Volkswagen Polo
It’s bigger than before and is packed with tech. Is that enough for Polo to take glory?
MODEL TESTED: Volkswagen Polo 1.0 TSI 95 SE PRICE: £15,930 ENGINE: 1.0-litre 3cyl, 94bhp
THIS sixth-generation Volkswagen Polo enters the crowded supermini sector offering even more space, usability and tech than its predecessor. But at £15,930 in 1.0 TSI 95 SE trim we’re testing (our pictures show a beats edition), it’s also pricier than ever, plus more expensive than its rivals. Is it worth the extra?
Design & engineering
GIVEN that the VW Group owns SEAT, the new Polo shares plenty with its sister brand’s supermini, the Ibiza. Under the skin the Polo is based on the group’s MQB A0 small car platform, which has helped both vehicles grow in size to provide more practicality.
You get Macpherson strut front suspension and a torsion-beam rear end. However, there are obvious differences in the calibration of the two cars’ chassis set-ups, which we’ll come on to. The engine is also identical to the Ibiza’s: a 94bhp 1.0-litre threecylinder turbo petrol unit, linked to a five-speed manual gearbox that sends drive to the front wheels.
It wasn’t all that long ago that anything from a 1.2 to a 1.6-litre engine would feature in a mid-spec supermini like this, but an industry-wide drive for efficiency means more economical downsized turbo petrol units are now the norm. That’s a good thing, because they’ve enabled us to have our cake and eat it when it comes to the tradeoff between efficiency and performance.
Features such as an eight-inch colour touchscreen, DAB radio, Bluetooth connectivity, Apple Carplay and Android Auto were the preserve of luxury cars until just a few years ago, but they’re standard here.
Still, satellite navigation is a £650 option on the VW, while it costs only £300 on the Ford and comes as standard on the SEAT. Granted, you can use your mobile for navigation through the connectivity tech included, but this is worth bearing in mind.
The Polo offers the classiest, highest-quality cabin here, but it isn’t all that far ahead of the Fiesta. While the VW’S dash is lined in softer plastic, the rest of the interior is made from hard materials; it’s particularly noticeable on the doors.
Driving
IF the Ford is the fun choice and the SEAT the sporty choice, the VW has the edge on refinement. Its ride is the most supple of these competitors, absorbing bumps with a level of compliance beyond its rivals, especially the firmer-feeling Ibiza.
Whereas peaks and troughs in the road upset the SEAT more noticeably, the Polo takes them in its stride to give greater comfort. It’s not without fault, because the car understandably runs out of answers to nasty ridges and potholes, but it does an adequate job of filtering out the worst surfaces for a supermini.
The trade-off is that it isn’t as fun or characterful. There’s more grip than you’ll realistically ever use, but it’s safe and secure even when you push the chassis, and in typical fashion for an Mqb-based car, the Polo’s steering is nicely weighted and accurate.
However, the steering is also totally lifeless, which contributes towards the Volkswagen’s flatter, less eager feeling. It still delivers a nice balance between comfort and capability. The best compliment we can pay the latest version of the Polo is that it feels remarkably like a scaled-down Golf.
The 1.0-litre TSI unit delivers a refined dollop of performance. The Polo was the slowest car from 0-60mph on test; its time of 10.2 seconds was only three tenths behind both its rivals. This slight deficit will be difficult to notice on an empty road, never mind on the commute.
With an identical 175Nm of torque, it matched the Ibiza from 50 to 70mph in fifth gear at 13.1 seconds. Importantly, it’s the quietest car on the move, with less wind and road noise at higher speed.
Practicality
A 355-litre boot puts the Polo on par with the Ibiza, and just ahead of the Fiesta, and combined with the rear legroom available it means both can be used as small family cars for odd occasions. Tall adults won’t struggle for space in the back of the VW, while the front delivers a decent level of storage for items such as mobiles; you can add a wireless charging tray for £355, too.
Parking sensors aren’t standard, but the Polo is still easy to manoeuvre despite growing in size. Yet, like both its rivals, the door mirrors are small, so you might want to think about upgrading with the £315 parking sensor pack or the £250 reversing camera.
Ownership
VOLKSWAGEN ranked mid-table in our Driver Power 2017 satisfaction survey, finishing 14th out of 27 brands.
Safety is a big issue for small cars now, so with autonomous emergency braking, featuring pedestrian detection, as standard, along with six airbags and a system that’ll apply the brakes after a crash to prevent secondary collisions, the Polo achieved a full five-star Euro NCAP rating. Buyers can boost protection levels further with the £255 blindspot monitoring and cross traffic alert pack.
Running costs
VW’S premium badge usually means strong residuals, but our experts predict that the Polo will hold on to less of its list price than the SEAT, at 42.7 per cent.
This means it’ll lose £9,129 over three years and 36,000 miles, compared with £9,116 for the Ibiza, which has an estimated residual value of 43.1 per cent. The Polo will be worth more than the Fiesta after the same period, because the Ford is only expected to hold on to 38.7 per cent, depreciating by £9,745. Still, the VW is the priciest choice if you’ll be buying on PCP finance (see Through the Range, opposite).