[anandpadhye]

Thanks for the update and good to see GTI is cruising nice on song with no troubles.

Originally Posted by Santoshbhat

The car is an absolute hoot to drive whether in city or out on the highway. Closing small gaps in traffic is ridiculously easy and it takes a lot of self control to be a good boy and not get carried away. The gear box is phenomenal. It literally is lightening quick. Paddles make up for that slight hesitation to downshift quickly when you want to close that gap. On the highway I am happy to use paddles continuously for 100s of kms without any complaint. Manual S mode is the default option on highways now with both engine and gear box in sport setting.

Timing of this post couldn't have been more perfect. A dull moment on a working day with lots of things playing on the mind, I came to the forum for quick break, searched for "GTI" and I see this.

Phenomenal pocket rocket this GTI. Recently, test drove many cars (Hexa, Octy, Seltos, Hector, X1, Q3, Nexon, Venue,...) for friends who are looking for an upgrade. Every time I finish the test drive and get back into the GTI and drive off, I realize this thing is from another planet.

Mine will complete 2 years in Jan, I also just crossed 15000 mark recently. It's been pure bliss.

Happy driving!

[Santoshbhat]

After a long time we decided to drive to Mysore for the weekend. My X3 is unwell and has been recommended for city duties only since past few weeks as it is waiting for a warranty replacement part to arrive. (More details shortly on the X3 thread). With the X3 unavailable, the GTI was called upon to do the family duties. And she did not disappoint!

My major concern was how to get a child seat in the tight rear space. My 7 year old daughter has just recently grown out of the need for a child seat, otherwise we usually have both kids in their own child seats on the back seat. My 4 year old son has now graduated to the booster type seat which his sister has discarded. Since this type of seat does not need to be fixed on the seat and the belt is worn over the passenger in a normal fashion, putting the seat in was a breeze. My son was very comfortable back there with no complaints. The GTI’s boot comfortably swallowed a family of four’s weekend’s worth of luggage + my laptop bag easily.







I tanked up with Speed 97 on the way out and took the Belur cross – Pandavpura – Srirangpatna route after reading D-BHPian paragsachania’s post here (Driving between Bangalore and Mysore). The route turned out be fantastic with us reaching our destination in 2:45 mins flat. I drove in a relaxed manner as we were in a holiday mood and no hurry. The 1.8 TSI engine is famous for its raw power, 0 to 100 timings, mid-range etc.. but what is often missed is how refined and relaxing it is to drive at a leisurely pace. On smooth roads, cruising in the tall 7th gear is a joy in itself. I got great mileage of around 15 kpl for the journey which is my personal best for any outstation trip. Buoyed by this I tried to do even better the next day when we encountered great some roads from Mysore to Talakadu. The high teens mileage actually gave a me a good enough range to complete the 600 odd kms three day tour on a single tank of petrol with some more range to spare!







The demise of the 1.8 TSI is now official after the launch of the new Octavia in Europe, with the 1.8 TSI missing in the list of engine offerings. The new Polo GTI of course, comes with a 2.0 TSI, but this 1.8 TSI will always be special for me and I am happy to have owned two cars with this engine. Of all the engines out there, why the axe had to fall on such a brilliant piece of work is beyond my comprehension. 1.8 is a just right size in my opinion. You get fantastic power without too much of a worry about fuel consumption or CO2 emissions. 1.5 TSI just doesn’t evoke the same kind of emotions.

We did encounter some terrible roads on other trips around the place and this is what the GTI is not good at. The stiff suspension demands that you slow down to a crawl while passing over the bad patch where Dusters, Cretas and Swifts were happy to glide over like it was nothing. Since the car was nearly fully loaded, I pumped up the tyre pressure to the recommended 39 psi front and 35 psi rear which I don’t normally do. Surprisingly the ride did not deteriorate much and the car felt very nimble and agile. I have realised that going down on the air pressure to improve ride quality is a bad thing to do on these stiff European cars. You actually get a better ride with the recommended (seemingly high) pressure which is quite weird!

