. VW Armrest ( on its way )
11. An extra original VW horn, the stock single horn sounded horrible.

Last edited by Schoudhury : 11th February 2015 at 00:29.
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Old 4th February 2015, 00:25   #3
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re: Flash Red VW Polo GT TDI - Little Beast EDIT: Sold!

The alloys are made in Poland.
Flash Red VW Polo GT TDI - Little Beast EDIT: Sold!-alloys_polland.jpg

Awesome foot pedals

Flash Red VW Polo GT TDI - Little Beast EDIT: Sold!-dsc_8998_098_043.jpg
The footrest is quite useful while driving bare footed. Otherwise it is not of much use especially with my size 11 shoes.

Flash Red VW Polo GT TDI - Little Beast EDIT: Sold!-dsc_9000_100_044.jpg
The chrome door handle

Flash Red VW Polo GT TDI - Little Beast EDIT: Sold!-dsc_9004_104_045.jpg
Unnecessary chrome on the front

Flash Red VW Polo GT TDI - Little Beast EDIT: Sold!-dsc_9016_116_046.jpg
Silicon cover + VW Polo Interior door storage box cup silicone mat anti-slip pad

Flash Red VW Polo GT TDI - Little Beast EDIT: Sold!-dsc_9018_118_047.jpg
I wish there was number 6 on this.

Flash Red VW Polo GT TDI - Little Beast EDIT: Sold!-dsc_9019_119_048.jpg

The VW logo on the steering, this might see some changes

Flash Red VW Polo GT TDI - Little Beast EDIT: Sold!-dsc_9020_120_049.jpg

VW Service Experience

Now the part that gave me a taste of the VW service within days of getting the car home.

From day i took the test drive of the Polo, I knew that the speakers must be changed if I want to hear decent music inside the car. Hence, I got in touch with Satya (Evo) within days of getting the car and fixed up an appointment to get the stock speakers changed, install the amplifier & subwoofer which I had removed from my Ritz (these were also bought from him ). Got the setup done and the music sounded fine now but not like the way it was in my previous car. One day while driving back from work, I noticed that both the wipers were not working. So I called up Satya immediately and informed him about the same. He gave a very arrogant reply, stating this was not the 1st polo they have worked on and it has nothing to do with their work and could be an issue with the fuse. So I asked him if they can crosscheck the setup so that I can have it checked by VW as it was a brand new car. Nowadays Satya usually comes to the store only on the latter half of the day. So I called up the store's landline number and had a talk with Rupesh ( Satya's main guy for this installation and an expert as per Satya) and told him about the issue. He said it could mostly be a fuse issue and asked me to come over as he had done the installation and would thus be able to crosscheck the same and let me know. I was working from home that day.

Hence, I took an hour off from work and went there. Once I reached there, I saw Rupesh already working on another car. So I didn't bother him and waited for him to finish his work on the car and then check my car. After waiting for close to an hour, I requested him to see if he can spare sometime and check my car as I need to go back. He agreed and just started to check the things. Satya had just reached the store and saw Rupesh checking my car. He immediately asked Rupesh to first finish working on the car on which he was working previously and then proceed to check my car. I requested Satya to let him check to just verify if it was a fuse issue or something else. But he somehow didn't allow them to crosscheck and instead replied to me “I am sorry that this had happened to your car but we will need some time to debug the issue ". I told him that I had called Rupesh before coming and have been waiting for the last 1 hour and just wanted he and his boys to just check if it is a fuse issue or not. But that didn't happen. I was really upset with that. I had no issues waiting and I actually waited for an hour before I requested (not asked) Rupesh to kindly check the car if possible. And now he was telling me to give him 1-2 hours more to see what is going on. I was getting late and was really pissed off. So I just drove from his store. Satya immediately called me and told me that he was making space for my car to be checked. I was not in a mood to talk to him as I was really upset with the whole situation and decided to get it checked by VW guys. Satya asked me to keep him informed to about the same.

In the meantime, I tried to figure out the fuse issue on my own, but was not able to do so. I checked with Ganesh aka Gannu_1 our in-house DIY guru, but he was also not sure why both the wipers stopped working.

