[PrasannaDhana]

Congratulations on buying the most beautiful hatchback on sale today, that too in that delicious flash red shade.

I drool over every polo in flash red everytime I see them on road. A very few cars have that effect on me, the black OHC, silk blue Jetta, red montecarlo rapid and the flash red polo

At 6 lakhs, it a great buy. The engine is its weak point but as you have said, you don't really like driving pedal to metal. I have driven my friend's polo 1.0 mpi inside the city and it was adequate and did the job pretty well. Wishing you lakhs of happy safe miles on your polo.

[landcruiser123]

I didn't know VW is still selling the MPI version of the Polo. Great review and wish you the very best.

For the price of around INR 6 lakh, I'm wondering whether to ask my parents to get this VW instead of an S-Presso for city driving.

[anand.shankar]

Congratulations on your new car, less features means a lot of room to play with, that too in a mod friendly car like Polo.

Is the 6 lac exshowroom price or did you get some discounts? The same variant is 7.16lacs on road in Bangalore.

[hydraulicsteer]

Congratulations. Polo in red looks smart as always. I see Altroz a proper (better?) substitute of the aging Polo today on parameters:

1. Safety Rating
2. Build quality
3. Better interior space especially on rear seat
4. Better engine specs (at least on paper)

Any particular reason for not choosing the Altroz?

[PrasannaDhana]

Originally Posted by hydraulicsteer

Congratulations. Polo in red looks smart as always. I see Altroz a proper ( better?)substitute of the aging Polo today on parameters
1. Safety Rating
2. Build quality
3. Better interior space especially on rear seat.
4. Better engine specs (atleast on paper).

Any particular reason for not choosing the Altroz?

There isn't any big difference when it comes to safety ratings. Remember the Hyderabad incident when a Polo gti fell from an overbridge at speeds, yet the driver walked away?

In my experience, I found polo to be equally well-built, infact I would say built better than the Altroz.

Interior quality of polo is still better than the Tata. Moreover there is brand value that comes to play, Volkswagen always has more snob value.

Both 1.0 mpi of Volkswagen and 1.2 of Tata are slow engines.

Personally, polo looks cuter and hotter than the Altroz. But Altroz is the more practical car between the two.

For a selfish enthusiast, Polo
For a level minded guy who cares about his family's comfort - Altroz

[Merc_Freak]

Congratulations on your new Polo. The Trendlline variant seems quite VFM to buy.The build quality, safety and snob value is something that none of its competitors offer at this price point. Except maybe the Altroz.

[Tapish]

Originally Posted by PrasannaDhana

There isn't any big difference when it comes to safety ratings. Remember the Hyderabad incident when a Polo gti fell from an overbridge at speeds, yet the driver walked away?

The GTI was a CBU unit and the safety of the two cannot be compared. Though I will admit that its better built than the others.

[Reinhard]

Originally Posted by himanshumor

My Flash Red Polo Trendline 2020 1.0 MPI comes home!!

Congratulations on the minimalist acquisition. Wish you happy & safe miles with the gorgeous car. Nice write up too. Thanks for sharing. What are the mods that you have in the pipeline for it? An Android head unit perhaps?

The trick with a Polo is - all over the world, its one of the most mod-friendly / modular cars. Yet - given the low penetration in our market, good aftermarket equipment is hard to find. OEM VAG parts are available of course but they tend to be quite costly too.

Originally Posted by himanshumor

Going further to lower budget segment under 6 lacs, Polo Trendline is probably the only car that gives the feel of a sports car (next to Polo comes the Tata Altroz according to me in terms of sporty looks).

And yet - it seems the Altroz was not in your candidate short-list. Any particular reason why? Or it actually costs much higher? Did you take a test drive of an Altroz? The reason I'm curious is - you've opted for a minimalist Trendline version that has limited creature comforts & then the MPI and not the TSI. The TSI justifies other omissions for most buyers because of the driving fun quotient. You've clearly mentioned that you weren't too thrilled about that factor given the extra money to be spent & the MPI is fine for your sedate driving (I liked your practical approach here). But then - I'm curious about the choice between an Altroz and Polo. Or was it because the Polo is #1 in looks & style department for you?

[logicalidiot]

Congrats on your new acquisition. Your review was crisp and on-point. Sticking to budget and reasoning your requirements clearly shows how wise you are in making decisions. Something which I'm totally bad at.

The design of the Polo is timeless.There has been only subtle changes over the years. We bought a Polo TDI Trendline 9 years back and it still doesn't look old. It does lack safety features but kudos to VW in making safety features like Airbags + ABS standard across all models.

