[Old_Salt]

Thank you for sharing these updates. Was in the market for replacing our old Eon which my wife drives and the decision was stuck between Polo or the Taigun( different category though)
IMHO, the overall build quality of the Taigun including fit and finish was found somewhere lacking when compared to Polo. The flexing of the sheet metal, the feeling of handling the doors etc was better in the polo. A polo top end is almost close to Taigun base model, price wise.

So finally we booked the Polo Highline + AT, with a delivery time frame of 2 months.

Will be following your thread closely.

[Sahil00090]

Brilliant thread Joy

I too owe the same color and same model (not exactly same as mine is a manual one).

I wanted to ask you if you know anyone in Delhi who can help me with 4k OPS? I loved your 8k OPS but I just want it for rear parking. Also, will it void warranty?

Lastly, Can you share the link for Auto Headlight switch and sensor? I am really interested in this as well.

I really love the upgrades you have done on your car, your Polo is lucky to have you as an owner

[purangdevvrat]

Hey man, I'm also in the market for the discover media, can't get my hands on one can you tell me your source and share the details so that I can also get this installed in my car. Looking forwards to your Reply.
Regards

[fluidicjoy]

Originally Posted by Old_Salt

Thank you for sharing these updates. Was in the market for replacing our old Eon which my wife drives and the decision was stuck between Polo or the Taigun( different category though)
IMHO, the overall build quality of the Taigun including fit and finish was found somewhere lacking when compared to Polo. The flexing of the sheet metal, the feeling of handling the doors etc was better in the polo. A polo top end is almost close to Taigun base model, price wise.

So finally we booked the Polo Highline + AT, with a delivery time frame of 2 months.

Will be following your thread closely.

Congrats on your car! Hope you get it soon! I haven't seen the Taigun or Kushaq in person, but quite a few cars on the MQB platform have a perception of being lighter than their PQ equivalents. I felt this way when we got a Tiguan and compared it to our older Jetta, but I believe a door flex is not necessarily a sure pointer for safety. I'm eagerly awaiting crash tests for the Indian made Taigun and Kushaq. The Polo nevertheless should still be a tried and tested safe choice!

Originally Posted by Sahil00090

Brilliant thread Joy

I too owe the same color and same model (not exactly same as mine is a manual one).

I wanted to ask you if you know anyone in Delhi who can help me with 4k OPS? I loved your 8k OPS but I just want it for rear parking. Also, will it void warranty?

Lastly, Can you share the link for Auto Headlight switch and sensor? I am really interested in this as well.

I really love the upgrades you have done on your car, your Polo is lucky to have you as an owner

Yes, the Sunset Red is a lovely shade. I believe you can get 4K OPS done yourself without a lot. of trouble. It shouldn't void your warranty since you won't be cutting, or tapping any wires, since 4 parking sensors are already installed on your car. All you would need is a new module and a wire pair. Let me know if you need any more technical help. There's a very useful TeamBHP thread for OPS retrofit which you can refer to, but if there's something you need help with, feel free to reach out to me.

You can buy the Auto Headlight Sensor kit from any seller or Aliexpress etc. who is willing to send it to India. There's essentially all the same. Different only lies in whether you want an All-inclusive switch, or a separate module and a Neat OEM spec switch. Quite a few folks in India might have stocks of these if you wish to locally pick it up, but naturally prices might be higher due to import, duty, shipping etc.

Originally Posted by purangdevvrat

Hey man, I'm also in the market for the discover media, can't get my hands on one can you tell me your source and share the details so that I can also get this installed in my car. Looking forwards to your Reply.
Regards

You can contact N2Autotech or GermanDNA. I believe I have regularly seen Discover Media posts on their portals. Most units are imported from Europe and might need subsequent Component Unlocking and feature enabling to enable most of the cool features you see on it today. Recently, I've also seen few units from China but they have a different regional firmware and hence different maps and perhaps different settings too.

[Sahil00090]

Originally Posted by fluidicjoy

Yes, the Sunset Red is a lovely shade. I believe you can get 4K OPS done yourself without a lot. of trouble. It shouldn't void your warranty since you won't be cutting, or tapping any wires, since 4 parking sensors are already installed on your car. All you would need is a new module and a wire pair. Let me know if you need any more technical help. There's a very useful TeamBHP thread for OPS retrofit which you can refer to, but if there's something you need help with, feel free to reach out to me.

You can buy the Auto Headlight Sensor kit from any seller or Aliexpress etc. who is willing to send it to India. There's essentially all the same. Different only lies in whether you want an All-inclusive switch, or a separate module and a Neat OEM spec switch. Quite a few folks in India might have stocks of these if you wish to locally pick it up, but naturally prices might be higher due to import, duty, shipping etc.

I tried digging the OPS thread but seems like I'll ask you if you can help me on this. I am really a noob in this.

