Volkswagen Polo [2016-2019] User Reviews

This car truly cannot be explained in words,one has to fell the driving experience.It is truly a beauty.It can put a lot of sedans to shame.It is a complete package of good looks,great performance and most importantly safe as a turtle shell. LOOKS : The current 2019 version GTs are the best looking ones with a 10 spoke alloy wheels along with front chrome grill and a sporty rear spoiler. ENGINE AND GEARBOX : The TSI engine is imported from AUDI Europe along with a 7 speed dual clutch DSG gear box.It is a turbo charged engine and unlike other engines,the GT gets a variable geometry turbo charger which has no turbo lag. Hence the turbo kicks in as low as 1300rpm,which mean there is a good initial punch in the engine. THE DRIVE : The joy of driving a GT TSI is incredible,thanks to the dual clutch gear box and variable geometry turbo charger.The acceleration is linear and jerk-free as the dual clutch pre-selects you next gear and shifts it in a fraction of a second. This technology is only available in luxury cars such as AUDI,PORSCHE,LAMBORGHINI,BENTLEY,BUGATTI etc. SERVICE AND MAINTENANCE : The service interval is 15000 kms/one year.I hear many folks afraid of high service costs compared to other brands.Let me get this straight,All the other brands have a service interval 10000 kms. When you do the math,it is the same,2 services of VW is same as 3 services of Hyundai or Maruti. Regarding the maintenance,i would suggest an extended warranty which by the way is complementary in all VW models.I would also suggest the use of Xtrapremium petrol for better performance,milage and engine life due to the higher octane number. SAFTY : It is the most safest hatchback one can find in the market,in fact it is more safer than many sedans.It has ABS,EBD,ESP,traction control,hill hold control.One should never compromise safety for milage and initial cost.The most important important thing is the safety of your loved ones.Extra money spent can always be earned back. Consider it an investment policy for your family. THE VERDICT : The GT TSI is an AUDI A1.In fact it is a poor man's AUDI.It is truly an asset that is build to rule the Indian roads and last for a decade.

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Exterior I think its best looking car if u like elegance n character

Interior (Features, Space & Comfort) You get a really nice cabin with most of the features u expect like climate control,touchscreen system,cruise control, n some really cool stuff like rolling windows up/down via key remote.

Engine Performance, Fuel Economy and Gearbox Top class performance n thrill my friend told me he felt it like riding an audi..fuel consumption-10km/l..dsg is second to none.

Ride Quality & Handling Ride qulity is excellent for a hatch..handling is good but in corners there is body roll which can hamper driving feel..in highways sport mode is truely impressive.

Final Words If u have 11 lacs(on road) n looking for a hatch just go for it u wont regret..the car will keep impressing u.

Areas of improvement I think vw has to bring in some comfort feature like keyless entry n start etc. bring down cost of car and service cost..get more service centres arnd the country. 6 airbags for safety.

Top quality, best engine n gearbox dsg,ride n handlingNo keyless entry or start, no reverse cam, less space in the rear

Exterior It is a design that doesn't age, looks stunning, the only problem in a country such as India is that motorists, particularly the autorikshaw and bike riders will ruin it because they have no freaking clue as to how to drive or ride.

Interior (Features, Space & Comfort) The driver's and front passenger seats are confortable and there is loads of space available, and with the driver's seat equiped with manual height adjustment (which is quite easy to operate, thanks to hydraulics), and stearing wheel having the option of rake and reach adjustment, you can relax and be seated in a very comfortable position for some pretty long drives, I have done in the tunes of thousand kilometer stretches without wearing out. Stearing wheel controls are a gift.

My only gripe with the equipement is, could have added a gps navigation system.

Engine Performance, Fuel Economy and Gearbox Engine is exuisite, It is a pleasure to drive this car, and I have crossed 170 KM mark on highways, I would love to reach the top speed, but the roads do not allow that. Fuel economy depends entirely on your driving style, on a cold morning, if you are running without the AC on, you can easily go beyond the company claimed ARI figures of 17.2, I have reached an economy figure of 19.6 on this beauty. Gearbox is adaptive, and it gets used to your driving style, Mine has become so well tuned to my driving needs, that I have absolutely no lag in response whenever I need it, and if I am doing a highway run, it cruises along so well and so quitely that you never notice any gear changes and within no time you will be in the 7th gear. This is it's best feature, no drama, I am wonderstruck.

Ride Quality & Handling Ride quality has been exceptional, for Indian roads, the suspension has been tuned very precisely and accurately, I have not faced any roll, and I have driven this car in Himalayas and western ghats, some people complain of stearing being very light in the city, but this has not been my experience at all, the stearing wheel feedback, though artificial, is very accurate and the wheel weighs in quite considerably.

Final Words Love it.

Areas of improvement GPS navigating system with a colour display is a must.

