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-   -   Volkswagen Polo 1.2L GT TSI : Official Review (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/official-new-car-reviews/135550-volkswagen-polo-1-2l-gt-tsi-official-review-43.html)

Wasn't undermining anybody. What i said is a sales reality.
In India a ~10lac hatch (OTR) will not set the sales charts on fire, whatever be the underlying tech. Safety features be damned. We are like that only. Affordability levels haven't caught up with the rest of the world. Ample examples exist in the hatch graveyard - Jazz, Fabia, etc.

Iam saying this as a layman/ordinary customer, not as an enthusiast/forum member.

Of course, I understood what you meant and i didn't totally disagree with you,either. I was just saying watch what you wish for. :)
Even VW themselves, don't expect it to set the sales chart on fire, why else would they restrict color choices for the customers if not for controlled inventories. IMHO, the GT is meant to be a halo product which demonstrates their tech might to the relative masses and seeing from the initial response, they might have very well achieved that.
Like in any business, it might look like numbers is everything in the car industry as well, but there are exceptions where a model fails at reigning in numbers regularly,instead boosts brand perception and brings awareness to the regular joe/layman.The GT is one such car.

Case in point, my cousin brother and his wife went to TD a diesel Polo, they did that and after which I pushed him to TD the GT. Compared to before GT TD, both of them sounded more convinced with VW as a brand. Although they have no plan to buy a petrol, leave alone a 9L+ one considering a daily run of close to 80 km, GT helped VW here.
Existing car, imported engines and transmission, sells say 100 cars a month and priced at the higher end of scale of economy and in the process improves brand perception, Mission Accomplished for VW I would say.

Cheers,
D.

Ride Quality : T Jet vs GT = The Fiats rule.

Ride Quality and Handling : GT vs Swift = This is a tough one.

I drove on a arrow straight road but uneven in surface quality. The GT felt planted and very safe. From a chassis and suspension perspective, I knew everything that was happening. There was only one instance where I got nervous. We were climbing the first fly over out of the dealership. I was accelerating hard. On reaching the middle of the bridge, it felt as if the car took off into the air and then landed. It was not the fault of the car cause I never got the same feeling during the rest of the drive. It was probably bad design of the bridge and those wide open expansion joints.

My only complaint is the steering wheel. From a Fiat, it felt like there was no steering. Effortless to use but not communicative.

I used the toll free number off the Volkswagen site to try and ask them about the warranty for the DSG. They had listed this number on the brochure under the warranty section. As expected, they pushed it all to the dealer. I told them that the dealer did not know and said they were yet to receive information from the company. So they put me on hold and transfer my call. Someone else speaks to me with more or less the same update but says I will take your details down and have the dealer give you this information.

Tornado motors calls me this morning telling me that we received a complaint that your car was not performing well! I explained to the lady that that was not the case and that all I wanted to know was regarding the warranty on the DSG. She was nice and courteous and said she will find out the information and call me back. When she did a few minutes later, she told me that there is currently no warranty on the transmission.

The most fundamental question I have here is that if the manufacturer has launched a product, how is it possible to not know what the warranty on offer is and what's included? Something like this is not even legal in most countries. Why does not Volkswagen spell out whats covered and for how long to bring in some much needed customer confidence. Volkswagen can also explain what the mechatronics module of the DSG does and that they have used a brand new module (if at all) for the Polo's. Why no trust building measures?

Only reason I can think of is that there is insufficient testing done in Indian environments and hence they are being non committal. Not good Volkswagen. If you marketing guys at the BKC office are reading this, please note that this is a bad precedent being set especially after you have made a good start.

I would strongly suggest members NOT to buy and boycott the GT till VW offers extended warranty on the DQ200 gearbox.

Such arrogance from the manufacturer is unwarranted and needs to be fought back...

I'll take that, since I had a petrol Swift for a long time and recently test drove the Polo GT. As far as handling is concerned, the petrol Swift, especially the pre-2011 version is more chuckable and eager to dart into corners. The Polo felt composed and definitely good, but not as confident as a Swift from what I experienced.

Ride quality - the Polo will own the Swift here any day with a more plush ride. While the Swift managed to achieve good handling, Maruti failed miserably in providing the right balance between handling and ride quality. The Swift's ride was very harsh on bad roads. They had improved it to some extent in the 2011 facelift, but it is still no match for European car standards.

