Polo Planned enhancement part 2
Polo Planned enhancement part 2
Third modification - Bigger wheels
In Singapore, the Polo comes in 3 variants; they are the base Polo, Polo Sports and the little pocket rocket Polo GTi. The former two are equipped with VAG's 1.2 liter TSi engine while the latter comes with a VAG 1.4 liter Twin charge engine. All of them use the DSG7 as the standard drivetrain.
Of course, the amount of cash you are willing to part with gets you different levels of equipment. For Polo Sports, it comes with an 105 Hp engine, RCD 310 head unit, steering wheel control for the audio, basic white MFD and a bit of aluminum finishings for the air vents, headlight control knob as well as the aircon control knobs.
It is all about wheels
Ok, next lets look at the wheels. For the wheels, the Polo comes with VW 16 inch Navarre rims. |
| This rim came with the car |
I was pretty satisfied with the rims, that is until I hand washed the car. Imagine how much effort and time is spent on just scrubbing those multi spoke rims!
Therefore, I made up my mind to change the wheels. The main criterion for the new set of rims is that the design should be more fuss free and easier to wash.
Thus, I scoured the web for a set of nice looking wheels and my search turns up the following:
I reminded myself not to be over jealous - well since this is just a 1.2 liter car after all. However, if it was the more powerful cousin like the Golf...that will be a different story...
Hence, I decided that a set of 17 inch wheels would strike a nice balance between aesthetics and performance. Luckily, the Polo is using PCD of 100 so there is quite a wide range of selection and these included the Japanese rims.
Although a few sets of rims caught my eyes, I managed to narrow my selection down to then VW's 17 inch Boavista rims which have 5 spokes and most importantly, pretty stock looking.
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| VW's 17 inch Boavista rims |
The hunt for THE wheels
After making that decision, the hunt is finally on!I discovered that VW's 17 inch Boavista rims are optional so there it is pretty hard to find used ones in the market. Nonetheless, my search finally ended at the industrial estate in Paya Ubi where a trusty tyre shop, Leong Seng tyres & automotive is located.
I was pretty disappointed when the initial search was fruitless. And even I was open to alternatives, they were either too expensive, incorrect offset or fugly. Just when I and my wife was leaving, the boss asked if we were keen to take a look at a set of one day old cross Polo 17 inches Budapest rims.
Lady luck was really shining upon us that day! To my absolute delight, the set was pretty close to what I had in mind; 5 spokes, PCD 100 and the correct offset. These set of wheels were a great fit and are flushed with the fenders. Hence, I traded in my brand new 700 km old set of rims for these at a reasonable price, and did I mention that these lovely rims comes with Bridgestone MY02 tyres which were just launched?!
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| My Polo with the rims changed |
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| The 2009 VW Polo Worthersee Concept |
Review for the new wheels
After having travelled 4600km with these set of tyres and rims, I have to comment that they stay within my expectations since I am used to tyres which are more slick.
Nonetheless, I got a nice surprise when I found out that this combination was actually similar to the Worthersee concept which was launched way back in 2009!
Aside from that, my wifey is delighted that now, I spend shorter time for the car wash... :)
Do stay tuned for my post on the next modification....the head unit!
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