Next day, I took the car to VW. After checking a few things like replacing fuse and so on, they asked me to leave the car for a day so that they can check the wiring. I informed them about the installation of the speaker that might have lead to this wiper issue. Next day early morning, I dropped the car around 8.30 AM and I was promised that the car would be ready by EOD. But as usual there was no update from them. Hence I called up the SA and asked him the status. He was not able to give a proper update and thus I went to the service station and found that there were two guys with some tools checking something in the car. I asked them if they have checked the wiring part done for the speakers. They said yes and reported that there were no issues with that. But they were still not able to figure out the issue and needed one day more to debug. The SA even gave the dumbest reason of all stating that their stock for fuse has got over and they don't have enough fuse in the service center right now. I knew there is no point talking to these guys and they were giving lame excuses. Hence I politely asked them if I can have a word with the service manager, to which the SA immediately agreed.

So I met the service manager Ms. Kalpana and explained her whole issue. She requested me to leave the car for a day and tomorrow she will have their electrical expert check the car. I had no choice as driving a car without operational wipers was not a safe thing to do. Next day in the morning, the manager called me and gave me a status update. Now at least they had someone actually working on the car. At the end of the day, they again requested me for one more day stating that they found some faults and are fixing the same but wanted to test the car properly before handing it over to me. Here I was without the car for 3 complete days. It was very tough for me as I don't use my CBR for commuting with my family. Next day morning, Kalpana called me and asked me about the speaker and amps. I informed her that this was the first thing I had informed her staff when I reported the issue. But she told me that she was not aware of it and told me that some of the wires were damaged and they are replacing them so the car would be ready by EOD. So finally after 3 days, they were able to trace the issue and fix it. Later in the day when I went to collect the car, they showed me the pictures of the damaged wires. Those wires got damaged when Satya's boys drilled their tool into the body of the car for completing the connection of the amp. I had to pay close to 2k for the new wiring. Also while I was there in the service centre, I found that the reverse parking sensors were not working. They checked and found that the speaker for the sensors is not working and they got it replaced FOC, no question asked.
Here are the pictures of those damaged wires.

Flash Red VW Polo GT TDI - Little Beast EDIT: Sold!-img20150121wa0001.jpg

Flash Red VW Polo GT TDI - Little Beast EDIT: Sold!-img20150121wa0002.jpg

Flash Red VW Polo GT TDI - Little Beast EDIT: Sold!-img20150121wa0004.jpg

I informed Satya about the same as I needed to get the music system working again because VW didn't connect the music system back. I shared those pictures with him and his response was “these could have been avoided". I knew it was an accident but I have been dealing with him for the past 4-5 years and thought he will help me to get it fixed. But his responses like " yours is the not the first polo we have worked on " and " Rupesh is an expert and he will not screw up things" and " I am sorry that this happened to your car" really got me pissed off. Anyways next day, Rupesh connected the system back and sounded really sorry for this bad work of his.

I would still go to Satya (Evo) in future also. But I just hope he respects people’s time and other small things, which makes a lot of difference. Because of the careless work by his team, my new car experience was screwed. I was not without a brand new car for 3 days and on top of it had to pay 2k from my pocket.
But in this whole episode, one thing came out loud and clear that VW takes its own sweet time to fix things. As long as they are able to fix, I guess I am ok with it.

So now that I have the car for more than a month now and having driven close to 1500 Kms, this is what I feel about GT. Please note that I have not driven a lot of cars. I have driven just a few Maruti and few other cars during the test drives.

+ves :-

Lot of people has actually asked me why I didn’t upgrade from a Ritz to something bigger like a SUV or sedan. I just told them that I bought a GT. Yes, I was in no mood for an upgrade as my Ritz was running just fine and was very happy with it. But that test drive made me think to buy the GT so I just bought it.

I tend to drive fast at times and like machines that are a bit powerful. When I bought my Ritz, I was just learning and wanted to pick a wagon R, but went ahead and bought a Ritz Vdi because I knew that the Wagon R might not able to satisfy my needs after sometime.

This was what GTO had to say when I posted the reason for buying a Ritz Vdi
Quote:
Originally Posted by GTO
"Lucky you, most of us started with something smaller / less powerful."
I just love the way this car rides and picks up speed. One thing I can assure is "THIS CAR IS FAST". Yes the new GT doesn’t give that sudden burst like the original (If I may say so) GT used to give. But it surely builds up speed nicely.

I still haven't got a chance to take the GT for a spin on the highways, but I am sure it is going to be super fun when I get to do so.