The Polo is one car that has great ergonomics. Even after spending so much time behind the wheel, there was no fatigue in any part of the body. The knees, back, ankles, shoulders were all happy even after continuous driving. On the way back I did not miss the opportunity to get some high revs and hear that exhaust sing. What a joy! This car is pure G O L D.

Some pictures for your viewing pleasure

[shankar.balan]

Cant find a single VW GTi (used) (in KA)
Very sad.
Lovely car indeed.

[Santoshbhat]

It's been a while since I've updated this thread. Feel this is a good time to do since there have been a few developments.

Battery : Due to the lockdown in March-April all our cars had been confined to their parking places. The GTI was no different. I park the GTI in our driveway where my kids like to play in the evening. So everday I would start the car and park it outside our house for a few hours and bring it back in for the night. Once a week I would drive around our area (for 4 to 5kms) just to ensure some charge for the battery. I noticed that with days passing like this, the crank wasn't as healthy as usual. Then one day when I wanted to bring the car in for the night as usual, it happened. The starter failed to crank and only the DRLs would flash for few seconds and stop. I realised the battery did not have the juice to turn the starter. Did not want to leave the car outside, so we had to push the car into the driveway using human power. This was just at the end of lockdown 1.0 and I thought I could just call Batterybhai or some online battery service to come and fit a replacement battery like we do with all cars. Since the GTI is not listed on any website, I decided to open the boot (yes, the battery is located in the boot) and have a look at the specs for ordering. I saw that it was an EFB battery made by Moll, Germany. I had read on Team-BHP that AGM batteries that come fitted on big German cars can't just be bought and fitted and need coding. I feared the same may be true for EFB batteries and googled for the same. My fears were confirmed. Apparently cars fitted with start stop systems need high powered EFB or AGM batteries and need coding after every replacement. Here's my post on the battery thread.

I called up VW service and they said that they were closed for a few more days due to the lockdown and that they 'may' be having a battery in stock. Also they said that if the problem is of low charge due to lockdown, they will jumpstart it for me and running it hard for a few kms may do the trick. THey were also willing to charge the battery if necessary. At that time I realised that I had extended warranty and if the battery had indeed failed, I could get a replacement F.O.C. And by the look of things this battery is expensive.

Then the car stood in our driveway for a couple of days after which I just tried to see if the car would crank. The battery seemed to have recouped a bit and barely managed to crank, but the engine somehow sputtered to life! I did not waste any time and took the car out on airport road and did a nice 30kms drive with high revs and low gears. That did the trick and the battery has been healthy ever since and has been cranking fine like normal times. Since the lockdown has opened, the car is being used everyday now. So far so good. Next service is due in August. I will get a battery test report then and decide if it needs to be replaced.

New Michelin PS4 : The car is currently at around 19,000 kms. The OE Bridgestones had hardened quite a bit. The ride was harsh as it was, even when the tyres were new, but now it was getting a bit unbearable. Tyres noise had increased and the worst part was that grip was compromised. I wasn't feeling confident doing hard braking and felt that the car was flying off when going over road imperfections like flyover joints. The tread had lot of depth left, so it was not like the tyre life was over. I had a highway drive coming up and felt that it was dangerous to drive on these tyres esp when I wasn't confident of its braking ability. I know it is impossible for me to drive long distances in a sedate manner in this car. The tyre size is an odd 215/45/R16. There are no options in this size except for the OE Bridgestones which are only available with VW dealerships, and they do charge a bomb for these EU imported tyres (something like 25k per tyre). The closest match is 205/50/16 and I knew Michelin PS4s come in this size, since a few BHPians have fitted this on their GTIs. I immediately pinged D-BHPian Nikhilb2008 and he told that these tyres are in short supply and that he may have a last set with him. I did not waste any time and got it fitted the next day at Madhus.



The Michelins feel really good and the ride seems to have improved considerably and the tyre noise is completely gone. The 205/50s increase the diameter by about 2% which is within the tolerance limit of 3%. The slightly increased profile may be the reason for the improved ride, other than rubber quality. It also adds a bit of roll and bounce, but it's very marginal really and not nearly as perceptible as the improvement in ride quality.