I'm guessing you would be installing an audio system soon. Have you made the decision on what type to go for? I personally feel a double DIN unit would look better on the dashboard.

[himanshumor]

Thanks a lot, Rajeevraj!

Polo Ex-showroom price: 5.87 lacs & Polo offer price by VW on their official website: 5.59 lacs
Additional discounts availed:
1) 20 + 5 (Exchange bonus, 5k exchange extra due to specific corporate discount)
2) 5K corporate discount
3) 21K Dealer level discount

So, I got this trendline for exactly 5.09 + 15K Insurance(got United India Zero Dep insurance from Cover fox) + Registration (6% in Haryana ) for 34k approx.(registration is in progress) + 5,555 for the VW Data plug(got this at exact MRP from showroom, though I later found that this data plug is very useless).
Final amount that I paid is 5.65 lacs on-road.

Have not finalized the music system till now because
1) I do not want a touchscreen in my car, want some detox as there is always a touch phone in pocket, a tablet at home, 9-5 work on laptop, a little addiction of Netflix/Amazon Prime.
2) I do want a reverse camera and that calls out the need of a touchscreen music system.

I saw the Campark DC-02 dashcam having Reverse camera (in always ON mode so that no clipping of reverse light needed) and I found it a decent purchase, but nothing finalized yet.
Still researching for a good music system (either touch based, or button based) and open for all suggestions.

[himanshumor]

Originally Posted by M.Dua

Congratulations for you Shopping, I am glad you were more decisive than confused for the Polo contrary to many who get confused with the maintenance of the car.

Did you buy any extended warranty/service package with the car? if yes, at what price & period. If no, why not?

I was in the same boat to buy this segment car last year but we opted for the Glanza CVT over the Polo GT since the service cost and ownership reviews were a scare for the DSG gearbox and i am already maintaining a Swedish car, so decided otherwise but every time i see a GT on road i curse myself for not taking the plunge

Thank You M.Dua !!
1) No extended Warranty & Service Package as of now because I just want to take some time and then buy what is best for me. For now the OEM provided 4-year warranty looks enough to me and I will plan to buy extended warranty after 2 years (maybe).
2)Buying a Polo GT from 2020 onwards makes sense because now the DSG has been replaced by Torque converter (all the maintenance / breakdown worries have been taken care of).

Originally Posted by shashi792

Congratulation on your purchase. It's indeed a keeper car with this new 1.0 engine. Like @Rajeevraj mentioned, I also did not know that you could get a nice hatch for 6L on-road.

You can take some inspirations from Gannu's posts on modding a Polo.

Happy motoring.

Thanks shashi792!

I can see that the registration costs create a lot of difference in the on-road price as Mumbai has an RTO charge of 11% for cars under 10 lacs while in Haryana, the RTO charge is 6% for a car under 6 lacs.

Yes, I brought my expenditure for this car well under 6 lacs by sticking to bare essentials and I have all the time to add each accessory after a detailed research. I am enjoying this process of research and then adding the accessories over time as much as the final result after installing accessory.

Originally Posted by RockingHorse

Congratulations on your new car.
Any particular reasons you did not go for Tata altroz? I would think it would have met your safety criteria and also is a more spacious a car? By the way, Polo still wins the beauty contest in my opinion.

I completely agree that the Tata Altroz is much better than Polo in terms of interior space & practicality and equal to Polo in terms of safety features! But I chose Polo because:
1)I was biased and inclined towards the Polo than the Altroz.
2)My head knows that Tata has improved by over 500% from its previous generation of cars (Indica V2 era), but my heart still feels that there are quality issues in Tata cars in terms of inconsistencies and the service quality. Maruti, who is known for the best service in India, actually knew that its service quality was not that great (it is just the service availability that was great) and upgraded it by a huge margin with Nexa service centers. Tata should really work in this area.
3)Polo looks better than Altroz! For me, the Polo is 10 and Altroz is 8 in terms of looks on a scale of 0 to 10 for sub-10 lakh hatchbacks.
4)Polo was a long-standing dream.
5)Polo feels more agile/easy to maneuver/cornering friendly/with better steering feedback than Altroz because I still want and enjoy all these characteristics even while driving in a sedate manner.

Originally Posted by cryptarchy

I bought Polo 1.0 mpi for very similar reasons because of real features like reach adjustable steering, rear wiper, adjustable headrest, 4 star safety rating etc. that no other car in that budget provided.

Thanks cryptarchy ! You just said the words that were my mind while I was deciding on the Polo.

Originally Posted by Carpainter

Congratulations for your new drive.

