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Introducing (Sgt) Pepper
After (Nearly)1000kms I think im ready to give my Review of my Polo Tsi, so maybe ill start with a little back story, For the past 5 years since I was 17 I learnt to drive and have relied on a Maroon 2001 Ford Laser to get me from A to B. Whilst she wasn’t the best looking car she did a great job of getting me to and from uni and to and from work, but upon graduating and starting full time work in the financial sector last year I realized that it was time for an upgrade, something that was stylish but also did the job.
I went by for over a year pining for a new car until earlier this year my gf told me to stop complaining that I wanted one and to go out and buy one as its not as if I had anything better to spend my money on at the age of 22, I kinda agreed with her and that’s where the shopping began, I looked up a lot of car reviews and narrowed it down to the following field: Subaru Imprezza, Renault Megane and the VW Polo.
Needless to say the Polo won out, mainly because it looked the most classy and I wasn’t too fussed with the size as it would mean it was gonna be easier to park in the CBD where I work.
So flash forward to Feb and I started gaining quotes on the car, I was very picky with what I wanted a Pepper Grey Tsi with Sports, Comfort and Audio Packages and I did NOT really want to wait 6-9 months which was starting to make things hard, I came across a lot of similar cars, a blue one that I could’ve had there n then, a red one due in 2 weeks, a white one with leather for a good price, but I had my heart set on the grey and in the end I settled that id be waiting a while, so I went to my local dealer which just happened to be Werribee VW and this is where the Life of Pepper begins, after a while negotiating we settled on a good price that I was happy with and it was at this point that I was informed that they could source exactly what I wanted in just over a month, I was wrapped.
Fast forward to just before easter when my expected delivery was and the dealer informed me it would be a couple more weeks, which compared to some peoples waits I was fine with because I was gonna be interstate anyway.
Then I got the call on a Friday night, your vehicle has arrived at the dealership and will be ready by Monday. That made my day, immediately I rearranged my work schedule for the Monday afternoon.
Dealership Experience
I arrived at the Dealership to find that the tinting had not been done on the front two windows of my car as requested. (as the sports pack comes with privacy glass on the rear windows) Dealer was very apologetic and stated that whenever I was free they would organize a courtesy car for me and whilst I was at work they would fix it and have it ready for me by the end of the day, so no big fuss, issue easily solved.
My initial dealer was no longer with the company (no surprises there) so since then ive been dealing with Mick the sales manager and his boss Scott, great guys if you ever need anything from VW Wezza there your men to speak to. When I picked up the car Mick went through everything with me in detail and I think thanks to VWwatercooled I even taught him a couple of things about the car haha, he also threw in the ipod cable which is normally about $85 or so.
So all in all I had a good dealership experience apart from the Tint which was rectified within a week so I would definitely recommend these guys to anyone looking to buy a new VW.
I guess heres where I show a pic of my new car :
I really think the sports pack sets these cars off, I don’t understand (apart from wait time) why anyone would buy one without
Initial Thoughts of the car after 1000kms
Drive:
It drives like a dream!
Maybe its just me coming from a ford laser, but the ride even with the sports pack is so smooth and the Polo just eats up small bumps and potholes in the road. Whilst the engine isn’t exactly quiet, I think that’s a good thing I love hearing that little pur even from a small car as you plant your foot down and the Polo roars off, whilst its got nothing on the GTI the TSI itself has a fair bit of guts. The brakes are very solid and after being cut off by a P plate Audi A3 on the freeway yesterday I feel completely confident that they will handle stopping very well at any speed.
Style:
In terms of style, everyone who sees the car is genuinely impressed with the looks of the car, the Polo in the past has a reputation of being a bland ‘mini’ golf especially with young people so its refreshing to hear from everyone that they think the car looks awesome. (Not that id care what anyone else thought since I like it, but it does feel good to get reassurance)
Originally myself the only thing I didn’t like about the polo was the rear taillights but they’ve really grown on me its very clean and contemporary
Build quality is good overall with everything feeling solid, my only downside is (and please tell me polo drivers if you notice this as well) on a windy day/night whilst driving on the freeway at around 100kms/h if you put down the rear windows the car starts to shudder and feel like its about to internally combust!!! Weird but I rarely have the windows open on the freeway so not too much of a big deal.
Plus: the doors open and shut with the VW signature: THUD! Come on we’ve all seen the ad
Interior:
The car is extremely comfortable to sit in, I didn’t opt for the leather as I’m not a big fan but I’m more than happy with the comfortline cloth seats, they kinda look sporty even thought they’re not and although it is a small car I had my parents in the back of the car on a drive to Williamstown last weekend and they said that the leg room was fine for them. Which is always a plus (but its very rare for me to ever have people in the back seat of my car anyway)
The interior design is very straightforward and looks a lot like the inside of a Jetta or Golf. The quality of the interior parts feels great with a lot of little VW niceties around the cabin.
