Observations of a new Polo

[wai]

G'day,

I had the DSG recall service done on my Caddy today, and was provided with a brand new Polo as a loan car for the day, so thought I'd pass on some observations.

First up, it is a very nice car, drives well, but has a few quirks. I did not get time to do too much adjusting of things as I had to get to work.

The door mirrors. Now they are small, but that's not the issue. You see, the adjuster button is setup as though you are looking at the door and not the front of the vehicle. As a result, if you move the adjuster to the front of the vehicle, the mirror adjusts to the left, move it to the rear of the vehicle and it adjusts the mirror to the right, move it to the left and the mirror adjusts down, and move it to the right and the mirror adjusts up! It needs to be rotated 90 degrees CCW. A bit like trying to use the mouse on a computer but 90 degrees out.

The brushed metal surrounds for the left and right end dash vents reflect in the door glass with the image appearing right over the door mirrors. As a result, you have this confusing image superimposed over the image from the door mirrors. I'm not a great fan of polished things on the dashboard, but this is not a nice thing.

The last thing is the accelerator pedal. the pivot point is on the firewall, but the potentially dangerous thing is that is is possible to get your shoe to slip off the pedal and end up caught between the side of the footwell and the side of the accelerator pedal. This is a significant issue. I definitely do not have "dainty" feet, by my size 9 steel capped work boots slipped of a couple of times and I did have some trouble getting my boot out. I reckon ladies would end up in some trouble.

It amazes me that these things have not been picked up in focus groups that VW surely run.

Apart from this, it was a very nice car to drive.

[Hillbilly]

G'day,

I had the DSG recall service done on my Caddy today, and was provided with a brand new Polo as a loan car for the day, so thought I'd pass on some observations.

First up, it is a very nice car, drives well, but has a few quirks. I did not get time to do too much adjusting of things as I had to get to work.

The door mirrors. Now they are small, but that's not the issue. You see, the adjuster button is setup as though you are looking at the door and not the front of the vehicle. As a result, if you move the adjuster to the front of the vehicle, the mirror adjusts to the left, move it to the rear of the vehicle and it adjusts the mirror to the right, move it to the left and the mirror adjusts down, and move it to the right and the mirror adjusts up! It needs to be rotated 90 degrees CCW. A bit like trying to use the mouse on a computer but 90 degrees out.

The brushed metal surrounds for the left and right end dash vents reflect in the door glass with the image appearing right over the door mirrors. As a result, you have this confusing image superimposed over the image from the door mirrors. I'm not a great fan of polished things on the dashboard, but this is not a nice thing.

The last thing is the accelerator pedal. the pivot point is on the firewall, but the potentially dangerous thing is that is is possible to get your shoe to slip off the pedal and end up caught between the side of the footwell and the side of the accelerator pedal. This is a significant issue. I definitely do not have "dainty" feet, by my size 9 steel capped work boots slipped of a couple of times and I did have some trouble getting my boot out. I reckon ladies would end up in some trouble.

It amazes me that these things have not been picked up in focus groups that VW surely run.

Apart from this, it was a very nice car to drive.

Yes the silver bits are a nuisance in both the Polo and the Passat You would think they would change that.

Had never noticed the mirror control as being a problem but then wife and I use the same settings so rarely adjust them.

I just put my big size 10 1/2 hoof further forward and it doesn't slip off pedal but you are right it can do.

All just a matter of getting used to it.

My biggest beef is the centre console lid is too high and my elbow hits on it in corners and so we have it pushed upright all the time. Mirrors are a bit small so we put bug eyes in outside edges and makes them a lot better

[fred27]

Interesting, thanks for sharing.

[wai]

The accelerator pedal thing can be easily overcome by getting an aftermarket pedal that you bolt on. Just make sure it is a wide one.

[LD_mart]

Seems like your just being really picky for no reason. Nothing is ever going to be perfect.
People always complain about the arm rest but in my case it's perfect height, lean my arm on it the whole time I'm driving and change gears with my arm resting on it.
Guess something's suit some people and not others, that's why people by one car over another but these are little minor problems which almost every car is going to have.

[Barracuda]

Size 13.5 feet and never had an issue with the accelerator!

[kaanage]

Bigger feet would make it less of an issue