I did do that highway drive on the new Michelins and thoroughly enjoyed the drive. The braking ability is back and it was a such a joy doing hard braking once again without the shudder of the ABS unit kicking in. The GTI is a small light car with supreme brakes. It is amazing to see the car slow down in time, with no drama whatsoever, for that sudden appearance of a speed breakers on NH4 where widening work is in progress. Even in the wet, the grip is astonishing. Never have I enjoyed hard braking so much!! The car doesn't fly off expansion joints now and stays in touch with the road. These tyres are really suited for a car like the GTI.

[Santoshbhat]

3 years/ 20,000 kms update

So the GTI completed 3 years this September and the ownership experience is turning a bit for the worse.

As I had mentioned, the battery was showing signs of being on its last days. The car went in for 3rd annual service in August and I got a battery test done. The battery as expected failed the test and a change was recommended. Battery warranty is only for 2 years. So if your battery fails the test within 2 years, you get a free replacement under warranty. Beyond 2 years, you are on your own. The battery is EFB type in order to support the stupid and utterly useless Start-stop system. EFB batteries have to be replaced by EFB or AGM batteries only and they need some adaptation to be done by the diagnostic software. A few BHPians have swapped to AGM batteries and have also done the adaptation via VCDS software. Basically it is just changing the battery serial number so that the ECU knows that a new battery is installed. AGM batteries are superior to EFB batteries. I was tempted to go for VARTA AGM through their dealer in Bangalore but decided against it as I had 5 years warranty and did not want to take a chance with VW and their fussy warranty department. Luckily there was a battery discount offer running and I got a 1.5K discount on the listed price of 15k for their OE Varta EFB battery. The battery was not in stock by the way and had to be ordered. It took nearly 10 days to arrive . Luckily the car was usable in this period as the battery still had enough juice.



The service was normal fair with the usual filters and fluids replaced. Brake pads and discs were good enough for another 7 to 8k kms. The surprise was the service bill which was quite high compared to the last one. Reason : VW systems have been updated with new service rates. Earlier the GTI was clubbed under 'Polo' and the labour rates were same as regular Polo, but now it is clubbed with Passat and Tiguan. Some greedy accountant's have waved their wand.

After service and after battery replacement I thought the car was in fine fettle for the months to come. A rude shock awaited me on a fine morning when I took the car out of the gate. I was greeted with a "Check coolant" warning on the MID and infotainment screens. Immediately stopped and popped the hood and sure enough the Coolant tank was almost empty . Checked the parking area and there were coolant droplets on the floor. Immediately put the car back inside and walked to office that day. This was the Oct 2 long weekend and the service advisor advised me to bring the car in the following week as most of their employees were away on leave.










TSI engines are notorious for water pump failures. I have lucky with my earlier TSI cars and never suffered such failures.20k kms is too early for water pump failures and they usually strike after 50k kms. I felt assured as I had extended warranty. Took the car in the following week. I bought 3 litres of distilled water, filled the tank with one and kept the other 2 as back up. Idled the car at home for 10 mins and after seeing that the level seemed to be stable, drove straight to the service centre keeping low revs and AC off.

They took 2 days to come to the conclusion that the water pump had a leak. VW's extended warranties are covered by a third party insurer - Bajaj Allianz in this case. So the service centre had to prepare a report with appropriate photographs and send to a VW HQ rep. Who would then recommend a replacement and send his report to Bajaj. They would then authorise the workshop to carry out the repairs. Quite a long chain. Obviously the workshop did not have the part in stock and they wanted to wait for the approval for ordering the part. I knew from my BMW experiences that these parts don't come quickly and sometimes they are not even available in their India stores and they have to be flown in from Germany. I insisted that they place the order for the part and not wait for approval, which they did. The approval took a long time coming and they wasted nearly a week. The workshop wanted to replace the pump and the associated belt also. Coolant drops falling on the belt tend to corrode it. But the approval came just for the pump. They wanted a few more tests to give approval for the belt. All this wasted precious days. The belt is no bigger than a rubber band and I am sure it costs no more than few hundred bucks!! After a few days of waiting, the SA tells me that the belt is perfectly fine and that they are not approving belt replacement. Fine! Just finish the job and return my car! I was following up almost daily and they were supposed to finish it and hand me the car last week when the SA dropped another bomb. They had opened up everything for fitting the new part, when they realised that the new part was not matching the old part and a few connector pins were missing. Wrong part was shipped I believe!! So a new order was placed and this took a whole week to arrive. Finally I got the car back after 23 days of reporting the issue.