The colour combination of black, grey & chrome accents is very classy with the Steering wheel wrapped in leather with a chrome spoke in the bottom making it feel abit more premium than other cars in the sector.
The dashboard looks good overall, All crucial controls are within an arms length. The air-vents have chrome surrounds and thanks to the comfort package the air-conditioner controls
are all easily distinguishable through the blue backlit lcd screen.
The glovebox isn’t as large as some would hope with the MDI looking to take up half of the roof on one side, however I like how the manuals are hidden. The glove box has cut-outs for your sunglasses and coins ??? (never seen this before looks like itd fit 4 $2 coins or something)within the glovebox itself. And there are also nice little rubber dampeners to reduce rattles.There are lots of little storage places around the car and I love the fact that there are two different size cupholders, one that will fit cans in the centre and larger ones (for you slurpee lovers) in the door.
The rear seat of the Comfortline splits into a 60:40, or can entirely fold away for added load flexibility.(Havnt really tried it though but the dealer showed me when I picked the car up) The boot is a decent size for a small car with a lower compartment housing a full size spare and kit and then a lower compartment with a fake floow above it which can be used to hide things such as laptops ect.
Audio and Bluetooth:
I thought id mention this as I did opt for the optional audio package, basically for those of you who don’t know the audio package on the Polo is basically the removal of the RCD310 stock stereo with the replacement of the touchscreen (Non Navigation) RCD510 and the installation of the MDI (factory fit) in the glovebox, the package comes standard with a usb cable for the MDI but if your nice to your dealer they will usually throw in the sold separately ipod/iphone cable for free.
Now the touchscreen radio itself is great, nothing new for me as id seen it in my gfs dads Jetta before so I was already used to it and the current software of the MDI functions a lot better than his however I still do get the 2 sec lag when songs change over.
In terms of Bluetooth there are many options out there I opted for the Fiscon Plus which integreated with the touchscreen but what I wasn’t informed at the time was that the phone button wouldn’t work, now I know there are ways around this but im still working on figuring it out (if anyone can help please PM) apart from that the Bluetooth kit works great it rings with the ringtones you’ve got set on your phone and can stream music through Bluetooth to the stereo as well (however the quality isn’t that great, well mine isn’t it sounds abit faint and mono)
As for sound quality itself, its well, its ok, nothing to write home about but I didn’t expect much more from a stock small car system, this will be something ill definitely be looking into upgrading soon, so if anyone has any ideas about what speakers can be used whilst still using the factory headunit let me know ☺
Finally its got VW badges which tops it all off
After (Nearly)1000kms I think im ready to give my Review of my Polo Tsi, so maybe ill start with a little back story, For the past 5 years since I was 17 I learnt to drive and have relied on a Maroon 2001 Ford Laser to get me from A to B. Whilst she wasn’t the best looking car she did a great job of getting me to and from uni and to and from work, but upon graduating and starting full time work in the financial sector last year I realized that it was time for an upgrade, something that was stylish but also did the job.
I went by for over a year pining for a new car until earlier this year my gf told me to stop complaining that I wanted one and to go out and buy one as its not as if I had anything better to spend my money on at the age of 22, I kinda agreed with her and that’s where the shopping began, I looked up a lot of car reviews and narrowed it down to the following field: Subaru Imprezza, Renault Megane and the VW Polo.
Needless to say the Polo won out, mainly because it looked the most classy and I wasn’t too fussed with the size as it would mean it was gonna be easier to park in the CBD where I work.
So flash forward to Feb and I started gaining quotes on the car, I was very picky with what I wanted a Pepper Grey Tsi with Sports, Comfort and Audio Packages and I did NOT really want to wait 6-9 months which was starting to make things hard, I came across a lot of similar cars, a blue one that I could’ve had there n then, a red one due in 2 weeks, a white one with leather for a good price, but I had my heart set on the grey and in the end I settled that id be waiting a while, so I went to my local dealer which just happened to be Werribee VW and this is where the Life of Pepper begins, after a while negotiating we settled on a good price that I was happy with and it was at this point that I was informed that they could source exactly what I wanted in just over a month, I was wrapped.
Fast forward to just before easter when my expected delivery was and the dealer informed me it would be a couple more weeks, which compared to some peoples waits I was fine with because I was gonna be interstate anyway.
Then I got the call on a Friday night, your vehicle has arrived at the dealership and will be ready by Monday. That made my day, immediately I rearranged my work schedule for the Monday afternoon.
Dealership Experience
I arrived at the Dealership to find that the tinting had not been done on the front two windows of my car as requested. (as the sports pack comes with privacy glass on the rear windows) Dealer was very apologetic and stated that whenever I was free they would organize a courtesy car for me and whilst I was at work they would fix it and have it ready for me by the end of the day, so no big fuss, issue easily solved.
