Volkswagen Polo GTI
Volkswagen £21,140 WE SAY: POLO GETS MADE OVER BY A MAN WITH SERIOUS PREVIOUS
New Polo means new Polo GTI. This is good news for many reasons. Chief among which is a man called Karsten Schebsdat, VW’s head of chassis engineering and dynamics. He had a hand in the frst Ford Focus, then he went to Porsche for a bit and did GT3s and much besides. Now he’s at VW – leading a team whose credits include the Golf GTI Clubsport S and Up GTI. This is a man who knows how a car should handle. And his head is awash with reasons why the new Polo GTI is measurably better than the car it replaces.
Since it’s based on the new MQB A0 platform, like the Seat Ibiza, the new Polo is 7cm longer, 7cm wider and 2cm taller than the old one. Its proportions, stance and aesthetic scream Golf. And so does the engine. It’s the entirely familiar 2.0-litre turbo from, yep, all fast Golfs. Here it makes 200PS (197bhp in old money), which is enough for 0–62mph in 6.7secs and 147mph. At launch the only available gearbox is a 6spd DSG, but a manual will follow. Good news, because the auto is not without faw – even locked in Manual mode it’ll upshift for you. And if you coincidentally pull a paddle as it starts to swap cogs, you get two gears instead of one, taking you, say, from second to fourth in what feels like a split second.
That aside, it’s an accomplished thing. Not as pointy, frenetic or playful as a Fiesta ST or 208 GTI, but very capable. Rides well in either of its modes (the car we tried had optional, two-mode switchable ‘Sport Select’ suspension), changes direction with poise and agility and steers faithfully, with a degree of feel and reasonable weighting. But it’s so Golf in every way you might regret it if you didn’t fnd more money and buy the car everyone really wants. Or save it and buy an Up GTI, which is juvenile, playful and therefore fun in a way the Polo isn’t.
With the Polo GTI, VW nailed the brief it created for itself – this is as good as a fast Polo has been in (my) living memory, and close as ever to the Golf. But it’s not entirely free from the reputation that’s dogged it for years – that it’s simply too grown-up for a hot hatch of this size/type.