Team-BHP - Finally, the red beauty comes home, yes, it’s a VW Polo

Finally a sigh of relief, and sometime I still think am I dreaming, “Pinch Pinch”, no no, there are pictures to confirm that I’ve finally got a polo. What a journey it was for me to get my 2nd car. (Yes, I used to drive Honday city ZX vtec earlier) Uhh, after all the wait, I finally get to drive my polo. Like I said, it’s a long story, I’ll try to keep it as crisp as possible, and before I start, I feel worth mentioning this, Thanks to team-bhp for it’s unbiased review about cars, and especially that report from GTO and Rehaan on Volkswagen polo. I hardly can find any issue to debate on. Thanks guys.clap:
Background:

I work for a company where there is a benefit for me to buy the car through the leasing company. Due to this, I can change my car every 4 years to be precise. I’m supposed to pay my EMI’s only for the Ex-showroom price and rest is taken care by the company. My previous car, Honda city ZX Vtec’s lease period ended Nov 09 and I got a buyer and a good deal. When I was about to deliver the vehicle, the bike guy hits me and my bumper is damaged. Owing to this the buyer is somewhat unhappy and calls off the deal (though I was ready to agree for fixing it or he takes it and fixes it and I pay the amount). Now I get back the car, get it ready and find a buyer in Dec 09. He gives me 10K token advance and I wait for a month and he doesn’t pick up the vehicle. Due to this, I’m not able to buy my new vehicle, which at that time was “Innova”. And , I was offered full 40K discount on buying an Innova. I’d also created the thread on deciding between Innova and Xylo and had finalised on Innova. Here’s that thread http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/suvs-m...confusion.html. Now comes Jan 2010 and the prices of Innova goes up 20K and the discount offered is 20K only. Now I feel like I’m cheated to pay 40K extra. Never know how surprises come in life and I’m diagnosed for some problem and I get surgery done mid of January. Finally I recover slowly in two weeks and finally I sold my Honda city end of January. Uhh, she took care of me very well for all these years.

I’ve decided to buy an innova and looking for dealer to give some freebies. Coincidentally, I find another 4 people from my office would like to buy and innova. So we are 5 to-gether. All I was looking for in the innova was that front grill (as I was planning for G version). Even after 5 of us put together, the dealer is not ready to budge. This was February and probably sales of all the vehicles were in full swing. I finally decided to call it quits and then started looking out for another car. Now, after some financial planning, decided to buy a vehicle in the range of 5-7L, ex-showroom, coz the EMI was just enough to give me flexibility. So, I started looking for vehicles and these were the ones that I considered:-

1)Suzuki Swift:- Basically I love the Suzuki swift VDI. But I somehow don’t like the rear legroom. It feels like cramped. This was the sole reason to dump this.

2)Fiat Punto:- Drove the Fiat punto, doesn’t have that kind of thrust as Swift, but the power delivery is linear. The suspension and handling manners were amazing. But still, somewhere in the back of my mind, I was still not very comfortable to pick up a fiat. I remember one horror story where my friend had to wait full 3 months to get the AC compressor replaced. Though this might not be the case today, but still there is a bit of jittery which I need to get out of. So is the reason to let this go, otherwise love this car.

3)Honda Jazz:- Do I say more, I wonder when Honda realizes and get’s a fair pricing on Jazz. I probably would have settled for Jazz if it was 6.25 (ex-showroom) or so.

4)Hyundai I20:- I like this car. Pretty good interiors, Kappa engine and the CRDI engine is good as well. Have seen the thread on problems with AC, but it really did not matter for me. I had no problems with this car as well. Since Polo was the new kid on the block and I liked the looks of it more than this, so Polo was chosen. Otherwise this was my 2nd choice.