Like my previous car, I use my GT for my daily use and 250NM of torque just makes this car a breeze to drive within the city. There have been times when I just drove car in 3rd gear by using only clutch and brakes. On my Ritz, I had to downshift to second gear but with GT, 3rd gear was fine. On the GT, power delivery is always just a tap away. You just have to think and press the accelerator unlike my Ritz where you needed to calculate the turbo lag also. But yes, in the Ritz if you were in the turbo zone then no worries. What is the use of power if you can’t really utilize it, this is where Polo shines. Along with the power, handing of the car is also A+. The Polo seats pretty low and I guess that really helps the car to maintain the composure especially while taking those curves at decent speed. The GT just pulls like crazy. Until and unless you drive it, you will not realize what I am taking about.

A little stiffer suspension would have done the handling a world of good but then I guess it would have hampered the nice ride quality, which the present setup has. The roads in Bangalore are not in good shape but the suspension doesn’t let you realize the status of the roads. You really don't get to feel the bad roads even with 205/55/15 tyres. I am not sure if the ride quality will be the same if I upsize to 205/50/16 tyres. The gears slots into position in one go and are nice and crisp. I still have not perfected the reverse gear as it is different from my old car and am thus taking it easy for now.

The one touch window up/down feature is a very nice feature to have and is really helpful when you need to switch on the A/C. A slight pull on the power window switches and windows are rolled up. The build quality is top notch. There are no rattles or sounds anywhere from the car. When I was getting the ICE upgraded, I asked Satya about the need of damping the car but he was sure that it’s not needed as he felt that the polo's sheet metal is good enough for the speakers that I have and doesn’t need any extra damping for now. This will give you an idea what is the build quality we are talking about.

Yes, you do hear the Tdi engine when the windows are rolled down, but the moment the windows are rolled up you hardly get to hear that Tdi engine anymore. The sound insulation is also top notch. Any outside noise hardly filters in when the glasses are rolled up. I do get a little bit of wind noise but I guess that is due to the window visors that are fitted.

The driver seat gets the height adjustment feature and this is useful for tall drivers like me. I was able to get a comfortable seating position fairly quick, thanks to the seat height adjust feature. One of my neighbors actually came up to me to actually see if I am able to get a comfortable driving position as he had a feeling the car would be cramped for me. I was a bit skeptical about the space that is available behind the driver’s seat, with the seat set to my driving position; I was actually surprised to see that the space available was actually more than the space that was available in my Ritz. Wifey also confirmed the same.

I am 6'2 and getting in and out of the Polo is as not as easy as it used to be in the Ritz. I really had to be careful not to bang my head. I have got used to it now so it is not a big deal anymore.

One thing I should really give thumbs up to VW is for providing really nice headlamps in this car. I think the dual headlamp is the reason for it. The stock headlamps are more than enough for city use. You don't have to use both the lamps to get a clear view of the roads, the low beam is enough. But a powerful high-beam would have been nicer. Even though I have changed the high beam to osram night-breakers, I still don't think that they will be enough for highways runs. The 90/100 setup that I had on my ritz used to light up the roads during the night drives, not sure how these dual lamps will perform during night drives. Do we get 100 W h7 bulbs?
You can actually shut individual a/c vent which actually increases the airflow from the other vents that are open. So when I drive alone I just shut the left hand a/c vents and enjoy the strong airflow from the vents near to me.

-ves :-
Even after driving the car close to 1.5K Kms, I am still not able to do quick upshift without experiencing a jerk. One has to be really careful while releasing the clutch otherwise you will experience an annoying jerk. Every time that happens, I feel so sick. Is this the way with all VW cars or it is only in Polo? The clutch is also not vibration free. The moment I press the clutch for slowing down or a gear change, I can really feel a lot of vibration from the clutch. This is something I need to get checked or this is normal?

If you drive bare footed then I am sure you are not going to like those GT pedals. Those small hard rubber studs don’t feel nice under the feet. For me it actually hurts. So I have stopped driving bare footed.

The HU is blue-tooth enabled, but if you need to make a call you will have to use the phone directly. I am just not able make it work with my Nexus 5. I am not sure if others have also faced something similar. Receiving call are fine and works flawless, but if you use your mobile phone as navigation device then be prepared to miss the voice navigation feature as HU doesn’t stream the voice navigation on to the speakers. I really don't understand why can’t a manufacturer like VW, selling a hatch for about 10 lacs, cannot provide these basic things as standard or even as an option. I am really thinking of getting a better HU sometime later.

