Sold my 3-series & got the Polo 1.0L TSI: Laundry list of modifications

Furotech speaker cables made a world of difference to the level of detail and smoothness of sound.

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This thread details the upgrades done on my new Polo Highline Plus TSI Manual. The objective is to share information so that Polo owners can consider the choices I made from various options available, the outcomes and whom to contact for each requirement. ‘Satisfaction level’ is rated 1-5 with remarks for each item.

Passion ignition

I’ve been a driving enthusiast since childhood. Ours is a family of car owners since pre independence days. Since my childhood, my father used to narrate stories about our ancestors owning legendary ‘imported’ cars then- Buick, Ford etc. My late Step Grandfather Mr. Rustom Ardeshir Boga, a well known person in Amritsar, was also a car connoisseur, owning a Rolls Royce Silver Ghost. While I was around, he owned a vintage Humber, and a Ford Cortina station wagon that we used to travel in to Jalandhar and Chandigarh, ladies playing cards in the boot! My father owned a Standard Herald in which we toured all of Kashmir when I was about 8 years old (1979 or so). Then came a Premier Padmini. And then a Maruti 800 and a Maruti Esteem. The Esteem, bought new in 1997, sold in 2017 after being driven over 200000 kms for Rs.50000/- and is still doing fine- a testimony on how well our cars are maintained. My father trained me in driving skills and caring for our cars, in what he called “the English way”, with total attention to detail. Driving lessons began as early as age 5, in the Standard Herald, by changing gears on empty state roads (Nepanagar to Burhanpur in Madhya Pradesh), then progressing to holding the steering in addition to him holding it while sitting in his lap. Do note that this was entirely on empty roads- he was a stickler for safety. From there into my teens, I would be the navigator on long drives like Nepanagar/Kanpur to Amritsar/Chandigarh. Finally I got my driving licence at 18 in Kanpur. At some stage, we swapped roles- I as the driver, he, the navigator!

The joyride

My first car was a BMW 320d F30 bought in 2015. Since I always wanted a petrol car and desired a 328i/330i, the 320d was bought because there was no availability of petrol 3 series then. My father was on the death bed and I wanted to ensure that I reciprocate the love for cars he had imparted to me. So off to a joyride I took him- to Timber Trail from Panchkula-

I sold the 320d as it was not being used much. I was (and still am) working in Mumbai, whereas the car was in Panchkula from where my family and I would go for vacations in it. A drive from Panchkula to Agra via the Taj Expressway was the highlight. Did some crazy speeds in it! I decided to sell it, and wait for a petrol 3 Series. Needless to say, it went for well above the market/depreciated value. Meanwhile for use in Chandigarh, I bought a Maruti Baleno Zeta in September 2017, which was driven by me to Mumbai in October 2020 post lockdown 1 so I would have my own car in Mumbai. My sister uses it now. I had made a few upgrades like reverse camera with Nippon Ndroid head unit, GPNE LED lights, projectors in fog lamp housing, BMC air filter, new shockabs and steering column, full size spare with matching alloy and tyres (I got the retaining bolt lengthened by 1 inch from my fabricator for the larger Stepney to fit in the Baleno), TPMS etc. I upgraded the music system to Morel Virtus components in front, Morel Maximo Coaxial rear and Nakamichi DSP Amplifier, details of which are in another thread. In February 2019, I picked up the outgoing BMW 330i F30 M Sport in Estoril Blue colour, and drove it from Infinity Motors Mumbai to home at Panchkula like I had done with the 320d! Used it sparingly for outstation drives till the pandemic struck, but unfortunately could not hold on to it due to tough times faced in Covid, and its high maintenance costs. Of course, it sold for a price well above its purchase price! I did install Bilstien B6 suspension and Bayern Ritz Alloys in it though, and will probably buy it back from my buyer if it is destined!

I needed a small, sporty, easy to maintain car for use in Mumbai, with occasional highway trips. I had tested the Polo TSI DSG in August 2021, but was not in a position to buy it, plus the Torque Convertor was on the cards, so thought it would be more reliable and more fun. Thought wrong! The TC just doesn’t hold a candle to the DSG’s mating to the engine and resultant performance. By the time I was ready to make the purchase, even the TC was nearing discontinuation. Hyundai i20 was another contender, but a test drive of the Sprotz and N Line version made me drop it due to its turbo lag and lack of possibility to remap them.

