VDub Polo 1.2 TDi CL - Princess Comes Home

[VivekRj.Dieselhead]

I was following a Linea that was trying to overtake a very long trailer. The Linea was spewing black smoke from the exhaust which indicated that the guy was accelerating hard (because it was not spewing smoke earlier when we were driving sedately). I was right behind the Linea when we did the overtaking manoeuvre (I made sure that everything is clear, obviously). I had the accelerator buried only half way and when I stepped on the throttle a bit more, I went a bit too close to the Linea which was still spewing black smoke (I was in 5th gear at that time). I hope you understand what I'm trying to say.
After we finished overtaking, the Linea went back to the left lane and I easily overtook him and kept accelerating till he was a speck in the mirror.

See buddy we can't say anything about the thinking of that linea driver so no comments on that.

And two of my friends have Linea MJDs. I've tried dragging with both of them in my Polo and till 80kmph, they could not catch up with me. Don't know about after that because we ran out of road.

I'm not saying that the Linea is a slow or a bad car. Never. All I'm saying is that the Polo is actually a decent performer.

Linea and punto are not meant for drags and i won't try to justify that cause truth will always be truth, but they are cars meant for both highway and city that is why the gearbox is calibrated like that and you can't drag but they are really quick once they are in turbo zone or power zone and above 80 they are real quick.

And on highway most of the people are above 70-80kmph, where punto and linea has an edge over other cars.

 

[VipinLJ]

See buddy we can't say anything about the thinking of that linea driver so no comments on that.



Linea and punto are not meant for drags and i won't try to justify that cause truth will always be truth, but they are cars meant for both highway and city that is why the gearbox is calibrated like that and you can't drag but they are really quick once they are in turbo zone or power zone and above 80 they are real quick.

And on highway most of the people are above 70-80kmph, where punto and linea has an edge over other cars.

That might be true about the highways in the north where you can cruise at 100 kmph (I so wish I could come there just to drive on the expressways). But in Kerala, especially south Kerala, the highways are like city roads of the north. It is impossible to drive above 80 kmph in a sane manner. My average speeds (according to the MID) in the tvm-kollam highway is 50 kmph!!! That's how bad the condition here is.

I am not trying to argue or offend anyone. All I was saying is that the Polo has a lot of potential. If I offended you in anyway, I really am sorry. That was NOT my intention. Peace :)

 

[amippjpr]

See buddy we can't say anything about the thinking of that linea driver so no comments on that.

Yeah, but then you are claiming this::

but on yamuna expressway hardly 2 cars overtook me one was a Accord 2.4 and another was a captiva (doing above 200), but it was really hard for accord to overtake.

How can you surely say that the Accord driver was really 'racing' with you?

If you like, then keep doing such speeds but its not ethical to proudly exhibit such risky acts in open. Especially the Y-EWay is a concrete road and its very risky to drive at such high speeds in concrete roads in hot climatic regions like India because they increase risk of tyre burst. We have seen lots of instances of tyre bursts on Y-EWay in the past. Hope you learn the lesson from other's stories.

And on highway most of the people are above 70-80kmph, where punto and linea has an edge over other cars.

Sorry boss, again a false claim. This claim would had credibility if you really had driven all the other cars (same segment) in same manner and in same condition I haven't driven all the the Polo and i20 (the cars which I have driven) can easily dust Punto on the highway, Punto takes ages to cross 150 mark (talking about real GPS speed, not the speedo) And 120 CRDI can dust the Polo in straight run ( forget the handling and stability part ) because that is really a powerful engine, not the fake one like 90HP MJD.

 

[VipinLJ]

See buddy we can't say anything about the thinking of that linea driver so no comments on that.



Linea and punto are not meant for drags and i won't try to justify that cause truth will always be truth, but they are cars meant for both highway and city that is why the gearbox is calibrated like that and you can't drag but they are really quick once they are in turbo zone or power zone and above 80 they are real quick.

And on highway most of the people are above 70-80kmph, where punto and linea has an edge over other cars.

