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-   -   Volkswagen Polo : Test Drive & Review (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/official-new-car-reviews/76341-volkswagen-polo-test-drive-review-53.html)

Went to a VW showroom with the idea of doing TD, but the executive said it will take 1 hour, so decided to go another day. However I noticed that the brochure has the 1.6 version mentioned in the spec sheet!

The showroom exec says it is coming in Sept. Couldn't get him to quote an approximate price, though.

Diesel is out next month.

I finally went to the VW Palace Cross showroom in Bangalore to check out the Polo with my family. Here's my opinion.
The car looks good, but not something that excites me. I feel i20 looks better(Completely my perception.). The interiors are really good. The gear shift is excellent, short and slick. However the rear space is a real dampener. Everybody except me rejected this car upfront. My wife felt the Figo is more VFM and spacious. Mom and dad found the ingress and egress too tough.
I was really shocked by the response from the dealer. The showroom wasnt crowded by any means. There was just one other family checking out the Polo. However no one really bothered about us being in the showroom. No one bothered to even say a hi, not even when we left the showroom. Two salespersons were chatting with each other, didnt bother coming near the car. This made me rule out this car right away. Well if this is the impression VW dealers are going to give to prospective customers, I am sorry, it doesnt give me any confidence on how the after sales service will be. They had a Beetle displayed next to the Polo, Mom wanted to check inside the car, but it was locked. For Gods sake the Beetle was launched to enhance the image of VW. Why was it locked? On the whole I came out quite disappointed. Maybe i was expecting a lot after tracking for every bit of news about Polo over the last six months.

Today I took the test drive of the much talked about Polo. Few things that annoyed me:

1. Clutch pedal back play. It was annoying in bumper to bumper traffic.
2. With AC, it was difficult to drive in B2B traffic. Not much torque available in low revs.
3. I felt like driving a diesel car

Things that I liked:
1. Good interior quality
2. Good front seats and overall visibility
3. Easy and nice gear shifts

sethuv, I have booked a Polo long back,but having nightmares thinking about the VW dealership and their after sales service. I vouch for each and every thing you have told in your post. Pathetic is the word.

I faced a very similar response from VW too. I walked into the VW showroom yesterday, it was literally empty. I started checking out the car, the sales persons appeared not to notice. Then I walked up and asked for the prices. They gave me a brochure. Asked for TD, they said the "vehicle is not available".

Today I went that side for doing Punto TD (which Tata/Fiat gave me immediately), and then decided to see if Polo is available for TD at least today. Same response "vehicle is not available". No mention of when it will be available. They didn't even bother to take my name & number for follow up. To me it looks like overconfidence, probably the company think people will come flocking for the VW badge. B-I-G mistake in India, IMHO.

The polo has decades of 'history' behind its engineering. Which other Hatch has been worked upon over decades to bring to its present level of perfection?

We also know 1.2 engine a trade-off of power vs. efficiency and Costs vs. VFM.

The one thing that impressed me was that I did not find the car sluggish even with the AC on. I had driven to the dealership in an Accent 1.6 that somewhat benchmarked my perception of what peppiness means. And I was not disappointed.

Read somewhere that it runs out of breath at 100kmph+ speeds.

What concerns me is the Highway Performance. Unless I drive the VW Polo on a 4 lane GQ standard stretch, I would not be able to find out the real drive-ability factor.

I am concerned about the bursts of power required to overtake those long trailers.

Any pointers on this area?

Good to take note of your opinion on Polo WRT Accent 1.6 agree:

IMO if it runs out of breath after 100kmph you have to downshift. I feel that as long as you are in the torque band, the car should not run out of breath at any speed unless we are nearing maximum attainable speed.

Right gear is the rule to get the right power to overtake. It definitely helps if we can do without shifting gears. But for that we have cars with auto transmission!

We can use the right gear to make the best use of the engine power/ torque delivery pattern. If fact, one of the main reason to have a Taco meter is the very same thing. Pleasure increases when you have a good gear box.

However, my request is that you checkup things as you have planned and give us your feedback! :)

Sharing a Polo Finance Chart I worked upon for my friend who is contemplating one.

