UK-POLOS.NET - THE VW Polo Forum

Hi All,

I became a first time Polo owner around 6 months ago and have used your great site quite a few times already for information and help with problems so I thought it would be good to become "official" and who knows, maybe I could help someone else out too!

The Polo is my new daily driver and came about through needing a ULEZ compliant car, I decided that I wanted a small car, with low running costs and something that I could maintain myself, I wanted a petrol car, automatic, with cruise control and aircon and from all the write ups I had read, the little 1.4 petrol DSG seemed to fit the bill.

I should add that I come to the Polo from a 2014 E Class, so my expectations were not too high, but I cannot say how impressed I am with the car. The build quality, ride and usability are great, so no regrets.

At purchase the Polo had 48K miles on it with a full VW service history so I wasn't expecting too many issues and since then I have put another 12k miles on the car.

So what has happened during first 6 months of ownership.....

The VW handsfree module fitted to the SEL just didn't want to work with my iPhone, I checked connections, everything I could and gave up in the end, stripped it out and fitted an RCD 330 head unit. Fantastic little bit of kit and means I don't need to worry about having loads of cables and plugs everywhere for phone, sat-nav and aftermarket hands free kits!

Next was replacement pads and discs all round, the rears felt that they were rubbing a bit and sure enough the callipers were quite corroded, everything was cleaned up and all working great, simple inexpensive job although I did need to use a wind back tool for the pistons on the rear.

A rattle from the exhaust at the rear turned out to be a detached heat shield that was repaired using oversize washers and new spring clips.

I wasn't able to determine from the service records if the cam belts had been changed so that was the next job. I found it much more straightforward than I had imagined and took me around half a day, new water pump and auxiliary belt at the same time, so now I have peace of mind for a while!

Oil and filter change was next with air and pollen filters, again very simple straightforward tasks and inexpensive.

I'm on my 2nd set of headlamp bulbs, which surprised me, but perhaps that's because they are always on with the DRL function?

Then came the orange engine light......it would come on for a few days, then go out for a week, then come back on and then off again! During this time the car seemed to be running normally so I didn't get too stressed out, but after several weeks of this started to get pee'd off. My little wireless OBDII reader just wasn't picking anything up so I bit the bullet and purchased a VCDS system from Gendan, on the basis that the car was going to be with me for a few years. Worked perfectly, identified the post cat sensor as the source of the fault, before getting the credit card out I cleared the code and it hasn't appeared since - work that out!!! I also had a couple of other minor electrical fault codes present which I cleared and they too have not yet resurfaced.

Add to that some wiper blades and a couple of tyres and everything is going well.

It may seem like a lot of work / expense in a 6 month period, but I've covered 12k miles and the car is 9 years old, so for me I'm ok with it, it runs like a dream and I'm very very happy with my choice.

But to be honest, when I add up the cost of the parts I haven't spent that much really, I think the VCDS kit was more expensive than all the parts added together!

Having said all that, I am just starting to notice an excessive rotational noise coming from the front which to me is suggesting wheel bearings or cv joints on their way out! Lets see what happens.....I would be surprised with only 60k on the clock how they they might start to fail especially since the CV boots are intact and the car isn't driven very hard!

So that's me - and my new little car !

10/10 for the Polo - so far.........

Hi, yes VCDS can be extremely handy, I have been a user/owner for maybe 20 years so was in it from the beginning, it needed upgrading twice during that time, the last time was not for my benefit but because my older daughter bought a new car in 2019, a SEAT Leon Cupra, so my version of VCDS ran out before that face lifted platform arrived.

For repairing heatshields, I tend to use washers cut out of old food tins, they are good and thin and can easily be "dished" to make them work easier with the old or new clips.

My front bearings have started rumbling after only 20,000 miles gentle driving. Only possible cause (other than rubbish bearings) is that the car is parked on a sloping driveway (nose down); during the worst of Covid the car was only moved once a week.

I think I had a bearing going, sounded like passenger front. Tock front wheels off and check bearing wobble. Was nothing, it worked out it was a out of shape rear tyre, the bridgestone are poor. Yet at 60k miles it could be but worth a check of the tyres

thanks for the feedback guys.

I like the tin can idea, never thought of that !

I first noticed the noise after having 2 new front tyres fitted, so initial thought too was defective tyres, swapped to the rear and noise continued!

Checked for play in the wheel bearings and found nothing!

Decided to bite the bullet and replace both drive shafts and wheel bearings, as something is clearly not right!

Quite frankly hard to believe that someone who came from mercedes is amazed by a polo. At least i wasn't amazed.

You can repair the drive shafts by replacing the inner and outer joints. I have heard that Meteli is great value for money. The Spidan and SKF are better but almost the double the price.
Im running GSP on my left and all OK for now. ( Joint- GSP, original axle shaft)