[EssYouWe]

Any plans to jazz up the rear? Its too boring innit?

[khan75]

Guys, sorry about the delay. Saturday was pretty crazy with tons of work cropping up and I had to attend the ongoing Fashion week in Okhla to cheer on a friend who showcased her collection.

Originally Posted by EssYouWe

Any plans to jazz up the rear? Its too boring innit?

Not really, except for the sport bumpers. All ears to any suggestion from your end.

Originally Posted by better4worse

Damn lucky indeed ! Khan bhai, I managed to do a Polo TD today and I like the car !!! By the way, I see the pics you've shared in one of your previous posts on the same page, did you manage to have a look at the Polo with outer (add-on skirting for 50K). I'm sure you must've. I saw one at the VW showroom and boy she looks 'Pretty' (goes without saying in RED) does one get that as a standard in the Highline variant ? (guess I missed asking the sales person about this bit)

Nope, the side skirtings and sport bumpers aren't part of the standard feature set. I've already put down a 10K deposit for these and am expecting them sometime next month.

Originally Posted by aryasanyal

Thanks a ton. Looking eagerly for your writeup.

As requested:
***
Polo vs Figo (petrol):

Looks and Design:
The Polo has a great front end, an okay-ish side profile and a bland rear. The Figo on the other hand, has an average front end, a slighly ungainly side profile and a confusing rear. The shapely headlamps and black band at the front give the Figo a good imposing profile for anyone looking at it through the RVM of their car but the impossibly long tail lights make the car seem like it's driving around with a long face. At night though, the tail lights don't light up completely and that's a good thing. People driving behind it will be able to identify it as a Figo (or a Fusion) which probably can't be said about the Polo with its two red squares stuck on the back. Alloys aren't standard on the Figo (I test drove the ZXi and Titanium) and the choice of plastic wheelcaps isn't particularly appealing.
Polo:7, Figo:6
Engine:
The Polo's petrol unit doesn't sound very refined at idle and as rightfully mentioned a couple of times on these forums, sounds like a diesel. Slot through the gears and some noise does make its way through. On the other hand, the Figo has slightly better NVH levels with very little of the clatter at idle. Rev the engine though, and it'll be the Polo that melts your heart more than the Figo. The Polo gets a very good mileage of 14-14.5kpl in the city, the Figo needs a calculator to get that value (more on that later). I certainly don't believe it'll give more than 14/18kpl in city/highway conditions since the engine is quite small and needs to work hard.
Polo:7, Figo:7
Acceleration and Handling:
Both cars seem pretty equal when it comes to getting their tail down for a fast getaway, although the butt-in-seat stopwatch might give the edge to the Polo. The Polo's better communicating steering wheel makes the going a bit easier when moving through fast corners. ABS and EBD might be standard features on both top end versions but surprisingly, the Figo struggled while performing a Scandinavian flick <I had gotten the approval from the sales guy who was a budding street racer in disguise> with the brakes juddering a bit. Make sure you get a good set of tires when buying a Figo because the default MRFs will give way before the limits of the brakes and chassis are reached. Also, the suspension isn't as good as the Polo when driving over craters (I mean potholes) and slightly rocky terrain. With the Polo, there were no such issues and everything is magnifique. Just don't blame me if you happen to scrape the underside with your off road excursions.
Acceleration: Polo:8, Figo:8. Handling: Polo:8, Figo:6
Steering: The Figo has a good power steering unit that feels precise in the hand. However, I don't what kind of brainless zombie designed a rack without tilt or telescopic adjustments so if you're over 6 feet tall, good luck trying to read the dials clearly. The Polo has a equally weighted steering that feels good and even looks good compared to the 'lifted from a truck' like feeling that you get from a Figo - anyone's who's ever sat or driven one of Ford's trucks or SUVs will know what I mean. The hitting area for the horn is a bit bigger that the Polo.
Steering: Polo:9, Figo:8
Gear shifts: This is one area where the Polo clearly outshines the entire competition and not just the Figo. Rowing through the gears in a Polo feels like you've just won a dinner and date with your fantasy woman (or man, just in case ). The Figo's gears felt a bit incomplete and the driver has to make a slight effort in moving through the gears - perhaps it just a case of an abused test car, but slotting from 2nd to 3rd felt going through the longest day in your life. And whatever the gear boot is made of isn't very good. The test car had barely 800kms on the odo and some of the rings on the boot were already misaligned.
Polo: 10, Figo:7
Interior, Gadgets and Comfort:
This is one area where the Ford shows some of its might and tries to claw back the deficit. Ford have almost outdone the Germans in creating an interior that's strictly functional although it does look quite nice, only if you get the black dashboard and not the flashy "look at me!" red one. The seats are quite comfortable and have all the basics covered - height adjustment, seatback angle and fore/aft movement. Storage The car has a lot of niceties that are present in other higher end cars (Punto etc.). Electric RVMs- check, bluetooth connectivity-check, a very convenient trunk/boot release button-check, all of which are missing from the Polo. Visibility through the RVM is also better in the Figo than the Polo. However, the VW has better driver console guages that are clearly more legible. The HVAC unit does its job marvellously and in fact, can get a bit chilly if you don't keep the blower down. Coming to some of the sore points, the Figo's MFD doesn't display a lot of info - it's just restricted to an odometer count, distance-to-empty (DTE) and a trip meter which means going back to the old fashioned way of getting a calculator or, if you've kept up with modern times, a cell phone to furiously tap your way through to a fuel consumption value. Not only that, there's no engine temperature guage so basically you're dependent on a tiny light that will (supposedly) come on if the engine ever happens to get angry. There is only one cupholder so expect a fist fight to break out with whoever is sitting in the passenger seat. The audio feels pretty downmarket with the speakers complaining at the slightest hint of bass and a cold rather than warm sound, although the presence of an aux-in jack for an external music player alleviates things somewhat. The lack of power windows at the rear even in the top end variant is downright inexcusable. For those coming from a Maruti or Hyundai, they will get the European layout of control stalks all fuddled up, just like in other European cars. There is a very slightly perceptible drop in performance when the monster A/C gets turned on, don't blame this on the small engine though since the Polo doesn't seem to have this problem. Lastly, while it's not something that'll impress the ladies down at the club, the programmable key fob will certainly impress your kids and allow you to open the boot from the comfort of your own home.
Interior: Polo:8, Figo:8, Comfort: Polo:8, Figo:9, Gadgets: Polo:7, Figo:9
Rear legroom:
One area where the Figo seems to smack the Polo. Although both cars aren't anywhere close to say, an Indica Vista, the Figo actually does have a decent amount of leg and head room at the back, and this was after I had adjusted the front seats to suit my 6'1" frame. Seating 4 6' adults should be a piece of a cake in the Ford, something which can't be said about the Polo. How the engine will respond to so many 6 footers in the car is an entirely different story and something that I never got the chance to test (the sales guy was a five-foot-sixer).
Polo:6, Figo:8
Trunk/Boot:
While both cars have folding 60:40 rear seats, the Figo seems to have a bigger boot overall. The presence of a boot light is always useful and is something that's missing from the Polo. The Figo's boot is easier to open, the Polo's boot is easier to close. The lifting VW badge in the Polo never ceases to amuse some people and is probably the answer to the Figo's programmable key fob.
Polo:8, Figo:9

