VW-Skoda quality compromise: Old vs new Polo shows difference

The same is the case with the Taigun and Kushaq. VW & Skoda pulled up decent numbers for these CSUVs because of their ancestral reputation in the name of build quality.

BHPian vgaquarius recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Paying the hard-earned money for squeaks? IMHO many people can't even stand the sound of a bottle squeaking against the door pockets and end up lining the cubby holders with felt!

Kushaq and Taigun are the newer offerings from the VAG group in India and are special in their own way.

I would openly like to condemn the people who claim that the Polo hasn't changed over the years. It did, and here's a list when I compared my decade-old Polo TDI to a new TSI.

• Seat foam: Didn't subside in a 10-year-old car but was literally forming a bum-pit in a 1-year-old 4k driven demo car.
• Steering feedback: Steering racks made in Germany vs Rane Madras. Believe it or not, it's different.
• Pathetic suspension: Gas-filled made in Germany vs oil-filled made by Gabriel in India.
• Spongy braking: FS-III callipers vs TVS Girling.
• Spare parts quality standards: Factory-fitted Ate make brake pads still have life left at 1.3 Lakh kilometres of hard braking in the hills.
• Stories of suspension bearings squeaking within months of purchase: Börsehung Germany to local suspension mountings.
• Squeaks: Well-put decade-old interior vs chu-chu on potholes.
• Horror stories of alloy wheel bends: Made in Spain 7-spoke R15 alloy wheels vs made in India Portago R16 alloy wheels.
• Prone to dents: The thickness of the sheet metal was reduced by VW. Yes! You read it right! They followed MSIL. Just go to the junkyard and compare a new Polo/Vento's fender w/o indicator with the fender having a hole for the indicator.
• Features engulfed: Split rear seat in older versions vs a bench seat in the new one.
• Hard plastics everywhere: At least the door armrests were covered in fabric. These guys managed to make it all plastic which is a pain to touch.
• Sticky switches: Everything in my 2011 Polo felt so reassuring after use. The stalks, power window switches, hazard light switch, etc. Just to reiterate the difference, every switch/stalk feels to be sourced from AliExpress.
• Prone to scratches: Not the paint quality but the PLASTIC LOGO! Any exterior chrome painted part like the lettering or the VW badge didn't fade or develop scratches even after rough use of 10 years but the test drive vehicle had every chrome part fading out.
• ORVMs: Larger ORVMs with great visibility vs the tiny ones which can be retracted with the switch. Come-on VW. I'm ready to fold the ORVMs with my hands to not compromise on blind spots if you feel that bigger mirrors were expensive.
• Plastic quality of bumpers: This is something which I came across while checking out a facelift kit at a VW service centre itself. The finishing of the bumpers in the older versions of Polo, their thickness and weight were much more when compared to the new bumpers.
• Underbody protection: A full underbody protection vs an engine guard available extra.
• Foam fillers: Hollow chassis casings in the older Polos like the fenders were completely filled with foam filler pieces as impact and road noise absorbers, however, while observing a few newer Polos, they didn't have it. Kanjoosi for a piece of foam.
• Anti-theft monitoring system with a large cabin light: Even though the Polo didn't get it, the Vento did. The bump near the cabin light always felt to be a sore, but what's hard for a Vento owner? An amazing feature sacrificed to save costs.

VAG cars have surely stepped down from their quality standards and I can assure you of it.

With my 10-year-old Polo 1.2 TDi getting old, I did consider the 2021 Polo for an upgrade but all the above-mentioned factors changed my mind.

Same is the case with Taigun and Kushaq. VW and Skoda pulled up decent numbers for these CSUVs because of their ancestral reputation in the name of build quality, TBH.

Just check out a VW T-Roc in flesh and you'll feel at home. Home to real quality.

Hard plastics? Yes!

Cheap plastics? No!

If you want to have your meal at a fine dining restaurant, any amounts of welcoming gestures, food decor and designs on plates or cuisine presentation won't satisfy you until the food tastes good. Even if that restaurant employs the finest of all chefs, they won't be able to serve you a perfect soup with rotten tomatoes, right?

Hence, I believe, load as many bells and whistles you want, the product won't win the customer's heart until there is a proper quality management system involved to keep a check on the quality of raw materials. It's seriously a wastage of all the time invested in the research and development of these vehicles with on-spot driving dynamics if they aren't holding up good.

Wanting sales volumes with low flung quality standards would make you lose on the hearts of millions of automotive enthusiasts who actually love you as a brand, who actually love you for what you were.

Here's what BHPian sinharishi had to say about the matter:

Some big claims there. I will have to agree with you on the suspension, steering and brakes. I own MY2021 TSI AT with 11k kms done till now.

Would like to know more about sheet metal thickness and seat foam. Yes, to see the seats turn into a "bum-pit". Did you just perform a thumb press test on the new vs old car to check the sheet metal thickness? Or there was more? Polo bumpers have gone over multiple design changes over the years, I was shocked to see the amount of foam type material inside the bumper when a Tata Safari rammed us at high speed from behind.

You can see the pictures and read more about the accident on Team-BHP, I can confidently say my mother who was seated in the back seat walked out alive only because we were in a German hatchback and not a Maruti. Please don't mind asking the above questions.

Here's what BHPian m8002? had to say about the matter:

Very well said. VAG and Ford stood for great driving experiences with minimal bells and whistles. But they have decided to follow the path of Hyundai which loads its cars to the gills with fancy stuff. However, in that process, it has missed to keep up the quality of the other key components.

What is the use of having a long list of fancy electronics when the core mechanicals are not up to the mark? We have come to a stage where they start putting up things like chrome finish handles, chrome inserts on vents or grills, a "xyx" badging, as main features in a car.

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