I searched for the automatic headlight switch but no success on AliExpress, would you be able to help me with some local vendor. I am also looking for that Jetta Cabin light, the simple plug and play one.

Let me know if we can connect, you can DM me.

[fluidicjoy]

This is actually quite an old update to the car and it marked the first headlight upgrade I tried with the stock Dual Barrel Halogen Headlights.



Headlights and Exterior Lighting Upgrade
Since we’ve only had sunny days for the most part ever since I got this car, I haven’t had too many complaints about the headlights in general. However, I have been exploring ways to improve the lighting from the stock lights, but one thing is for sure, even in the stock configuration, I have found the Low Beam to be a lot more useful than the high beam. Here is a quick GIF featuring the Low and High Beam on the parking wall.



The most straightforward upgrade to the headlight bulbs on a Polo with a Dual H7 Halogen Headlight, is a better bulb. The stock bulb should have a good 4-5 year life, but it isn’t the brightest nor the best bulb available in the market. H7 bulbs by Osram and Philips sold in India are only marginally better than the stock bulb.

I found that the best H7 bulbs you can buy for your car are available on a site called Powerbulbs UK and it is here that I found quite a lot of good options like the Philips XtremeVision 150 and RacingVision 200. Both of these are Road Legal and quite better compared to the stock bulb. The pros of both of these options is an ever so slightly whiter light and improved visibility.

These are way better models than the XtremeVision Philips sells here. They however have two major cons in my opinion. The rated lifetime of both of these bulbs would only be 2 to 3 years at best assuming a mere 30 minutes of night driving daily. And the other aspect is naturally the price. So replacing bulbs every 2-3 years is something not most users would be happy about considering the expense of these as well as they’d end up at about 40-45GBP a pair. So considering all of these factors, I decided to explore another not so popular option amongst the purists as a small experiment to see the result for myself.

Trying LED bulbs in a halogen housing

I know this response can have immediate polarising responses. True to that, I have seen cheap LED bulbs fitted incorrectly and causing a mayhem in a reflector housing. I’ve sworn at people with low beams which cause a glare when I’ve been walking or driving across such cars and I knew I did not want to be such a driver.

However, I respect an automotive brand like Philips for continuing to engineer and explore LED retrofit bulbs which they advertise so strongly to gel well with reflector housing and I really wanted to try their supposedly finest engineered LED bulb available in the market and see for myself, if I could attain a good lighting pattern and so I decided to purchase the Philips Ultinon Pro 9000 LED, by Philips LumiLEDs.



I have made an attempt to simulate quite a lot of lighting and glare tests on this headlight before continuing to use these, and the end result beam pattern wise has been flawless.

Purchase Experience
I purchased these bulbs and a few other interior LEDs from PowerBulbs and I found a few coupons with a 40% off which I applied on my purchase. The site itself is always giving out fair discounts, so do keep an eye on that if you’re looking for an upgrade. The shipping on most orders about 50GBP should be free, but we do need to account for the custom duty since this is coming all the way from UK, and it naturally is not going to be undervalued.

I had to pay 6000 rupees worth of duty for the entire package, which translated to 45% of the invoice value. This nearly made me cry, since I was scrambling for paper money in what has been a digital lockdown.

Bulb Design and Characteristics



Now there’s a lot of good things about this Ultinon Pro 9000 LED Bulb. Firstly, it has a top contact LED chip. It features an integrated fan and an aluminium body for good thermal dissipation, and all of this in an assembly which doesn’t stick out or need modification of the headlight weather boot. It has a rated colour temperature of 5800K but I honestly found it to be practically white light. Philips claims a 5000 hours life and is also offering a 2+3 year warranty. However, I must share that in the Europe, these are not classified as Road Legal Bulbs, since LED Bulbs continue to be illegal when placed in Reflector housings and they’re only recommended at best for Off-Road use.

Another USP of the Ultinon Pro 9000 is the in-built CANBUS compliance, but this isn't a concern for the India spec Polo, since headlights are not BCM controlled and only the Fog-lights are BCM driven.

First Attempt To Install

I took the headlights out and was expecting them to be a straight fit, but it was then that I realised I'd need a small ring connector to get it to perfectly fit and align it along the stock halogen filament.

Philips India had listed a few ring connectors on their site, but as per Philips UK, I’d have needed a P Type Connector, which even they had no clue about. Since then, I raised multiple queries with local and international Philips Retrofit LED teams for procuring the LED Connector Rings.

Roadblocks
The H7 Ultinon Pro 9000 documentation said it would not need any LED Headlight adapters for working on the Polo H7 housing, but on taking the headlight out, I realised this was far from true. In fact, Philips was right about not needing any external fixtures, but only for European Polo 6Rs with a European Halogen Bulb fixture.