Performance, response, fuel economyTyres could have been better

Here's how the GT TSi love began. Having owned a diesel polo from the beginning of its launch and with the news that VW will be launching the GT TSi. I was eagerly waiting to get my hands on one. As soon as the local dealer got the test drive car. They called me for the first Test drive. That one drive made me feel out of this world !!! That's when i exactly knew what would be my next car ;) Though wanted to book it immediately. Somehow managed to control myself and decided to wait (as the interior remained same;decided to wait) Late 2014. VW came up with the face lift version of the Polo. It consisted of Dual chamber headlights; All new front & rear bumpers; An extra-ordinary interior (Flat bottom steering & piano black finishes) and the Gloss black spoiler. I just couldn't have asked for something better. Finally on March 2015; booked the white GT TSi. Got the delivery on June. Owning and driving one is just truly exhilarating. This car has the best road handling and the moment the Turbo kicks in; you can get your adrenaline and makes you feel like you are driving the top end luxury cars. In other words; it's a POCKET ROCKET. If you put on the sports mode; you feel none less than a professional racer on the road. Almost all the vehicles just disappear from your Rear view mirrors!! (I am not kidding. Once you drive one; you will know exactly what i mean) The engine is as smooth as it can get. The turbo charged petrol engine combined with the DSG 7 speed gearbox; only adds icing to cake. The amount of power it churns; it makes your overtaking an ease. Once you drive this.. Then no other car would satisfy you !!! Owned & maintained it like a baby & always pampered it. Since i own 2-3 More cars; the kms covered in this is just 9000 kms in 3 years. Got a decent fuel economy of 10-12KMPL in City. avg of 14 - 15KMPL in the highway. a couple of times; tested it in Manual mode maintaining at around the 60's speed (Though is an injustice to this car :P ) and always at optimum gears i.e. 6th or 7th. got a fuel economy of 18kmpl. Anyways one does not own a Polo GT for it's fuel economy !! Just wanted to know the best fuel economy figures; hence my silly experiment. Till date; i never had any issue with the car; be it the gearbox or any stuffs till date. Always had been a trouble free experience. Servicing costed me around the 8000 - 9000 range. (Mind you; Volkswagen service interval is 1 year or 15000 kms) unlike maruti's who call every once in 10000 kms and their servicing cost is no ways dirt cheap any more. PROS: 1. Superb styling. Makes heads turn. 2. Fit & finish both exterior & interior are by far of top notch quality. 3. The only hatch at around the 10 - 12L range which offers turbo petrol engine. Purely an enthusiasts dream!! 4. DSG gearbox is one of the best in The Automatic gearbox technology. smooth shifts (Cannot even know the upshifts & downshifts) CONS 1. No push button start. C;mon VW. Even Hyundai & maruti are offering it for 6L cars itself.!!! 2. No rear AC vents. 3. Rear legspace is cramped!! (I however don't mind since i drive alone most of the times. But for my height; when i push my seat all the way back; there hardly remains any leg space for the passenger behind me !! Viewers warning: I do not know whether it's just me or whether those who have driven a VW or any other European car believes the same. But once you drive one; nothing else will do. I never felt any small car as awesome as the polo. My next car?? You know very well :D Shhhhh!!!!

I bought my Polo GT TSI in May 2015. Since then I have been in love with it. I am a car enthusiast so for me in the (almost) sub 10 lakh range there isn't much of an option. The GT has 1.2 TSI (Turbocharged Stratified Injection) engine that produces 105 BHP and 175 Nm torque and has a kerb weight of 1109 kgs which in all fairness is relatively light. This gives it a power to weight ratio of a respectable 94.68. That means it can do a 0-100 in 9.7 seconds. To put things into perspective a BMW 320d does a 0-100 in 7.2. That means that a 10 lakh little polo is just 2.5 seconds slower than a 50 lakh BMW 3 series. The DSG 7 speed automatic gear box is smooth as butter and it is only when you actually test drive other cars in it's class do you realize how jerky the competitions gear boxes are. Take the Honda jazz for example. When you press the accelerator, there is a lag in power for a good half a second before the car starts moving...and I am not taking about enthusiastic driving. This happen even when you lightly touch the accelerator when you have to inch slightly ahead in bumper to bumper traffic. In Mumbai that is more than enough time for another car to zoom in ahead of you. The GT also has a certain amount of turbo lag but that is only when you put your foot flat down. As soon as you do that you can see how (depending on your speed of course) the DSG gear box will jump from the 7th to the 3rd gear in a blink of an eye and you will be slightly pushed back into your seat while the speed will reach triple digits in no time. If we have to talk about the fuel economy, it basically depends on how you drive. If the roads are empty and you want to have fun and redoine the car in Sports mode or Tiptronic then the avg will be approximately 7.2-7.8 kmpl. However if you are driving with a light foot then it will give you approximately 12 kmpl and around 16kmpl on the highway. That are 2 things that disappoint in the performance department. 1) The brakes - they are not soft by any means, but they do take time to slow down when you are speeding. You could also partly blame the relatively skinny 185/60 R15 tyres. However I feel like they could have out disc brakes on the rear tyres rather than drums. 2) The suspension - it has got the standard polo suspension. The suspension is stiffer than other cars in it's class like the Honda amaze (facelift), however still soft enough for body roll, which means that it disappoints in both departments. If we have to take about features I am really happy. The system (again back in 2015 before Android Auto and apple car play) can connect an SD card, CD, pendrive, AUX and Bluetooth! Even the stock speakers are pretty loud and clear and have held up well even after blasting music on them since the past 4 years. There is very little space at the back seat. Legroom is very crammed and to add to that it has a huge transmission tunnel that passes through which further reduces space. It also doesn't have rear A/C vents. People warned me about the notorious DQ200 DSG gear box, but so far I have not faced any issues and I also keep putting it in tiptronic and changing the gears manually. The cost of ownership is pretty much similar to any other car and I am not being biased, but I think VW gets a bad rep for bad after sale service. I personally have had a pretty hassle free experience. So ultimately it depends on what you want from a car. If you want an SUV then I'd recommend the nexon or ecosport. If you want a hatchback with a ton of internal space and leg room I'd recommend the jazz or amaze. If you want a car for fuel economy I'd recommend the Swift or similar Suzuki cars. But if you want a car that is small enough to squeeze through traffic and easy to park, fast enough to leave all the other cars behind as soon as the signal light turns green, has decent fuel economy, a really powerful A/C and decent amount of features, you cannot go wrong with the Polo GT TSI.