5)Volkswagen Polo:- From the time it was mentioned that Volkswagen is introducing small car, I was eagerly following every news on that. Have driven Volkswagen Golf and Volkswagen Polo in germany, and man, though these are small cars, they are pretty good and robust. One of my friend who lives in UK has an Audi A6, but is still wanting to own a VW Golf. So that explains it all. The car was unveiled in Auto Expo and I was in love with the car after seeing it in snaps. For me, it’s the best looking hatchback in the country today (not to offend anyone, this is my personal opinion though). I trust Volkswagen as a brand and thought “ofcourse there could be some compromise due to pricing coz of competition, but believe there would be no compromise on quality and build of the car. So I decided this is the car and booked it. I was a lot more happy when I saw the test drive report from GTO and felt happy with the choice I made.

Booking to delivery of the car

Now comes the interesting part. I checked with the Volkswagen showrooms and finally decided to book with Volkswagen downtown. The sales guy told me that he would deliver the car during the 3rd week of April, if not 4th week for sure. It was full 2 months, but then I was ready to wait. Since the sales guy had given me assurance, I trusted him and waited for the car. The sales guy was a nice guy and he himself told that there is a huge pressure and there are lot of people flocking to get the car in MP quota, MLA quota and all that stuff. I’m sure it’s not easy for the sales guy to handle everyone. Sometime in between (early april) he called me up and said there are no other colors available other than Red, White and Silver. So I then decided on Silver after having checked the color by visiting the showroom. While I was coming out, I again went to him and gave him further choice of Red as well if I get it earlier. So I was now ready to accept even Red or Silver. Since I’m buying this car from the leasing company all the formalities of financing were over in 2-3 days. I had to sign some documents which I did.

April 3rd week starts (12th – 17) and I don’t get to hear anything. I was hoping that I would get the car latest on 19th, somehow it matches with the birth date and was eagerly looking for it. The sales guy tells me that there are no cars being delivered from Volkswagen in time and he would try to do something during the 4th week. So I wait again. The 4th week comes to an end and there is not update. So the last week starts, i.e, 26th and I duly call up again telling that all dates are over and he still says the same thing. No deliveries and hence cannot confirm when I would get the car. The Pathetic thing was he was not able to tell me when I would get the car. Somehow I thought for a while and finally decided to cancel. So on Wednesday, I called up the Hyundai and checked the availability of I20 and the guys promises to deliver the car in 2 weeks on some colors and the color of my choice if not available would take max 3-4 weeks. Now after having checked and decided if it doesn’t work for me, I’m fine with picking up the I20, made up my mind and wrote to the leasing company that I’m looking out for further options and would like to change if there is a possibility. In the evening, I accompany a friend to Hyundai showroom coz he’s buying an I20. Now, mid way, I get a call on my mobile, tring tring..

“Sir, I’m manager speaking from the dealership, there is one red polo available, are you fine with that”,
now I’m pissed off, I’d already told them that I’m fine with either red or silver and this guy is asking me again? I knew these were make up on their front, and I didn’t want to show anything and said “Yes”. The sales guy then calls me up and says, the vehicle is allotted and he would deliver the car in 2-3 days. Finally, a sigh of relief for me and I’m happy. I prudently called up the leasing company and thanked them for all the help. I’m sure if I was an individual customer, it would have been difficult to get it.

I dropped into the showroom on 30th (yesterday) morning and did a PDI according to what has been listed on T-BHP. Somehow could not figure out the month of manufacture and I’m not sure if there is one indicating month in the VIN’s of Volkswagen, coz their VIN no’s are different from lot others. Probably all german companies VIN no’s are different. But yes, it was 2010 model and everything else in the PDI was fine. The sales guy told me to pick up the car in the evening owing the holiday on Saturday. So he was under full pressure to deliver it to me by evening at any cost so as to enjoy his holiday. So this was working for me. Went back to office and waited for evening.