Volkswagen India is using a modified adapter for their H7 Bulbs, which is not the case for its other H7 offerings globally. The stock Halogen Connector ring will not let the Headlight Bulb pass through, even after unscrewing So, I started looking for what Philips was advertising as an LED Ring Connector. They offer a Type B and a Type C and the European Philips LumiLED Customer Care executive told me to procure one of those for installing it in the vehicle.

Philips India had also listed these ring connectors, and I tried procuring them, but to no avail. I raised a query with LumiLED India and got in touch with two senior executives where I voiced my concerns about installing my bulb, but they too could not source an adapter for me.

They were firstly curious about the very bulb I was using, since it was not yet available in India. And secondly, they were wondering how their other customers had been installing the Philips LED Headlights since they admitted it was highly improbable to achieve their engineered beam pattern without a proper headlight connector which allowed alignment inside the Bulb Holder. They tried to help me with a pair of Headlight connectors and said they had assigned teams in China and Europe to expedite a pair. After a month, I heard that they had no luck from their international teams about these headlight connectors. Now we come to the irony.

I independently managed to source 4 headlight ring connectors from China within a week. So moving ahead, the rings were finally here and I hit another bump. The rings that were supposed to work with these bulbs, were specifically not compatible with the Ultinon Pro 9000.





Now, this made me really angry since there was no reference on Philips Europe, Philips UK or anywhere that this ring is just not made for the Ultinon Pro 9000. For someone paying over 120GBP on a pair of bulbs, I expected a more reliable installation and product knowhow.

I was back to square one when it came to the installation of these bulbs, and finally, I took the decision to salvage a pair of my connector rings and convert them to a workable Retrofit ring and it finally worked out!

List of Instructions To Install Them The Right Way
1. Take the headlight assembly out of the car by unscrewing 2 T30 screws.
2. Release the T10 Headlight Connector.
3. Take the dust cap off.
4. Slightly loosen the Headlight Connector ring held by Torx Screws.
5. Pull the old bulb out and then release the headlight connector ring.
6. Prepare the Ultinon Pro 9000 by aligning it to an LED adapter ring, and mount the bulb.
7. Reconnect the LED power adapter to the headlight connector. (2 Wire terminal goes to Negative).
8. Put everything back.
9. Check headlight cut-off and alignment, by following markings and tutorials, from about 25 feet (as per a few references.)

Most of these installation steps have been covered in my video linked below, but I'll add a few pictures along with the key points.















Getting The Best Beam Pattern Possible
To get the sharpest beam pattern possible in a reflector, the LED bulb to be used should have a filament orientation and design which sits along the original orientation of the best.



As you can see, there is a small stem at the bottom of both rings. This stem should match during the final fitment and tightening. If there is some play, or if this is installed inverted, you will get a glare and a scattered beam, which is neither useful to you nor pleasing to pedestrians. The stem should be aligned along the natural direction of the reflector bowl, marking with this small line. This feedback was received from executives at Philips and from a few popular Automotive channels who specialise in Automotive bulbs and I'll like them below.





The bulb connector connects to the 2 pin socket on the stock headlight. The pin with one wire joined to it is the positive terminal on the LED.



Testing And Glare Disclaimer
I’ve tested these bulbs thoroughly in quite a few scenarios, and during my testing I did not find these to cause a glare to other passengers and drivers, once they were perfectly aligned. Now sometimes on camera, even a proper genuine headlight assembly can appear to cause a glare from a particular set of angles, but once these were properly aligned, they exhibited a fairly sharp and controlled cut-off.

What’s The Performance Like?
It is my belief that a video is not really the best metric to judge a headlights performance since the camera and the image sensor and processing greatly alter the perceived brightness, but I’ve tried my best to downplay the camera settings to give you a fair idea of the lighting experience with these bulbs. The beam pattern is close to the Stock Halogen in crispness, but still not as perfect, but that's still pretty good for an assembly originally designed for a halogen bulb.



Coming to the luminous performance, I wasn’t able to run any Luminous Flux tests, but I feel there is a notable improvement in the visibility, compared to the Halogen Bulb in dry driving scenarios. The beam colour is rated around 5800K, but it is definitely on the cooler side, and as I was expecting, these did not do the best in moderate to heavy rains. Since I premeditated this, I kept the High Beam stock Halogens as a failsafe mechanism.



Philips makes a lot of bold claims about the performance and claims upto 250% more light. I would love to see how they try to make such claims, since it's definitely not that huge of an improvement.

After beam alignment, I noticed the headlights were not causing any glare to on-going cars and pedestrians. If you have a look at some of the driving sample footage or even experience this bulb yourself, you’ll notice the low beam cutting in below the window-line of most parked and on-coming vehicles. No pedestrian was reacting adversely to the incoming car since the light was cutting sharply below the waistlines of most average height pedestrians. Here's a picture in a dark parking lot to see the cut-off line.