Having added up the marks, we get:
Polo:86
Figo:85
Note: not comparable with the scores obtained in the Punto vs Polo comparison on page #1.

So there we have it - if you thought the Punto and Polo were close, the Polo and Figo are even closer. In real world terms, it's pretty much a draw and yet again, comes down to your preference of driving characteristics and handling vs extra semi-luxury features. The Polo clearly outshines the Ford in handling and gear shifts, the Figo claws it back in gadgets and rear legroom. However, before you move off this thread, there are TWO very important things on the mind of most buyers - the big fat monster called the price tag and the availability factor. At a lakh less than the Polo, the Figo represents fantastic value for money and I feel that in the long run, the Figo will quite handily outsell the Polo although for some (like me), the charm of a German car will prove to be too hard to resist. However, drive down to your nearest VW showroom and you will probably be disappointed on learning that there's close to a 2 month wait period for the Das Auto car compared to the <1 month for a Figo.

Before you plonk down the deposit at the Ford stealership though, be sure that you can live with the absence of many seemingly tiny things that we take for granted in a car.

When asked for my comments on the TD feedback sheet, I wrote the same words many of you have been thinking about - the Figo Titanium certainly doesn't feel high end and I feel (hope) Ford might release a proper variant with all the bells and whistles sometime down the line.
***

[khan75]

Almost forgot these - I found two brilliant roads for putting the TD cars through their paces (or testing your new purchase) in and around Delhi NCR. Disregard this post if you already know of these.

