My new polo 9n3 tdi 130

[Oobadooba]

Hi everyone, just thought I'd post on here, been looking around for a while but never posted. Anyway, I'm 19, I bought my new polo 1.9 tdi 130 just before Christmas after selling my Clio 182 which just proved too expensive to run. When I bought it it had lowering springs on it, possibly 50mm, which just gave the car a very very harsh ride which I couldn't deal with especially on the roads around my house. So I replaced the springs with standard ones but now the car looks like its on stilts. I think I will now put gti springs on which I believe are 15mm lower than the standard ones. It also had a k&n cone filter on it that I took off because it was too noisy I have replaced this with the standard air box and have ordered a k&n panel filter. The car has been remapped to around 175bhp but this may have called since I removed the cone filter as the car does feel a lot less responsive, it may be worth getting the car mapped again to compensate for the change in fuel/air mixture. I only have 1 photo but here she is. Danny.

[Ladiesman_317]

Hope you dont me asking, but how many miles did your 182 do to a full tank? and what was the average mpg? Always wanted one, but insurance has kept me well away lol. Clean polo btw.

[Ben90]

Nice 130! I like the black front end. I spy colour coded GTI side skirts and red calipers. Very nice subtle mods by the previous owner.

You could get 30mm lowering springs on it, or as you say Sport/GTi springs. 50mm is too low if you want to retain much comfort on the standard shocks. I think there's a set of Gti suspension in the for sale section.

As for the cone it's a shame you removed it, do you know if the map was a rolling road custom jobbie or just a standard plug and pay? If it's the latter then I wouldn't think it would need mapping again, but if it were a custom job with the cone filter on at the time of mapping then it might have some effect changing it back, can't imagine it would be much though..

Here's a good halfway choice if you still want the cone-like breathing and a little bit of induction noise, it fits in the stock airbox just like a standard filter. Pro of this is there's no chance of it sucking in hot air like an open cone does.

[Eddie9n]

Yay another 130 owner. - Not many about! Very similar to mine, same wheels and colour. Looks in very good condition, and I like what the previous owner has done. Subtle oem mods are always the best! Get some more pictures up Here's a sneaky picture of mine -

[Oobadooba]

Nice 130! I like the black front end. I spy colour coded GTI side skirts and red calipers. Very nice subtle mods by the previous owner.

You could get 30mm lowering springs on it, or as you say Sport/GTi springs. 50mm is too low if you want to retain much comfort on the standard shocks. I think there's a set of Gti suspension in the for sale section.

As for the cone it's a shame you removed it, do you know if the map was a rolling road custom jobbie or just a standard plug and pay? If it's the latter then I wouldn't think it would need mapping again, but if it were a custom job with the cone filter on at the time of mapping then it might have some effect changing it back, can't imagine it would be much though..

Here's a good halfway choice if you still want the cone-like breathing and a little bit of induction noise, it fits in the stock airbox just like a standard filter. Pro of this is there's no chance of it sucking in hot air like an open cone does.

The black front end needs respraying as i think the owner sprayed it himself and it is chipping in places, as are the skirts and the calipers. Is there much of a difference in comfort between standard/gti/30mm springs. 'kc' pm'd me about some gti springs but i haven't posted enough yet to reply. As for the remap I dont know but would rather loose a few bhp than have the noise everytime i put my foot down. Each to their own i suppose. Are there any pictures of the cone in a box fitted?

Hope you dont me asking, but how many miles did your 182 do to a full tank? and what was the average mpg? Always wanted one, but insurance has kept me well away lol. Clean polo btw.

Hi, the 182 averaged between 250 to 360 miles to a tank and mpg could range from anywhere 23 when pushing hard to 40 on a long run at 60mph. really depends on how you drive it. insurance is a tad expensive though.

Yay another 130 owner. - Not many about! Very similar to mine, same wheels and colour. Looks in very good condition, and I like what the previous owner has done. Subtle oem mods are always the best! Get some more pictures up Here's a sneaky picture of mine -

Rumour is there are less than 300 left? It is in pretty good condition, I like the rear valance on yours. I quite fancy a gti valance and back box to smarten up my back end, we'll see.


Thanks for the welcome and comments everyone.

[Oobadooba]

Finished work early today so went home and had a look around at different lowering springs, for me the front is low enough unless ride quality won't be compromised by 30mm lowering springs. The rear however looks way too high and I don't think lowering the rear will make much difference to ride quality. I came to the conclusion that I could put 30mm lowering springs on the back and keep the front as standard. I put some weights in the boot to lower the rear 30mm and took some photos. I imagine the only issue would be handling with different setup front and back but I'm not one to go racing and pushing the car to its limits so this shouldn't make a difference. Anyway here are the pictures I took.
Before

After

What do you all think, all comments are welcome.

[Ben90]

Back end needs more fatties! Looks a lot better though.

I could show you a picture of a cone in a box but it looks no different to the standard airbox. the Cone is sealed inside the deep airbox just like a normal filter. The benefit of this is up to twice the surface area over a panel filter, in a sealed unit, with a bit of induction cone noise but its also partially muffled by the sealed box. I reckon it would be just what you're after. If you don't like the pricetag they're pretty easy to make provided you've got the right size cone. You can dismantle a stock filter for the outer seal too. Pikey modding definitely has a place

It's a shame the paint is chipping, you should definitely upkeep the look you've got!

As for the springs I can't comment. I don't even know which ones I have! Gti springs would be a good move as they are OEM and there are plenty available just because all the GTI owners on here want more lows

As for the rarity, you'd be right. There are about 350 left on the road, and they only sold that many to begin with. Clearly they were all sold to careful drivers

[Oobadooba]

The paint chipping will be sorted out as soon as I get my gti rear splitter and ill take them all in to be sprayed at the same time. I think the sports came with the same shocks and dampers if I'm not mistaken. But my springs are from motaquip so could be standard replacements not gti replacements. I may also be upgrading to 17" wheels so lowering may become an issue with rubbing on the arches. I think I'm probably going to go for the eibach pro kit and try in on the rear for now and maybe the front if looks out of place. I think ive read somewhere the pro kit only lowers the car around 25mm anyway despite being a35mm kit. Some 20mm springs would be ideal.

[Eddie9n]

263 left on the road - http://www.howmanyleft.co.uk/vehicle/vo ... rt_tdi_130

[Oobadooba]

Going in to have another remap on Wednesday. Going for something abit gentler with less smoke and more economy hopefully. Will post back with results.

[Ben90]

Smoke happens, all Euro 4 diesels do it. Welcome to the dark side but if the smoke is excessive (ie you can barely see out the back window when you hoof it) I doubt it's much to do with the map, although it's possible the fuel delivery has been maxed out which can happen with some backstreet mappers to gain the power easily. All depends where the car was remapped in the first place.

The main thing with mapping diesels is the smoothness of the torque delivery. A custom mapper will be able to do this for you by putting your car on a rolling road and ensuring that the power is delivered gradually through the rev band so you end up with a smooth gradient on your printout graph with no 'spikes' in it. A big spike is bad news for your clutch, among other parts.

Make sure to ask for these things, even just to gauge his expertise. If the mapper your going to doesn't have a rolling road to prove/improve his work then you may end up with a similar generic map, no difference to the car and £300 out of pocket..

Similarly if you just want stock power again you could just pop it back to the guys who did it and they'll usually 'unmap' it for free..