You said that we can't guess what the driver of the Linea was thinking. As in, are you saying that he probably wasn't accelerating with a wide open throttle (WOT)? The reason I said he probably was accelerating with a WOT is because of the black smoke that was spewing out of the exhaust pipe. He probably was doing it in 5th gear (we were cruising at the same speeds and I was in 5th gear till we saw the slow truck). When we wanted to overtake, I didn't need to downshift and I was not driving with a WOT and I was easily behind the Linea. When I dabbed the accelerator a little more, I had to brake soon after because I went a little closer to him.
That is the reason why I said the Linea had poor acceleration at that speed because I had not downshifted too (I was in 5th gear).

Today, for fun, I tried a 0-100 kmph drag to see how quick the Polo was. It was in no way done professionally. As in, I used my phone's stopwatch and dragged till it showed 101 kmph in the digital speedo in the MID of the Polo. My car did it in 14.6s which I think is pretty decent. I could've done it slightly quicker if my shift from 2nd to 3rd was faster (I shifted slightly slowly for some reason unknown even to me :D)
I did it in a bypass road which luckily was empty at the time.

 

[VivekRj.Dieselhead]

If I offended you in anyway, I really am sorry. That was NOT my intention. Peace :)

No buddy i am not feeling like that, rather was trying to clear some of the things. I also like polo as its also europian and i would have bought it if i wouldn't have drove punto 90.

 

[VipinLJ]

No buddy i am not feeling like that, rather was trying to clear some of the things. I also like polo as its also europian and i would have bought it if i wouldn't have drove punto 90.

My girlfriend has the Punto too but in the 75hp avatar. The car is good. The only thing I wished for was more power which I think the Punto 90hp has. I will TD the Punto 90hp :) I think both the Polo and the Punto are beautiful cars. Both our cars are white. So that makes a handsome korean, a sexy italian and a hot german in our very modest garage at the moment.

 

[VivekRj.Dieselhead]

My girlfriend has the Punto too but in the 75hp avatar. The car is good. The only thing I wished for was more power which I think the Punto 90hp has. I will TD the Punto 90hp :) I think both the Polo and the Punto are beautiful cars. Both our cars are white. So that makes a handsome korean, a sexy italian and a hot german in our very modest garage at the moment.

I have also heard many a times that there is a diff. of performance b/w 75 and 90 hp above 120. And there is a diff. of gearbox b/w both the variants as well along with diff. ecu mapping.

For your kind info buddy even a 90 is not a drag machine but abarth is coming for sure and that is gonna blow everyone there on the road with those 160+ horses.

 

[amippjpr]

but abarth is coming for sure and that is gonna blow everyone there on the road with those 160+ horses.

Mind sharing details when and at what price, I am interested

 

[VipinLJ]

I have also heard many a times that there is a diff. of performance b/w 75 and 90 hp above 120. And there is a diff. of gearbox b/w both the variants as well along with diff. ecu mapping.

For your kind info buddy even a 90 is not a drag machine but abarth is coming for sure and that is gonna blow everyone there on the road with those 160+ horses.

That might be true. I have no idea because I have not driven the 90hp. But man. I've seen some really really beautiful Punto 90hps here in Kerala. My God. They look bloody fantastic. Some have the Abarth stickers. They look so good that I felt like going up to the owner and offering him good money for the car :D

Regarding the actual Abarth. I think with 160+ horses, the price of the car will be upwards of Rs. 15l in which case it will NOT sell in numbers (Indian mentality you see) irrespective of how good it is to drive or how fast it is.

Mind sharing details when and at what price, I am interested

Exactly my point. If they can price it for around Rs. 8l ex-showroom, the Polo GT WILL die an early death. But if not, then we'll have two hot hatches at two price points to entice petrolheads but which will NOT do well in the Indian market in terms of mass numbers.

