Team-BHP - Volkswagen Polo : Test Drive & Review

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Quote:

Originally Posted by Infantarian (Post 1983796)

Got a magnetic dart board from VW....nice gesture.....would love to have caps or maybe T-shirts instead.

Cool! I haven't received anything till date from VW even though I had booked mine on 21st April!

Quote:

Originally Posted by yash.giri (Post 1983975)

a. Is teflon coating required? SP says it will cost 5000/-. Can I get it done from outside? what options?
b. Which sunfilm? And what specification, Considering the night visibility as well/ Is sunfilm required for windshield also(It costs a bomb)?

Have a look here : http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/techni...ally-help.html and
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/techni...-new-cars.html

If at all you are getting it done, make sure that teflon coating is not done on front and rear windscreens. This happened to us in Baleno and after than cleaning the glass was very difficult.

Quote:

Originally Posted by rockyb (Post 1984008)

Friend of mine is in lookout to buy his first car. He is not a petrol head - just needs a car for practical purpose. But he would like to look beyond Maruti / Hyundai. Liked the Polo very much but the salesman said 3 to 4 months waiting period. But I suspect its more than that. Add to that smart Alec comments my the salesman - "Saar - Actors & Politicians in waiting list Saar, so we can't deliver you earlier Saar". As if we care who is on the waiting list. I really wonder what is VW's sales strategy. Waiitng list = Great car?

Now my friend is test driving the Micra / Figo / Punto / i20 / Vista. Am sure VW will lose lots of Polo customer due to exclusive "waiting period". I feel VW has seriously went wrong with their demand and supply calculations

Some of my observations:

No, I didn't TD just sat and felt it. Looks good but nothing exciting (with lookers like i20, Linea, Beat). The built quality feels like good old Palio (1st gen) heavy and sturdy. Driver seat is comfortable. Rear leg space is decent. Boot quite big for hatch. But overall not premium compared to Fabia or Jazz. I guess the 1.2 petrol engine will be lazy for this bulk (hence the 1.6)

And with so many options now one can't compare to the waiting period of Swift / Dzire days

Is it really worth the wait?

IMO, the waiting period of 4-5 months is ridiculous for any car, be it Swift, Swift Dzire, Fortuner or Polo. And the statements like politicians and Actors waiting for the car is pretty cheap and insulting. So what if politicians are waiting for the car ? What if actors are waiting for the car ? They are not god, and politicians, the less said the better.

If I am asked to wait for so long, I would rather buy car from another company. VW should learn from Ford, ford is already increasing production. VW should have gauged the market properly. VW had spend a huge amount of money on ads and we had/have one such thread running about the Ad of VW mentioning DAS Auto.

First call yourself DAS auto but what about demand ? With low production give priority to politicians and Actors ? IIRC, VW dealerships are straight from company and not appointed dealers like Skoda, but still if this is the atttitude, then I hope Ford, Hyundai, Maruti, Nissan beat VW in sales.

Its a wrong notion of waiting = good car. May be its a good car, but definitly not good car company IMO. 4-6 months is too much. In case of Maruti, they are having serious capacity constraint with diesel engine production. But VW dealers are rather company owned.

Saw the car hands-on for the first time today, albeit at a retail exhibition, in Chennai.

Impression is very good, especially of the paintwork, body, details etc. Doesn't have anything like the same feeling as sitting in the Jetta, but perhaps I shouldn't expect it. I never like a see a bank of switch blanks in a car: I think they should have given us some more switches! ;)

Interesting that the price-list I was given includes the 1.6 petrol with an OTR price of 7,08,535.

The sales guy seemed to think that the popularity of the car justified both the waiting period and the fact that the delivery date was only an estimate. Oh well...

Quote:

Originally Posted by aaggoswami (Post 1984647)

But VW dealers are rather company owned.

Can you please explain this. I was of the impression that VW dealers are like other dealers of other car manufacturers.

I also received the dart board from VW. Hope, next would be the car, ~3months.

Quote:

Originally Posted by AvonA7 (Post 1984675)

Can you please explain this. I was of the impression that VW dealers are like other dealers of other car manufacturers.

I also received the dart board from VW. Hope, next would be the car, ~3months.

Just like Audi, VW has its own dealers, sort of like COCO fuel pumps. You will notice this in the name of dealers in various cities. For example, for Vadodara its VW Vadodara, Audi in A'bad is Audi A'bad. There are no names of dealers like Kiran motors, Cargo motors, Pratham, etc.

For Skoda they have regular dealers like Maruti/Hyundai/Ford.

Again, if there is any update or change in the information I have posted above do update the thread.

The waiting list is around 3 months for the TDi and around 5 months for the petrol version, as told by VW Kolkata. I drove a friend's Polo 1.2 HL petrol today and was instantly impressed by the gearshift and the overall quality of the car. The front seats are good and the boot space is great. I'm more than 6 feet tall and yet I found the rear seat space quite decent, if not great. Yes the engine is a bit sluggish but there's not much difference while driving in B2B traffic, when compared to i20 and Punto. Apart from the longish waiting period, the car is very much impressive and a quality product. Moreover it turns more than a few heads on the road. Overall I'm really floored by the car but certainly the waiting period will put most prospective buyers off. VW you listening?