Reading your post reminds me of my good old days when I got my red Polo 1.2 comfortline 10 years ago. Frankly speaking I still miss that car. Polo is probably still the best hatchback to drive in its segment. Although I have never driven the 1.0Mpi Polo, but my car used to feel a little underpowered specially with the AC on. The engine note was kinda sporty to be honest for a 3 cylinder engine. The best part was its ride and handling. Polo feels rock solid and stable at high speed and you can carry some speed into corners and still feel planted. It was breeze to drive though not a pocket rocket. Since you're a relaxed driver I'm sure you'll enjoy driving it. Wishing you many happy miles.

Thanks Carpainter! You lived the feeling 10 years ago that I have started living just 10 days go - feels exciting and reassuring!

Originally Posted by Asif 6959

Congratulations on your new steed.
Very well written and more so the understanding of your requirements in making the purchase decision. I myself am struggling to do this for the past year or so.

Incase you are planning to make some upgrades please refer to the below Youtube channel who has done some tasteful mods to his Polo MPI.

Thanks Asif 6959! I have been watching his videos (Out Of Office Channel) from the day I had booked my Polo Trendline

Originally Posted by eyeman

Congratulations on your new purchase. We have a POLO GT TSI in our family for the past five years, and after nearly 90000 kms, I can confidently say that you are very unlikely to regret your decision in buying one. I agree with all your views in favor of the POLO. It is a real keeper, that car. Wishing you many many smiles of happy motoring!

Thank you eyeman! In those scenarios, where some of my friends will not like the interior space/high engine noise, this comment of yours will keep me happy and going!

Thanks from my Polo Trendline to a big brother (your Polo GT TSI)!

Originally Posted by AYP

Congrats on the new buy! I came close to plonking my money on the Ameo TDi Trendline back in 2017.

A VW has its own typical strengths which is difficult to get on other mass market cars.

Thanks AYP! So true. Only those buy a VW, who understand their cars. This is the reason as to why Polo sales are consistent between 1,000 to 2,000 units a month!

Originally Posted by McLaren Rulez

Congrats on the Polo! I was also very tempted by the Trendline back in 2015 but it came without ABS back then so I had to drop it. That's now been fixed by VW making it tremendous value for money! It's a rare case when head and heart both end up in the same place

Thank You Mclaren Rulez! Polo was a dream for more than 6-7 years and I just feel it so right to have cherished this dream in 2020 with a value for money Polo! As you said, my head, heart and pocket, all voted for Polo Trendline.

Originally Posted by hridaygandhi

What a surprise it was to find that you can still buy a Polo under 6L. I have always admired the Polo and have considered quite a few times in terms of a lateral upgrade from my Honda Jazz.

It is nice to know you were very clear with what you wanted and choosing an option which ticked the boxes you wanted. With flashy features from other cars (which often compromise on the fundamentals), it is easy to get carried away.

Wishing you many happy miles ahead. Congratulations.

Thanks hridaygandhi!

Polo ex-showroom price: 5.87 lacs & Polo offer price by VW on their official website: 5.59 lacs
Additional discounts availed:
1) 20 + 5 (Exchange bonus, 5k exchange extra due to specific corporate discount)
2) 5K corporate discount
3) 21K Dealer level discount

So, I got this Trendline for exactly Rs. 5.09 lacs + 15K insurance (got United India Zero Dep insurance from Cover fox) + registration (6% in Haryana) for 34k approx. (registration is in progress) + 5,555 for the VW Data plug (got this at MRP from the showroom, though I later found that this data plug is very useless).

Originally Posted by dreamliner17

Congrats on your new Polo!

What I appreciate the most, is the way you have reasoned all the pros and cons in a very pragmatic way. At a time when most buyers would simply go with the top models without really looking at their requirements, you have targeted the car vis-a-vis your requirements clearly. Wishing you the very best!

Thanks dreamliner17 for making me feel even better about my decision! Sometimes, people just judge you because you bought a base model while others bought a top model! Cars are a feeling for us enthusiasts and so we have the same amount of love for base/top/middle variants and entry-level/economical/costly/luxury cars.

Originally Posted by PrasannaDhana

Congratulations on buying the most beautiful hatchback on sale today, that too in that delicious flash red shade.

I drool over every polo in flash red everytime I see them on road. A very few cars have that effect on me, the black OHC, silk blue Jetta, red montecarlo rapid and the flash red polo

At 6 lakhs, it a great buy. The engine is its weak point but as you have said, you don't really like driving pedal to metal. I have driven my friend's polo 1.0 mpi inside the city and it was adequate and did the job pretty well. Wishing you lakhs of happy safe miles on your polo.

