Marco-Polo

Report Date: 05 August 2010
Current Odo reading: 8999
Kms driven so far: 5488

Overall economy: 16.70kpl
Best: 18.89kpl
Worst: 14.62kpl

Problems so far: Nothing at all, except a blown headlamp parking light bulb and an injured alloy wheel.

Our additions to the car – Blindspot mirrors.

One of the questions that we keep getting asked as auto enthusiasts and as automotive journalists is what car would we put our money on and what’s our pick of all the cars being sold in India at the moment. Truth be told, all cars today are built around similar benchmarks for similar market conditions and their packaging is so similar that they really stand apart in the way they look and the way they drive. However, it’s quite easy to say that European hatchbacks have a certain ‘build’ about them and tend to ride and handle a notch above what one would expect from a car which has Asian origins. But these Asian cars in question have been getting better and better and often surprise us with their ride, handling and build.

But you know a car’s really got some brawn when you step into it in the wee hours of morning and tell yourself that you’re going to get a thousand kilometers of interstate driving done in less than twelve hours – all alone! But that’s exactly the kind of confidence the Polo TDI exudes. And for those of you who do long distance driving across India, you’ll know that a thousand plus kilometers in under twelve hours is a pretty tight run. This is the car’s first and ‘slightly’ delayed long termer report, but we’ve been clocking some serious miles on the odo and have come away rather impressed overall in the last five and a half thousand kilometers.

Our Silver VW Polo TDI came to us from the folks at Volkswagen just a couple of months ago with 3511kms already on the Odo. The car has a 1199cc, 3-cylinder turbocharged diesel engine which produces just a shade under 75bhp and a useful 180nm of torque. They were rather kind to give us a top of the line Highline trim diesel with all the frills we could ask for. It’s got those delicious looking seven spoke alloy wheels, Airbags, keyless entry, an audio-system, power everything (except the sideview mirrors!), rear wash-wipe and foglamps. So our car MarcoPolo (since it’s been doing so much discovering around India already!), has already clocked 5488kms making the odo reading at 8999 at the time of this report being published.

The Polo spent the first few weeks doing regular home to work commutes in city traffic and clocked a little over sixty kilometers a day. Driven moderately and sanely, the diesel quite pleased us with the economy it was returning and its ability to chug along in traffic without feeling large and bulky. The electric assist power steering is quite a boon here and really does help in city conditions. The gear shift indicator on the display which promptly tells you to upshift at 1750rpm in the interests of economy is always useful and it keeps telling us to downshift if it feels that you’re lugging the engine more than you should in a higher gear. We were happy with the fact that we could use the car for over two weeks on a full tank of diesel without having to tank up! With a 45litre tank capacity the car has a comfortable range of 720kilometers (considering 16kmpl as a ballpark economy figure). One of the immediate issues we faced was the turbo lag which is quite noticeable in second and third and it’s really only after 2000rpm that things really start to get exciting. The car revels between 2500 & 4000rpm and as long as you keep it within the powerband, the car is quite a driver’s delight.

One of the first things that we love above the Polo is the fact that the front seats are so supportive – a boon on long drives. However, the Polo’s biggest drawback is the lack of rear seat space with tall front occupants and this really is the biggest fly in the ointment. Had the car had more rear legroom (and a slightly lower sticker price), the Polo would have had far greater appeal than it currently does. Over the last five and a half thousand kilometers the only dampener in our Polo experience has been the fact that the lousy, badly cratered roads managed to bend the front right alloy wheel lip giving us our first lesson in changing a Polo wheel. (See pictures). It is commendable that the Polo survived the crater with such poise and the alignment is still unaffected and the car still tracks straight and true. We’ll have to visit the VW outlet soon to get this sorted and buy it a new alloy wheel. Stay tuned for regular updates on MarcoPolo as it continues its journey with us and munches many more miles.

-Love the Mix (Shuffle) feature for the CD player.

-Great interior quality – both fit and finish.

-Vault like build quality. Everything in the car feels heavyweight. Really Teutonic. The car really does exude that indestructible feel – from the stalks to the switches to the bodyshell. Feels like it truly is made to last.

-High speed cruising ability and total confidence at three digit speeds in the wet.

-Comfortable seats that you can spend all day in and not have any backaches.

-Economy of the diesel engine and responsiveness once you go past the 2k mark on the tacho. The engine revels between 2500 and 4000rpm.

-Love the way the VW badge at the rear doubles as the hatch release. We also love the way it foxes our building security guards who can never manage to figure out how the boot opens! This really is its party trick!

-The rear wash wipe is really necessary if you plan to do some serious driving. The rear of the car can get rather mucky.

-Love the all windows up / down feature which you can operate using the remote. Also love the fact that all the power windows are a one touch up / down.

-Fairly large boot and split folding seats – a real boon if you have to haul luggage – like we did.

-Love the classy looks and clean, sharp lines. The Polo is a very handsome car and has an air of sophistication about it. It’s possibly the difference between a bespoke well tailored suit and a cheap imitation. (You get the drift…)

-Love the trip computer. It’s a feature that we wish more cars had as standard.

-Even though the mirrors are large enough we realize the Polo could have done with a convex-mirror edge and it is a wide car. So we we fitted a set of aftermarket Blindspot Mirrors and these are a boon.

-No vanity mirror on driver or passenger sunvisor. The ladies in the car miss this!

-Beige carpeting does get dirty easily and the VW ‘cut to fit’ rubber mats are doing their best to keep the carpeting clean and tidy during the monsoon.

-Deep door sills collect lots of muck and you have to swing your legs clear of them to avoid ruining your trousers.

-Miss electrically adjustable mirrors on the Highline as also electric fold. Reaching out to the farside mirror adjustment is something left best to daddy-long-hands.

-Headlamps are just about okay for city use but are quite useless on the highway – more so in wet weather conditions. They aren’t bright enough and their reach leaves a lot to be desired. We wish it came with the Euro Spec twin-pod headlamps which would have made night driving better.

-Fuel level indicator tends to stay on F for quite a while and then drops rapidly after you hit the ¾ mark. Wished it dropped more progressively.

-No deadpedal (clutch footrest). Highway drives would just be so much more comfy if it had one.

-Would have loved mudflaps as standard on the top-of-the-line trim level. However VW has fitted a set on the car just a couple of weeks ago when it went in for a checkup.

-We hope the Polo will feature an Aux in for hooking up an MP3 player.

-No boot lamp even on the Highline trim. This would have been really nice to have.