The first one's in Okhla - head off the outer Ring Road onto the Okhla main road, you'll pass Nathu Sweets and an Indian Oil petrol pump on the left. There's a relatively obscure right turn about three fourths of a kilometer ahead of the petrol pump, so make sure you don't miss the cut in the divider. From there on, its about 1KM of pure bliss with a narrow and twisty road that winds up and down with hillocks on either side to keep you in check. The road forks into two halfway so be sure to take the right fork if you want more (the left one winds around for two to three hundred meters but ends quite abruptly). I drove the Polo back and forth 3 times before I remembered that I was getting kinda late for my destination. Just don't drive like a maniac or you'll mow down the villagers who inhabit that area.

The second one is a kilometer long road that for some reason, is covered in mud and gravel. No, it's not the kind that's going to get cleaned up anytime soon since the gravel seems firmly entrenched in the road. It's located in sector 18, Gurgaon, a few kilometers from the NH8 and Maruti factory. If you're coming along MG road toward IFFCO chowk, take a right at the chowk so that you're headed toward Delhi. Take the left at the first intersection, then take a right at the third intersection. The test road is roughly 1KM down the road on the left side and forms an acute angle with the penultimate road so don't miss it! It's barely a couple of hundred meters from the Ford dealership in that area. The brilliant thing is that there are no potholes so you can give your suspension a good workout without the fear of slowing down every 10 meters. The icing on the cake - there's a 90 degree right hander halfway down the road so feel free to give the ABS & EBD a good wake up call and try out the handling capabilities of your new tires. This is where I tested the Figo and Polo back to back. Again, don't go too fast and blame me when your shiny new ride ends up kissing the wall.

[Chethan B G]

Originally Posted by khan75

Trunk/Boot:
While both cars have folding 60:40 rear seats, the Figo seems to have a bigger boot overall. The presence of a boot light is always useful and is something that's missing from the Polo. The Figo's boot is easier to open, the Polo's boot is easier to close. The lifting VW badge in the Polo never ceases to amuse some people and is probably the answer to the Figo's programmable key fob.
Polo:8, Figo:9
***

Great review Khan75!
Would like to add.
Figo does not have 60:40 split rear seats. I remember to have seen boot light in Polo.
I had almost desided on Figo. I would have booked one if Polo was not launched. What made me think twice was:
1. My first impression after looking at Red and Green combination.
2. Silver inserts are a bit too much. Polo interiors looks classic with chrome inserts.
3. 40:60 split rear seats which is very useful.
4. Overall quality of plastics and interior is far better in Polo.
5. Driving position - I felt Polo is again very good. Figo was more like a MUV sort of a driving position (as you commented on the Steering wheel)

Polo is polished.

[better4worse]

Originally Posted by Chethan B G

Great review Khan75!
... I felt Polo is again very good. Figo was more like a MUV sort of a driving position (as you commented on the Steering wheel)

MUV right!! have been wondering the same but wait wasn't ford Fusion (India version) the original ford MUV. I seriously think there isn't much difference in their previous offering ( read as Ford Fusion), the rear is nearly the same (with christmas tree lights). The one big change that u see apart from whats under the hood is the front face. Maybe I cant see the other changes coz I am not a big fan of the Ford (barring the mustang), the Dull Pink-ish dashboard though different doesn't seem to help either. But whats hard to explain is the fact that the same junta which rejected the fusion is now quite euphoric about the Figo ?

- B4W

[aryasanyal]

Awesome review Khan75!! Hats off to you
The words are crisp and to the point - very well explained review.

Some points and questions -

Originally Posted by khan75

Also, the suspension isn't as good as the Polo when driving over craters (I mean potholes) and slightly rocky terrain. With the Polo, there were no such issues and everything is magnifique. Just don't blame me if you happen to scrape the underside with your off road excursions.
***

This single paragraph skewed the graph in favour of the Polo. In India, we generally drive on lunar scapes, and this point makes it all the more compelling.

Originally Posted by khan75

Rowing through the gears in a Polo feels like you've just won a dinner and date with your fantasy woman (or man, just in case ). The Figo's gears.... slotting from 2nd to 3rd felt going through the longest day in your life. And whatever the gear boot is made of isn't very good. The test car had barely 800kms on the odo and some of the rings on the boot were already misaligned.
Polo: 10, Figo:7

Very well put....
What did the odo in the Polo say, by the way?

Originally Posted by khan75

...Electric RVMs- check, bluetooth connectivity-check, a very convenient trunk/boot release button-check, all of which are missing from the Polo.

Is an internal boot release option missing in the Polo?

Originally Posted by khan75

Not only that, there's no engine temperature guage so basically you're dependent on a tiny light that will (supposedly) come on if the engine ever happens to get angry.

Does the Polo have this engine temperature gauge?

Originally Posted by khan75

For those coming from a Maruti or Hyundai, they will get the European layout of control stalks all fuddled up, just like in other European cars.