I wanted to test this aspect thoroughly since I absolutely hate the LED Retrofit that my neighbour’s GT TSI has, and the beams cause a terrible glare that makes me swear. Wow that even rhymes!

Some Miscellaneous Pictures About These Headlights

The Indian headlight on the car is made by HELLA.



These are the set of screws you need to tweak if you have problems in your stock beam pattern. Be gentle with them, and be sure to make appropriate markings on a wall to get the best possible cut-off.





These headlight tabs may break down with age or abuse, and may need to be refurbished with a repair kit as the car and plastics start to age.

Is It Worth It?
Well, I feel it sure is a good quality bulb, which delivers a fairly crisp light which is compliant to the Polo Halogen housing, but it still bears the same traits of an LED light which falters in extreme weather, making these a slight disappointment, and definitely not a permanent, all-round solution.

The high cost and availability of these bulbs also makes it a pain to recommend to everyone, but if I had the chance, I’d definitely have liked to try a few other Ultinon Philips LED bulbs which are sold in India. It is slightly sad that I did not keep this headlight bulb in my Low Beam assembly for long, but to summarise, I think with respect to the trouble I faced and the performance I expected and finally observed, I found them slightly disappointing.

I strongly believed they'd be the best pair of bulbs to buy, because of the brand name, the generous warranty and the promise of incredible light, but the best thing about the bulb has been the cut-off and near Halogen beam pattern.

Here's a detailed installation video with a few night-time driving samples. I wanted to test these bulbs a lot more, but due to the lockdowns in 2021, I simply couldn't drive out too much at night.

https://youtu.be/sgWoaMVJO_0

[sarfraz1997]

A very detailed post with attention to the tiniest of details on bulb upgrades, I’m sure this will help many, as this is the easiest upgrade to do in terms of lighting department.

I wish our folks cared more about proper installation and glare, as it can really be a safety hazard on highways which do not have trees on the divider to cut down the glare from oncoming traffic.

The bulbs you chose are pretty expensive, considering their life, I’m sure Philips must’ve put a lot of R&D on this leading to the cost, as they have other economic offerings as well. I might pick these up for my Octavia’s fog lamps after reading about it on your thread.

[TSI47]

Originally Posted by fluidicjoy

OEM 6R Shark-fin Antenna
Next, I proceeded to install the OEM shark fin antenna with a provision for GPS. Frankly, this OEM shark fin antenna is not a perfect shark fin and combines the stock rod with a shark fin base.

Hi Fluidicjoy
Can you tell from where have you procured the shark fin antenna as few days back dogs have chewed up my car's antenna. Presently I dont know if the base is also gone or it's just the rod. Quick search gives to replace both I have to shell out 4.5~5k. Its better if I just install this.

[fluidicjoy]

Originally Posted by fluidicjoy

This is actually quite an old update to the car and it marked the first headlight upgrade I tried with the stock Dual Barrel Halogen Headlights.

The high cost and availability of these bulbs also makes it a pain to recommend to everyone, but if I had the chance, I’d definitely have liked to try a few other Ultinon Philips LED bulbs which are sold in India. It is slightly sad that I did not keep this headlight bulb in my Low Beam assembly for long, but to summarise, I think with respect to the trouble I faced and the performance I expected and finally observed, I found them slightly disappointing.

A lot seems to have changed since I last purchased these bulbs. Now they are natively available on Amazon India and the price is substantially lesser. You can pick them up on Amazon. I was trying to include a link, but realised they presently only had H8s in stock. Please be sure to buy H7 UltinonPro 9000 bulbs for your low beam and high, which may be out of stock depending on when you're trying to buy them. Here's a picture shared with me by Prerak, who bought a few sets a few days back. You'll also need LED H7 headlight rings, also easily available on Amazon.

Originally Posted by TSI47

Hi Fluidicjoy
Can you tell from where have you procured the shark fin antenna as few days back dogs have chewed up my car's antenna. Presently I dont know if the base is also gone or it's just the rod. Quick search gives to replace both I have to shell out 4.5~5k. Its better if I just install this.
Attachment 2270168

Sorry for the late response. Yes, the antenna is a favourite item for many dogs and surprisingly, mine was also attacked once by a dog who climbed and scratched my bonnet. I found a local replacement here on Boodmo. The shark fin antenna was procured last year with the help of a friend from Ebay, but after that, I've had a hard time finding this antenna with any seller. The smaller one has reception problems, but can be easily procured from China. The detailed installation and technical aspects have been covered by our moderator Gannu here on his DIY thread (VW Polo DIY: Installing the OEM sharkfin antenna). From the looks of the image, you can replace the rod and refurbish the rubber base, which is the more expensive part of the two.