I was about to leave my office at 4 p m and the sales guy gives me a call and informs me the car is ready. I leave office thinking about picking up the car and driving it home (about 15 kms) on Friday evening traffic. Took the Volvo and reached the showroom. On the way, picked up the gift cheque for the sales guy coz he’d of course put efforts from his side. I reached showroom and there it was, my red beauty asking me to take her home[FONT=Wingdings]J[/FONT]. Finally after all the delivery formalities I’m ready to pick up the car. The sales guy gave me instructions like, this is MID, this is steering, this is gear lever etc. I almost felt like that. When I asked him some specific setting in MID, he did not have an answer. I’m not sure how much these sales guys are equipped. Anyway, I thought I don’t need to bother as there’s Team BHP and all you wonderful guys out there to help me with questions. So I thank the sales guy, clicked some pics and then it’s 6-6:30 p m and I started drive back home.

First drive

Guys, frankly, I was so nervous to drive. I’ve been driving for 5 years now and I didn’t even feel a bit hesitant when I drove my Honda first time. But this was different, don’t know why, may be I liked the color so much that I didn’t want anything on the car. The drive was through one of the crowded places, the bannerghatta road. I first get into the fuel station and those guys are all excited. It’s a little strange that the fuel tank opener is on the right hand side. I had to tell the guy to gently push it so that lid opens. The guy does it and he’s so excited and happy. I liked that expression in his face. Filled up the fuel and reached home. I took full 1.5 hrs to reach home which was 15 kms. Thankfully, without anyone touching me. Many guys would have been annoyed as I was letting all those Autorikshaws, bikes and even cycles pass through. Huh, nevertheless it was an experience and definitely the people looking at it. All those guys who passed me, had a look at the car and then looked at me, gave a strange look and sped away. Nevertheless, it was a memorable drive. I reached home, dad and wifey were excited, and we went to the nearest temple and completed the Pooja formalities.

About the car

I don’t need to add anything more coz everything is crystal clear from GTO’s review. But still my impressions

1.When you start the car, you might get confused whether it’s a diesel or a petrol. It is fairly vocal. For example, when animals get wet, they do the body shake to get rid of water. It seems the engine does the same thing here when you start. When compared with my previous car, this one is too vocal.

2.The driver seating position is pretty neatly made and the dashboard is very proper. To say it proper means, things are placed very aptly at suitable position.

3.The space utilization in the front is pretty good. The glove box is pretty big. There are cup holders and bottle holders. So the space utilization is very intelligently done.

4.The MID display is pretty good, but takes time to get to know what are the details that are being shown on MID. Need to read the manual, will update on this later.

5.No proper rear view. The head rests in the back seat obstructs the rear view which is already pretty small.

6.The back seat space and leg room is just enough i.e., not too great and not pathetic as well. It can strictly seat 4 only. Would be difficult for the 5th person at the back.

7.Age old music system with not even an AUX input.

8.The gear lever is super slick a joy to use.

9.Decent boot space

10.The best part what I like about the car, the boot opener through the Volkswagen logo. I’m sure many of them would search for it when I go to the malls where the security people will have to check the boot.

11.The 7 spoke alloys are pretty good.

12.Cost cutting is evident on the spare wheel which is steel and not alloy with 175/70 tyres.

Further plans

1.I bought the mud flaps and floor mats from VW and that’s all

2.I’m planning to go for the Sun film.

3.Was planning to change the shoes i.e., give out the existing Apollo’s and try to get Michelins or Yoko’s. But exchange seems to be expensive. Checked with couple of tyre shops, they are offering 8K-10 for exchange of 4 tyres of same profile (185/60, Michelins). Will consider it if I get a better deal, or I might live with this.

4.Might get the seat covers done. Not planning to go for pure leather.

5.Looking at the rear view visibility, might plan to go for reverse parking sensors, but not in plans for now.

So that’s all for now. I’ve been reading through the user manual and getting to know my car better. Thanks to all fellow BHPians for all the help. Will come up with follow up report once I clock some kilometers on my red beauty. Hope you had good time reading, if there are any specific questions, please feel free to shoot.

Cheers,
Laxminarayan

Now, let the pics do the talking.