There is a huge amount of space under the bonnet (was looking at a 1.2 petrol). Obviously room for a much bigger engine!

Quote:

Originally Posted by aaggoswami (Post 1984780)

Yes VW has all its dealerships named as VW Vadodra, VW Kolkata, etc. But even though the Kolkata showroom has been named VW Kolkata, the showroom is actually owned by OSL Prestige, the same guys who own the BMW showroom at Kolkata. So does that mean VW owns this showroom or is it owned by a private dealer, and then named to VW Kolkata according to VW's standards and rules. Any idea on this guys?

Quote:

Originally Posted by //M (Post 1984818)

Same query here too. Even though the website says VW Pune but actual dealer name is Vidyut Motors Pvt Ltd and the sales guys, the receptionist always mention Vidyut Motors more often than VW Pune.

Yesterday got a call from Volkswagen stating that my car is in transit. It would be delivered within week to 10 days.:)

POLO owners, could you let me know the time gap between car in transit to delivery you all got. If all goes well hopefully I would be with POLO by next week. keeping fingers crossed.

Any updates on ICE from after market.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Subaro123 (Post 1984890)

Congrats Subaro123!

Once the car is Invoiced and moved out of the factory at Pune, I should not take more than a week to deliver - or 10 days at the max. :)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Subaro123 (Post 1984890)

Congrats in advance Subaro, where have you booked the car?

In my case, I got the car in about 12 days since we got a call. So you can expect delivery in about 10 days (our delivery got late as there was a bank holiday in between the days when the dealer presented our cheque in the bank). Also, if its Moti Nagar dealership, the registration may take a bit longer if you select your car number, they are not registered for online registration and get it done from some third party. if you take whatever number they give, its fine.

Also, after market ICE shouldn't be a problem till the wiring is tampered.

Hey Yash, first of all congrats for your Polo. will look forward to an initial ownership and lots of pictures.

Quote:

Originally Posted by yash.giri (Post 1983975)

Thanks guys!! Will keep you posted about my experience with my polo.

Have some queries ... May be experienced people can suggest me on the following ...
1. What are other polo owners doing to mitigate high clutch issue.
I didn't have any problem as such, I drive the Polo most of the times in FE mode i.e. I change gears only when its necessary and drive with a very light foot (have managed to get consistent average of 14 to 15 or + because of this).

Only thing that troubles me is the foot rest, I have gone used to putting my left leg straight, rather than folded. This may work for others too, I am still looking where I can get a customized foot rest, will place it at the same height as that of clutch or may be half an inch below, so that foot remains at almost same height and avoid the need to lift the foot again and again.

3. Every time I braked hard, the brakes would make a screeching sound, as mentioned by another fellow BHpian. May be because of the preceding water wash?

I do hear it in rainy reasons but not normally, but thats with all the cars.

4. Some queries regarding the accessories ...
a. Is teflon coating required? SP says it will cost 5000/-. Can I get it done from outside? what options?

I got it from the dealership and they did it very nice, could actually see the difference between my car and another new polo without teflon. I also got underbody anti rust coating and exhaust coating, costed me some 7400.

b. Which sunfilm? And what specification, Considering the night visibility as well/ Is sunfilm required for windshield also(It costs a bomb)?

3M or lumar. Front one is certainly your own discretion.

c. Can I get any parceltray? Or should I get one specific to Polo?

you mean parcel tray in which you can install speakers. Ones specific to Polo are already out atleast in Delhi. Normal parcel tray is stock in the car..isntit? which variant you got? though I think its across all variants

d. Door protectors. I asked for horizontally running door protectors. SP said, they dont have it for any VW cars. They dont provide it. Is door protector not necessary to protect the door? Are there any alternatives?

I find most door or bumper protectors or beadings useless.

f. I am thinking of getting mudflaps and floor mats from outside, as the dealer has run out of stocks.

great, you will get both the items outside for the price of one, get it done outside.

g. Music system:- As asked by Subaro123, will we get any couplers to do proper fitment without cutting the wires? I am planning to go for Pioneer 7 series 1-din music system with JLB component speakers(front only), JLB 4 channel amplifier, Pioneer 400 watts speakers(Rear).

Only the coupler for antenna is still not available outside, rest all the couplers are available and the stock wiring wont be tampered with, the wiring is taken care of from the music system side of the coupler and not besides that from where OE wiring starts.

in between, why not go for JBL speakers 0948s at the rear instead of Pioneer? and a bass tube too:D, can remove it whenever you wish too, its very easy! rest set up seems good, I got similar set up in my cedia and I am very satisfied.

Cheerio ... Yash

Quote:

Originally Posted by //M (Post 1984818)

Might be a OT question, but does that mean that VW might have to rename dealerships(or change the rule to VW Concorde for example) once there are more than one in a city?

Quote:

Originally Posted by //M (Post 1984818)

I am not sure but dont think that would be practically possible to name the dealerships in this fashion forever, I guess this is only until there are many other dealerships open in the place.

Moreover, dont think VW will be owing all the dealerships, thats a proposition which any manufacturer will not enter at all.