[MayurS]

Sharing Amazon link for Philips Ultinion Pro H7 9000

Philips 11972U90CWX2 Ultinon PRO 9000 H7 Car LED Headlight Bulb (Set of 2, 2021 Release) https://www.amazon.in/dp/B09LN7D9X1/...ing=UTF8&psc=1

[fluidicjoy]

My Polo 1.0 TSI's 1st Oil Change Service



So our car went in for its first oil change service today. Sadly, the usage has dramatically dropped over the last few months since I moved away for my Masters. My dad rotates the Polo and Tiguan, and so I was slightly lazy to get the car serviced on exactly the first year mark. There were no new issues to be specifically sorted out on the Polo during this service.

Dealer Scenario in Pune
Earlier, we had two different set of dealers in Pune, Vidyut Motors and BU Bhandari. Vidyut Motors shut shop last year, and their Sales and Service Facility in the heart of Pune was taken over by BU Bhandari. From the last few years, we had switched to BU Bhandari from Vidyut Motors for service, because of a few positive experiences and good rapport with their service team. The only downside for someone like us living in a small suburb on the outskirts of town, was that the BU Bhandari Service Centre was about 16kms away via the highway, which is about a 30 mins morning drive, or a 50 mins drive back in the evening when the Hinjewadi IT park traffic starts to peak. My father being a doctor and fully self-driven, just doesn’t have the time to drop the car or bother about the service needs of each car, and hence like a lot of individuals, prefers the Pick Up and Drop service. When I would drive the car for service, I’d prefer to take the nice drive along the highway to BU Bhandari Wakad, and I’d usually stay and watch the car scanned, serviced and billed and then I’d drive back, unless there was something that would need more time and I’d have to Uber back. Now that I wasn’t going to do this myself, sending the car far off to Wakad seemed like a bad proposition. Luckily, the nearer service centre in the city is now associated with BU Bhandari too, and so that’s where we sent our Polo this time. The Polo was picked up when the Tiguan was dropped from service, and you can read about the Tiguan service experience on the Tiguan Diesel Official Thread, once I pen it down and upload it.

Instructions To The Service Advisor
I called the Service Advisor and strictly asked for only the Mandatory Service operations to be performed. I specifically asked for No Wheel Alignment, No Wheel Balancing, No Tyre Rotation (since I was little skeptical about the car’s handling and TPMS system too, but I’ll make a separate post on this) and No Dashboard Polishing. I gave the instructions once, and wanted to see how the Service Advisor would deal with these instructions, since this is what will be happening to a lot of customers who do not know about the small bits and bobs that a service advisor might slide into the bill for maximising dealer profits.

VW Service Cost Calculator



Thankfully, we now have a VW Service cost calculator on the VW India website for a quick assessment of what should be done and should not be done during the service. As per the site, the First Year Service at 1 Year or 15000kms, whichever is earlier the Engine Oil, Engine Oil Filter, Cabin AC (Dust and Pollen Filter) will need replacement. The Engine Air Filter seems to be recommended to be reused during this service since it was not billed in the service bill on the website. This seems to be billed only on the 2nd Year or 30000km service, a snapshot of which has been attached here.



To access further service and repair costs, please refer to this link below, which is working as of now. If it is rerouted, then the Service Cost Calculator should be available on Volkswagen India. You can access it from this link.

VW Service Camera
I have seen this feature being used only for the Dialogue Reception to inspect the vehicle, and never after that. This video let me have a look at everything the Service Advisor checked while making the vehicle inventory. This is a good tool to see the condition of all your trims and how the service advisor inspects them. After seeing the video, I dare say I found the handling of the trims to be fairly rough and panic inducing. Thankfully, if anything breaks on camera, we can push for replacements due to the proof they generate.



I would have loved to see more service specific footage on this VW Service Camera feed, and it would be nice if any users who have experienced this to chip in and share how that feature works e.g vehicle needs replacement of brake pads etc.

Service And Parts Used



I think the service went just fine for the most part. The technicians had to remove the underbody stone guard (Review: Driving home our Sunset Red VW Polo Highline+ TSI Automatic) before they could drain the old oil and remove the bottom facing oil filter on this engine. I believe for a DIYer, this design change to the bottom facing Oil Filter has a benefit over the previous engine since there was always a chance of spilling some old oil in the alternator in the previous upward facing oil filter on the CBZB 1.2 TSI and even a friend’s MPI which I once got to service.



The oil filter needs a cup type socket to be removed. If you want to procure the VAG Tool, it is a VAG 3417, but a 74mm Cup Type Socket or a Belt/Chain drive oil filter tool will work out a lot cheaper and should get the same job done.



The advisor said that the technician was pleasantly surprised that it was a a lot easier to remove and refit the air filter because of the RacingLine Turbo Inlet I had installed on the car, but it was my experience that because of the sheer volume of this 1.0 TSI Engine, the technicians have regardless gotten a lot faster with even the stock clamp based design on this new air intake box. Well, practice surely does make man perfect!

