My Volkswagen Polo GT TSI at 75000 kms: Annual service & other updates

In July I noticed that the rear brakes weren't acting right, and so the shoes were replaced; drums sent to the lathe.

BHPian Viraat13 recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Hello team,

It's been a long time since my last update, over one year in fact. In June 2021 I'd serviced the car using Amsoil, with the odo at 58k. The odo now stands at 75k+ km.

Odo on 1st August:

My experience with Amsoil was a good one, but the availability is poor and meanwhile I've become a dealer of Mobil, so I don't really go looking for other brands of oil now:

Service was done using original filters that I had ordered some weeks in advance. As I'm sure I've mentioned, I had planned on ditching the 15k km interval suggested by VW and do the service every 10000 km. I extended the last service to 12k km for ease of remembering when each service is due. The service was performed at 69990 km or so on 18th of April. In less than 4 months, I've done about 5500 km.

I also changed the mechatronic fluid this time around as I felt the shifts becoming slightly slower than usual. It is much better post the change:

Sometime in May or June I noticed that there was a prominent sound of a leaky exhaust and decided to address that. I went to a well known silencer expert who pointed out that the joint of the resonator was broken and needed to be repaired. On the spur of the moment, I decided to delete the resonator entirely, and I must say that I am very pleased with the results. The exhaust has got a nice mild note to it now, with some burbles while decelerating. It is barely noticeable, but if you focus you can enjoy the exhaust sounds.

As usual, the Polo saw very little highway action. I did take the car for a weekend trip to Jaipur in June, that was around 600km including roaming around there. It was overall a fuss-free journey - too short for any breaks or stops. The roads are bang average, and as soon as you hit a good patch of tarmac where you can cruise, Rajasthan Police is waiting with open arms. I had to pay a fine of INR 1000 for overspeeding.

Here is the Polo at ITC Rajputana. It was a great weekend away, just to chill and enjoy some good food. ITC never disappoints, but my photography might:

In July I noticed that the rear brakes weren't acting right, and so the shoes were replaced; drums sent to the lathe. Everything is back to normal now:

I also had a spare Blaupunkt 2 channel hi-lo converter lying around after some audio installation, and decided to go ahead and use that with my active Subwoofer, just to see if it made any difference (IT DID!):

Since I already had line level input all the way to the sub, I didn't want to use the regular length RCA cables (usually 1 to 2 meters), and I was unable to find a short one. I decided to get this short RCA custom made from an old vendor of mine. Chose the connectors, the wire, the length and had the wire ready in about 30 mins:

This exercise was definitely worth the effort.

All in all, largely uneventful few months with the car. If the running of the last 4 months keeps on, I expect that I will be servicing the car around the end of January next.

Some work that I've planned for the car over the next few months, whenever I'm not too busy with other people's cars:

• Repaint of a few panels, possibly the entire car.
• 2.5 inch IPH projectors in fogs - WIP.
• Roof lining has started peeling from some areas, so will address this when time permits.

Until next time!

Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.