Sporty Yet Elegant: My Volkswagen Polo TDI (2 Years & 20,000 Kms Completed)

[gauravsangtani]

Re: Sporty Yet Elegant: My Candy White Volkswagen Polo TDI

Hey Vtkd, I'd be interested in taking the RCD510 off your hands. Would appreciate it if you could send me details on how much you are expecting for it. Thanks.

 

[vtkd]

Re: Sporty Yet Elegant: My Candy White Volkswagen Polo TDI

Hey Vtkd, I'd be interested in taking the RCD510 off your hands. Would appreciate it if you could send me details on how much you are expecting for it. Thanks.

Surely I am. But I think I can't PM you till you have posted sufficient number of posts here on the forum. I guess minimum is 10 posts to start your PM functioning as it changes the status from rookie to amateur. Or else send me your e-mail id here. Will revert back to you on that.

Oh ok sure. My email id is vinayak.vijayakumar@yahoo.com.

 

[GM88]

Re: Sporty Yet Elegant: My Candy White Volkswagen Polo TDI

Have not updated this thread for a while now.

Just completed 15,000kms on the odo a day before. Its an absolute shame that I have driven just 2500kms in the past 6 months as I've been occupied with work as well as studies. I hope the trend will change soon.

Had gone for a one day trip to New Delhi on 3rd October. Drove 545kms in total from Chandigarh to New Delhi and back in a day.
Left Chandigarh in the morning at 6.15am and was at Delhi outer at 9.15am covering 220kms. After that, it took me close to 1 hour 45mins to reach my destination in Delhi.

Did some insane speeds in the morning in a few stretch where the road had 6 lanes and the patch was empty. Speedo hovering close to 130-140kmph mark. I have to tell you, I had driven on the same road 2 days before in my Fiesta(New-Delhi to Chandigarh) also and at 110kmph it was the road and tire noise which restricted me in the Fiesta from going beyond those speeds. In the Polo, it was pretty quiet inside at that speed too.

Overall fuel efficiency I got in the trip is about 19.4kmpl with AC on 100% of the time and with speeds of 110kmph + on the highway along with driving in the mad traffic of Delhi in which I must have covered close to 60kms in total in about 3 hours. Pretty happy on that front.



As I had completed 15k kms on the odo, got the wheel alignment and wheel balancing along with rotation of the 4 tyres done today at the Bosch service center. Paid Rs.550 for the same.

Tyres removed for balancing and rotation.


Wheel alignment being done.

 

[GM88]

Re: Sporty Yet Elegant: My Candy White Volkswagen Polo TDI

A little update on the fuel efficiency front of my Polo

Did a check by tankful to tankful method and got just 14.7kmpl with 100% city running and AC on all the time. That has to be the worst I've got till date with this car. Think I'm pushing it a little too hard these days, need to alter my driving style a little to squeeze out more mileage. Earlier was getting around 17.5kmpl within the same condition. That sure is a considerable drop in FE.

 

[greaet]

Re: Sporty Yet Elegant: My Candy White Volkswagen Polo TDI

GM88, what do you think about the brakes?

 

[GM88]

Re: Sporty Yet Elegant: My Candy White Volkswagen Polo TDI

GM88, what do you think about the brakes?

They are decent. Surely have the bite in them and makes the car stop where you want it to. Fortunately, I've not encountered any massive panic braking situations in my Polo, but the one-two odd situations I do remember, the brakes performed as to my expectations. No fowl play. But I wouldn't say they are the best in the business. From all the hatchback's I've driven, Fiat Punto has got to have the best braking system IMO.

 

[jp5live]

Re: Sporty Yet Elegant: My Candy White Volkswagen Polo TDI

Here you go Vipin. All the red backdrop lights on the various button of the unit are not working.


View attachment 100834

Where as it should look like this

View attachment 100835

I had taken the car to VW wokshop today, even they could not do anything and said that this unit has complete different set of connectors and bla bla. Very incompetent I must say from them. Had put up the same issue on VW Polo India facebook page and found someone who got it fitted from BU Bhandari VW workshop in Pune. Even he initially faced this similar problem. They apparently changed a few sockets for him and now the unit is working absolutely fine for him.

Would love to hear from the ICE tech gurus on TAI, if I should go ahead and get these so called sockets changed from local shops. But even they seem to be having no clue on this.

Facing the same problem here in chennai after changing to RCD 320 , ( no backgroung light are glowing ( RED Lights) please help , any solution to get it glow..

 

[GM88]

Re: Sporty Yet Elegant: My Candy White Volkswagen Polo TDI

Facing the same problem here in chennai after changing to RCD 320 , ( no backgroung light are glowing ( RED Lights) please help , any solution to get it glow..

I had run around quite a lot for this from the VW workshop here to the local ICE shops, but all went in vain. The new one has new set of connectors and it can't be a perfect fit with the older Polo's, the unit works all fine except for the background lights not working and nothing can be done about them, atleast I couldn't found a solution for this here. Have replaced it with my previous RCD210 only and back to burning CD's again.

