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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-467.html)

Have always been a big fan of Polo DSG but our paths never crossed. A friend of mine relocated recently and I hijacked his sale of 2017 Polo GT to Spinny and brought it home. I have to make two changes/mods to put the car to good use:

1. Steering wheel with paddles for self.
2. Parking aids for better half - it currently has just beeping without any visual cues which is weird given the fancy ICE screen.

What good options are available? Any good references for the same in Bangalore? Looking for a proven establishment that will do a quality job.

I drove all the way to Chennai to upgrade mine as I could not find a trustworthy mechs in Bengaluru.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Va...8!4d80.2076978 | Vagmaster owned by Sharan does a good job.

You can retrofit the reversing camera and upgrade to the 8K OPS sensors.
If budget allows, you can also change the HU to the MIB2 system that allows both the reverse camera feed and the parking sensor overview to work at the same time. The MIB 2 also enabled dynamic parking guide lines, unlike the RCD 330/340G.

Thanks for the info guys! Not sure it would be possible for me to take the car outside of Bangalore. I thought Bangalore is the capital of Polo TSI (I see so many of them!). Hoping for some good references in Bangalore itself.

Ownership updates 3.5 years, 37k kms-

The car is overall driving great, and is super fun to drive because of the punchy mid-range. With the polo range discontinued, the exclusivity of owning a Polo GT is just going to increase!

Modifications done so far
- OEM+ Stage-1 ECU Remap
- OEM+ Stage-1 TCU Remap
- Sachs dampers which is essentially the euro spec stock replacement
- New Tyres at 33k kms Michelin P4ST
- OEM Tweeters on the A pillars
- Euro-spec intake
- Fabia RS intake guide, and hose

Issues faced
- When the engine is shut off, the key comes out in any gear. (It should come out only in 'P'). Link to similar issue - link
- It's been there ever since I remember, but there's a strong vibration when the engine RPMs are in between 3000-3500. The vibration dies down after that. There are more posts on similar vibrations, but haven't found anything conclusive yet. Engine mount was a suspicion, and I got it replaced during the service. The older one had worn out, but didn't warrant a replacement as per the technician. This didn't reduce the vibrations.

Service update
I got the car serviced (60k kms service).
I insisted on changing the mechatronics oil, but they were in denial that this is every carried out as a routine maintenance. They went as far as saying that they've never performed this on any car to date!!
The engine oil, spark plugs, V Belt were changed, everything topped up.
I had asked them to check the battery, because the car would take longer than usual to start. The report came out okay.

Gear indicator flashing on MID :Frustrati
Fast forward a few days, after the car starts up, the gear selector indicator on the MID would start blinking, and would stay that way till the brake lever is depressed. I read a few posts, asked fellow owners across different forums, and some of them did mention replacing the battery resolved this issue.

I went to the SVC. The SA insisted on first trying to assist the battery with a jumper pack to see if that alleviates the flashing gear indicator.
Surprisingly, even with the additional battery pack in parallel, the gear indicator was flashing.
Did a bit of troubleshooting the good old way. Plugged in a multimeter, and checked the voltage during the crank.
When off, the voltage was ~12.4V. While cranking, the voltage went down to 8-9V.
Went ahead, replaced the battery, and voila! No more flashing gear indicators anymore!
The replacement battery is an OEM Made in Spain Exide.


I'm super relieved that it wasn't anything major, specially now that I have a remapped TCU, and ECU. :Cheering:

That brings me to the next point.
- Is there any way to retain drivetrain warranty after a remap?
- If not, does it still make sense to purchase extended warranty?

Also, has anyone else faced the vibrations between 3k-3.5k rpm? Any resolution?
I noticed that this is there on a lot of cars, but in varying degrees. Mine being on the higher side.

