My Flash Red Polo Trendline 2020 1.0 MPI comes home!!
This is my first ownership experience blog on Team-Bhp. I am learning from fellow BHPians and may not be highly expressive in my explanations, will let my pictures and videos do the majority of talking.
My Requirements for this purchase:
1) A value for money car with all safety features
2) Fun to drive in relaxed manner
3) Good Looks
4) Budget 5 lacs on-road (but later I extended it to 6 lacs on road due to lack of options)
Cars Considered: 1) Ford Freestyle Trend:
This car is meeting all requirements of fun to drive factor (steering feedback is just amazing), engine is very good and peppy to drive, spacious on the inside, Major advantage of High Ground Clearance above all other cars considered.
Price is going a bit high up to 6.5 or 7 lacs. Never got a clear idea of the schemes and available discounts because Ford Noida, Ford Gurgaon, Ford Rohtak, all these 3 showrooms never showed interest and always told me that they just have one variant available and that is Titanium. Upon asking, they do not have Titanium Plus or Ambiente or Trend for no reason and I always heard this argument “Sir we only have Freestyle Titanium coming from the Plant”, for other variants you have to wait for months(no specific number of months).
I loved everything about Freestyle but the fact that price was clearly going above 6 lacs made me leave this option.
2) Wagon R 1.2 ZXI:
Big spacious roomy cabin, nice interiors, peppy 1.2 L engine, all factory fitted features (except reverse camera and showrooms say that no camera can be added to the OEM Head unit of Wagon R).
Everything good but Wagon R is strictly not made for speeds above 80, we can drive up to 100-120 from engine capability standpoint but there is no confidence is the ride quality. Ignis has much better ride quality and I already have one Ignis in the family, so left this option.
3) Santro Asta:
Above everything else, the interior fit and finish along with interior space and all-round visibility impressed me a lot for Santro. There was nothing wrong with Santro but then I could see the option of Polo Trendline which drives and handles much better than Santro made me leave this option too.
4) Grand i10 Sports:
Getting all the features factory fitted like Remote key, touchscreen ICE, reverse camera, Electric foldable ORVMs, peppy 1.2 Kappa Engine.
Only the better ride quality of Polo over the Grans i10 sports made me leave this option despite all the factory fitted features
5) VW Polo Trendline:
From the day I took the test drive of VW Polo 1.0 Mpi engine, I was almost certain to buy Polo.
Polo trendline met all the features requirements for me from safety standpoint and I was ok to not have a remote key in my car, also ok to not have factory fitted music system in my car for the fact that I am getting amazing looking car with great handling.
I was really confused while choosing the variants of Polo as 1.25 lacs extra for the Comfortline did not feel worth to be for just the extra features (if Comfortline had 1.0 TSi, I would have bought Comfortline).
Going with Highline Plus needed 2.5 lacs extra(which is definitely worth for the powerhouse of Engine and loads of features) but considering the fact that my 95% of driving is going to be in relaxed manner, I found it sensible to stay within my allocated budget.
Decision: The Flash Red Polo Trendline is coming home. Booked the car from VW Noida after two test drives of Polo Comfortline to ensure there is no such thing as lack of power in the engine from a relaxed driving style perspective. The Polo Trendline RED color available with the showroom has manufactured in Feb (checked form the VIN Number), I requested my sales advisor to order a new car from the latest stock. I got a little try from VW Noida to consider the available car as it is like new, but they were not offering any extra discounts, so I requested for a new order and they placed the new order easily afterwards.
It’s the day of my RED Stunner’s delivery and I was super happy plus excited, long story short captured in my below video
Exterior:
Being a 10 years old car, the Polo still looks amazing. From 2019, VW has updated the front bumper to the one that once came in Polo GTi and this adds further to the sporty feel of Polo.
Polo is like a true sports car in budget. So, under 10 lacs, Polo GT & Polo Highline Plus are proper sports cars for common people. Going further to lower budget segment under 6 lacs, Polo Trendline is probably the only car that gives the feel of a sports car (next to Polo comes the Tata Altroz according to me in terms of sporty looks).
Note: I need to mention that looks are totally subjective and all views for looks of the Polo in this blog are my personal because stunning for someone can be bad for others and vice versa!
Front Profile: Elegant, composed, compact as well as sporty, I do not want anything more from the looks in this price point. The bumper is missing fog lamps, but from a look’s standpoint, the RED bumper with Black grille inserts look just amazing.
Low beam reflector with parking bulb (inside the high beam barrel)
All lights in action: Low Beam, High Beam, Parking bulb and Turn indicator
Honeycomb mesh pattern grille
Larger Honeycomb pattern mesh continues inside the bumper inserts between the GTi inspired bumper lines
Plastic cladding below the bumper with amazing quality
Notice the front bumper nose extension from the center part of bumper. This is the only part which I feel can get brushed from below while moving the polo from front on a steep inclined ramp (so far it has passed the large and heavily incline ramp of VW showroom as well as my home)
Rear Profile
Rear profile with all lights in action
Side profile: That solid underbody plastic cladding extends throughout the body
A closer look at the side cladding
The ORVMs have turn indicators, they are manually foldable by hand and feel sturdy
Tires: Goodyear Duraplus 175/70 R14 Tires with Wheel caps and mud flaps installed as part of complementary accessory kit provided by showroom
Boot space: enough boot space of 295 liters from a hatchback standard, no parcel tray in trendline variant though
Spare tire of size 175/70 R14 (same size spare tire has been provided across all polo variants Trendline, Comfortline, Highline plus MT/AT, GT Tsi)
Emergency boot opener using car key in boot door
Fuel lid with no parking of Petrol
Recommended fuel and tire pressure inside fuel lid opener
Interiors: Full black interiors with Red lighting in the AC switches. I personally like the overall black theme, but it surely gives a claustrophobic appeal to the cabin
Front Passenger seat pushed all the way forward
Very useful warnings in the side of Front passenger seat B Pillar to remain careful with Child seat and carrying no luggage in lap due to airbag
Center Dashboard console with blank space for 1-din or 2-din music system. Trendline variant comes with radio preparation, 4 door speakers along with wiring
Speedometer with limited options in MID: 1 Trip meter, ODO meter, Outside Temperature, Service interval, Clock (no option to see DTE & Fuel efficiency)
Ignition ON warning sign along with continuous beep if you leave the car key in Ignition ON position and open the door
Nice Piano black finish around AC vents: same finish continues around gear lever, handbrake lever tip as well
Day/Night IRVM with manual adjuster: IRVM covers the rear windscreen just in size (neither too big nor too small)
Glove box with decent useful space: No AC vent, a dedicated pocket for holding sunglasses
Some practical recommendations to use AC in case of Hot Cabin
Some more instructions for Front windscreen defogging, usage of rear defogger (there is no rear defogger in Trendline variant though), Opening closing of doors and safe cabin details
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