As a driver though, I haven’t found a perfect driving position. That is something that bothers me on long drives.
BHPian throttleflick recently shared this with other enthusiasts.
I’ve recently completed 1000kms on the odo. My Dominar is called Vladimir while I decided on Akula for the Taigun. Both these names are spoken in my mind, my mother makes fun of me when I address these vehicles by their given names. She completely relates to the “My mom asked me to carry a potted plant with me at all times to compensate for the amount of oxygen I waste” meme and keeps poking fun at me for naming my vehicles.
Swagat service experience:
I completed a month of ownership on the 9th of Feb and the service center folks at VW Nerul wanted me to drop by for the Swagat Service.
The ODO was around 864km when I went in. I reached the service center around 10:30 in the morning and the car was taken in 15 mins later. Service advisor asked me to get the car disinfected before taking the car in.
He also told me that they’d be disinfecting the car before delivery. I thought this might be in line with the COVID protocols VW might have setup for the service centers and asked him if this was a part of the free service itself. To which, the SA told me I’d be charged 1.4k for this. I tried to bail out of this but he insisted that this was mandatory.
My sales advisor was on leave but was kind enough to pick up my call and tend to the enquiry about the mandatory disinfection. He said it’s a month old car and I don’t really require the disinfection. A quick call to BHPian thisissoumya also cleared my doubts about the disinfection. I told the SA that I won’t be paying for the disinfection and they better not do it. He obliged to the request.
The SA took no initiative to explain what would be checked during this free service. Upon asking, he told me that they’d check the fluid levels, connect the VCDS to check for errors if any, clean the car and deliver it to me. All of this would take about 2-3 hours. A copy of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban kept me occupied while the service folks did (or didn’t do) their job.
Oh I informed the SA that I was facing door squeaks when the car was in motion, particularly over speed breakers. This was resolved by the service folks by applying some silicon lubricant.
The service center was facing some glitches in their billing software and network so I was given the receipt over email, while a handwritten receipt was given as a gate pass for the security to let me take the car.
I’ve always had a bad experience with servicing my vehicles. Bajaj ruined it for me with their Lower Parel, Thane and their long shut Borivali A.S.S. I didn’t have high hopes with the VW service to begin with and, I wasn’t proven wrong.
I was handed the keys to a washed car with water marks on the windshield, windows and ORVMs around 3:15, asked them to clean it properly. Wheels weren’t as clean but they did end up polishing the tyres. The SA wasn’t aware about the Swagat kit, his superior asked me to give the same. This kit contains a shampoo and windshield washer fluid.
I waited in the customer lounge for about 4 hours to get these checks done.
The buying experience was exceptional for me, but the service experience was sub-par. Can’t thank BHPian thisissoumya enough for recommending the VW Autobahn dealership in Nerul.
Blacked out roof:
I always had plans to get the roof wrapped in black. This was my plan with the Polo and I thought that the Taigun would look cool as well with a black roof. Currently, only the GT variants get the roof (painted?) in Carbon Grey. SA had arranged this for me on the swagat service day itself and, I took the car to the dealership and got the roof wrap done by them. Took around an hour and I’m happy with the way it looks.
Owning the Taigun 1.0 AT:
After spending more than a month with the Taigun and completing 1k, I finally was able to enjoy the 1.0 TSI. Floor the pedal and the car just pulls like it’s trying to escape dementors.
Audible scraping noise after slowly going over a potholed road:
One incidence managed to scare me a little on my drive to Sula vineyards where, after negotiating a potholed road just outside Sula, there was an audible sound of something scraping coming from the front wheel. I parked the car, turned the steering to left and right and checked if I’d hit something. There wasn’t anything fishy although, I was quite concerned about the sound popping up again on my return journey to Thane. It put a dampener to the Sula experience and I was eager to get back to the car and check if it made the sound. I was thoroughly relieved to hear nothing but my water bottle rubbing against the bottle holder.
Engine cranks but won’t turn:
I’ve faced an issue for a total of three times till now where, after pressing the start button and brake pedal, the car keeps cranking for a while. I then have to press the start button again with the brake pedal and then the engine turns on. These three instances happened during cold starts.
Fuel and fuel efficiency:
I’ve been driving the car in and around Thane. The ODO reported fuel consumption on one instance was 15.6km/l but I’m sure I’ve been getting around 12-13km/l for a mixed of highway and city driving. Upon delivery, I’d topped off the tank with XTRA Premium but switched to XP95 for subsequent tank fills. I’m happy with the way the car drives on XP95. The accelerator input feels so good that I have to exercise control over the foot to not rev harder. You can see BHPian thisissoumya’s Lapiz Blue Polo HL MT in the below picture:
Drive comfort:
It is okayish I think. As a driver though, I haven’t found a perfect driving position. That is something that bothers me on long drives. And these 250 km round way drives aren’t exactly long either, so it makes me question how comfortable will I be on 500km + drives. My lower back starts hurting after a while, I constantly end up adjusting my posture while driving and my bottom aches as well. All that, and it kinda bothers me that my left leg is left with nothing to do than just hang around and chill. Nevertheless, I’m glad I added a car and not a cruiser to my garage.
Creature comforts:
Air con somehow is a bone of contention for most of potential buyers and I’ve found myself sufficiently pampered in the car with the AC set to auto and the temperature set between 20 and 24. I love the ventilated seats. I absolutely love them. My mother who is the primary passenger loves this feature as well.
