Volkswagen Polo, first drive

Like it? Share it!

Wednesday, 10 March 2010 12:30

The fifth generation Volkswagen Polo range went on sale in the UK in October last year in the slightly more popular five door body style. Three door versions followed by the end of the year.

Traditionally in the UK the Polo ‘supermini’ has been outsold by the larger C-Segment Golf range. But with the demand for Scrappage Scheme sales the new Polo is ‘hot’ and the range sits at an impressive fourth position in the top ten sales chart behind the Fiesta, Focus and Corsa. In the first two months of this year 7,607 new Polos have been registered. The Golf is in sixth position with 6,974 registrations.

Volkswagen’s UK sales overall this year are impressive at 22,099 registrations showing a 54.8% increase over the same period last year and with a 10.3% share of the new car market. They are now very close to overtaking Vauxhall 23,953 units (11.1%) for second position in the market behind Ford with 32,043 sales for a 14.9% market share.

At launch the Polo’s engine line-up was comprehensive with the choice of three 1.2/1.4-litre 60/70/85PS petrol and two diesel 1.6-litre 75/90PS units. But this has already been expanded upon for 2010 with the arrival of a 1.2-litre 105PS TSI petrol unit. The current price scale for the new Polo supermini range is £9,910 to £15,775.

Now the line-up is to be extended further with the addition of 80.7mpg and 91g/km Bluemotion models which use a 1.2-litre TDI diesel three cylinder engine giving 75PS and 133lb ft of torque and with a Stop/Start function. Available with the choice of three and five door body options prices are £14,445 and £15,045 respectively. At the other end of the scale the Polo GTI with a 1.4-litre TSI supercharger/turbocharger petrol engine with 180PS of power and 184lb ft of torque has been announced but with no price indication as they will not arrive until the summer.

Volkswagen had anticipated around 37,000 Polo sales in the UK this year; it looks as though it could be more. What with Scrappage customers and retail and business/fleet buyers down-sizing the much more grown up new Polo is a hot prospect.

Views
Narrowly beaten to the title of 2010 International Car of the Year, the new Volkswagen Polo is in reality a scaled down version of the highly praised Golf. With customers downsizing because of the economic climate and the huge short-term success from the Scrappage campaign, the Polo has been catapulted into fourth position of the UK’s new car sales top ten chart so I’m taking a closer look at the product.

I had originally tested the first five door Polo models last September and now three door models have joined the line-up and more engine options, including Bluemotion versions, are on their way.

One of the issues about testing new models at a media introduction is that you can only have a relatively short time behind the wheel and so you only gain a snapshot of what the car is all about, good, bad and indifferent. What our skill and experience should do is use that snapshot time to give you a balanced judgement.

However to get a clearer picture sometimes it is advisable to spend more time behind the wheel and that is what I have done with the Polo, especially as the car just felt so good and worthy of considerable praise.

Initially VW suggested 60% of UK Polo sales would go to retail buyers but that figure has probably been higher because of the Scrappage campaign. Now all manufacturers are looking to expand their fleet and business user-chooser sales to keep the momentum going for the remainder of the year. Around 60% of Polo customers will choose a five-door model because it is more practical. There are S, Moda, SE and SEL trim and equipment levels and all models include as standard a EuroNCAP five star safety rating, ABS braking and ESP handling programme.

The frisky but noisy 1.2-litre petrol engines will be the best sellers because of their lower purchase price but the 1.4-litre petrol unit, because it offers more power and torque and its smoother, would be my suggestion. Around 16% of Polo customers will opt for a diesel engine but to make this a wise decision customers really have to cover a high annual mileage. Yes the diesel unit’s fuel economy is better and the BIK company car tax and road tax are lower but the purchase price for a 1.6-litre TDI, 90PS engine over a 1.4-litre petrol 85PS unit is £1,445 more. Currently the Polo range starts at £9,910 and tops out at £15,775.

For anybody covering less than 20,000 miles a year my recommendation is to buy the Polo five-door in SE trim and equipment level with the 1.4-litre petrol engine which carries a ‘sticker’ price of £13,030 with a manual gearbox. An auto option adds £1,200 to that price.

However to get my longer Polo ‘fix’ Volkswagen kindly sent me a five door 1.6-litre TDI 90PS diesel with top of the range SEL specification which carried a significant price tag of £15,775. The same specification model with a 1.4-litre, more lively petrol engine is £14,330.

Petrol or diesel powered the new Polo is well balanced, they feel strong, well made, safe and offer a good mix of comfort, agility and control. The new models are larger than the previous Polo and the equipment levels are high so they will appeal to downsizing customers. The Polo is just like a smaller edition Golf in looks and driveability. Talking of looks, it looked impressive sat on my driveway, another good reason to test a new model for a bit longer and at home.

However the 1.6-litre 90PS diesel version was a disappointment – something you can only find out when you live with a car for day in and day out motoring – not just a short snapshot drive. Because the drivetrain is so highly geared to produce the best possible ‘official’ fuel economy figures and the lowest possible CO2 emission figures, which determine road tax cost and BIK charges, this model was very hard work. Even the 170lb ft (230Nm) of torque from 1,500rpm wasn’t enough for this engine to be remotely responsive in fourth and especially fifth gears except during motorway driving. The car needed to be pushed along all the time and even in slow urban traffic it was never eager to please and required constant use of the gearbox.

Officially this model will return 65.7mpg in the Combined Cycle. My test car achieved 58.3mpg at best for a 230mile motorway journey at legal speeds. At worst the car returned 48mpg for local driving. For the record the CO2 emissions are a low 112g/km which currently means a £35 VED road tax charge but under the new First Year VED rate this drops to £0 and rises to £30 for the second year onwards.

I generally like diesel power because they are fuel frugal but responsive and the PSA Peugeot-Citroen and the Renault-Nissan diesels of this capacity are all much better to drive and just as economical.

The Polo is a very good supermini - probably the best, but not with this engine.

MILESTONES. Volkswagen Polo 1.6-litre TDI 90PS SEL 5-Door. Price £15,775. Engine/transmission: 1.6-litre, four-cylinder, common rail, turbodiesel, 90PS (89bhp), 170lb ft from 1,500rpm, 5-speed manual. Performance: 112mph, 0-62mph 11.5 seconds, 65.7mpg combined cycle ( 48 to 58.3mpg on test depending on load and road type), CO2 112g/km, VED £35 now, (£0 from April for new First Year Rate then £30 onwards), BIK company car tax 13%. Insurance group: 13E. Load space: 280 to 952-litres. For: A Polo that looks as good as the Golf, more interior space, better built, better equipped and better balance than previous models, high residual values. Against: High purchase price not offset by low running costs, tiring to drive on long journeys due to the high gearing that dulls the engine’s potential. Miles Better News Agency http://www.girlracer.co.uk