Team-BHP - Volkswagen Polo : Test Drive & Review

Quote:

Originally Posted by poloman (Post 1844971)

cracking, different companies measure customers mindset differently. If needed VW should have made the spoiler,15" alloys etc as accessories like Honda and could have included features like ACC, EOVRMS etc. If they do this another set of people will complain. It is nearly impossible to provide all the features you need in a 7lakh car.

ACC, EORVMs and the like can not be fit aftermarket as easily as Spoilers, alloys and the ilk.
In any case, no enthusiast is happy with the OEM alloys and changes them anyway.

I think this does not justify VW lack of understanding of the Indian consumer.
I might be getting ahead of myself here! The German badging and the premium connotations might be deal clinchers for VW. Only time can tell! :D

PS: The 3 Polos that I have seen in Delhi were all driven rashly by young boys. Nouveau riche anyone?

Quote:

Originally Posted by crackingride (Post 1844925)

At the end of the day, when you pay fairly large sums of money ( going up to 8 lakhs and more in the case of a Diesel Highline here in Bangalore), saying that ACC is debatable in a small car, and I use CD's anyway, is a bit of a stretch.

Does one use airbags or ABS every time the car is taken out? Why pay for those?

Producing the Polo in India should mean we get more for less, not less for more!

Comparing airbags/ABS with ACC is like comparing Parachute with free alcohol on an aircraft. :uncontrol (just joking!)

Right now 50% of Polo is being imported. Custom's duty is an added burden. Maybe VW is cutting cost. That is why I quoted previously that things might change once atleast 80% of Polo is localised. Then we can hope to get more for less. :)

Quote:

Originally Posted by poloman (Post 1844871)

The only thing i miss badly in Polo is USB connectivity on ICE. I don't like to play with CDs.
The effectiveness of ACC in low end cars is always debatable. It depends a lot on the design, sensor placements,compressor capacity etc. It may not be as simple as set and forget.
EOVRMS, good to have but not a necessity. I prefer to do lot of things manually

agree: Has any one tried to charge the mobile through the USB provided in a Car music system? That is, like the way you charge the mobile through USB on the computer/laptop (Is the USB generally available in a car music system a Ver 2.0 Power-USB?)

If this is possible then there is no need to carry another car charger for mobile.

Quote:

Originally Posted by gaurav_chopra04 (Post 1845348)

Got our Red Polo Comfortline Yesterday! Havent got any day light pictures at the moment, so will click them asap and post the initial ownership report soon. I also got the new Pioneer 4250SD installed along with JBL0948s.

congrats and lucky you, I am waiting for mine since 1 month and 1 more month to go :Frustrati awaiting eagerly for your ownership report and pics, drive safe

Quote:

Originally Posted by formel_eins (Post 1845463)

congrats and lucky you, I am waiting for mine since 1 month and 1 more month to go :Frustrati awaiting eagerly for your ownership report and pics, drive safe

Same thing with me. Looks like I have to wait for another 2 months since I have booked Diesel. It is going to be launched only by May end. In total, I have to wait for 3 months. :eek:

Last week I was tempted to look seriously at Jazz. I even took a TD. Good car but interior quality (Plastic, fitment) is much behind Polo. Low speed ride is bumpy. 1.5L more then Polo Petrol Highline. The more I look at other cars, the more I feel confident about my decision! :D

Congrats Gaurav!

Folks,

I had taken the test drive of Polo (petrol), punto (diesel), swift(diesel) too before buying Figo TDCi, i just wanted to share my observation. Please take your own test drive before deciding.

Looks : Best looking is Punto, then Polo, swift, figo

Prestigious : Price band polo (5.35 to 8 L), Punto (dont remember, but its more expensive than swift i think but less than polo) Swift (4.8 to 6 L), Figo (4.2 to 6.4 L).

Fun to drive : Swift rules, every thing else is boring

Plastic quality : Polo is the best, Figo, Swift, Punto

Front seating comfort : Swift is the best, then Polo, Figo, Punto

Rear seating comfort : Figo is the best, then Polo, Swift, Punto

Rear leg room : Figo is the best, then rest were all same

AC : Figo is the best, then Polo, punto, swift

Safety features : (at a given price point) Figo, Swift, punto, polo

FE : based on what i have read swift is the best, then comes punto, figo [i have no clue about polo diesel, i guess its not revealed yet]

A-S-S : no surprise here, its swift, then rest of the owners must pray to god.

Spares cost : Swift again, figo, punto, polo (until the localization increases to 80% plus) this will be an issue

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chethan B G (Post 1845458)

hat is why I quoted previously that things might change once atleast 80% of Polo is localised. Then we can hope to get more for less. :)

Wow, thats really good news are you saying that the prices of Polo would be getting lesser than these. It would make it very interesting.

When you say 80% is that the 80p.c. of the cost component or 80 p.c of the part count.