The hand rest extends towards the dashboard and provides ample surface to rest my elbow. The space underneath the hand rest could have been better though. I find the inclusion of two USB C ports useful for charging up my phone. I also keep using the wireless charger quite a lot. It’s not the fastest wireless charger but I’m happy with it regardless.
Apple Carplay is another great feature inclusion. It does disconnect after a while, although I suspect this only happens when I’m traversing through one specific location in Thane. Not sure if this is network related or software. Haven’t installed the inbuilt apps as Apple Carplay has everything I need from the ICE system. My audio expectations are also catered to properly with the speakers blasting decent sound if I have to mute my mother rant about me and let Kishore Kumar or Agnes Obel take over.
The My VW Connect app is crap. No point wasting words talking about it.
Oh the ORVMs. They are a tad disappointing with the amount of area they cover. I asked my sales advisor if they could upsize it to the ones which come standard on the Tiguan and I kinda knew he’d say no. Using them while making a u-turn induces fear inside me and I have to crane my neck to double check for bikes. There have been incidences where a biker has apparated next to me and I’ve had no clue about them being next to my car. Right hand rear view is still fine, the left side is the most concerning. If the front seat is occupied, it becomes a bit difficult to check on the oncoming traffic while making u-turns at traffic signals.
Reversing camera is sub par. But I’m kinda glad it is there as a standard fitment. I’ve had no reversing camera on our 2007 Toyota Innova and thus, I rarely glance over the ones on the Taigun while backing up in my parking slot.
I kept checking the owners manual to finally conclude that there is no trip meter on the digital cockpit. The digital cockpit feels incomplete. They’ve wasted so much space at the either side of the display. All the service and car status icons could have taken up that space elegantly and left the display with some space to add a trip counter which is far more intuitive than the way they’ve chosen to display that bit of info. I don’t want to shift focus on the ICE and check the vehicle status.
For the way I’ve been built, with short arms and all, I find navigating the ICE to be a task. Same for the horn pad. I’m used to not taking off my fingers from the horn pad on the Innova and I crave for that experience here as well. The buttons to navigate the digital cockpit are also bleh. Purely in terms of how they’re arranged and the functions they cater to, the implementation could have been better. I wish they had a call accept/reject button on the steering wheel.
The cruise control placement however, I love it. Again, operating it isn’t as intuitive to me, but I like the controls placed on the steering wheel rather than on the headlight stalk. The auto dimming rear view mirror is such a nice feature to use.
I don’t think I’ll ever be able to figure out how to use the TPMS. Let’s just leave it at that.
Touchpoints:
In car: For the amount of money they’ve charged, I wish they gave good arm rest padding on the door. The mirror adjustment controls feel flimsy. I couldn’t figure out how to fold the ORVMs when I’m at a traffic signal and want to let a biker pass. I was convinced that this doesn’t work on my car and it is broken, although again, after a quick chat with BHPian thisissoumya, I discovered that I had to twist the knob 180degs to fold them. I feel I’ll break the knob sooner than it’s supposed to give up.
The one touch driver window down operation feels faulty to me. I touch the button to roll the driver window and intervene when it’s rolled to the desired state, and when I want to roll it up, it keeps rolling down till the system realizes that I’ve been wanting to roll it up.
I’ve rarely noticed the blanks flanking on either side of the hazard indicator switch. I frequently use the ventilated seats yet somehow, I haven’t found the blanks to be an eyesore.
The touch controls are very sensitive to touch and prone to reacting to accidental inputs. And it is such a chore and a hazard to operate them cuz I have to keep taking my eyes off the road to adjust the air flow.
On the roof liner, they could have just gone ahead and added a sunglass holder. Not that I notice it during the drive, but it kinda bothers me before and after the drive while operating the sunroof. The buttons to illuminate the cabin were pathetic and this was something I made peace with when I decided that I would ditch my Polo booking in favour of the Taigun.
Outside car:
I’ve no clue why they’ve given a boot release button on the key fob. When the car is locked and it senses my presence, pressing on the boot release on the door opens the boot while the car is still locked. I thought this must be a fault so I shut the boot, kept the key fob outside of the cars range and then tried to open the boot. To my relief, it remained locked. Ever since, I think of this as a feature than a fault.
The request sensors on both sides of the front doors are a nice touch. For the first time, my hands have been full with objects that aren’t my car keys and yet, I’ve been able to enter the car.
Expectations:
I’d want to get rid of the 80 km warning chime. I would also love to increase the count of touch turn signals from 3 to 5. I wish there was a way to reprogram that blank button on the driver to do something. And I wish that button could be programmed to horn or bring back Severus Snape, Sirius Black and Remus Lupin.
From the time I thought I should get a car, to the time I went ahead and booked one, I always knew it had to be a VW Polo. I never checked any other car on the market. Cars owned by my friends from the Hyundai stable didn’t inspire me as much. So I’ve cocooned myself from the features that are standard equipment on the cars that are from this segment. I’m happy with the equipment that came with this car. Heck, I was happy with what VW is offering on the HL+ AT as well.
A safe drive with comfortable journeys was something I wanted for my mom and me and the Taigun has kept us happy on that front. It obviously doesn’t have the thrill a cruiser ride would have, but given my moms age and my tolerance for a heavy bike plus a pillion rider and a tank bag, and the way our roads are, I’m glad I added a car to the garage.
Keyword: 1 month & 1000 km update: Volkswagen Taigun 1.0 TSI AT