9 things I miss about my VW Polo after upgrading to a Skoda Kushaq

Kushaq is a nice rounded car with killer looks and I am happy with the purchase.

BHPian nilanjanpaik recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

(Up/Down)grade from Polo 1.5 TDI Highline to Skoda Kushaq 1.0 MT Ambition

8 years & 100k km later it was time to change the car as my polo started to spend more time in service centres. And VW service in Kolkata is so pathetic every time I sent my car to the service centre I became more determined to switch.

Although the service centre let me down, I fell in love with how the Polo drives. It has got unparallel handling. So while searching for a new car I was searching for one with similar fun driving characteristics within a budget of 15 lakhs. Sedans (tried Slavia & City) were too long for my parking and Creta felt more suitable for chauffeur driven. Hector felt too big as I was upgrading from a hatchback. Tried the new Brezza as well. Build quality is flimsy. Did not give me confidence. The same goes for Venue. To be honest I was ready to settle for a Polo TSI, and was cursing VW for discontinuing it.

Then tested the Taigun. It was a nice, familiar cabin, handling. But that big chrome in the front was a turn-off. Also, I am never a fan of digital instrument clusters. Something about that analogue speedometer I just love. They also did not offer me a good price for my old car. Kushaq looked better, got my analogue instrument cluster, and they gave me almost 40k more for my old car. So booked the Kushaq in September. After two months wait, got my car end of November.

Now some of the features I miss from my old Polo:

1. Window control from the car key. Absolutely fabulous feature. A 15 lakh car must have this. I don't like going back to the car, keying it in to close the window.
2. OneTouch window control for all windows.
3. That wonderful flat-bottom steering wheel. The kushaq's steering wheel is nice, but the ergonomics of the Polo steering wheel were better.
4. The touch ac control is not good, I still have to take my eye off even after 4 months of driving. Polo's physical buttons were better.
5. 1.0 TSI seems underpowered at low rev until the turbo kicks off especially when I compare it with my 1.5l TDI.
6. The automatic engine shut down in traffic seemed too aggressive. When in bumper-to-bumper traffic, you cannot take your feet from the clutch. Even if I take my foot off for two seconds the engine shuts down. It's annoying.
7. Quality of materials and plastic seems inferior to Polo.
8. Instrument cluster for my 8-year-old polo was posher and cleaner than this 2022 Kushaq. The MID could have used some more pixels.
9. Instrument cluster doesn't light up unless you switch on the headlight. This seemed to be a bug with my car, need to get it checked during my first service.

Now some good things:

1. Handling is great. Although polo felt better, probably because of its low centre of gravity.
2. Pocket Hercules of an engine. The tiny 3-cylinder 1-litre packs so much punch! I could do good speeds on the Durgapur expressway without touching red lines.
3. Very confident handling at high speed, the steering weighs up nicely. The super build quality and extra weight keep the car planted.
4. The engine is so versatile. It gives you super mileage if you don't push it, but when you do push the engine, it surprises you.
5. Leg space was a problem with polo, upgrading to the Kushaq solved it.

In summary, Kushaq is a nice rounded car with killer looks and I am happy with the purchase. But it shows me how good and complete the Polo was. Undoubtedly polo was the best hatchback of our generation.

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