Some parting shots

For the stats sake, Kerala leads the league, especially Kochi :)

I have a 2013 POLO GT TSI. In the last few months , the mileage has gone down drastically. I normally get a 12 KMPL in the city even in worst of the driving conditions. Past two months though , it has been dropping down to almost 7-8 KMPL. FE on highways is also not great , max 13-14. With AC off , the figures improve immediately by atleast 3-4 KMPL , but not sure whether this gives any real leads.

VW service center does not have a clue , they insist all the diagnostics have come out fine and asking for a longer test drive to assess the problem.

Any one who has come up with a similar problem and addressed it. My car has done 67K KMS till date.

My 2015 GT TSI has also done 67k.

Get 22-23 kpl indicated FE on highway runs.
4-5 kpl in B2B Pune traffic.

Use only 91 RON normal pump fuel.

Is your car stock, or there are any engine/transmission map related mods?

The fact is, traffic is increasing and FEs are clearly going down. I have the same feeling from all my cars too!

Back to the topic, my 2015 GT has had its share of low FE weeks and I could never point to the real reason. I eventually changed to K&N stock filter and the FE has been reasonably consistent since then (or at least that's how I thought!)

Last year, my Octavia also had a loss of FE and I thought of the same reason and changed to K&N! but this time, it didn't help at all. One fine Sunday morning, I got a chance to push the Octavia a bit and soon I notice the FE is back to normal.

One thing in common, both my cars had issues with FE immediately post service. Octavia had changed spark plugs and airfilter, Polo had new airfilter.

Hey has these mods made a sizeable improvement in the performance according to you?

No mods , just the stock option in use. I think I have figured out the issue , post the recent service , my A/C had issues , the middle vents stopped working and the SA mentioned that it is a electronic failure and not related to the service.

Whenever I turn on the ACC immediately upon starting the car , the car literally slogs & the mileage goes for a toss. When I turn on the A/C probably after a few kms , things look a lot better.

Going for another check this weekend.

Check wheel bearings and rear brake release. AC to NAC is around 3 km on the MID so that is normal. Mine still gives 16-17 on highways AC at ~90 kmph; Hyderabad city 13 with AC at 93k. Hoping tyres are ok.
Get clutch life checked

I am facing the same issue with my car for sometime now, I am still not sure if its the battery but your solutions seems worth a try.


Azaan told me that it's possibly due to a flywheel issue. Although he suggested that we leave it like that.


Also, I am selling my car so I am not going to do much about it. I have spent around 5 lakh rupees on various improvements and maintenance over the last 3 years since I came to Bangalore, if any one is interest the car is listed on team-bhp classifieds here. https://classifieds.team-bhp.com/buy...gen/Polo.html/

sorry for the late reply!
Yes! The mid range has improved most noticeably, and there are marked improvements in the low, and top end as well.
The stock TCU map makes the GT TSI super dull because of the early shifts. It shifts into D7 as low as 58 kmph!
I had the TCU remapped with customised shift points, so the drivability has improved tremendously! There is always power on tap now, at all speeds, specially at city speeds, where overtakes come super easy now.

It's surely worth a shot. It's most likely the battery only.

The vibration at 3-3.5k seems to be there in most of the cars, but more pronounced in some cases.
Last week I went to the svc again, and got this checked yet again. One of the technicians took a long screw driver, and held one end against the non-rotating parts of different bearings, and the other part against his ear, while the engine was running. He then realised that the tensioner bearing had a significant vibration emanating out of it, almost a judder, which was increasing with the engine rpms. I checked this too, I could feel the same even by holding the screwdriver with the other end touching that bearing.
We replaced that part, and the vibrations have now significantly gone down. It's still there, but way way less than what it was before the change.
I don't have the part number, but it's mentioned as 'tensioner' in the invoice, costs around ~4k. Attaching a pic that might be helpful to others -

Slightly off topic:

Does anyone know any good shops around Mumbai that can install front and rear dash cams? I am planning on purchasing one after a couple of vandalism/theft attempts around my car.

Thanks!