Polo 9n SDi anyone!!!

[surreylad1980]

Hi guys just if was anyone else on here that has one not seen many about, my girlfriend has one, it is a nice car around 60mpg.

cheers

gary

[richardaudi0]

I've got a 9N SDI 5dr Twist, just coming up to a year old. It was bought as a second car and is really cheap to run — 55–60mpg, group 2 insurance, £115 road tax — and being a Twist is good value, having alloys, aircon, elec windows and heated mirrors. When I bought it I checked out the wholelife costs for several cars, including Fiesta and Corsa and the Polo beat the lot!

It's had all the usual 9N faults, such as air pipe shroud falling down and causing a massive vibration on the left side of the dash, squeaky door seals, squeaky steering wheel and soft suspension bushes. But they have all been rectified very efficiently by my dealer (Wayside of Milton Keynes).

The radio display disappeared a couple of weeks after I bought the car and the lighting switch has been changed twice.

I have to say, despite these faults, the car has surprised me. It's not as harsh as a TDI and not particularly slow, and it's quieter. Also, the way the dealer has handled the problems has made a huge difference — a pity all VW dealers aren't as helpful.

Just by way of a comparison, I was a passenger in a colleague's nine-month-old 8,500-mile Citroen C3 the other day. Nice looking, bright and cheery inside, comfortable and nippy, but the quality...

The plastics are cheap and hard, with a bad colour match for the different panels on the dash and doors, plus the glovebox lids are flimsy and the fit is appalling, as is fit and finish elsewhere. Also bits of trim are falling off and there's a very loud wind noise above 50mph. Plus her Citroen dealer is crap. Also it's not as well equipped as the Polo and costs about the same (bit of a surprise that).

It just brought it home to me that the Polo, despite its niggles, is well put together and in general fit, finish and quality are much better than most small cars. Seems we don't have too much to moan about after all! Having had VWs and Audis for many years, I'd be reluctant to change after seeing other cars and hearing tales about dealers (Japanese marques excepted).

[bstardchild]

It just brought it home to me that the Polo, despite its niggles, is well put together and in general fit, finish and quality are much better than most small cars. Seems we don't have too much to moan about after all! Having had VWs and Audis for many years, I'd be reluctant to change after seeing other cars and hearing tales about dealers (Japanese marques excepted).

I dislike japanese cars (with bit of a passion) main reason stems from their attitude to importing cars and motorbikes from other countries - they put a 100% import tax on "foreign" cars - this action justifies me in taking a very anti jap stance seeing as we don't put many restrictions on sales of their cars in europe.

But the other reason is they are so bloody souless, bland and characterless (with a few notable exceptions) and I enjoy driving so want a car that is comunicative and fun and makes the journey enjoyable

JM2pW and no offence meant to any Jap car owners

[richardaudi0]

I agree about Japanese cars — I was just making the point that they appear to be more reliable and their dealers are better (probably because they have fewer problems). I'd never buy one for the same reasons.

With the service I've got from VW and Audi dealers over the years (and I'm very fussy), I have no complaints whatsoever, but I also think that the way you treat them also makes a big difference to how they react when you have a problem.

[algenon_iii]

I'm thankful I didn't buy a Pug 206, I'd rather have a dashboard that rattles (well I don't anymore since they fixed it) than a car that stalls at 70mph on a motorway.

[Chris SDI]

i have a 54 plate sdi 3 door with all the gizmos its a v nice car my first diesel slow as hell it really is i manged to beat a citroen c2 1.1 in a race there 0-60 times are ment to be like 14.00 sec but the sdi being 17 but i beat it also ive had 117 out of the car i was going down a big hill at the time tho.(not on the public highway obvoiusly )

[dino]

squeaky door seals....But they have all been rectified very efficiently by my dealer (Wayside of Milton Keynes).

How did this sound as the drivers door area is rattling, been back to Wayside Dunstable 8 times to fix it and they have replaced the door seal, now the lock and used loads of different lube/rubber care on it. Was yours actually a squeak or rattle?

[richardaudi0]

It took Wayside a long time to finally track the squeak down. All the seals were changed, those around the door and the window channels, and the door was re-hung and realigned, both on its hinges and the striker plate, plus the rear door. It appears it's not an easy, straightforward fix and that patience is needed, also, I think the door alignment seems to be critical. Hope this might help. If you're dealing with Wayside at Dunstable, get them to speak to the workshop foreman Andy Bayliss at Wayside Milton Keynes and mention me - Richard Wayte and the car, AD53 VUB, black Polo Twist SDI - I'm sure he might be able to point Dunstable in the right direction.

[dino]

It took Wayside a long time to finally track the squeak down. All the seals were changed, those around the door and the window channels, and the door was re-hung and realigned, both on its hinges and the striker plate, plus the rear door. It appears it's not an easy, straightforward fix and that patience is needed, also, I think the door alignment seems to be critical. Hope this might help. If you're dealing with Wayside at Dunstable, get them to speak to the workshop foreman Andy Bayliss at Wayside Milton Keynes and mention me - Richard Wayte and the car, AD53 VUB, black Polo Twist SDI - I'm sure he might be able to point Dunstable in the right direction.

Will do, thanks so much!

update - dunstable are ringing MK to see what they done exactly. Thank you for this

[richardaudi0]

Hope you get somewhere — keep us posted

[dino]

Hope you get somewhere — keep us posted

It's booked in to have the door seal's filled with lube ( oooh er)

I'll keep you posted. Otherwise it's going to MK