After detailed guidance from Karan Shah (KS Motorsport, Mumbai) I decided on the Polo Manual. He advised that the i20 tuning will increase power by no more than 5 BHP, that too at an unreasonable cost, and the Polo TC gearbox cannot be flashed, so go for the Polo manual transmission. While I would have preferred an AT in Mumbai, I listened to his advice and went for a MT in April 2022. After 2.5 years and required tweaks, it turned out to be the correct choice!

At the time I was ready to buy- March/April 2022, the Polo had already been discontinued. The only stock in Mumbai region was at Thane with Mody Autocorp. One in Reflex Silver, other in White. I wanted Red, but with no availability, I went for Silver. Sales executive Mr. Sagar was extremely helpful throughout, and I still consult him for upgrade guidance- he had suggested about the headlights upgrade. One crucial point however got missed- Polo TSI needs minimum 95 RON petrol! I was unaware of this until I discussed remaps with Wolf Moto- who pointed that it’s written inside the fuel filler lid! So I never got to use and check performance on 95 RON, while suffering the sluggishness and engine knocking on low RPM with 91 RON petrol. The car in now tuned on 91 RON- more on that later.

Detailed reviews and discussions about the car are already available, so I’ll move straight to what all I did, in the chronological order that the upgrades were made.

New shoes

Tyre swap- Goodyear to Michelin. I had already pre arranged with Saifee Tyre to get the car from the showroom to them for swap of OEM Goodyear Assurance with Michelin Primacy 4. Again advice was taken from Karan Shah, who suggested that I go for the quietest, lightest tyres possible. Also they need to be comfort oriented if I’m looking for a Bilstien suspension later. Saifee was efficient. I wanted to swap the spare wheel to full size, but it would not fit in the cavity as the Balenos spare did. Cost of swap was about Rs.20000/= total. SATISFACTION LEVEL- 5/5!

TPMS- Sensairy over Treel. After realizing that Treel was still in the phase of marketing and distribution development and information was lacking, plus there was no dedicated App to run the TPMS with, I went for Sensairy in all 5 tyres. Mr. Ajay was helpful as ever. However, I later saw a Blaupunkt TPMS with a dedicated monitor screen for the same price, and would have gone for that if I had seen it first. Any feedback on these by anyone who has used them is welcome. Installed precisely by Saifee at the time of tyre upgrade. No charge for install. Cost was Rs.7500/-. SATISFACTION LEVEL- 5/5. Useful product that makes driving safer. At the moment, the rear right is dropping daily by .3PSI as compared to the rear left. Could be a slow puncture. Without the TPMS, I’d never have noticed.

Update- sure enough-

Sthira tyre pressure guage- This was needed while filling up air at filling stations, and corrections thereafter on cold tyres. Quite accurate to 1/10th decimal PSI. Rs.570/- SATISFACTION LEVEL- 1/5. Motocop, which I used in the Baleno is better in accuracy and has lasted over 15 years, but is no longer available. The Sthira gave up recently, so I would advise everyone not to buy this or anything that looks like it! Now I have Etenwolf, for Rs.1400/- and it seems fantastic so far.

Avoid this shape and size!

Nitrogen was filled in all 4 tyres. Pressure that worked best with stock suspension with just me in the car with no luggage, on Mumbai’s world class roads, is 31LBS front, 29 LBS rear. With Bilstein B12 installed later, it is 30LBS front, 29LBS rear. I tried reducing the pressure by 1 LBS once monsoon were over and roads are hotter, but again concluded that 30 front, 29 rear works perfectly. There has been no drop in pressure for periods upto 5 months, so those who haven’t used nitrogen, should. We have had debates about the benefits (or not) of Nitrogen on other threads, but there is no doubt that it is better than air in all respects.