Do check for some adapter which can fit in the connectors and make the background lights work. I couldn't find one here though. You can contact Home - www.vagtune.in and see if they could help you out with this.

 

[greaet]

Re: Sporty Yet Elegant: My Candy White Volkswagen Polo TDI

Regarding the HU change, I believe it could be a adapter. I read somewhere that RCD 320 is not CANBUS complaint and I guess the old HU is CANBUS complaint. Regarding the RCD 510, that shouldn't be a problem as RCD 510 is CANBUS compatible too. That could be the issue. Check with VW workshop (may be the service manager) or shoot a mail to VW customer care (CC VW Germany), you should get some reply. Like you have mentioned, you need the right connector. May be you can get the part number for this. I will check with my local VW tech regarding this. Someone who is good with VW products and VCDS should give you the right answer. As mentioned earlier, VAGTUNE should be able to help you with this. May be Pete's too.

All the best. I am thinking about RCD 510 but I am still not able to justify the proper use of it. Let's see how it goes.

 

[sanke1]

Re: Sporty Yet Elegant: My Candy White Volkswagen Polo TDI

To be honest, RCD 510 is useless. Instead go for Pioneer or some reputed brand with better LCD screen. Make sure it has front USB and Aux in ports.

 

[GM88]

Re: Sporty Yet Elegant: My Candy White Volkswagen Polo TDI

All the best. I am thinking about RCD 510 but I am still not able to justify the proper use of it. Let's see how it goes.

To be honest, RCD 510 is useless. Instead go for Pioneer or some reputed brand with better LCD screen. Make sure it has front USB and Aux in ports.

I agree with Sanke1 here. RCD510 in place of the RCD320 does not make much sense, as you will be spending close to 20k for it and the only added advantage is the touch unit. Better to go for a good Full touch unit with Sat-Nav and reverse camera facility. The only advantage RCD510 has it goes well with the stock looks of the Polo's interiors whereas after-market Touch unit's sometimes feel out of place.

 

[PondyPierre]

Re: Sporty Yet Elegant: My Candy White Volkswagen Polo TDI

MY STORY


BACKGROUND


5. RENAULT PULSE



NISSAN MICRA – Too girlish looking for my likings. It dint have that sporty character which I was looking for.


5. RENAULT PULSE –

No matter what,this one is a MICRA inside out except for the few exterior touchups RENAULT has given to it. Looks a very confused car to me. Not enough sporty and I’m sure won’t go down with girls too. They will prefer the MICRA anyday over this one. Now this car was never in my list but Dad knew the MD of the local Renault showroom and they were ready to give us a real sweet deal on the diesel PULSE so he just casually told me to go check out the car and if you don’t like it we can go with whatever your choice is. I went to the showroom and saw the car in person and in no time I made my decision and came out even without a TD. I just couldn’t digest the looks. Called up Dad from the showroom and told him “Sorry Dad, NO PULSE for me.”

Nice review, really enjoyed it, but I always find in weird when people describe cars as girl's cars. And why you would consider the pulse but not the micra. I understand you don't like the looks but they both looked similar.

My daughter actually did purchase a Renault Pulse. We have owned mostly real French cars and this was nothing like them according to her. She has a Citröen C5, in France which she likes.

She didn't mind the pulse but it wasn't sporty and lacked that 'French car feel' to it. Unfortunately it got into an accident 3 weeks after purchase so I don't know much about it as it was scraped. She's using our classic Peugeot 309 again now and we both love this car. She's actually deciding whether to get a 2nd car from similar options you mentioned or just use the 309 only. She's mostly considering a Golf or another Pulse. Quality wise the Pulse wasn't actually bad.

 

[GM88]

Re: Sporty Yet Elegant: My Candy White Volkswagen Polo TDI

Nice review, really enjoyed it, but I always find in weird when people describe cars as girl's cars. And why you would consider the pulse but not the micra. I understand you don't like the looks but they both looked similar.

My daughter actually did purchase a Renault Pulse. We have owned mostly real French cars and this was nothing like them according to her. She has a Citröen C5, in France which she likes.

She didn't mind the pulse but it wasn't sporty and lacked that 'French car feel' to it. Unfortunately it got into an accident 3 weeks after purchase so I don't know much about it as it was scraped. She's using our classic Peugeot 309 again now and we both love this car. She's actually deciding whether to get a 2nd car from similar options you mentioned or just use the 309 only. She's mostly considering a Golf or another Pulse. Quality wise the Pulse wasn't actually bad.

Glad you liked the review. Regarding the looks and perception of various cars, no car is outrightly boyish or girlishly designed. No manufacturer designs a car exclusively for one set of buyers and that too gender-based.