Isn't this a problem in the Polo as well?

Originally Posted by khan75

While both cars have folding 60:40 rear seats, the Figo seems to have a bigger boot overall.

I guess that the Figo doesn't have split rear seats.

Originally Posted by khan75

So there we have it - if you thought the Punto and Polo were close, the Polo and Figo are even closer.
***

What makes them even closer is the absence of dead pedals on both. A very useful feature that the Punto can boast of.

Did you find the lack of stretchable rear headrest in the Figo, to be of any concern?

All said and done...
All of these points makes the heart go 'Polo, Polo', but the sheer VFM package that the Figo offers causes a bit of confusion.

Anyways - I guess it'd be down to another round of test drives.

Again, thanks much, Khan75!!

-Arya


One more thing -

Does the Figo 1.2 Petrol in 1st gear, pull from 0 without pressing the accelerator? And what about the Polo on this count?

[khan75]

Just got a call from VW SouthEx (Bhasin) that the entire sports package is on its way and should be here next week. Mine is supposedly the first customer order for an accessory at their dealership so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they get the actual paint shade just right. The primed package comprises of the front and rear underbody spoilers, side skirtings, rear wing spoiler and a chrome tipped exhaust pipe. The final cost is roughly 68k. I'll post a break down of the cost of each component later.

I still had about 4 lts in reserve but was eager to calculate the Polo's actual mileage so I tanked up her up in the morning and the calculator spewed out a figure of 14.24kpl. Not bad for city driving in a brand new petrol powered car huh? The odometer currently stands at about 631kms.

@ChetanBG:
Please show me the location of the boot light in the Polo since I haven't found it yet. Should I look underneath the spare tire?

The Figo doesn't have a 60:40 split rear seat? I'm sorry then, I may have gotten it a bit mixed up. Been test driving lots of cars these days so a tiny bit of error is expected.

To answer some of your questions:
1. Both the Polo and Figo are built to a price and it clearly shows. Don't expect any Lexus-like soft touch materials here. Sure both possess a sprinkling of semi-luxury features but one swipe over the hard dashboard will reveal their true character. They might not feel all that great but pretty much every switch and lever in the Polo is designed to outlive the owner and feels unbreakable.
2. For those who decide a car based on its suspension, I'd rate the Punto, Polo and Figo as 10, 9 and 7, respectively. It shouldn't take an experienced driver to upset the composed setup in the Figo.
3. The Figo was compared with my Polo, the one I own.
4. The Polo has a rev counter and speedometer in its center console and no temperature gauge. Everything else is indicated through either the central MFD (tripmeter etc.) or a host of lights (door open indicator etc.)
5. All European cars (Punto included) favor the LHD format of stalks - lights on the left stalk, wiper on the right.
6. The lack of a stretchable rear head rest in the Figo didn't seem to be a problem but truth be told, I sat on the rear seats of the TD car for only about 5-10 minutes. Perhaps this problem might unravel itself on longer inter-city drives.
7. The Polo does not have a boot or fuel release lever.T he fuel filler cap and boot are accessible only if the doors are unlocked.

Any more questions, on either of the three cars, just ask!

[poloman]

Khan75, What is the calculated value you got and what did MID show for mileage? The boot light is not a big issue atleast for me. I have got battey operated push on/off LED lamps from US. Similar to the one shown in the link.These are quite durable from my experience. Illumination also is good. Battery lasts quite long and is easy to replace.
Amazon.com: Led Push Lights with Batteries - 5 Pack: Kitchen & Dining
Not sure where to find them in India.

[khan75]

Calculated as mentioned above: 14.24kpl
Indicated value: 14.4kpl

Price list of all Polo accessories that I received earlier today:

[formel_eins]

hello mates, in one of the threads our fellow Bhpian had listed a price of all polos accessories in an excel sheet. I had it in my download section, so copy pasting the costs which are present in the sheet, with due credit to our Bhpian (sorry but I could not locate his post)

Sports Package (Primed)
6R0071609**GRU*** *Front skirt 13,715
6R0071685**GRU*** *Side skirt kit 19,635
6R0071610**GRU*** *Rear shirt 14,665
6R0071646**GRU*** *Rear wing 12,278
6R0071910A * Exhaust pipe 4,095
000071785A Adhesive Kit 1645

[SumitBahl]

68k for skirts, spoiler, exhaust tip is a bit too much.
And the body kit would be put together using adhesive?
I doubt it will stay in its place in Indian conditions.

[khan75]

Originally Posted by SumitBahl

68k for skirts, spoiler, exhaust tip is a bit too much.
And the body kit would be put together using adhesive?
I doubt it will stay in its place in Indian conditions.