Also attached is the excel sheet.

If you use the correct gear, the overtaking maneuvers won't be an issue in highways. The car is surprisingly peppy with its tiny engine and as a bonus you get exceptional mileage of (~14/18 from ownership thread)for car of its size.

VW has done many things right and have launched a decent car. Hope the dealers dont spoil the game for them.

Looks like the VW dealers deliberately keep a "high brow" attitude in an effort create premium brand image. Huge mistake, if they start treating prospective customers like sethuv like this. Buying a car is very special and treatment that you get from dealers always influence your decision. That's where Maruti wins, I was treated like a king when I bought an Alto in 2004 ! When Ritz was launched last year, I walked into Pratham Bangalore with the intention of just seeing it. The sales guy made me do a test drive of petrol version and promised me to arrange Diesel TD on the same day or next ! They followed up with many calls, but I was somehow not convinced on Ritz though it remained in my probables list.

Now if they had ignored me when I first walked in, immediately I would have deleted the car from the list. Let's see how the VW dealers evolve. Too much of premium pretensions, this good car may end up like Honda Jazz. ( For Jazz, it was price only, I guess Honda dealers are much better in treating potential customers ).

Saw the first Polo on the road in Bangalore yesterday, on East End Main Road, Jayanagar.

It was a white car. Possibly a TL or CL since the rear wiper wasn't there. It was being driven by a middle-aged gentleman. Couldn't take any photos as the car zoomed past me.

The car launched a month back and this is the first one that I saw - seems that deliveries are still a trickle. Seems that VW hasn't yet learnt the art of mass-distribution, which Maruti and Hyundai has perfected.

On the other hand something tells me that they are waiting for the diesel launch. After that they might want to go the full hog in publicity and distribution/deliveries.


Any word on the 1.6 sedan launch as yet?

I seriously felt sluggishness with AC on in B2B traffic. Well, perfection is a very relative term after all :).

Its sad to see that some of fellow Bhpians faced unprofessional approach by VW dealers in their city. I have been to 2 dealerships, one in Pune and other in Kolhapur (where I have booked Polo HL).

Experience at Pune:
Accompanied by my friend I had gone to dealership just a week after polos launch and the experience was really nice. Even though the showroom was crowded SP was kind enough to give us the complete demo of car. He regretted that TD was not available but he did share his comments about the drive (they were given some training at test tracks of VW in Pune). My friend was interested to take a look at Beetle. Beetle and Passat are kept on first floor, and the floor was locked. SP was kind enough to get the keys and show us both the cars. He couldnot open passat but he did open beetle. So overall we were satisfied with our visit.

Experience at Kolhapur:
I have already mentioned a brief report of my TD in this thread, will say a bit about dealer. The experience has been good right from TD to booking. I had went to TD on sunday, even though SP gave a good demo of car shockingly he said TD is not available as its sunday and TD car is in workshop which is locked !!!!! I expressed my disappointment and questioned their approach. SP asked for 5 mins and he returned with keys of polo, it belonged to owner of dealership !!!!! I was impressed.

About power, well in 1.2Ltr segment we cannot expect pocket rockets. But polo has been praised for its peppiness and revvy engine. During my TD I managed to run it on NH4 and was happy with its performance. Its 0-100 sprint is next only to I20 and quicker than fabias or puntos.

I too visited the VW showroom in Bangalore which is next to a Ford showroom. The experience was good but not a wow as compared to a Skoda. I still feel the sales persons are not geared to handle the hatch back customers.

The Polo is just amazing by Quality and the base model comes with 5.22 On road which has also made me to dig my pocket and consider it. I actually had gone in for the Figo but since VW was next door, just checked it and almost fell in love with the Polo.

Also the front visibility is a bit poor and driving needs to be judgmental. Else its a very good car.

So currently confused on either to take a Ford Figo Titanium or the VW Polo Trendline. Both come at around 5.25.

But VW is not offering any discounts like Skoda and its also as not loaded like Figo.

Me currently waiting for the new Intrest rates and Taxes which are likely to be announced this week.