Team-BHP - Volkswagen Polo : Test Drive & Review

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Originally Posted by Subaro123 (Post 1987302)

I have attached accessories price list from VW. HU comes with only front speakers as you can see. I had compared with after market HU. For instance, Kenwood Double din costs around Rs. 20K however, you can get same at Rs. 8200.00 from outside and cost of front two speakers are 1500 that makes Rs. 9700.00. The only problem installing the ICE from outside comes from coupler to connect antennae while HU can easily be connected with couplers available in market. The pricing of HU are extravagantly over priced.

Yes you are correct, the prices are really high for the HUs and speakers.

I came across the below links, which gave me an idea of the price at shops outside VW`s dealer, pasted it below, it may be helpful for somebody like me who doesn`t have that much idea about the prices.

Information for multiple brands, various car related products

Car Audio Systems, Car Seat Covers Traders, Car Sun Roofs Traders Delhi, Car Security System Suppliers India, Car Navigations

Kenwood products in India, got this from another thread, given by @Trust_In_Thrust.

Visual & Navigation Systems | Car Electroics | Kenwood Corporation

2DIN Receivers | Car Electroics | Kenwood Corporation

I was thinking of going for the 2DIN from VW, but looking at the prices (available in market) I don`t see myself paying almost double the price just for the sake of warranty.
However, I checked in one of Pune`s biggest car accessories shop about installing HUs and speakers outside dealer without cutting wires, the guy was very informative and answered all my queries, but he told me that they haven`t worked on Polo yet, he need to see the car before finally giving me suggestions, so am reluctant to go outside VW dealer at the same time.

If anybody from Pune managed to install HUs/Speakers in POLO outside VW please share the details.

BTW, parcel tray for TL is available and the official price including fitting is 1232/-, got this from VW Pune.
Kenwood 2DIN + 4 speakers + installations = 22300/-.

Quote:

Originally Posted by omvnbhatt (Post 1989839)

lots of hype created for polo. i remember same matter for fiat-linea initially. but will it be able to sustain the growth??1.2 engine, more external sound,no electric mirrors,little more cost--volkswagon has to plan perfectly.everybody is agreeing to target of selling 1,20,000 in a year??will volkswagon meet that target??

As in the case of Linea or Polo or Micra or any new car, these are early days and obviously which car manufacturer wouldn't hype up their car and get free publicity?

There are also lots of question marks about reliability, after sales service, market acceptance, resale value, etc. Your guess on any of this is as good as mine. We will all come to know in a few years.

Polo 1.6 petrol bookings have started, so its not just the 1.2 now.

1,20,000 is ambitious and may take a while. I read somewhere that they were planning to produce 4,000 Polos and Ventos a month, but that hasn't been achieved yet because of concerns about quality.

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Originally Posted by aryasanyal (Post 1989621)

Does anybody know if VW plans to make safety accessories like Rear wiper/defogger, ABS, etc. available as options in the lower trims as well?

This will indeed be useful for all, since styling apart safety is paramount and should be provided as options - not only by VW but by all manufacturers.

ABS is difficult to upgrade to from a non ABS car due to the technicalities. A colleague tried to have that done for his Vista and got a straight no for an answer wherever he tried.

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Originally Posted by omvnbhatt (Post 1989839)

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Originally Posted by nowwhat? (Post 1990161)

Absolutely right, it is the initial hype and build up of expectations which is done by most companies, however the sustanence is the key. Fiat is a good example of this, quoting TOI of today "A look at Fiat's sales numbers over the last six months shows its monthly volumes averaged just a little over 2100 units, less than even what an age-old car like Maruti800 does — at over 2500 units. "

Similarly for VW also, they may have an initial rush to book given the heard mentality and world wide brand name, the deciding factors will ultimately be the Price, TCO, Customer experience and the availability of quality post sales service

Quote:

Originally Posted by Infantarian (Post 1990302)

ABS is difficult to upgrade to from a non ABS car due to the technicalities. A colleague tried to have that done for his Vista and got a straight no for an answer wherever he tried.

