Polo Sedan a real car for real people

The more time you spend with Volkswagen’s new Polo Sedan, the more you begin to realise that the myth that a small SUV is the perfect family car is leading many young moms and dads astray.

The most important thing in any family car – no matter the age of the kids – is space. Whether they get along well or turn the back seat into World War III, children need space… and the Polo Sedan has plenty for passengers.

There’s also plenty of boot space and the back seats fold down to make the cargo space even bigger if you need to turn the family car into a temporary bakkie to carry out household chores over the weekend.

No other vehicle in the Polo Sedan’s price range has as much usable space – whether sedan or SUV – and it betters many cars much higher up in the price ranks.

Next up for a family is that the car must be reliable. And this Polo, which has a simple multipoint fuel injection engine instead of the complex turbo-petrol varieties of some of its siblings, emphatically ticks. With an alleged 81kW on tap (I say alleged because it often doesn’t feel like it), the Polo is no road-burner. Then again, it’s not meant to be.

The upside of this is fuel consumption: We averaged less than eight litres per 100km (with different drivers and a mix of city and highway driving over about 8 000km) in our six months with the car. On a long trip to the coast and back, it returned 5.6l/100km, which is diesel territory…

Most of all, the Polo was unprepossessing, pleasant to drive and easy to park, thanks to its rear-view camera.