Regarding the extended warranty that everyone advises on these German cars, I decided not to buy the same while buying the car. There were two reasons for the same. First, this helped me to reduce the on-road price. The second and the most important part is that I was not sure if putting an amplifier, sub-woofer, euro style tail-lamps, HIDs etc would void the warrant or not. Hence, I thought I will first make all the changes and then approach VW to sell me an extended warranty. If they agree to sell me the warranty even after knowing the mods done on the car, I will go for the extended warranty otherwise I do not see a point wasting money on extended warranty.

But I have a feeling that if we do the mods without any tampering, then they will not dishonor the warranty claims. The reason why I say, while I was getting the wiper issue fixed which was due to the wires getting damaged, they replaced the speaker for the reverse parking sensor which costs around Rs 1700 without any questions asked. Thus I have a feeling that it should be ok.

That's all for now but will keep the thread updated from time to time.

Cheers

Last edited by GTO : 13th February 2015 at 11:28. Reason: Spacing :)
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Old 13th February 2015, 11:32   #4
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re: Flash Red VW Polo GT TDI - Little Beast EDIT: Sold!

Thread moved from the Assembly Line to the Initial Ownership Section. Thanks for sharing!
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Old 13th February 2015, 12:08   #5
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re: Flash Red VW Polo GT TDI - Little Beast EDIT: Sold!

Quote:
Originally Posted by Schoudhury View Post

My Baby, GT Tdi-The Beast

Lot of people has actually asked me why I didn’t upgrade from a Ritz to something bigger like a SUV or sedan. I just told them that I bought a GT.
Woah Supriyo, finally the New Kid of the Club is on display for everybody to see !!

I almost held my breath and nearly skipped a heart beat when I was scrolling down, expecting you to have swapped those rims. Those rims with a glossy black roof will make your GT a killer bro.

For anybody who has an expression "A VW from Maruti..?", just take them out for a spin in your GT. I can bet they will have an "Opinion spin-around" !!

I respect your taste and preferences, but if I may suggest you one thing, please get rid of these chrome door handles. IMO they are just spoiling the look of an otherwise gorgeous hatch.

Can't wait to see this beauty in "FLE(A)SH RED" at the Bangalore meet.

Last edited by Vik0728 : 13th February 2015 at 12:21.
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Old 13th February 2015, 12:15   #6
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re: Flash Red VW Polo GT TDI - Little Beast EDIT: Sold!

Congrats Supriyo on your new acquisition. Your GT looks great in Red . Wish you many more happy and safe miles with the GT.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Schoudhury View Post
Lot of people has actually asked me why I didn’t upgrade from a Ritz to something bigger like a SUV or sedan. I just told them that I bought a GT.
Your upgrade is a logical one. Most of the folks tend to see an upgrade in terms of size. No one bothers or understands the upgrade in terms of engine size . A hot hatch makes a lot of sense in the city roads.
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Old 13th February 2015, 12:16   #7
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re: Flash Red VW Polo GT TDI - Little Beast EDIT: Sold!

congratulations on your new ride

in all likelihood i will be taking delivery of my white gt tdi today evening

O/T i know there is a whatsapp group for the TSi owners. Is there one for the TDi owners also? If not, i wont mind starting one up (Y)
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Old 13th February 2015, 13:42   #8
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re: Flash Red VW Polo GT TDI - Little Beast EDIT: Sold!

Congrats on the purchase. Its a wonderful car for enjoying the open roads and curves. I too am the happy owner of a 1.6 GT TDI and would be happy to connect for regular drives.
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Old 13th February 2015, 15:41   #9
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re: Flash Red VW Polo GT TDI - Little Beast EDIT: Sold!

Congrats on the car. Do you live in HSR? I think I saw you in 3M on Monday(9th FEB).

Quote:
-ves :-
Even after driving the car close to 1.5K Kms, I am still not able to do quick upshift without experiencing a jerk. One has to be really careful while releasing the clutch otherwise you will experience an annoying jerk. Every time that happens, I feel so sick. Is this the way with all VW cars or it is only in Polo? The clutch is also not vibration free. The moment I press the clutch for slowing down or a gear change, I can really feel a lot of vibration from the clutch. This is something I need to get checked or this is normal?
I was also not able to upshift quickly initially without the jerk. It will become alright after 3000kms.

