Now I am the owner of VW Polo done about 2500 KM. Mine is POLO 1.2L petrol trend-line.
My Buying experience of VW polo was good with dealer on the delivery day. They delivered my vechile on time. On sitting in to the car very first time I was really exited. The interiors really gives you the great feeling of the car.
And When I started driving the car , driving was awesome. The AC is excellent. It cools the car immediately. Boot space is good. I am able to place two big suit cases in the boot. Now comes to performance. Earlier I had SWIFT in my mind in choice to buy. But some how I was more distracted to the looks and interiors of POLO and started loving it.
The car pulls effortlessly and car is always felt smooth. There's no engine noise while driving. The pick up is also quick . The gear ratio at lower RPMS of POLO makes the wonder. It doesn't feel like it has 3 cylinder engine at all. I am the earlier owner of maruti 800 - a 3 cylinder engine it used to give a rough feeling and noise at high speed. But in POLO I always felt smooth. But only at 1st gear it grunts a litte. That's where it reminds me it has 3 cylinder engine. But this is not an issue at all.
The power steering is very good. You can drive the car with your single finger. Very easy driving in the city. Actually you wont feel like you are driving such a big car with that kind of power steering.
I am getting the mileage of 12-13 avearage in city with AC always on.
I have to acclaim about the build and interior quality of POLO its top notch among all cars in india.
You just go to maruti/hyundei showroom and sit inside a brand new car. You can feell its plastics are sink. But in polo plastics never sink, thats where the quality matters.
In Performance , POLO exceed your needs but it doesnt have a great power either. I have test driven i10 and i20. Comparing to those POLO is better in terms of hadling and pickup at low gears.I felt i20 struggles to pull the car. POLO effortlessly pulls the car in all gears and never felt underpowered.But comparing to SWIFT, SWIFT wins in power still. In SWIFT you dont need frequent gear change, in POLO u might need to shift down the gear more to work out better during traffic. But POLO's driving pleasure is better than SWIFT. For POLO be ready to compromise on power a little comparing to SWIFT.
I have driven on highways once. POLO's power delivery is decent on highways. Overtaking in highways I I didnt face any difficulty.
POLO's Tyres are bigger so its stability is excellent. You can take both hands out and see the vechile is moving striaght. The suspension is great. After filling nitrogen in my tyres stablility increased more.
Once you close the door the sound insulation is good. The car is silent and I am able to enjoy my music without noice.
Finally a great car if you compromise on power a little. And POLO does the job perfectly for the needs.
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My Earlier review
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I have test driven almost all cars...
Maruti Ritz: Hate the design, gear shifting very hard.
Maruti Zen: estilo : Good driving/gear shifting smoothness-ok
Dash board design is very bad(hate it), rear seats are not spacious enough
Maruti Swift: Proven car..but too common on roads/ I found gear shift is little hard/less leg space.
Hyundei i10: Ok car with good interiors. Driving very normal.Not exciting anything..
Chervolet beatz: really a good car with very good power/pickup - only constraint is space.
Ford figo: Driving is good, very good power and pick up. Interiors are bad and low quality materials. I hate it.Rear window opens only 50%.
Nissan micra: Good looking car with good interiors but driving is very average and suspension isnot that great.
VW Polo: Among these I found Polo stands unique in ride quality , Interiors and exteriors.
Well built exteriors and interiors comparing to figo / maruti cars. They have put good qualty materials.
And Even though its a 3 cylinder engine I found engine is more powerful comparing with other 3 cylinder cars like i10/ nissan micra.
Its almost near to swift in performance.. only thing is it just takes 1-2 secs more to reach the desired speed comp with swift.Its a kmown fact as polo is a 3 cylinder engine.
Ride quality is definitly better than swift , but of course it lacks in power. (1-2 secs is managable)
Gear shifting is smoother than swift. good leg space for rear passenegrs.
Pricing wise its not that much expensive.. as it has a well built body.
And good thing here is the service can be done for every 15, 000 kms. And while on the test drive they have given me spare parts price list . I found its not that much expensive comparing with maruti cars.
Conclusion: Polo is the good car for the people looking for looks/comfort/riding quality.
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After doing many search and more test drives..This was my final list:
Nissan micra, Ford figo , Maruti Swift , Indica vista , Fiat punto , I20 , skoda fabia and Polo.
I ruled out Nissan micra , since it lacks in power. Even thought driving was very smooth , engine struggles to pull the car littl bit . And car is small not looking like hatchback.
I ruled out 120 as it costs more than 6 lakhs. And already my brother in law got it.(I dont want to be a 120 family :) . And its size is very large , maynot be good for city driving.
I ruled out Skoda fabia --since its too costly.
I ruled out Figo since I personnely doesnt like the interiors even though its a good car.If there's a cutom made interiors to my taste I might have considered this.
Remaining :Vista, Swift , Punto , polo
1.City driving - Polo wins (not looking for power horse- Swift is good at this point, 1.6L polo will match here)
- Not too common on roads and good leg space - Polo ok (Swift failed, Tata indica Vista wins in legspace)
3.stability - Polo wins. Swift also good.
5.driving/handling -polo competes, Swift, Punto, Vista also good.
6.Good ground clearance ( since in most places roads are jerky).. polo wins , Swift , Vistaalso good. Punto failed at this point.
7.Good exterior looks - POLO winner -indica vista failed. , Punto, swift are ok.
6.Good interiors - Polo wins (Swift, indica vista - OK , Fiat punto - average)
7.Good mileage - Polo 1.2L better (indica vista - OK , Punto/Swift - below OK)
So all perpespective POLO wins for my requirement. So went for it.
But In After Sales Serviceand maintance cost Swift is the winner. But Its worh paying little more for good car.
Actually I was more interested in 1.6 L polo. but it comes around 7.5 lakhs and available only in highline option. So went for 1.2l trendline polo petrol version. This 1.2l is not a power horse, but it pulls without any hardness with 5 people sitting inside . While test driving I couldnt beleive its 3 cylinder engine as it pulls the car effortlessly. In VW showroom they showed me the spare parts cost comparing with maruti hyundei cars.It doesnt seem to be more expensive ...a little bit. I feel its definitely worth for money.
May be I can come with more review when I own the car.
