A facelift, more power for the GTI and a new engine which, in the BlueGT, runs on four or two cylinders are some of the highlights of the latest Volkswagen Polo range.
It’s been a good 2015 for the Polo in Britain, sales standing at 14,821 for the first quarter, of which 10,038 were sold in March. That underlines how the year’s first registration plate change distorts the market. The car was more popular here than in Germany (+14% to 6,715 sales in March), though for the same quarter, the equivalent total is 17,657.
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Registrations in these two markets, while impressive, is nothing compared to what’s been going on in China of late. There, thanks to the arrival of the revised range, sales were up by 44% last month to 13,589, and to 51,689 for the year to date.
The current five-door hatchback range dates to a debut at the 2009 Geneva show. The car was too early for MQB, so it uses the PQ25/A05 platform which was introduced by the SEAT Ibiza in May 2008. The successor model, due in 2017, will switch to MQB Zero and for Europe, it will continue to be manufactured in Spain at the Landaben plant near Pamplona.
The three-door, which VW recently stated it would not replace for the next generation model range, had its world premiere at the Frankfurt motor show in September 2009. It went on sale across Europe during following month. A long wheelbase sedan was then announced for the Russian market in June 2010, appearing in local showrooms later that summer. This is assembled at the VW Group’s Kaluga plant. The four-door model is also built and sold in India, but badged as the Vento there.
Two of the high-end cars in Europe’s Polo range have now come in for added attention following the arrival of a facelifted model range at last year’s Geneva show. These are the BlueGT and GTI. The first of these had initially been launched in Germany in August 2012. Until its arrival, Volkswagen had not offered a car with Active Cylinder Management. In the BlueGT, this sees the second and third cylinders of a 1.4-litre TSI direct injection turbocharged petrol engine shut off to save fuel. This happens only when the driver uses a light touch on the throttle. The latest version of this engine has 10% more power (now 150PS) and ACM is renamed ‘ACT’.
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By GlobalDataThere have been more dramatic changes for the GTI, this variant having just arrived in the UK. Its engine used to be a supercharged and turbocharged 1.4 that produced a claimed 180PS. But now, with the move to Euro 6 compliancy, this unit is replaced by a 192PS 1.8-litre TSI. Top speed rises to 146mph and 0-62mph drops to 6.7 seconds. CO2 is now 139g/km, while the engine’s maximum torque is 320Nm.
An all-too brief drive around Oxfordshire revealed this to be a rev-happy unit and the six-speed manual gear change had well spaced ratios. There is hardly a hint of torque steer, all the more impressive considering that the Haldex clutch 4MOTION all-wheel drive system from other Volkswagens is sadly not available on this or any other Polo.
XDS+ is much of the reason why you won’t see much in the way of wheelspin. Just as on the Golf GTI, this system compensates for understeer. Given that most buyers of this car will be driving enthusiasts, Volkswagen has also made ESC Sport standard. This enables the ESC to be adapted for use on a racing track. It works in stages: the traction control is deactivated, then ESC Sport kicks in and raises the threshold at which the electronics will intervene.
Until the GTI reappeared (from GBP18,095), the BlueGT was the highest priced variant (GBP17,710-19,715 – three doors, five doors, manual or DSG). It loses 30hp to the GTI but nonetheless manages to fix up with looks that are almost as sharp. That’s thanks to 17-inch ‘Montani’ alloy wheels, side skirts and bespoke bumpers, glossy black for the grille and mirror cappings, 15mm lower sports suspension, sports seats trimmed in ‘BlueSpeed’ cloth with Alcantara bolsters and black cloth for the headliner.
Just as the red stitching lifts the interior of the GTI, the BlueGT’s azure trim details jazz up what can be a too-grey interior in some of the cheaper variants. The BlueGT’s optional seven-speed DSG gearbox is much improved over older versions of this dual-clutch transmission but there are still problems. Parking on a slope can be a slow and shunt-filled affair as selecting R or D doesn’t always mean the requested rearward or forward motion progresses instantly and seamlessly. If you’re facing uphill and close to the car behind, choosing reverse can result in a small backwards hop and potential bashing of bumpers if you don’t have a foot firmly on the brake. Volkswagen is getting there with its DSGs, as the one in the Golf shows, but this unit needs a bit more work.
The rest of the Polo range also features EU6-compliant engines, which VW says can offer fuel efficiency improvements of up to 23 percent over the old units. Petrol options are two three-cylinder 1.0-litre MPI units with 60 or 75PS and two 1.2-litre four-cylinder TSI engines with 90 or 110PS (plus the BlueGT’s 150PS 1.4 TSI and the GTI’s 180PS 1.8 TSI). Diesel options are two new three-cylinder 1.4-litre TDI units, with 75 or 90PS.
All cars come with Hill Hold and an Automatic Post-Collision Braking System which prevents the car rolling away, thereby minimising the chances of a second impact. New optional safety features include a Driver Alert System (standard on BlueGT and GBP25 on other variants) and Adaptive Cruise Control with Front Assist and City Emergency Braking, for GBP500.
A modular infotainment system similar to the one on the Golf also now features. This consists of a touchscreen with proximity sensor, plus a function that reacts to wiping movements using your fingers. Bluetooth and a USB port are standard, while a navigation system for the 6.5-inch touchscreen is optional from SE trim upwards for an extra GBP700. MirrorLink is another extra on cars in SE trim and above. Priced at GBP150, this allows you to display and control selected Android phone apps on the infotainment screen. Other apps include internet radio and news services, as well as some which mix navigation information with vehicle data.
What’s particularly welcome is the decision to retain push buttons as part of the interior’s makeover instead of overwhelming the central monitor with every control. So it’s quick and safe to adjust the HVAC via plastic turn-switches, A/C on and off is also located there, while proper buttons for phone, media, radio and so on are to the sides of the central screen. Getting rid of buttons is all very well but they still have their place, and keeping the driver’s eyes on the road should be the priority of those who design car interiors. The rival Peugeot 208 and Renault Clio are great little cars but their infotainment systems are way too fiddly, so applause to VW for getting the balance between minimalism and functionality spot on.
They might seem pricey at first glance but then as with most Volkswagens, the BlueGT and GTI should each be worth more than most rivals come trade-in time. They also sound and feel incredibly strong and solid, all the controls having just the right weighting to them. There really isn’t too much to dislike but standard electric boot opening is needed, given how susceptible the combined VW badge/boot latch is to picking up road spray – the same problem exists with the Golf.
The Polo’s big brother is of course Volkswagen UK’s best seller but the smaller car still managed to tot up 48,004 sales in 2014, some 70 percent of those going to retail customers, which again helps to maintain strong RVs. As those almost 15,000 registrations in Q1 show, 2015 is already looking like a big year for this little VW.