Exterior The exterior is almost same as a normal polo. Only a real close attention will be able to distinguish the GT from the regular. The front grille badges the GT logo and there is no POLO written on the rear, just GT and TSI/TDI.

Interior (Features, Space & Comfort) The interior of the facelifted POLO has been changed a bit. The speedometer cluster is now white LED instead of the red on the earlier version of GT. The steering has controls on the right side for the trip meter which is quite irittating as the display (range, trip, fuel consumption, avg speed) changes every once in a while. There are still a few useless buttons (voice commands/mute) which is probably left to be used in the future versions.

Engine Performance, Fuel Economy and Gearbox The performance is probably the only positive on the GT as the engine revs happily. For the automatic version the 'D' mode is fuel efficient and accelerates similar to the normal polo. But shift it to 'S' and you can see the rev meter jump up a 3000rpm and the engine roaring. The revs can easily go upto 6000rpm before the DSG upshifts without losing power. The fuel economy is quite poor if you drive it in sports mode. The average fuel economy is around 4 to 5kmpl on the automatic GT TSI. If you really are mileage concerned, keep the revs low, shift to 7th gear at around 60kmph and the average fuel consumption goes upto around 14.

Ride Quality & Handling The ride quality is pretty good as the vehicle has a firm suspension. It gives the feeling of a strong car as it doesnt wobble around at high speeds or while taking a bump. The handling is also good at all speeds. The GT is equipped with ESP which is something great at this segment. It adds to the confidence to rev harder

Final Words As final words I would say to go for the car only if you are power minded. Do not take it as your first car as it is really not a good value for money at this segment.

Areas of improvement The styling can be heavily improved. It looks 99% like a normal Polo. When I spend another 3-4 lakhs on a GT, I need it to stand out and recognized by people. The luxury can also be upgraded. Auto-dimming mirros, foldable side-view mirrors, rear camera etc should be available on stock vehicle for this money. The bluetooth should also be sensible enought to display the name of the caller instead of the 10 digit number.

Loads and loads of powerStyling

If you do not have budget of buying Merc, BMW and Audi - buy VW GT TSI - it rides very much similar ..I've driven all of these! Automatic Petrol Rocket with 7 speed gearbox, super smooth ride and extremely fast pick up and torque. Mileage is around 19-20 kmpl on highway with AC on with speed of 80-100 kmph. City drive is 13 kmpl. Safety - Built is like a tank so rest assured. VW service in Pune is really good, fewer times they took longer time but the service provided was unbelievable. The suspension of the car on bad roads is awesome and stability at higher speed is too good. Boot space is very good. This is really a super car in 10-11 Lacs. Open bonnet and see Audi symbol on engine and other parts - feels good ! Cons: 1. Ground clearance could have been better, I have drove off road and it has bumped just once underneath and that too very very minor. 2. Space - consider this a 4.5 seater car and not 5 seater.

The buying experience is good at all Vw outlets. The best part of the car is the driving experience and the build quality. Little push on the throttle and it car is ready to launch. In terms of Performance it is a fun car to drive on highways and even in traffic. The maintenance is little on the bad side due to part availability but if the part is available then the service is really good and fast IMO. Pros: Good car and built to drive. Cons: expensive parts and part availability.

The only auto hatch that is worth buying upto the 10 lakh price range. The engine is a silent performer. The transmission is lightining fast. It regularly returns a FE of 13km/litre if driven with a light foot. The suspension is tuned for comfort. Its like no other manual/auto hatches for its price. This car shares the transmssion with some of the top spec mercs and bmers - anyone who spends on a petrol hatch between the 8-11 lakh inr range- this is the ONLY choice. The convenience of an automatic, which happens to be the best transmission tech in the world, 0 jerkiness and ample power at your disposal at all times across all rev ranges. To the fact that this car is pitted against the i20, baleno rs, WRV etc - its really a pity. To give some perspective the base model merc A class does not even have a dual clutch gearbox like this beauty.

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