Last week, the car crossed the 2000km mark.
This includes an 800km round trip to Bangalore for the projector retrofit. Otherwise, the car is used only inside the city and has very low mileage.
Drive Experience:
Inside city, driving the GT is bliss. The gear shifts are smooth and quick. While driving at 40 to 50kph inside city, it is totally silent inside the cabin, it sometimes feels like a battery operated car.
Got a chance to take the car on the highway when I drove to Bangalore for the projector retrofit. Got to experience the highway manners of the car the first time.
Most of the time, I engaged cruise control and was cruising at speeds of 90kph to 110kph, occasionally touching 120. It is very relaxing while cruising, and it is totally silent inside the cabin except the slight wind noise above 100kph. While returning, for a short period of about 30 minutes, when there were many slow moving lorries on the highway, I engaged sports mode and redlined the car. In one word exhilerating. Though the GT is not a torque monster like the Jetta, the engine smoothly revs to 6500 RPM without sweat, and the acceleration and engine note is just addictive.
There were two things I was apprehensive about the GT - the rear drum brakes and the roll that many owners had commented about. I haven't faced any emergency braking situations - touchwood. Though the braking force is a little less compared to the Jetta, during the 800km Bangalore drive, I found the brakes to be quite adequate on the highways.
Though there is some roll (I am comparing it with the Jetta here), the car definitely feels well planted. While returning back from Bangalore, in the early morning, I was cruising at 100kph, and before Salem, there is this small hill section. I noticed this long never-ending curve just after entering the curve. As I did not want to risk braking inside the curve, I just held the steering tight, and the car definitely was well planted and it took me out of the curve safely without going out of the lane. Now I am very much looking forward to that Bilstein B6 upgrade
About fuel economy, inside the city, I have been getting 9 to 10 kpl in bumper to bumper traffic. In free moving traffic, I get about 13kpl. On the highways, I got 16.5kpl from Coimbatore to Bangalore and 17kpl from Bangalore to Coimbatore. All this is with AC on 100% of the time.
During the Bangalore drive, I found that there were vibrations when the car touched 120kph. At city speeds, and even while cruising at 100, there was no vibration. The vibrations started at 110kph and became very strong at 120. As I touched that speed only on very rare occasions, it was not much of a bother. Last week, took it to a wheel alignment center and got the wheel balancing checked. The rear left wheel was not balanced properly (there was an imbalance of about 150 grams). This was fixed. Have not had a chance to check it on the highway.
Projector Upgrade:
Upgraded the headlights to projectors.
Details can be found in the below thread.
Installed! Bi-Xenon Projectors on my VW Polo GT TSi
Below are comparison pictures of halogen vs. projectors low and high beams.
Low Beam comparision
High Beam comparision
And below is a drive by video.
Auto Dimming IRVM:
Changed the stock IRVM to auto dimming IRVM. As Gannu upgraded his IRVM, he gave me his auto dimming IRVM at a good discount
Details of this IRVM may be found in Gannu's below post.
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-d...ml#post3740721
Here are the high level steps involved in the DIY.
1. Removed the OEM mirror. Gannu did this with a mallet. As I did not have a mallet, I managed with some twists and tugs.
2. Removed the cabin light assembly
3. Soldered two wires from the cabin light assembly from the 12V supply that remains ON when the car is unlocked. This signal goes off when the car is locked.
4. Mounted the auto dimming IRVM to the mirror base and tightened the screw.
5. Routed the IRVM supply wire into the roof lining and brought it to the cabin light assembly
6. Connected the IRVM supply to the wires that were soldered to the cabin light assembly
7. Fixed the cabin light assemby
Here are some photos of the IRVM DIY.
This auto dimming IRVM is quite wide compared to the stock IRVM.
Wires soldered to the 12V supply. Used a glue gun to cover the solder joint.
Soldered the other side of the wires to a terminal block. The IRVM wires can be connected to this terminal block using the screws. Used heat shrinking tube to seal the solder joint.
Connected the IRVM supply to the terminal block
Fixed everything back.
The green light shows IRVM is active. When the car is locked, the supply to IRVM is cut off, and this light turns off.
I checked the dimming function during day time by covering the sensor on the back side of the IRVM, and the dimming works perfect. Yet to test its performance in the night.
The IRVM is quite wide compared to the stock IRVM. This gives a very wide view of the back. When adjusted exactly to the center, I am able to even see myself on the right side corner of the mirror. I feel a little uncomfortable because of this huge size. Maybe the mirror would look perfect in a bigger sedan. But I think this is just a matter of getting used to - a couple of days maybe.
That's all folks, for now.