Parts With Billed Prices (inclusive of taxes)
Oil Filter - 04E 115 561 H - Rs. 99
Engine Air Filter - 04C129620H - Rs. 314
Cabin Air Filter - 6R0820367 - Rs. 368
Washer - N 013 8158 - Rs. 103.01
Drain Plug - N 90288901 - Rs. 155







The drain plug on the stock engine is not reusable and is designed to be chucked. The new drain plug should now be reused by replacing only the washer each time. I read this in the service manual for this new engine, and have attached snippets below. That being said, it would be nice if the cost of the washer came down since I feel a crush gasket is too expensive at Rs. 100 and maybe this will happen in good time.





The old Cabin AC Filter returned to me.



Optional Items (Optional as per the website, but the folks here added them regardless)
Lubricant Spray* - G052778A2 - Rs. 745
Windscreen Cleaner* - G052164M1 - Rs. 327



These optional items should not be pushed to you and you should be able to strike them off as unnecessary. If the service team gets pushy, call Volkswagen India and raise your concern. You will notice it increases the bill amount by Rs. 1000 even though you might just be better off without it. However these additives would be of greater value to you if you live in colder regions with really icy conditions since the descriptions of both are as follows :-



OEM Volkswagen lock lubricant works to loosen up sticky locks and to aid against frozen lock cylinders. Suitable for any VW car.

Windshield Cleaner has an anti-freeze component with a specific dilution ratio for harsh winters. However, under no circumstance should you be billed this item without them including the leftover item to you, since it cannot be emptied into your vehicle all at once. If this is the case, then you’re perhaps being billed fleeced.



Warranty Campaigns For 1.0 TSI and Suspension
VW has been performing software updates (presumably to the 1.0 TSI ECU) and the service advisor called me asking me if I wanted to go ahead with it. He said he wanted to double check since he was concerned about the numerous feature retrofits performed and did not want me to lose any functionality due to his update and I assured him that it was irrelevant and that he could go ahead with the ECU update. I recently spoke to my friend and BHPian Haritabh who confirmed that the campaign was legit since he lost all of the goodness from his remap after his recent second service.



The advisor also informed me about a greasing campaign for the suspension and I also gave him the go ahead for that. This is the spray that they used for the campaign.

Throwback To The Air Filter
When the 1.2L GT TSI was launched in India a few years back, quite a lot of users noticed a drop in performance after their first service and it was quickly attributed to the quality of the Cylindrical Air-filter element. The one that came with the car was made abroad, while the replacement was cheaper and made in India by LUMAX.

I can’t comment on the performance yet, but the very same thing has happened to the 1.0 L TSI and this is unsurprising since this engine is now fairly localised and doing duties in a variety of India specific cars like the Taigun, Slavia, Virtus, Kushaq. The stock air filter I opened and serviced, was made in Italy. You can have a look at the Air Filter service here (DIY : VW Polo Engine Air Filter Service).



The newer filter, as expected is proudly Made in India by LUMAX, but only spirited drivers can comment on how much difference it has or has not made to the performance. If there’s no perceptible performance drop, then its a big win for the localisation of this part since this is the new bread and butter VW engine.



Battery Test Report
I had a gut feeling it’d be bad, considering the amazing reputation VW’s OEM batteries have, but the battery test report checked out and I didn’t have to plead for a new battery. That being said, the original battery has a 2 Year Warranty, so make sure you service your car within the two year mark, so you can push for a new battery if it fails within the battery warranty period. I learnt this the hard way with our Tiguan and I'll share it soon.

Oil Grade Talk - To be taken with a pinch of salt - Conclusion At The End

Frankly, it is my conclusion that VW India themselves are confused about what engine oil is to be used in these new-age Petrol engines. I say this for a couple of reasons. From what I’ve been hearing, dealers have been using different engine oils for different vehicles in different cities. I know quite a few T-Roc and the Tiguan All-Space who have specifically seen the use 0W-20 Engine oils in their new TSI engines. I have also seen dealers in different cities use 5W-40 in these cars as well.

From what I had seen earlier, the 0W-20 G S60 577 M2 Engine Oil for the AllSpace and T-Roc was slightly more expensive at about Rs. 900 a litre, but now even that has come down to Rs. 555/Litre (without taxes). I saw this on the service calculator which shows the same flat-rate for all Petrol Engines in the VAG group.

I had previously found a bulletin stating that the new engine in the Polo (Engine Code DSHA) should be using the new 0W-20 VW group oil grade. I brought this up again with the Master Technician at the dealership. He acknowledged that he did see a global bulletin which said that the new engine along with the engine code for the Polo (DSHA) was listed to use 0W-20, but he also explicitly stated that VW India had not yet instructed them to switch to the new oil grade for the Polo, and that 0W-20 was still reserved for the AllSpace and T-Roc, despite the price cuts.