Its just my personal opinion and the trend I saw with my friends which related me to saying this in the review. I had around 3-4 female friends who had the Micra with them and all were in either the Orange-ish or Maroon shade, maybe that might have made me feel its a little girly. Nowadays Honda Brio is quite a hit with the female buyers as its compact, easy to drive, Honda's badge and comes in great colors, specially the Blue and Red. That doesn't mean its exclusive for ladies only, its just they have a preference for it and give the car a market perception maybe.

I for one look for a clean understated design with straight strong lines which for me give the sportiness to a car. Polo sure did that. Micra on the other hand has a lot rounded and curvy design overall.

Renault Pulse looks good overall and if we didn't have the Micra in the market, this would have had done much better. But knowing that you have a Micra to compare it with looks-wise, this one felt, it doesn't have its own identity. Its got added black appliques on the front and rear bumpers to add a little sportiness, same rounded design as Micra overall. Designers wanted to give it separate identity, but somehow I felt they made a very half-hearted attempt.

Sorry to hear about your daughter's Renault Pulse, sad to know that it got scraped. And good that she's riding one of the rear finds on the roads today, Peugot 309. I have not seen one in person for years now.

Regarding a new car for your daughter, Golf hasn't been launched in India and VW does not plan to do so even in the near future. Why not look at the Hyundai Grand i10? Its the new kid in the block, nicely designed car with some class leading features. Or else if you want to retain the European connection with your machines, try the Italian beauty - Fiat Punto or maybe the German VW Polo.
As rightly said by you, Pulse has nothing French about it, so why go for it again.

By the way, you have some really nice rides in your garage. Would love to read a review on each one of them.

 

[gauravsangtani]

Re: Sporty Yet Elegant: My Candy White Volkswagen Polo TDI

So I went with the RCD510 in my VW Polo 1.6L. It came with the old OEM MP3 cd only stereo (haven't been able to nail down a model number from a reliable source for it). A few things to note:
- An off the shelf wiring adapter is available from www.vagtune.in that is super easy to install, just plug and play pretty much - Navigation & Acessories : VW SKODA LOW LINE DUAL AUDIO TO HIGH LINE CAR HU ADAPTOR
- Also the radio antenna plugs are different, the existing cable has a single plug but the RCD510 has a dual pin socket. For this too you have to buy a cable - Navigation & Acessories : RCD310 TO RCD510,RNS510 FAKRA ANTENNA CONVERTER CABLE

Now to get the stereo backlights working along with the ignition linked stereo power on-off, the stereo has to be connected to the BCM box - specifically Pins #20 & 21 which related to the Energy Management System I am told. The vagtune wiring adapter already has 2 cables "CAN(+)" & "CAN(-)" for this purpose. the CAN(+) goes to Pin #20, and the CAN(-) to Pin #21. Details are given here:
http://www.********.com/forum/sound-off-show-off/109134-vw-polo-hu-upgrade.html

I am in the process of ordering the radio antenna cable, and am searching for a Pin Out diagram of the BCM box to identify which Pin is #20 and which is #21; the images in the last link identify both the pins but do not say which is which. I am going to ask the dealership for this if I don't find it online and will then let you guys know if everything is working fine once the wires are connected.

A breakdown of the costs:
RCD510 = Rs 15,300
Wiring Adapter = Rs 3,200
Radio Antenna = Rs 2,200
Installation as per actuals (I got some speakers and an amp and a woofer put in so can't give the breakdown of just installing this HU).

As you can see not exactly VFM as for around Rs 18k you can get a touchscreen Sony or Pioneer HU which would also come with bluetooth and have amp preouts, etc. But I personally thought the dashboard would look too bland and wanted the OEM look. In hindsight seeing all these complexities and the relatively basic nature of the HU (USB/SD Card only for this much....bluetooth n reversing camera, etc. are all extra) I would probably just plonk for the Blaupunkt Philadelphia 835 (it was on Snapdeal for 37k for a while...now its around 40k).

 

[GM88]

Re: Sporty Yet Elegant: My Candy White Volkswagen Polo TDI

So I went with the RCD510 in my VW Polo 1.6L. It came with the old OEM MP3 cd only stereo (haven't been able to nail down a model number from a reliable source for it). A few things to note:


As you can see not exactly VFM as for around Rs 18k you can get a touchscreen Sony or Pioneer HU which would also come with bluetooth and have amp preouts, etc. But I personally thought the dashboard would look too bland and wanted the OEM look. In hindsight seeing all these complexities and the relatively basic nature of the HU (USB/SD Card only for this much....bluetooth n reversing camera, etc. are all extra) I would probably just plonk for the Blaupunkt Philadelphia 835 (it was on Snapdeal for 37k for a while...now its around 40k).

Congrats on getting the RCD510 for your Polo. It surely does enhance the overall looks of the interiors. So is the unit working fine or your too facing the same backlight issues?

I had done quite a research when I had got the RCD320 for my car but couldn't find a solution on this. Tried with all sorts of connectors and adapters. Will be waiting if you find a break-through in this and let us know if the new cables and adapters do make it work.