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Originally Posted by ashishk29 Hello all.
I went through nearly the entire thread, and am in a bit of a pickle.
I am planning on buying a hatch in a couple of months time. ... ... ... The Polo interiors have me absolutely smitten. I like them even better than the i20. And reading about the ride quality and handling, even more.
My only concern being, I am a bit of an enthusiast. While I'm not expecting a lot of power from the polo(75bhp only sadly), I'm just hoping it'll be good enough for city runs, and be good on the highways.
Also, what's the most average fuel economy figure on the polo? Is it better than the grand i10 or baleno? or worse? (Or god forbid, much much worse??) |
I can't help you on cost of running as regards fuel. My wife used to record every purchase, along with mileage, in a little book we kept in the car. I never bothered to work out what it came to! I figured that I had decided to own and drive a car, and it was going to cost what it cost. I know roughly how much a month it comes to --- and I was shocked at the increase when I changed from diesel to petrol, even for a very low, not-even-every-day mileage. I've just changed back to diesel again: it is not only the economics, it is the driving style and experience too.
I had Hyundai, Nissan and Honda on my shortlist, and had mentally fixed Nissan Micra as favourite and i10 as most probable. I never even took the test drives: I went out bought a used VW instead! I have got a fine 2-yr-old GT TDI fot the cost of a new TOTR i10. Actually, picking from the bottom of the Polo range, one could get a VW cheaper than the top i10. And, if I remember rightly, it still has air bags, ABS and a body that makes a person feel [relatively] safe.
But if you want performance, look at the GTs: my 1.6 petrol Highline (2011 model) was a slouch compared to the 1.6 GT TDI. It is only my second day with the car, and I am having to give myself driving lessons:
Whoa! gently with that clutch, Mr G, and no, you do not need to rev like that when starting off. In fact, you can keep your foot off the gas pedal! That would have stalled the old Polo.
Smitten? Yes, I know what you mean. I felt so let down by VW being unable/unwilling to repair and recover my car after the flood. I swore
never again. But somehow, I didn't even get around to test-driving those other cars.
Doo not expect a heap of gadgets. Do not expect extras. Do not expect a fancy head unit.
Do expect a more basic but
great car. And, actually, my new-to-me baby is far better equipped than my old one was, and VW have added quite a lot of things to the features list in the two years since
it was born, particularly with the new 2016 models.
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Originally Posted by Sid13 Polo petrol surely do have ample power for our cities and highways. But there is no substitute for bhp and polo is a relatively heavy car. So you will have to work through gears for sudden surge in stop and go and slowdown and go kind of traffic. Average mileage I get is 14.2 cities and 17.x on highways. Stability and handing is definitely on par with well sorted sedans. Additional stars for safety too. |
Dieselly-Easily! Is my new saying. I should sell it to a marketing guy. Slow down for s speed hump, cross it, and drive away, all in 3rd. Unless you want to
race away, in which case 2nd does the needful.
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Originally Posted by ashishk29 Price is a factor here. I'm looking for something that'll be upto 8L at the most. +/- 20k.
The TSI would've been perfect, but at nearly 10L OTR, that's a bit out of my budget. Also the fuel economy would be much worse, and that's a bit of an issue as the car will be used 60-70% in city. |
This was my problem too. Mrs G was pressuring me to stay within the insurance settlement, and, although I knew that I wasn't going to, I could not justify around
10.5 to get a
new GT on the road to myself, let alone her.
As well as swearing not to buy VW again, I also swore, post-Chennai-flood, not to buy used. It's not just Chennai: those cars will be all over India now. It just happened that a trusted BHPian's VW came along, and I knew, at once, it was for me.
So you
could look at the used market. Even if you are buying from your brother, you are would be getting the car checked out by a known mechanic, right? Yes, of course right! So it
could be an option.
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Safety is one of the main attractions for me. A 4 star NCAP safety rating is certainly way above most hatchbacks in the segment. ... ... ...
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Yes, me too. I want my wife and I to have the extra protection of air bags (we always wear seat belts) and ABS, whilst not being any sort of magic shield, adds a bit to the chances that those airbags won't be needed. There is no such thing as a completely safe car, that would be a tank, but, I have more confidence with the VW that, however bad the front end might look, the cabin may fare batter than a lot of other cars.