And new shine

Ceramic coating was done next, through Mr. Anish at the Indian Oil petrol station car wash outlet at KC Marg/SV Road signal. The coating was Proteq, with warranty for 1 years and 4 touch ups complimentary. Cost was Rs.20000/-. SATISFACTION LEVEL- 5/5

The windshield and other glass surfaces were not done, which I realized later should be done for optimal performance in rains. I had some Super Ceramic glass coating remaining with me from an earlier purchase, so later on I got it applied through Shine My Ride. On the window glass all around and OVRM I applied RainX and it is indispensable to keep water beading down instead of forming a film and hampering vision. It lasts only for a month or so, but is easy to apply repeatedly.

Recently I got the windshield ceramic coated from Anish and it is fantastic. At speeds around 80kmph, wipers are not needed as the air flow removes the water droplets from the windshield. The brand he used is Koch Chemie Nano Glass Coating. This is just phenomenal. Cost was about Rs.2500/-. Satisfaction- 5/5. Dealing with Anish Kanakia is pure pleasure. I get my car wash, ceramic work etc done only from him, and the other clients I meet at the waiting area say the same!

As a tip- I usually do not clean my car. I have it washed at Apex (Anish's) if there are any signs of tar, mud or bird dropping stains or the windscreen sides get dirty, which is about once a month. I prefer to leave a thin layer of dust on the car, so any bird droppings etc do not adhere to the paint. The car is parked in basement parkings or my residential lift tower parking. I do have a Jopasu duster should a quick wipe be needed.

As for the wipers, I have used Bosch Clear Advantage frameless, 3M, Schaeffler with frame, Blaupunkt frameless and presently Bosch Eco. Eco are the best in terms of noise and zero streaking.

Let there be light

Headlights- We know the stock headlight are deficient. Sagar had suggested LED swap of DHC 4300k bulbs in original housing. He advised strictly not to use projectors, as that opens the seals of the headlamp assembly and the projector installer will probably use silicone sealant, which will degrade over time. So I went to Arihant Motors, Santa Cruz, near Milan Mall, and as per his advice, tested Osram Nightbeaker. But when we installed the DHC bulb, the difference was literally ‘night and day’ and that broke the deal for Nightbreaker! Cost was Rs.15000/- for all 4 bulbs- 55W, 4300k. Swap is simple, but don't let the installer cut the steel ring to fit the LED bulbs- an adaptor is needed and easily available. Recently, the left high beam bulb came loose within the socket and was rattling like crazy. I detected that as the source of the rattle only after 3 weeks when dipping the headlight on exiting my stack type mechanised car lift tower! The life of the low beam headlamps is about 2 years. It is a good idea to switch them off when the car is stationary to prolong life. After 2 bulbs went kaput, I went for the same bulbs in 75 watts in the high beams. The result is unbeatable. Advice- go for 4300k, not higher as white light blinds oncoming traffic. Yellow light highlights road surface and signboards better.

At the engine remap session later, I met someone who suggested a laser assisted projector and showed me the performance on his Creta. He vouched for it, suggested his friend Pratham for installation, and mentioned a cost of about Rs.50000/-. Then I switched on my headlights, and there was light, and TOTAL silence! Need I say more? SATISFACTION LEVEL- 6/5! Ya! Have not seen better bulbs yet.

Since I felt the fog lights could do better too, and be usable in bumper to bumper standstill traffic when the headlights reflect back from vehicle in front, I went to GPNE R5 3000/6000k switchable for Rs.6500/-. This was from Rishabh, Motorsounds Lokhandwala. SATISFACTION LEVEL- 5/5 for product, installation was imperfect. The 3000k really helps in rain and fog (I have 3000k in Baleno fog lights).

Rear parking camera- installed from Rishabh, Motorsound- Blaupunkt DH05 with adaptor- Rs.6900/- with adaptor. Hi-Res damping on all 4 doors metal panel was also done at Motorsounds. SATISFACTION LEVEL 5/5 for product and integration with Kenwood Headunit with its guidelines.

During servicing recently when the car was on the servicing lift, I noticed that the wires for the rear camera were going over the silencer pipe. The wires and connector of the fog lamps were also hanging loose. The service centre mechanics sorted this and secured the wires with zip ties. While the installers do not have the facility to hoist cars on lifts, the installers could have been more meticulous. During the damping sheet installation, the plastic ends of the door handle cables were damaged. Though Rishabh compensated for these, the damage can be avoided if work is done with care and correct method.