@Infantarian - thanks for the response.
What I actually meant is since the VW site comes with a car configurator, which currently helps the customer make cosmetic enhancements to the car, VW can surely enhance this and make these safety stuff a part of that configurator as well. The customer can configure the car and take a printout and go to the dealer and give the details (given that we don't have online bookings in India) while booking the car.

And given the normal waiting period of the car, fitting these off the assembly line shouldn't be a detriment for VW methinks.

Even if there are issues in fitting the lower trims with ABS and Airbags, putting things like Rear defogger/wiper should be easily doable. Providing these options would only enhance the customer-friendly image of the company. And the customer would anyways be paying for these additional features, so the company has everything to gain here.

Don't get too concerned about the connectivity of HU. I was at Haridwar and saw POLO getting HU installed there and I asked if he was getting any problem in installation. However, he said there wasn't any problem as couplers used were same as that used in i10. But antennae coupler was not been connected as the size were not matching. I got info from fellow BHPian Gaurav, who said the antennae couplers would be available in the market after sometime. He also said that VW had purchased all the inventories of antennae coupler from Kenwood. He suggested me not to purchase any of the accessories from the VW dealership as they are atrociously priced. But I think for mats its better to go with VW as base will get spoiled easily.

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Originally Posted by AvonA7 (Post 1989602)

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Originally Posted by AvonA7 (Post 1990633)

You missed out GM whose monthly sales is ~10K, little bit more than Ford as per the current sales figures.

Yes..you are right...it is touching just about that figure..with Micra/Etios, Honda/Hyundai/Bajaj/Mahindra/Renault small car launch in coming months, Nano's waiting period coming to an end, not to speak about Maruti's plan to take on the onslaught, it will be next to impossible to get to 10K/mth figure.

All recent hatches are in the honeymoon period (Figo/Beat/Polo)..need to wait for 4-5 mths more to see where it goes.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mpower (Post 1989355)

I am wondering if its a typo. Its simply does not makes sense to have 2 different types of steering systems in this era of platform sharing. Could you check under the hood to confirm?

My car has electrical steering (Diesel Polo). Confirmed with the Service Engineer also.

According to him, the earlier lot of Petrol Polo's had Electro-Hydraulic steering. But now, all cars are coming with Electrical steering - Both Petrol & Diesel.

That makes sense - since they are sharing the platform. :)

Had a short TD of the Polo today. It was on the highway and only about 4km. 1-2-3-4-5, brake, shift down to 2, U-turn, 1-2-3-4-5 kind of TD. The engine sounded harsh and was vocal in 1st gear, but as soon as we picked up a bit of speed, it sounded much better. I kept upshifting at around around 2.5K rpm. I guess I kept it in the powerband, so I didn't have a problem with turbo lag. Finding a comfortable driving position took only a very short time. I had heard about the high clutch pedal, but maybe due to my driving position, I didn't have any issues with that. I took the car to around 100kmph, and it was quite stable. The steering is lighter that I would like, but nothing I can't get used to if I buy a Polo.

Showroom experience:
The sales executive (a lady) recognised me instantly and asked me about my daughter (I had taken my family along when I went there last time). This time I had only my brother with me. The sales executive was very courteous. We went there without an appointment, so had to wait for a TD. While we were checking out the display car, nobody tried to explain any features to us (not that we needed any after Chetan's ownership thread:thumbs up). A different person accompanied us during the TD. He tried to keep the TD as short as possible. Forget explaing features, he barely spoke to us during the TD, I think he was busy texting on his mobile.

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Originally Posted by nowwhat? (Post 1991399)

That's new... The VOLKSWAGEN badge in the rear. Hope that isn't standard on all cars. I liked the uncluttered and simple POLO.

I guess it's standard, saw that on most cars at the showroom today.