VW's warranty approval process sucks and they have no respect for customer's time and inconvenience. They are more concerned about workshop and customer taking them for a ride and want to protect their interests first rather than addressing the customer's grievance who has suffered a premature failure of a part in their new car. 23 days without a car for a small part and that too within warranty? They don't realise that that's enough to chase away a customer for life. In contrast BMW's warranty replacements are much smoother and they at least seem to be apologetic towards the customer that "this failed in our car, sorry, we'll do our best to fix it as fast as we can" rather than "Ha I don't believe you, I want want all possible proofs"

The part that failed is the auxilliary water pump which is made of plastic. A small crack is enough to make the coolant leak. Apparently this is a design flaw and is destined to fail. A dozen odd GTI owners have already had coolant leakage issues and have had to make replacements of either the tank or hoses or pumps. The pump itself isn't very expensive - about Rs. 6k odd. With labour and consumables the total cost covered under warranty was around 12k. The prospect of unexpected failure somewhere far from home is unnerving. In that respect I was lucky, this happened while the car was parked at home and not somewhere far away. These last few months I have been facing a lot of German car tantrums. Thankfully all at home. Imagine the trouble if these things happen when on tours. Getting stranded, waiting for towing trucks etc... gives me the creeps.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by Santoshbhat

VW's warranty approval process sucks and they have no respect for customer's time and inconvenience.

I think that most company buy insurance to pass on their risk under warranty, but (in GB at least) that is done on a total expense, not on a case-by-case basis. The process you describe is designed for inconvenience. Definitely... sucks.

[coolboy007]

Originally Posted by Santoshbhat

Thankfully all at home. Imagine the trouble if these things happen when on tours. Getting stranded, waiting for towing trucks etc... gives me the creeps.

Sad to hear about your ordeal and how the workshop dealt with it. This water pump failure is pretty common and i am surprised they took such a long time to even diagnose it. VW's warranty approval process is a big pain for owners since the workshop guys do not touch a thing unless approval comes in. Bmw is better as the workshop has a free hand in these matters and are audited by BMW India on regular intervals, customer wins here since he does not have to wait endlessly for the claim to get approved.

The fear of getting stranded with these Germans is there with all the german car owners i guess, i remember couple of years back when i was 600 kms away from any VW workshop and the glow plug started flashing in my Vento, i feared for the injector failure and had flashbacks of flatbed towing my car.
Part n parcel of living with these cars, wish you a smooth ride from now on and i hope VW takes note of these things before losing loyal customers like you, the way things work at VW India was the sole reason i never went back to them even though i loved the Polo TSi so much.

[McLaren Rulez]

Did you not ask for a loaner? I understand the delay in getting parts but providing a loaner is an easy way to retain customer loyalty.

[sandeepmohan]

Originally Posted by Santoshbhat

The part that failed is the auxilliary water pump which is made of plastic. A small crack is enough to make the coolant leak.

It looks like VW and Skoda India don't really talk to each other. This part should have been readily available from Skoda India's parts bin atleast. The engine in your car isn't too different from what is plonked in their Octavia, Superb and there are quite a number of these cars on the road that will need this part at some point.

My first experience of noticing plastic on the coolant circuit was on a Ford Ikon 1.6. The thermostat housing was made out of plastic and was known to fail. On my car, it was almost once every year! It failed on all the cars and Ford India charged Rs. 4500 including labor to replace it. It was a poorly made part and plastic isn't suitable for such applications where the temperatures go from cold to hot to cold.

I don't know why plastic is being used a lot these days on many German cars. That too for critical parts. This material isn't suitable for varying temperature. I've seen this on new BMW's, as radiator hoses, among many other things under the hood. This is a bigger problem as they offer little in terms of flex. Over a period of time, they crack. This supposedly high quality plastic is expensive to replace too so I'm not sure what manufacturers are trying to gain out of this move.