Love this line – Safety features be damned. We are like that only :)

It is not necessary that all the models from a certain manufacturer are capable to set the sales charts on fire. In this case I am happy that VW considered the minority, i.e.; the fire-averse customers.

Absolutely.
So the bottom line is - there is no extended warranty on the Polo GT as of now. And VW have a lot of attitude. We should not tolerate this.

Went for a short test drive of the GT yesterday. Couple of things I noted,
1. DSG is super smooth. Very smooth pick-up. It still lacks the pushed-to your-seat feeling. Picks up speed very fast
2. Steering is too light. Didn't like it. No feedback from the road at all.
3. Brakes are strictly OK. It can't shed the speed as fast as you expect it to.
4. Ride quality is ok. Much reduced body roll than an i10 of course. But still exists to a level. Vertical movements are minimal though. Very composed straight line manners.
5. Cramped rear space. I am 5'10. Scooped seats does help to a level.
Elderly will complain about ingress/exist due to the scooped out nature of the rear seat.
Another 12V sockets would have been welcome. The rear view mirror is too small. Together with the neck restraint, mostly useless. NO option for rear view camera other than wireless one.
The SA assured me about the gear box warranty for 4 years, but said that the internal clutch wear and tear is not covered, but mechatronics is covered.
I was ready to sell my 8 moth old i-10 AT at for a decent price but they are quoting too low :(. SO I will have to wait until punto Abrath
Punto Abrath where are you?

Was it a white Polo? Saw it at Techno last day and asked the price. 9.26lac ! Holy!

And I am wondering what it resale value would be after 2-3 years.

Yes JK it was a while polo. The 9.26 is with the VW insurance. 7050 is the handling charge!! The real time FE was hovering around 7.6 km/l during the TD :D. And yes, I did reset the FE at the start of the TD. One good thing is that they were very open for me to do a proper TD (sports mode, triptonic mode etc). Heck, they even offered an ESP test on the airport road. I was all :D after the TD. Even with the rear seat issues I was ready to buy it, but then the exchange for a 2012 i10 sportz AT was quoted at 4.7L and I was not going to sell it below 5.1.

The have sold 3 GT already and a black one is in stock. Quoted wait period is 2 months. 10K exchange bonus is attainable on haggling. Nothing else comes free.
Resale value won't be much for a DSG petrol auto 4 years down the lane !

I got a call this morning from Volkswagen Downtown. The Test Drive car was with them and they also told me that they had complete information with regard to the warranty as well. Test drove the car. Felt more or less like my Vento TDI. The turbo does not have much lag and it is comfortable to drive at low speeds as well. The engine is quiet but becomes noisy when revved to 5000 rpm. In drive mode with the accelerator floored, the car shifts just below 5000 rpm. I did not like the new cheap painted trim around the centre console airconditioning ducts. Warranty: the entire DSG is included in warranty and dealership confirmed this many times and was prepared to give this to me in writing. It is going to be produced in limited numbers ~15,000 units a year. Can any current owners read or scan parts of the warranty and share the same?

Still way better than what they quoted me for my 2010 end i10 AT done only 14k. 2.5 ??? - am way better off not selling and complementing the stable with a used 1.8 tsi.

Hi guys,
I have carried out the PreRegistration inspection of my GT, our Team-bhp checklist is so thorough I can take delivery of the vehicle confidently. Although, i must say the service advisor who helped me with it, wasnt very pleased.

Onroad price is 9.48L and I have been offered just the mud flaps, floor mats and car cover and delivery is on Monday after the registration.

I am in a bit of a spot though, the dealer is arranging an event to locally launch the GT today. I was asked whether they could use the car allotted to me as the unveiling car, and i said that i am fine with it. I didn't have a problem then, because as per the original timeline, the car was supposed to be registered on Friday and delivered to me today right after the unveiling. I have a problem now, because the SA told me that my car will be on display till 4PM with lot of people banging on the doors,etc.

What should I do now? can I request them to lock the cars after the initial event is over? I mean technically it is my car,right? I have paid up the full amount and the car has been invoiced under my name. I am kicking myself for getting into this on my own now.:deadhorse

Anyways, here is a picture of my RedAngel when my eyes first set on her:)

Cheers,
D

First of all congrats on the new car. For the display purpose, DONT GIVE YOUR CAR!!!!. There will be celebrations on it, people running around, kids jumping on the seat etc. If it was me I will never let anyone do it.
Regards