Quote:
The HU is blue-tooth enabled, but if you need to make a call you will have to use the phone directly. I am just not able make it work with my Nexus 5. I am not sure if others have also faced something similar. Receiving call are fine and works flawless, but if you use your mobile phone as navigation device then be prepared to miss the voice navigation feature as HU doesn’t stream the voice navigation on to the speakers. I really don't understand why can’t a manufacturer like VW, selling a hatch for about 10 lacs, cannot provide these basic things as standard or even as an option. I am really thinking of getting a better HU sometime later.
So this is how it works, when you connect you phone via Bluetooth but your playing music from your USB. The phone thinks it's connected to an audio system and hence no sound is outputted from the phone speaker. Try changing the source to BT audio. You will be able to hear the navigation.
You can only redial from HU. For making the call either you have to use voice or use the phone directly.
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Old 13th February 2015, 16:11   #10
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re: Flash Red VW Polo GT TDI - Little Beast EDIT: Sold!

Congratulations on your new car Schoudhary!

The one thing which shines from your writing (more than your car) is your patience in dealing with rude people. The way you dealt with that Satya character is commendable! I am sure I would have kicked the guy and would never have gone to his shop again.

Cheers, enjoy your car and do drive safe!
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Old 13th February 2015, 17:54   #11
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re: Flash Red VW Polo GT TDI - Little Beast EDIT: Sold!

Congrats and welcome to the club.

Its a GT thing.

That's right. Nobody can define why move from hatch to hot hatch with just the engine as the soul criteria. I was tormented when i picked my 'Original' GT TDi in black. Ever since I came back from Zurich, Polo was all that I could think of and I just did not bother convincing anybody.

Rear seat space, Head room, noise, VW service, warranty blah blah are all a big BLAH ! Slot 'em gear, play the verse, "its a bird, Its a plane...." in your head and off you go smiling like , that's all that counts.

Of course once the excitement wears off, you'd know the short comings.
But when you get back on the drive its simply exhilarating !!

All the things, like jerky clutch and NVH would disappear after 8K kms of running approximately. Don't revv it hard, smooth sail through the gears and you would be surprised with the response.

Suggestion, please get rid of the sticker on the fuel lid. If you need one, pick one from Shell bunk, that looks simple and classy.

Happy GT'ing.
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Old 13th February 2015, 18:43   #12
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re: Flash Red VW Polo GT TDI - Little Beast EDIT: Sold!

Congratulations on the hot new car dada. She looks fab. You're so smitten with those blacked out headlights right? Now only if they'd come with a dual projector setup *wink* *wink*.

I loved reading your report and experience. Truly straight from an enthusiast's heart. I can imagine how much it hurt seeing your Ritz go. Memories of my beloved esteem flooded me when I read those lines in your post. Also the pic of junior peeking from the driver's seat is so cute. I'm sure he wore his red tee to go with your red GT.

So did you get any protection or treatment from 3M? If not already, I would suggest PPF for the bumper corners and other scratch prone areas along with the carbon fiber vinyl on the B pillars. You might also want to black out the VW and the GT emblem with the matt black vinyl at 3M.

Sad to read about your issue with the audio install. When I bought my Ritz, I was tempted to go in for a better audio setup but stayed put with the factory ICE. Nothing like a fit and finish straight from the factory and the hassle of electrical components going kaput is definitely nightmarish.

Wishing you the very best with your new car and a happy and safe ownership till your next upgrade.
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Old 13th February 2015, 20:05   #13
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re: Flash Red VW Polo GT TDI - Little Beast EDIT: Sold!

Quote:
One has to be really careful while releasing the clutch otherwise you will experience an annoying jerk. Every time that happens, I feel so sick. Is this the way with all VW cars or it is only in Polo?
It's the same in Punto as well. Somebody in some other forum was blaming the timing chain.
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Old 13th February 2015, 20:26   #14
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re: Flash Red VW Polo GT TDI - Little Beast EDIT: Sold!

The red GT looks awesome. I saw one today while going to office. The black spoiler looks good on a Red GT. I guess the red color of GT is different than the red that was available on earlier Polo.
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Old 13th February 2015, 22:38   #15
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re: Flash Red VW Polo GT TDI - Little Beast EDIT: Sold!

Congratulations Supriyo !! So finally the GT is here; hope to see it soon in front of MK Retail

A friend of mine told about an unpleasant experience with Sathya/his team few weeks back. Please update your feedback in the directory section as well, so that people looking for feedback about evo gets the right picture.
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