[graaja]

Originally Posted by Santoshbhat

VW's warranty approval process sucks and they have no respect for customer's time and inconvenience. They are more concerned about workshop and customer taking them for a ride and want to protect their interests first rather than addressing the customer's grievance who has suffered a premature failure of a part in their new car. 23 days without a car for a small part and that too within warranty? They don't realise that that's enough to chase away a customer for life. In contrast BMW's warranty replacements are much smoother and they at least seem to be apologetic towards the customer that "this failed in our car, sorry, we'll do our best to fix it as fast as we can" rather than "Ha I don't believe you, I want want all possible proofs"

Agree about the VW warranty process. I had experienced this with the Jetta, once for battery replacement and once for water pump failure. Though in my case, the parts were in stock, the warranty approvals took a few days which should not have been the case. As you rightly said, their process is more to protect themselves than customer's convenience

Totally agree with BMW warranty as well. When the wheel speed sensor in my GT failed, the workshop replaced the part even before the warranty approval came. They raised the warranty claim, but replaced the part with the one they had in stock and delivered the car. They said BMW would send them the part and they will restock it.

What a stark contract between two German companies when it comes to their priorities!

[Santoshbhat]

Originally Posted by coolboy007

Sad to hear about your ordeal and how the workshop dealt with it. This water pump failure is pretty common and i am surprised they took such a long time to even diagnose it.

The diagnosis did not take much time actually. They were able to pin point the fault quickly. The problem was getting the approval for replacement. Coolant has leaked out, the pump is the culprit and your authorised workshop has sent you the mail with photos requesting for the approval. What is the reason for taking almost a week for sending the approval? I was in constant touch with the advisor (who was quite responsive and gave me regular updates). They kept asking for repeated tests and multiple reports, losing precious time in the process. They know their water pumps are extremely delicate and failures are extremely common. Simple logic - Why would a customer fake a coolant leak problem and leave his precious car in the garage? Send the approval quickly so that the part is replaced and the car is handed back to the customer ASAP. I actually wanted to fire this 'approval guy' personally and kept asking for his contact. Apparently the workshop has no way to contact them except via email. They hide behind corporate mail IDs and communicate only via mail.

Originally Posted by McLaren Rulez

Did you not ask for a loaner? I understand the delay in getting parts but providing a loaner is an easy way to retain customer loyalty.

Did not need a loaner, hence did not ask. Just wanted my beloved car back sooner.

Originally Posted by sandeepmohan

It looks like VW and Skoda India don't really talk to each other. This part should have been readily available from Skoda India's parts bin atleast.

No need to talk to each other. Skoda is in charge of VW India now . They are more seasoned in harassing customers with such problems.

[Santoshbhat]

Just a random update as the car nears completion of 4 years this September.

Likes

• Explosive engine, gear box, exhaust note make every drive an occasion
• Very practical for every day usage just like any other small hatchback
• Compact size a boon for everyday run about
• Tight suspension and good brakes make a mockery of limits perceived in your brain.
• Good CBU build quality. Car feels tight and like new even after 4 years.
• Discreet looks and exclusivity at the same time! Majority don't give it a second glance, but at the same time, a few hurry to take out their mobile cameras as if they spotted a celebrity
• Fuel efficiency is surprisingly good inspite of frequent visits to the redline
• Safety. It's got you covered with a good list of safety features.

Dislikes

• I wouldn't like to list the 2 door configuration here as I love it! But it does inconvenience you when you want to pick up someone to ride in the back.
• The stiff ride can get a bit irritating on bad roads and when you are not in the 'mood'
• VW support is weak. They are weak in diagnosing issues, parts take ages to arrive etc...
• Servicing costs have gone up after VW clubbed the GTI, with expensive cars like Passat and Tiguan for labour rates. Earlier it got Polo rates.
• Some weak parts have a high failure rate. Water pump / ABS sensors
• And yes... the DQ 200 DSG. When will it strike?