From his experience, he commented that the factory fill was perhaps a 0W-20 since it seemed fairly thinner and was listed as a Light Engine Oil internally. He believed that VW India was picking 5W-40 over 0W-20 because of slightly better NVH by trading some fuel efficiency, which seems fair, since the 3 Cylinder isn’t exactly the most refined engine at slow speeds.

But what puzzles me is if the imported T-Roc (1.5 TSI) and AllSpace is using 0W-20, then why are the newer India spec 1.5 TSI cars using 5W-40. A friend of mine, Kiran demanded 0W-20 from the dealership and has been using it on his Polo. He felt the performance was just as good, but claimed a higher efficiency figur, but this could just be a consequence of an annual service with new filters and new engine oil, so this one case is hardly a proof of improvement.

The 1.0 TSI still has a minimum VW Spec 502 which is met by the VW Special Gasoline Engine Oil available in 5W-40. The Master Technician said that the change might just happen over a period of few months or even a few years, as they localise the manufacturing of the 0W-20 oil grade. So for now, it was better to stick to what their higher management was pushing, which was 5W-40 meeting a minimum of VW 502, which is what a majority of folks I’ve spoken to have been using without no problems whatsoever.



Being too involved with any sort of technicality can prove to be a headache. I feel its sometimes best to be blissfully unaware and deal with changes as they occur. Since we all have a long warranty up ahead, we anyway have to stick to our dealership regardless of whatever oil they choose to put in our engines. So to call it a day, the dealership used VW 502 compliant 5W-40 engine oil and from the engine oil part number suffix on the invoice (M9), it perhaps came from a drum.

Disclaimer : Please refer to your owner's manual and stick to your manufacturer ratings for the longevity of your engine, since the manufacturer warranty would be valid only if the car is serviced as per the guidelines received by the dealer. What I might have found, read and shared online may or may not be correct, but sadly in our country, only the action of an authorised dealer is the supreme seal for retaining your warranty.

Ending Remarks
It was a fairly routine service experience, but slightly disappointed to see them push unnecessary expenses. I noticed this exact same trend during the Tiguan service. If you’re a customer on your feet and have the time to hammer a service advisor for unnecessary attempts to fleece you, then please do take advantage of the fairly reduced service costs from the VAG group, but it doesn’t mean that the dealership will stop trying to make more money off you. In my case, the Windshield Cleaner was not returned to me, making me believe it was simply billed.

Post Wash Photos

I received the following pictures from the service advisor's phone. A big thanks to Shivam, who was my advisor for service, but I'd have loved it if he didn't bill me the Windshield Cleaner and Lock Spray lubricant. The Sunset Red seems to look different in almost every picture, but its still a gem of a colour to see in person. I'm glad I went with Sunset Red.











Warranty Remarks?
The advisor said there’s just too many upgrades to make a list about but since there were no trouble in the car that needed attention and everything that he could see and touch was OEM, he was happy to let it slide. In fact, he was more curious in learning more about the nature of the upgrades and if they could be done on few other cars.

My Polo has had quite a few developments, which I haven't had time to sit and share, but I'll be writing about them, slowly but steadily! What doesn't fail to amuse me though, is how much people still love the Polo, me included! There's always a lot to hate, but so much more to love about this car! Polo you will be missed as the PQ25 production comes to a halt sometime this year, but I'm sure there'll be bigger and better things in the near future!

[ankitsharma]

Originally Posted by fluidicjoy

My Polo 1.0 TSI's 1st Oil Change Service

The advisor said that the technician was pleasantly surprised that it was a a lot easier to remove and refit the air filter because of the RacingLine Turbo Inlet I had installed on the car, but it was my experience that because of the sheer volume of this 1.0 TSI Engine, the technicians have regardless gotten a lot faster with even the stock clamp based design on this new air intake box. Well, practice surely does make man perfect!

Surprising to hear that VW guys were cool with your air filter intake upgrade. People at Skoda are very scrutinizing.

Originally Posted by fluidicjoy

I can’t comment on the performance yet, but the very same thing has happened to the 1.0 L TSI and this is unsurprising since this engine is now fairly localised and doing duties in a variety of India specific cars like the Taigun, Slavia, Virtus, Kushaq. The stock air filter I opened and serviced, was made in Italy. You can have a look at the Air Filter service here (DIY : VW Polo Engine Air Filter Service).

The newer filter, as expected is proudly Made in India by LUMAX, but only spirited drivers can comment on how much difference it has or has not made to the performance. If there’s no perceptible performance drop, then its a big win for the localisation of this part since this is the new bread and butter VW engine.