Wanted to love your comment but thanks is the only available option !

Originally Posted by landcruiser123

I didn't know VW is still selling the MPI version of the Polo. Great review and wish you the very best.

For the price of around INR 6 lakh, I'm wondering whether to ask my parents to get this VW instead of an S-Presso for city driving.

Polo is better than S-Presso for under Rs. 6 lacs, but I will suggest that your parents check out the entry/exit in a Polo. I strongly feel that the Ignis is a much better option than S-Presso (with a price difference of around Rs. 1 to Rs. 1.5 lacs) as it is as good as S-Presso in city and way better on highways.

I got an Ignis Zeta for my parents in 2017 and they are very happy with it (video below).

https://youtu.be/p1i6-4O_9ws

Originally Posted by anand.shankar

Congratulations on your new car, less features means a lot of room to play with, that too in a mod friendly car like Polo.

Is the 6 lac exshowroom price or did you get some discounts? The same variant is 7.16lacs on road in Bangalore.

Thanks anand.shankar!

Please see the exact calculation below as my registration is HR-12.
Polo Ex-showroom price: Rs. 5.87 lacs & Polo offer price by VW on their official website: Rs. 5.59 lacs
Additional discounts availed:
1) 20 + 5 (Exchange bonus, 5k exchange extra due to specific corporate discount)
2) 5K corporate discount
3) 21K Dealer level discount

So, I got this trendline for exactly Rs. 5.09 + 15K insurance (got United India Zero Dep insurance from Cover fox) + registration (6% in Haryana ) for 34k approx. (registration is in progress) + 5,555 for the VW Data plug (got this at MRP from showroom, though I later found that this data plug is very useless).

Originally Posted by hydraulicsteer

Congratulations. Polo in red looks smart as always. I see Altroz a proper (better?) substitute of the aging Polo today on parameters:

1. Safety Rating
2. Build quality
3. Better interior space especially on rear seat
4. Better engine specs (at least on paper)

Any particular reason for not choosing the Altroz?

Completely agree with you that Tata Altroz is much better than Polo in terms of interior space & practicality and equal to Polo in terms of safety features.

But I chose Polo because:
1)I was biased and inclined towards the Polo than the Altroz.
2)My head knows that Tata has improved by over 500% from its previous generation of cars (Indica V2 era), but my heart still feels that there are quality issues in Tata cars in terms of inconsistencies and the service quality. Maruti, who is known for the best service in India, actually knew that its service quality was not that great (it is just the service availability that was great) and upgraded it by a huge margin with Nexa service centers. Tata should really work in this area.
3)Polo looks better than Altroz! For me, the Polo is 10 and Altroz is 8 in terms of looks on a scale of 0 to 10 for sub-10 lakh hatchbacks.
4)Polo was a long-standing dream.
5)Polo feels more agile/easy to maneuver/cornering friendly/with better steering feedback than Altroz because I still want and enjoy all these characteristics even while driving in a sedate manner.

Originally Posted by PrasannaDhana

For a selfish enthusiast, Polo.
For a level minded guy who cares about his family's comfort - Altroz

I am a selfish enthusiast

Originally Posted by Merc_Freak

Congratulations on your new Polo. The Trendlline variant seems quite VFM to buy.The build quality, safety and snob value is something that none of its competitors offer at this price point. Except maybe the Altroz.

Completely agreed! As if you stole the words from my mind!

Originally Posted by Reinhard

Congratulations on the minimalist acquisition. Wish you happy & safe miles with the gorgeous car. Nice write up too. Thanks for sharing. What are the mods that you have in the pipeline for it? An Android head unit perhaps?

But then - I'm curious about the choice between an Altroz and Polo. Or was it because the Polo is #1 in looks & style department for you?

Thanks Reinhard !

Android head unit seems to be the best option but my search is still in progress. I am in the process of deciding what I exactly want and what I can get accordingly.

For choosing the Polo, I just replied "why" to hydraulicsteer 2 quotes above this!

Originally Posted by logicalidiot

Congrats on your new acquisition. Your review was crisp and on-point. Sticking to budget and reasoning your requirements clearly shows how wise you are in making decisions. Something which I'm totally bad at.

I personally feel a double DIN unit would look better on the dashboard.

Thanks a lot logicalidiot!

Music system search is in progress.

I agree. Exactly as you said, the double din unit would look nice. I just don't want another touchscreen, but do want a reverse camera. So, I am myself confused and contradictory in my own requirements.

I will update as I solve this problem.

[Reinhard]

First of all - fantastic use of multi-quote mate.