The water pump issue I mentioned in the previous post was sorted out perfectly after installation of the new pump and I haven't faced any issue on that front after that. The battery was replaced around the same time and ever since I've been facing a weird issue. I keep getting a warning that says "12V battery low. Charge by driving". In fact the message popped up the day I was leaving the service centre after battery installation. The SA said that it would go away after I put in a few kms. I did drive quite a bit after that, and the message kept popping up randomly on turning the key to battery on and upon ignition it would always go away. It would come on like, 5 out 10 startups. I also charged the battery fully with a Bosch C7 charger, but it made no difference. The battery did not seem weak or anything and the engine crank etc.. was fine. Still I went back to VW saying that the battery is defective and that I should get a replacement. They tested the battery and it passed all tests with flying colours . I suspected that there must have been some goofup with the battery adaptation. Like AGM batteries with high end German cars, this car also needs battery adaptation whenever you install a new battery. They re did it just to make sure and it made no difference. It has been like this for the past 8 months or so and I've been using the car like this. No other issues faced except seeing this error every now and then. I decided to take it up with VW since the car is saying there is a battery error and I just paid them for a new battery. I demanded a battery replacement. They took the car in and did some diagnostics. They felt that swapping out the battery for a new one may not help as there is some fault in the 'battery sensor'. I asked them to swap the battery from another GTI just to see if it makes the error go away. No GTI had come in for weeks! And Passat and Tiguan battery specs are different I believe. Anyway they decided to order a new battery sensor. The car is under warranty, so it is still their problem. As expected this part has to come from the EU. All this happened a few weeks before the whole second Covid wave explosion. Looks like they are opening tomorrow. Hopefully I'll get some positive update on this issue soon.

Otherwise, the car has been brilliant. It is an absolute joy and feels like the perfect car for me. It is brilliant on the highway too. Just begs to be driven fast and enthusiastically.

One point I'd like to make is about the fuel. It feels best on Speed 97 or any other high octane petrol. With regular 91 it is just not the same. The engine feels restrained, the exhaust is muted and you just know your car isn't happy. I've used Proctane octane booster for those times when I've had to fill up outside Bangalore and it gives decent results. Just that you need to add a higher ratio than recommended.

I was lucky to get a set of Michelin PS4s just before the whole tyre import fiasco happened. The tyres are simply fantastic. They score over the crappy Bridgestones in every single department.

[itwasntme]

Good to hear, Santosh. I think you, your GTI & the blessed battery needs one of your signature Belgaum runs.

Glad you got your tyres in the nick of time. Would have been a massacre due to the odd size. Forgot, can you buy 5+6 EW or it's not offered by VW India?

[Santoshbhat]

Originally Posted by itwasntme

Good to hear, Santosh. I think you, your GTI & the blessed battery needs one of your signature Belgaum runs.

Glad you got your tyres in the nick of time. Would have been a massacre due to the odd size. Forgot, can you buy 5+6 EW or it's not offered by VW India?

Oh I've driven up and down to Belgaum (twice I think) after the new battery was installed and it did not help matters. VW service centre kept the car and charged it fully themselves too. Still no change. The battery seems fine and healthy. I feel there is some issue with the complex battery management system. This is the system that manages the auto stop start system too. Ever since the new battery was installed, the auto stop start system remains disabled by it, as it thinks the battery does not have enough juice. The battery does have juice as evidenced by the battery test results and general behaviour of the battery dependent operations. Anyway, I am not complaining about the start stop system not working as that is one less chore for me (hitting that disable button)

I did get extended warranty for 5 years. I don't think they have a 6 year option. Will check during next service.

[omar]

Hi Santosh, thanks for the detailed ownership review of your GTI throughout the years. As a hopeful future owner of a GTI (on the hunt for one currently), I have loved reading the finer aspects of the ownership of the car. Most of the reviews usually cover the initial impressions of the car, but rarely do they describe the nuances of actually living with the car

Also, congratulations on scoring the set of tyres before the import situation. This is one big thing which has been flagged by everyone who has advised me on my hunt for the car. The unique size is clearly a pain to source!