Oil Grade Talk - To be taken with a pinch of salt - Conclusion At The End

From his experience, he commented that the factory fill was perhaps a 0W-20 since it seemed fairly thinner and was listed as a Light Engine Oil internally. He believed that VW India was picking 5W-40 over 0W-20 because of slightly better NVH by trading some fuel efficiency, which seems fair, since the 3 Cylinder isn’t exactly the most refined engine at slow speeds.

But what puzzles me is if the imported T-Roc (1.5 TSI) and AllSpace is using 0W-20, then why are the newer India spec 1.5 TSI cars using 5W-40. A friend of mine, Kiran demanded 0W-20 from the dealership and has been using it on his Polo. He felt the performance was just as good, but claimed a higher efficiency figur, but this could just be a consequence of an annual service with new filters and new engine oil, so this one case is hardly a proof of improvement.

It is either the air filter or the engine oil grade which is changed as mentioned here which is resulting in sub par pickup and performance on my Rapid TSI. The change was immediately noticed after the first service in Jan this year. I was attributing it mostly to the stupid ECU update done by Skoda but looks like here the issue might be something else.

Earlier the engine used to be eager to push forward in lower gears and would sail smooth till 80. These characteristics have changed drastically after the first service. Now the car is sluggish in the initial gears (I still stall it after completing 21K kms in a year) and the ride to 80 is not that effortless below 2500 rpm.

I will inspect the air filter brand tomorrow and might change it if the LUMAX one is installed. Made in Italy one is still available @ Boodmo for the same price.

Thanks for this priceless information though.

[H_Dogg72]

I get the cabin air filter changed every 1-2 months and air filter around every 3 months or whenever the car happens to visit the dealership. Air filter is extremely cheap, and as for cabin filter, I can’t find any hepa filters on Amazon anymore so stuck with VW carbon filter as the only choice. Not great and works best if changed every 2 months.

Air filter change to 30k kms is sheer stupidity and done only to reduce cost of service online I am sure.

[ankitsharma]

So I inspected the air filter and it was not changed. It was the same original filter that came with the car. I cleaned it though. Looks like the issue is either with the ECU Update or Engine Oil.

Originally Posted by H_Dogg72

I get the cabin air filter changed every 1-2 months and air filter around every 3 months or whenever the car happens to visit the dealership. Air filter is extremely cheap, and as for cabin filter, I can’t find any hepa filters on Amazon anymore so stuck with VW carbon filter as the only choice. Not great and works best if changed every 2 months.

Air filter change to 30k kms is sheer stupidity and done only to reduce cost of service online I am sure.

I change the cabin one every 5k. Not yet changed the air one but looks like I should be doing it frequently or at least every 7.5k.

[fluidicjoy]

Originally Posted by H_Dogg72

I get the cabin air filter changed every 1-2 months and air filter around every 3 months or whenever the car happens to visit the dealership. Air filter is extremely cheap, and as for cabin filter, I can’t find any hepa filters on Amazon anymore so stuck with VW carbon filter as the only choice. Not great and works best if changed every 2 months.

Air filter change to 30k kms is sheer stupidity and done only to reduce cost of service online I am sure.

In my opinion, changing a part prematurely just because it is extremely cheap does not make much sense. To me, it is just a waste of resources. Even premium high-end turbo petrol cars, do not require frequent engine air filter changes every 3-4 months. In the past, VW has been changing the Engine Air Filter on the 1.2 MPIs, 1.5 and 1.6 TDIs and even their high end diesel cars only once a year, and every other customer who has been following the manufacturer recommended interval has been just fine. Automotive parts have been designed and tested by OEMs to provide filtration for a certain rated kilometres or duration. Cleaning filters is naturally a great idea for the vehicle and some cities definitely require more frequent AC filter changes due to pollution. However, changing it 4x more times than what the manufacturer recommends could surely be argued as unnecessary. There's an old saying, "If it ain't broke, why fix it?", but again to each one their own

Originally Posted by ankitsharma

So I inspected the air filter and it was not changed. It was the same original filter that came with the car. I cleaned it though. Looks like the issue is either with the ECU Update or Engine Oil.

I change the cabin one every 5k. Not yet changed the air one but looks like I should be doing it frequently or at least every 7.5k.

Not sure about what's happening in Skoda dealerships, but VW most certainly did perform an ECU software update on the Polo 1.0 TSI. While I have always been on the stock OEM map, BHPian Haritabh was running a remapped car and instantly noticed that the ECU update made his car feel sluggish. He immediately got the car remapped again with his tuner, so I don't think he'll be able to comment on whether the new stock map is sluggish in nature.

There are plenty of owners running their car on dealership 5W-40 oil, and none have specifically reported any performance drop after their oil change. I know a few folks who have even crossed 30000kms now since 2020, and they have also been on 5W-40 with next to no complaints about performance. Maybe try a reputed remap instead, it might just get rid of the new-found sluggishness in your car.