Quote:

Originally Posted by formel_eins (Post 1845463)

congrats and lucky you, I am waiting for mine since 1 month and 1 more month to go awaiting eagerly for your ownership report and pics, drive safe

Thanks formel_eins, will definately post the ownership report but I believe it will be saturday before I manage to click the car in Sunlight (by the time I reach home, its already dark). I hope you get your car asap:thumbs up.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chethan B G (Post 1845505)

Same thing with me. Looks like I have to wait for another 2 months since I have booked Diesel. It is going to be launched only by May end. In total, I have to wait for 3 months.

Congrats Gaurav!

Thanks Chethan, even we had a waiting period of about 3 months and the delivery was promised around end of May or first week of June. Dont know what happened and we got a call from the dealership 10 days back saying that you can take the car next week.clap:May be its the God I have been praying to, to get us the car asap, Delhi summers were starting to get just unbearable. Since, I have my car now, I will pray for those who are still waiting, I can understand how desperate one gets.

Quote:

Originally Posted by poloman (Post 1846120)

Congrats gaurav_chopra for the Polo. Encouraged to see that VW delivered on the committed date.

Thanks poloman! Well they actually delivered the car more than a month before the committed date.

Quote:

Originally Posted by xingamazon (Post 1846126)

Above 80% cost component. That is what is important at the end of the day, is it not? Larger parts, heavier parts also could be localised to avoid high transportation cost.

This will take atleast an year. After an year of launch, company will also have to think about motivating customers to retain the same momentum. This also helps.

I do not think price of Polo will come down. At the same cost if extra things are added, it is good enough. Eg: EORVM, ACC, Good music system with BT and controls mounted on Steering wheel, Etc.

Great! major things what we are missing now is only this! :D

Engine upgrade can always come at an additional cost. :thumbs up

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chethan B G (Post 1846406)

This will take atleast an year. After an year of launch, company will also have to think about motivating customers to retain the same momentum. This also helps.

I do not think price of Polo will come down. At the same cost if extra things are added, it is good enough. Eg: EORVM, ACC, Good music system with BT and controls mounted on Steering wheel, Etc.

Well, I think earlier on in this discussion someone was of the opinion that one cant get everything at the stated cost. Now it seems to be can we get extra things at the same cost. Isn't that what I asked for in the beginning? At the price point, given the localisation and india manufacture, we are getting less for more, not more for less.

All the best motivating customers a year after launch. They will need it. For now, I'm sure the backlog will keep them busy. Whether it will keep them profitable is another story altogether.

Has anyone been able to get the spare part & service charges from VW. I am behind VW dealer from past 2 weeks, still not been able to get any info from them.

I saw the details of spares & service for Punto & Polo with comparison with other models, but both Skoda and VW has not been able to disclose the details.

So currenntly my car finalization is on hold. Every time the dealers are giving excuses that they do not have the details.

My worry is is there anything fishy on VW spares & Service cost. Skoda dealer also claims that prices have come down past two months, but no one is able to provide any information on it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by kadri007 (Post 1846462)

service intervals is @15000Kms and service charges would be approx 4-5K including consumables. About spare parts well I did not get the list but the owner of dealership assured that they wont be priced reasonably, this is based on their meetings with VW in Pune. So I dont think a Polo is going to drill hole in terms of spare parts, specially given the fact that upto 80% localization would be there.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sheetumanu (Post 1837427)

Hi ambivalent,

Though it's been discussed a number of times already; however, how did you find the response and behavior of the 3-pot engine?

Well I found it to be quick and responsive. On very lay-man terms I was able to quickly take the car beyond the 100 kph mark and it felt quite planted and firm. However one observation is that I drive a non-ABS Honda and the decelaration I am used to is without ABS. When I bought down the speed of the Polo it was pretty gradual and stopping distance was much more than I had anticipated. I was happy that the road was completely without any traffic whatsoever.
There is a lot of debate previously on the pros and cons of ABS. So lets not take this thread in that direction. But for the 2010 Polo :thumbs up all the way.

Quote:

Originally Posted by crackingride (Post 1846444)

To begin with, I am not a die-hard fan of VW. I have booked Polo after checking other cars. May be my personal choice also has contributed.

But I am not able to understand your comments. What do you mean by more for less? Can we equate Polo with Jazz and i20 in terms of quality? All these cars are being manufactured in India. Price is also similar.

Polo - current localised component level is only 50%. So import duty is a burden. Still, Petrol- Highline is Approx Rs.6L ex-showroom. Inline with Hyundai's and Honda's ? Jazz is 1.25L more! I do not think VW is transferring the burden on the customers at this point. It's profit will increase with improved localization.

True. There are some important extras missing. But they are extras - Right? I personally prefer quality. I am getting it at the cost of extras. It can hurt. But the fact is, for me extras did not break the deal. :)