Definitely heavy. Check my previous posts on this. In fact gets even harder when tire pressure subsides. I compared with non GT polo, that its much lighter than GT, I conclude maybe because of R16 wheels of my car.
I love light steering but it will take some time to get used to this heavy one.

SD card adapters have no additional electronics. Definitely not any active parts. So I will wonder why anything would have problems with adapters.

While I don't have any extensive experience with any of the service centers, based on my limited experience so far I would recommend the one in Rajajinagar. If it's too far for you, check out the one in Whitefield. Avoid the one on Hosur road.

Polo doesn't have the best build quality. Period. My benchmark for very good build quality will be the Jetta. You can trust my word, I own both these vehicles. Polo doesn't have the thud that Jetta has, the difference is significant. Polo has quite a lot of flex in the body panels. Just try railing on the door panel. I don't like the way it flexes, and I am not a heavy weight guy.

As for vibrations, passenger side front door of my two year old GT TSI has started rattling since recently.

So all in all, I regard polo build to be of descent quality, but would have preferred something closer to the Jetta, especially since I subconsciously keep noticing the difference almost on a daily basis.

A comparison between the Polo and Jetta as regards build quality, is a bit unfair don't you think? Especially when you consider that these cars belong to entirely different segments and the price difference is a whopping 10 lakh!

It's a bit like saying, the BMW 3 Series is not luxurious and the luxury benchmark is the Mercedes S-Class!

Objectively, I don't think there is any other car in the segment that boasts of good build quality as good as the Polo's. The Punto is arguably better, but the fit and finish are not of the same levels.

The erstwhile Figo was built exceptionally, but alas they don't make 'em anymore.

If your Polo is exhibiting rattling and vibration, you should get it checked pronto! Rattling and vibrations are uncommon and unheard of in a 2 year old Polo and is a cause for concern.

Technically yes, but both the cars are from VW - one built in India, and one CKD. The difference in build quality is noticeable. If Polo were also a CKD, the build quality would have been similar to Jetta. Kind of a similar story as to that of the original Palio and the Palio Stile. The body panels and build quality of the old Palio is apparently much much better than Palio Stile. Palio Stile being built in India.

While I agree you can't compare in terms of absolutes because of parameters like price, safety aspects like build quality still need to have a bare minimum threshold. Jetta has it in my opinion, while Polo doesn't inspire that kind of confidence. And I don't want to compare with Marutis of the world.

So there is one, isn't there? I myself have pretty high regards for Punto.

Such but's (trade-offs) will always be there. Something or other will be lacking when a car has good build quality and great handling.

Just to reiterate, I don't mean to say Polo is built bad; it's decently built. But my objection is to it being hailed as one of the best out there. We deserve better built cars in India, with so many people dying on our roads in accidents. So let's not subconsciously accept 'decent' as 'best'.

Polo is of "descent quality." No offence: it is just funny how, sometimes, a typo can reveal the truth. Maybe what is sometimes called a freudian slip!

Everybody knows how fond of my Polo I am. After loosing one to the flood, there were many reasons not to buy another, but somehow I couldn't get enthusiastic about other cars.

Is my new Polo a nicer, better car than my old one? Sure: hardly likely that a GT TDI would not beat a Highline, especially with the number of facilities added over four years. Is it better built? I would say no. I would say that the old Polo won on subjective stuff like door-closing thunk, roof lining, and stuff --- which is, granted, all subjective, and may or may not have any relevance to keeping us safe in an accident.
But, given the segment, price range, etc etc, it very well might be. As in as good as it gets.

Whilst comparison with Jetta/Passat/etc is not fair, I wonder how the comparison would be if we did it in the brands native Europe? Call me cynical (even about my favourite car: VW gives us ample opportunity for cynicism) but, I suspect that there would be less perceived quality difference.

Finally got my pocket rocket delivered on Monday. Loving every moment with the car.