Both Arihant and Rishabh are thorough gentlemen, and a pleasure to deal with.

I replaced the parking light bulbs and cabin light bulb with Blaupunkt bulbs (really useful) and swapped to a number plate Osram LED (not so useful). Parking bulbs were later changed to DHC, which are way better. Blaupunkts had started flickering. Total coast about Rs.1000/- to 1500/- Cabin light is too bright now, but that’s good in a way. SATISFACTION LEVEL- 4/5. At Arihant, I also added a boot light with a switch. It is set to turn on only when the parking light is on.

ZARAA HAT KE, ZARAA BACH KE

Horn- while at Arihant, I went for Hamaan horn, to extend courtesy to the disciplined Mumbai Auto and Tempo drivers. Works rather well! These days, my hobby is to get behind Tempo drivers moving on the right rightmost lane on flyovers, and test the horn. They oblige soon enough. On a serious note, it is quite dangerous to overtake slow moving vehicles in the right lane from their left. It’s an elaborate process- check rear view mirrors for traffic behind, keep an eye on the slow vehicle ahead for him slowing down, check for vehicles ahead in the 2nd from right lane (difficult without a passenger on the left seat), overtake vehicle from the left hoping it won’t veer left, then get back in the right lane, avoiding Mumbai potholes all the time. I’d rather honk the slow vehicles out of my lane, all the time wishing a 20mm cannon could be fitted on my bonnet as an upgrade! Cost about Rs.900/- SATISFACTION LEVEL- 4/5. Recently changed to Fiaam (Italian) horns, which are not as loud. Hamaan were good while they lasted. Any suggestions on the loudest available horn welcome.

Seats upgrade- Now this was an urgent matter, because the horrid hump at the base of the seat bottom was digging into my tail bone.

Further, thigh support was needed as the seat base was totally flat. I think VW lost its way here. I could have gone for a fabric seat cover and saw some nice ones, but then wanted a touch of luxury, so thought about a leather seat upgrade. A lot of research went into this part.

I visited the Stanley outlet in Parel and liked the Nappa leather quality (I’ve been in the leather industry for 10 years), but the quotations of about 1.10 to 1.35 lakhs were unreasonable, especially for a 10 lakh car. VW sales team experts pointed me to Shine My Ride owner Shreyas Mody. His colleague Rahul Shah from Hi Tech, Mahalaxmi, specializes in seat covers, with a factory of their own. However, they too could not give me an acceptable quote. However, they did highlight the fact that they, Stanley and Saddles India, all procure quality leather from Marvin Leathers, Bangalore, who in turn is an importer of Italian Leather.

I had spoken to Saddles India earlier, and finally obtained a quotation for all seats, armrest, gear knob, gear boot and steering in Italian Nappa and Softy from them. I’ll not disclose this one cost, because I doubt they will be able to repeat it, and several things went wrong in this manufacturing by Saddles. They did cover it up, but you’ll need to consider the pros and cons and obtain a quotation for your needs.

Anyway, I placed an order with Saddles India. Saddles is the OEM supplier for VW seats, so they had the pattern template and seat moulds to go by. The rear seat covers were made in Bangalore. But since I wanted alteration to the front seat base shape, I drove the car to their factory in Pune and left it there for 4 days while they made the seat covers. Came back by train in a Vistadome coach- fabulous during the monsoons! As scheduled, 4 days later the seats were ready, or so I was told, and off I went to Pune for collection. However, the thigh support was too long towards the hips to be useful. So I had the cover opened, and foam re sliced. The hump on the rear was also dealt with by cutting a square in the middle where the tail bone would sit- the entire hump cannot be removed as it weakens the seat base. The day was spent in the rectification, but yielded satisfactory results. Another oversight that was made was the stitching that runs on the base from side to side right under the bums was replicated by Saddles. It should have been done away with instead. The armrest was also done again as per my liking. Saddles staff at Pune claimed that the expert who opens the gear knob and boot trim is away, so they would rather not deal with it. Also, due to the alteration to the armrest, and a poor job with the steering (white leather not aligned in the center 12 OClock), we ran short of leather. Saddles Bangalore agreed to send the wastage of the colour – Azzuro Blue, to complete the project in Mumbai through another vendor. I spoke to R Design, Andheri East, and obtained a quote of Rs.3500/- to make the steering cover and gear knob and boot. However, after a delay of several days, Saddles were not able to find the leather in the same colour, and were unwilling to buy a complete hide. So we agreed that they will send Italian Nappa leather of the same grade in Black colour.