My initial dealer was no longer with the company (no surprises there) so since then ive been dealing with Mick the sales manager and his boss Scott, great guys if you ever need anything from VW Wezza there your men to speak to. When I picked up the car Mick went through everything with me in detail and I think thanks to VWwatercooled I even taught him a couple of things about the car haha, he also threw in the ipod cable which is normally about $85 or so.
So all in all I had a good dealership experience apart from the Tint which was rectified within a week so I would definitely recommend these guys to anyone looking to buy a new VW.
I guess heres where I show a pic of my new car :
I really think the sports pack sets these cars off, I don’t understand (apart from wait time) why anyone would buy one without
Initial Thoughts of the car after 1000kms
Drive:
It drives like a dream!
Maybe its just me coming from a ford laser, but the ride even with the sports pack is so smooth and the Polo just eats up small bumps and potholes in the road. Whilst the engine isn’t exactly quiet, I think that’s a good thing I love hearing that little pur even from a small car as you plant your foot down and the Polo roars off, whilst its got nothing on the GTI the TSI itself has a fair bit of guts. The brakes are very solid and after being cut off by a P plate Audi A3 on the freeway yesterday I feel completely confident that they will handle stopping very well at any speed.
Style:
In terms of style, everyone who sees the car is genuinely impressed with the looks of the car, the Polo in the past has a reputation of being a bland ‘mini’ golf especially with young people so its refreshing to hear from everyone that they think the car looks awesome. (Not that id care what anyone else thought since I like it, but it does feel good to get reassurance)
Originally myself the only thing I didn’t like about the polo was the rear taillights but they’ve really grown on me its very clean and contemporary
Build quality is good overall with everything feeling solid, my only downside is (and please tell me polo drivers if you notice this as well) on a windy day/night whilst driving on the freeway at around 100kms/h if you put down the rear windows the car starts to shudder and feel like its about to internally combust!!! Weird but I rarely have the windows open on the freeway so not too much of a big deal.
Plus: the doors open and shut with the VW signature: THUD! Come on we’ve all seen the ad
Interior:
The car is extremely comfortable to sit in, I didn’t opt for the leather as I’m not a big fan but I’m more than happy with the comfortline cloth seats, they kinda look sporty even thought they’re not and although it is a small car I had my parents in the back of the car on a drive to Williamstown last weekend and they said that the leg room was fine for them. Which is always a plus (but its very rare for me to ever have people in the back seat of my car anyway)
The interior design is very straightforward and looks a lot like the inside of a Jetta or Golf. The quality of the interior parts feels great with a lot of little VW niceties around the cabin.
The colour combination of black, grey & chrome accents is very classy with the Steering wheel wrapped in leather with a chrome spoke in the bottom making it feel abit more premium than other cars in the sector.
The dashboard looks good overall, All crucial controls are within an arms length. The air-vents have chrome surrounds and thanks to the comfort package the air-conditioner controls
are all easily distinguishable through the blue backlit lcd screen.
The glovebox isn’t as large as some would hope with the MDI looking to take up half of the roof on one side, however I like how the manuals are hidden. The glove box has cut-outs for your sunglasses and coins ??? (never seen this before looks like itd fit 4 $2 coins or something)within the glovebox itself. And there are also nice little rubber dampeners to reduce rattles.There are lots of little storage places around the car and I love the fact that there are two different size cupholders, one that will fit cans in the centre and larger ones (for you slurpee lovers) in the door.
The rear seat of the Comfortline splits into a 60:40, or can entirely fold away for added load flexibility.(Havnt really tried it though but the dealer showed me when I picked the car up) The boot is a decent size for a small car with a lower compartment housing a full size spare and kit and then a lower compartment with a fake floow above it which can be used to hide things such as laptops ect.
Audio and Bluetooth:
I thought id mention this as I did opt for the optional audio package, basically for those of you who don’t know the audio package on the Polo is basically the removal of the RCD310 stock stereo with the replacement of the touchscreen (Non Navigation) RCD510 and the installation of the MDI (factory fit) in the glovebox, the package comes standard with a usb cable for the MDI but if your nice to your dealer they will usually throw in the sold separately ipod/iphone cable for free.
Now the touchscreen radio itself is great, nothing new for me as id seen it in my gfs dads Jetta before so I was already used to it and the current software of the MDI functions a lot better than his however I still do get the 2 sec lag when songs change over.
In terms of Bluetooth there are many options out there I opted for the Fiscon Plus which integreated with the touchscreen but what I wasn’t informed at the time was that the phone button wouldn’t work, now I know there are ways around this but im still working on figuring it out (if anyone can help please PM) apart from that the Bluetooth kit works great it rings with the ringtones you’ve got set on your phone and can stream music through Bluetooth to the stereo as well (however the quality isn’t that great, well mine isn’t it sounds abit faint and mono)
As for sound quality itself, its well, its ok, nothing to write home about but I didn’t expect much more from a stock small car system, this will be something ill definitely be looking into upgrading soon, so if anyone has any ideas about what speakers can be used whilst still using the factory headunit let me know ☺
Finally its got VW badges which tops it all off
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