Have clocked about 300 kms till now. Will post a detailed delivery and initial experience with pictures this weekend.

Thinking of ordering this switch from Aliexpress. This would enable auto headlights, and CH(coming home) and GH(Going Home) lights.

Has anyone here used it? Worth?

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Clou...ceBeautifyAB=0

Just checking; given the two sentences above at the beginning and end of your post. Are you making a case that that if it was a CKD version, the car would be safer on the roads in an accident compared to the version sold here?

Well I don't know about many CKDs, but comparing these two cars, that's what I meanr. If 'perceived' build quality plays part in structural integrity of the car in an accident (and I do believe it does, when the door panels are flexing on application of some body weight), Jetta (and quite possibly a polo CKD) would be way more secure in an accident. If fact, I just realised polo GTI is a CKD, and that makes me wonder how its build quality compares with that of indian Polo, if we keep price aside for a moment.

If that is indeed the case, it would also mean that only the CKD would pass at least some crash tests that the Indian version would fail. I did take a look at the VW India site, and it does not make any claims about formal levels of safety in the car.

My impression was that localisation may affect fit and finish and even longevity, but not integrity to that extent. I could be wrong.

Got my white GT TSI delivered this Monday. In ways more than one, this was an aspirational purchase for us.

1. I had been drooling over this car for about 2.5 years considering the performance and technology (TSI motor and 7 speed DSG).
2. it cost about twice the i10 that we were replacing and the most expensive car we've ever had
3. For some reason, it felt like the purchase of my first car. Probably because this was the first time i was taking the delivery along with my parents.

On to the delivery and 1 week ownership experience:

First, the negetives
1. The dealership reneged on the promised discount. They had offered a Rs 20,000 discount on the car based on the test-drive offer that VW was having at the time. Later they claimed that it was only valid of '17 make cars and not on the '18 make ones.
2. The promised pickup was more than 1.5 hours late - which naturally felt like an eternity!
3. Their representative who tried to explain the features of the car to me was significantly less aware about them than I was! Surrendered in a couple of minutes.

Moving on to everything else:

1. The delivery process, while a bit slow was handled professionally.

2. They even handed over their laptop running VCDS to me for me to play around with it. Sadly, their version was very different to the one by Ross-Tech and I couldn't get it to do anything.

3. Apart from the promised discounts denied, we were able to get about 11k discounts including MSME discounts and dealership discounts. We chose to get the insurance ourselves as the price differencial was a whopping 20k on the Zero-Dep insurance cover. The car came up to a total of 10.25 Lakhs on road including the essential accessories and seat-covers.

4. Have ordered Fabric seat covers from Elegant auto accessories as none of in our family is a fan of leather/PU finish seat covers. They are yet to arrive, but the dealer has graciously offered to get it fitted for us when we get it.

On the morning of the delivery, my 3.5 year old daughter was even more excited than me about getting a new POLO GT. We could get her to do anything without a fuss as she wanted to come with us to ensure that I pick up the correct car

2 things happened while waiting for the paperwork to be completed:

1. My daughter had already learnt to operate the infotainment system and was listening to her favourite tunes.
2. SWMBO kept opening all the doors of the car trying to vent the "New car smell" out as she didn't like it

About the driving and ownership experience:

ENGINE:
I believe there's not much left to say about the performance of the GT. Even in D mode, the engine packs quite a punch. Though the car is still in the running in period, i have on occasions floored the throttle and the pull from the engine is amazing. The torque kicking in at a low 1500 rpm makes it a very pliable car in city conditions and driving in low traffic is a bliss.

DSG:
The transmission has been adapting beautifully over the past week. Shift quality, especially at low throttle inputs (as I've been trying to maintain those low inputs for the running in) is now amazing. Most shifts are not very noticeable unless you keep checking the MID. Even overtaking under most situations is quite easy in the D mode.