I know a particular manufacturer that charges about a lakh for the same kit. Heck I was at a Hyundai dealership a couple of weeks ago and those guys were asking for 60k for the sports kit on the i10.

It's not the adhesive you're probably thinking about. These adhesives are unbelievably strong. I've used them to affix an underbody spoiler and splitter on a previous Honda and they never came off. I even used the same adhesive for affixing a home made DIY front splitter to my Miata. The spoilers are made of polyurethane so they're quite light and shouldn't affect the neutral handling. I don't plan on lowering the car so there shouldn't be any problem with scraping the undersides or bottoming out.

My only concern at this point is that the color painted at the dealership should match perfectly as the factory is sending the kit over in primed form. I've already warned them that I won't accept the kit if it doesn't blend in seamlessly with the color of the rest of the car.

[Chethan B G]

@ Khan75:

Sorry, I was wrong WRT the boot light. Please do not take it Personal. Your report was excellent. I appreciate your patience.

Is there any possibility of having a dead pedal as an after delivery fitment? After all it is just a block of metal/wood. Has anybody tried?

I have a question for GTO:

Highline has 15 inch alloy. Where as the other two variants have 14 inch steel wheels. GTO in the first road report (in the other thread) had mentioned that the ride quality would be better with 14 inch wheels. Are we loosing something by having 15 inch alloy in Highline?
If 14 inch wheel setup was better, VW should have replaced steel wheel with 14 inch alloys in highline - Right? This is a bit confusing, please clarify. Quote: (Considering that our test Polo was equipped with 15 inch wheels, this is commendable. If anything, the lower variants with their 14 inch wheels will have an even more compliant ride setup.)

Just to add on the fuel/boot release lever,
When the doors are unlocked, fuel lid and the boot latch can be opened by any one from outside. Central lock will lock everything. Now the problem is: We may have to get down the car and show guys how to open them. (Mainly during security check). May be, after some time, once the number of Polos increases, people will get used to it.

@better4worse:
May be the difference between Fusion and Figo is the Price? Figo being priced right, people are interested. Advantage with the Christmas tree lights is that the break light can be placed high and so additional break light (on the spoiler) may not be required. Earlier days, this additional break light was optional – We had to pay for it (for safety, this light is required). But now, since cars are sporting a spoiler with break light as standard fitment, Christmas tree lights setup has become old fashioned.

I just came to know that my on road price will be up by another 12K making it 8.22L since Karnataka government has increased taxes by 2%. This makes the deal more insane!

Bangalore dealer (Elite Motors –Downtown) says that I can have a 5 inch touch screen GPS with Bluetooth and Rear parking display for around 25K. This is from MapMyIndia, and will be fitted at the dealer’s service centre. Voice can be routed to the car speakers via music system. A camera can be connected for rear display. Can any body suggest me an ideal place to fix this screen in the car? It will be very helpful….

[SumitBahl]

Originally Posted by khan75

I know a particular manufacturer that charges about a lakh for the same kit. Heck I was at a Hyundai dealership a couple of weeks ago and those guys were asking for 60k for the sports kit on the i10.

It's not the adhesive you're probably thinking about. These adhesives are unbelievably strong. I've used them to affix an underbody spoiler and splitter on a previous Honda and they never came off. I even used the same adhesive for affixing a home made DIY front splitter to my Miata. The spoilers are made of polyurethane so they're quite light and shouldn't affect the neutral handling. I don't plan on lowering the car so there shouldn't be any problem with scraping the undersides or bottoming out.

My only concern at this point is that the color painted at the dealership should match perfectly as the factory is sending the kit over in primed form. I've already warned them that I won't accept the kit if it doesn't blend in seamlessly with the color of the rest of the car.

hummmmm..... The final finish will always be a little different on plastics than on metal surfaces.
Not noticeable, but if you look very closely you will find the difference.

Looking forward to seeing your car with sports kit.
BTW, do post some detailed interior shots.

[Mpower]

Good review, enjoyed it.

Originally Posted by Chethan B G

If 14 inch wheel setup was better, VW should have replaced steel wheel with 14 inch alloys in highline - Right? This is a bit confusing, please clarify. Quote: (Considering that our test Polo was equipped with 15 inch wheels, this is commendable. If anything, the lower variants with their 14 inch wheels will have an even more compliant ride setup.)

Bigger wheels look better so the high end models get the bigger 15" wheels but this forces them to fit a low profile tire that degrades ride quality.

Khan, any ride/handling comparisons with the 14inchers on the Trend/Comfortline.