Meanwhile, Saddles Pune also misplaced some of my original seat covers, so their resale was held up. They did make replacement covers though. The driver side plastic cover was also damaged by them, and I had to get it replaced from the VW workshop to rectify the cushion sagging to the side. The pics-

Once the black leather arrived, I went to R Design. They did a fine job indeed! Out of the surplus black Nappa, I got the centre consoles sides covered with the leather pasted to it, so that when my thigh/knee is in contact with it, it is touching soft Nappa instead of hard plastic! The steering was slightly off center, so the job was just short of perfect.

Later, once the finish of the soft Nappa wore out, I got perforated leather from Saddles, and along with this, inverted the remaining Nappa leather to give me a Suede/Alcantara type feel on the sides of the steering. I added the 12 O’clock band in blue to match the seats. In the silver, the band would have looked fantastic, but I did not go for it because the Polo steering is at an angle to the driver seat. So if the alignment of the steering or wheels is even slightly out, it becomes a headache to constantly see the steering band off centre.

Here, I would recommend R Design for leather work. As for Saddles India, their workmanship is excellent, and if you are in Bangalore, only then get customized work done. Work based on standard templates should be fine for clients outside Bangalore. Avoid any work at Pune- they need a professional supervisor to streamline their working for customization work.

All of the above leather work was done in May-July. However, I still felt the seat base stitching below the hips was digging into the bums. So I went to R Design in November, and got the stitching removed and some more foam added. Now the comfort is amazing! In 1st week December 2022, I got a cushion for the right knee made, because it was kind of dangling around between the seat’s right side and door panel. This is probably the best idea I got (after seeing the thigh bolstering in Karan Shah’s Mitsubishi Evo’s Ricaro seats). The cushion was custom made by checking foam blocks for size and positioning, then encasing the foam with left over leather from Saddles, and securing to door handle with a stitched in strap with Velcro. After installation, both legs are rested, and this is truly a boon.

Eggshell type adhesive foam on center console opposite the door speakers for better acoustics

SATISFACTION LEVEL- 4/5 as leather needs care. Comfort is top notch now. Given a 2nd chance, and assuming Ricaro seats are available for Polo, I would consider them.

SMALL BUT ESSENTIAL

Door Edge Protection- St. Gobains, from Car Guys’ Amazon. Supply is sketchy, but one can contact the vendor Vibhu directly. Rs.650/- SATISFACTION LEVEL- 5/5

Car Drome Rubber Mats- decent product, but I wish it came with adhesive to keep in place. I used the strips meant for the rear door to go along the edge of the front door bottle holder cavity in order to prevent the bottles from rattling. To keep it in place, the only tape that seems to work is the 3M paper double sided tape. Rs.1100/- SATISFACTION LEVEL-1/5.
This product and idea is avoidable.

Glass bottles and Neoprene cover- The water bottle space in door panels is poorly designed and lets bottles rattle around. So I procured these neoprene covers for bottles, and am using glass bottles with a flip up metal ring that retains the cap. Nifty and convenient! SATISFACTION LEVEL-5/5 now.

Tape to prevent creaks from door edge- This was an issue with the BMW 330i as well. This faint, scraping, husky sound comes when the window is rolled up fully, from between the window glass and the door trim. The best way to resolve this is to paste a special tape meant for the purpose. Both BMW and VW have it. I got it done from the VW workshop.

Friends, this was part 1 of the article. In the next section, we will deal with the main stuff- the cariovascular system and the legs of this athlete!

Continue reading BHPian ais' review of his Polo for more insights and information.