About the D and S modes, I was told by someone that apart from the shift patterns, there is a variation in the engine tune too between the two modes. This comes from a very reliable source who generally knows what he's speaking about and is from the industry. As I had not read anything about it anywhere else, i still took it with a pinch of salt. But, from what i have observed in the short time I've spent with the car seems to corroborate the statement. The engine in same gears and same RPMs seems to be a lot more eager to pull the car in the S mode and produces a different exhaust note. This is reportedly due to a more advanced ignition timing. Would be great if other GT-TSI owners could verify this.

STEERING + RIDE & HANDLING:
I had been reading about the steering being too light and lifeless in some reviews and was expecting the same. However, I find the steering to be nicely weighed, though could have a bit more feedback. The wheel feels nice to hold and the flat bottom coupled with the leather wrapping makes it a joy to look at.

The ride is quite compliant though the 16" wheels ensure that even small bumps/potholes are felt inside the cabin. Have not pushed it too much yet to be able to comment on the high speed handling.

INFOTAINMENT:
The R340G is a joy to use and the sound quality is amazing for an OE fitting. The bass is quite deep for a system without a sub-woofer and the volume is loud enough to cause hearing damage if used for long with all windows closed. It features speed dependent volume increase and has the option of limiting the max volume at the time of car

re-start. Android auto is a breeze though Amazon prime music doesn't seem to agree with it much. Has trouble playing over android auto, but i guess it's more of a Google/Amazon issue than VW.

However, one thing is frustrating is repeated pairing requests by the system to my phone even though its been previously paired. I have 4 different paired "VW Radio" entries in my phone in the past 6 days!


Speed Dependent Volume Control and Max startup volume


Reminder to carry the phone with you after turning the ignition off.

OTHER POINTS:
The turbo charger seems to be water cooled. There are 3 pipes being connected to the turbo. While one is an oil line, 2 seem to be connected to the coolant system.

The connection circled yellow is connected to the oil system (probably for lubrication) while the connections circled in red are connected to the coolant/water pipelines.


The battery terminal connections seems so much more organised than what the Indian and Korean counterparts offer.

The engine warms up to its desired 90 degrees pretty fast and then STAYS there.


VW has engaged in some cost cutting in the Reflective emergency warning changing over to a regular velcro fitted pouch option, in turn leaving the dedicated slot for stowing away older and better option empty.


Good looking floor mats with button locks to prevent any movement of the mats. Available on both front seats. Rear seats do not get this option.


The slim gloss black door bumpers look very classy

The cooled glove-box is a boon for those long highway drives.

The ORVMS are of a comfortable size offering a good rearwards view. The auto-dimming IRVM though gets a bit too dark at night for my liking.

CONCLUSION:
Overall, the car ticks most the boxes in the right places and dare I say, tugs at the heart like no other for me. I generally keep my cars for atleast 8-10 years and would be looking to do so for this one also. With about a 50Km expressway drive every week expected after about 3-4 months, i should be able to enjoy this little beast a lot more than just chugging in the horrible Patna traffic.


Mods: As there are already many ownership reviews for the GT-TSI, i have posted it here, not sure about the right place. If needed, please move it to the appropriate thread/forum.

Looking at the delivery photo, it would be an understatement to say that you look happy. Your smile is that of a child who has laid his hands on his favorite toy!

The preference for automatics is becoming a trend and with the increasing traffic, rightly so. However, the DSG is not just another AT but a genius - of course a slightly eccentric one. Hope it serves you well, without throwing any tantrums.

Congrats on the purchase.

OT: What pressures are you maintaining in the tyres?

Very rightly observed brother. It indeed was the case

The chouce for automatic in my case was not so much about convenience but about being enchanted by the DSG tech working on Torque converter AT for 3 years.

Regarding the tyres, I don't really remember the values, but I followed the printed letter to the T and kept the company guided values.

With the ABS and ESC technologies, the controllers are calibrated for certain tyre characteristics and should be respected