 

[amippjpr]

Regarding the actual Abarth. I think with 160+ horses, the price of the car will be upwards of Rs. 15l in which case it will NOT sell in numbers

15L? Are you kidding? If it really comes in its international Abarth avatar with 160+bhp and, It will definitely cost upwards of 18L and will hit 20L on road.

And please don't blame 'Indian mentality', everyone has to look at practical aspects also while choosing car. Now if someone who wishes to own a car with better driving dynamics, he chooses the suitable options which offers best balance between practicality and wish. Didn't you consider many point? Didn't I or didn't Vivek? All of us may dream for anything, but when it comes to really buying decision, we also consider many other aspects like price, affordability, size of the car, our city conditions, A.S.S., Brand value, how the car looks, colour of the car, and FE also.

 

[VipinLJ]

15L? Are you kidding? If it really comes in its international Abarth avatar with 160+bhp and, It will definitely cost upwards of 18L and will hit 20L on road.

And please don't blame 'Indian mentality', everyone has to look at practical aspects also while choosing car. Now if someone who wishes to own a car with better driving dynamics, he chooses the suitable options which offers best balance between practicality and wish. Didn't you consider many point? Didn't I or didn't Vivek? All of us may dream for anything, but when it comes to really buying decision, we also consider many other aspects like price, affordability, size of the car, our city conditions, A.S.S., Brand value, how the car looks, colour of the car, and FE also.

Exactly. That is what I said was Indian mentality (No offence buddy. I am an Indian too, with the same mentality). We would consider all those things and honestly, we know that the Punto Abarth will not do well here if priced like how you said irrespective of how much fun it would be to drive. All the factors you mention play spoil sport in such a case.

 

[VipinLJ]

Alloys

Two different alloy designs I saw and like.

The first one was quoted at Rs. 17k for a set of 4 whereas the second one was for Rs. 18.5k for a set of 4 (didn't haggle as I was just looking).
I'm now considering both of them and will check it out again next week.

 

[Rightnow]

Re: Alloys

15L? Are you kidding? If it really comes in its international Abarth avatar with 160+bhp and, It will definitely cost upwards of 18L and will hit 20L on road.

I cannot understand what would be Fiat's strategy to launch abarth in India and expect profitable returns.
While GT polo is coined overpriced already by many people, I don't know how would abarth be treated by them. If at all abarth can do is, position Fiat as a premium manufacturer in India which may help in selling other models purely because of image.

Two different alloy designs I saw and like.
The first one was quoted at Rs. 17k for a set of 4 whereas the second one was for Rs. 18.5k for a set of 4 (didn't haggle as I was just looking).
I'm now considering both of them and will check it out again next week.

I liked the second one.

 

[VivekRj.Dieselhead]

Re: Alloys

I liked the second one.

I too like the second one, go for them.

BTW, guys abarth is going to be priced somewhere close to 12 lac and abarth's performance kit will also be launched for punto 90 and 75 to please the existing punto owners. Before the launch of abarth.

 

[amippjpr]

Re: Alloys

BTW, guys abarth is going to be priced somewhere close to 12 lac

Wonderful!
I think you got the info officially from any inside source in Fiat itself. The 12L maybe cost for Fiat, but market price won't be less than 17-18L for sure (that too if it ever comes in India), mark my words.

and abarth's performance kit will also be launched for punto 90 and 75 to please the existing punto owners. Before the launch of abarth.

What kit? some stickers, graphics and Abarth badges?
Abarth is purely related to petrol engines. That has no relation with any diesel engine, now I wonder how they will be increasing performance of their diesel cars? Atleast not possible with any 'genuine' Abarth kit.

But one thing I always appreciate about Fiat company is that doesn't matter how small the market share they have, they always succeed in keeping the hope alive in their existing customer's minds.

I have said a forever-goodbye to Fiat long ago, the company which isn't even capable of supplying basic parts for their cars now making false promises of supplying performance kits for diesel car, LOL. The company which has expressed inability in supporting their own cars like Palio and other old models, which they have been selling couple of years ago. I have seen and heard many horror stories about many companies but never seen such a big cheater company in my life.