Originally Posted by himanshumor

Android head unit seems to be the best option but my search is still in progress. I am in the process of deciding what I want exactly and what I can get accordingly.

I use an Android unit in one of my cars myself & am very happy with it. However - if you get an Android unit - I strongly recommend you spend more money & install steering mounted phone-seek-volume control buttons also in your car. The biggest grime with these Android units is that they have only the feather-touch capacitive buttons on 1 side & no physical buttons for these functions. Its quite distracting / outright dangerous to use these while driving.

OR - Get a much costlier branded system with proprietary software + Android Auto / Apple CarPlay support - but with physical buttons for key functions that you can easily use with muscle memory without having to look at it. The Sony AX-5000 is one such unit. (Overall feature & cost wise - I still feel Android makes much more sense if you have possibility for steering mounted buttons.)

[jaygeetee]

Congratulations on the purchase. Hope you have a lot of happy miles.

I test drove the 1.0 TSI last week since my BIL has his heart set on it.

The interior seems claustrophobic with the all-black theme but apart from that I agree that it's the best looking hatchback currently. And the TSI got a smile plastered on my face.
It seems to have all the required bells and whistles and a great sounding music system too.

[himanshumor]

Fuel Efficiency update for the naturally aspirated 1.0 MPi engine of Polo!

Hello Everyone,

Posting another update for my Polo Trendline 1.0 MPi engine where I have done a Fuel Efficiency Test via the "Full Tank" to "Full Tank" method with below details:
1) Total trip distance was 96km.
2) Fuel consumed by the Polo for this trip was 5.05 liters.
3) To measure the trip's average speed, maximum speed and distance, I have used Trip Meter (reading was 96.3km) as well as the We Connect Go app (reading was 95.3km)





4) Fuel Efficiency came out to be 19.0 kmpl from this test.

Before conducting this test, I also had a long trip of 660km that I tracked via the trip meter of Polo. Here also I used the TANK FULL to TANK FULL method (but the source and destination petrol pumps were different as I was travelling between cities), the petrol consumption came out to be 35.8 liters. This long trip of 660km had almost 400km of highway drive and remaining 230 was city drive. With these numbers, the fuel efficiency got recorded at 18.4 kmpl.

Below is a detailed video for this test:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XA6IMQCFPA

[car_guy1998]

Originally Posted by himanshumor

Fuel Efficiency update for the naturally aspirated 1.0 MPi engine of Polo!

Hello Everyone,

Posting another update for my Polo Trendline 1.0 MPi engine where I have done a Fuel Efficiency Test via the "Full Tank" to "Full Tank" method with below details:
1) Total trip distance was 96km.
2) Fuel consumed by the Polo for this trip was 5.05 liters.
3) To measure the trip's average speed, maximum speed and distance, I have used Trip Meter (reading was 96.3km) as well as the We Connect Go app (reading was 95.3km)

Attachment 2080063

Attachment 2080064

4) Fuel Efficiency came out to be 19.0 kmpl from this test.

Before conducting this test, I also had a long trip of 660km that I tracked via the trip meter of Polo. Here also I used the TANK FULL to TANK FULL method (but the source and destination petrol pumps were different as I was travelling between cities), the petrol consumption came out to be 35.8 liters. This long trip of 660km had almost 400km of highway drive and remaining 230 was city drive. With these numbers, the fuel efficiency got recorded at 18.4 kmpl.

Below is a detailed video for this test:

https://www.Youtube.com/watch?v=_XA6IMQCFPA

You got a good mileage for your Polo considering the engine is 1.0 MPI.

BTW,I too drive a Polo 1.0 MPI BS6(not mine)extensively and found the power is quite adequate for city usage.

The above car which I mentioned is Comfortline and it belongs to one of our clients,who bought it in this June,in Silver colour.In just 5 months of its purchase,he has run close to 20,000 Kms,which is unbelievable.

He even met with an accident when the car was barely a month old and total repair costed him Rs.1L and the insurance had paid the money for repairing the car.Luckily,nothing happened to that person,who was driving the car.

He got his car serviced at 15000 Kms and got a service bill of Rs.12000,which according to him is normal as his S-Cross also used to get similar amount whenever he goes for service.

BTW,he had downgraded from 2017 S-Cross(which he sold it almost an year ago)due to personal reasons and had to wait for 6 months to purchase a new car and he was in need of a car too due to COVID situation.Initially,he had considered Baleno,but I had steered him away from getting the Baleno due to its build quality and I was the one who had influenced him to go for Polo due to its build quality as his running is mostly on highways.