I

WELL remember a very long time ago testing the very first Golf GTi and being blown away by what was a total game changer in the hot hatch market. In fact many people attribute that Golf as being the very first proper hot hatch… well now comes an upgrade for its little brother as the Mk4 Polo GTi is launched.

However, when I say little, the 2019 performance Polo is actually bigger than that first Mk1 Golf - quite literally a growing trend in car design.

Look at a 1960s Mini and marvel at how five people were supposed to be able to squeeze inside. And go even further back and take a look at the Austin Seven - which now looks more like it should be on a child’s amusement park ride rather than the road.

The other thing that has, inevitably, grown is the price of a ‘small’ performance VW - our test 2.0-litre 200 PS six speed auto model is £20,660 on the road.

Yes - that’s right, AUTOMATIC. Normally not a word that goes with small performance hatchbacks but in this case it is a marriage made in petrolhead heaven.

As the Polo is light-ish (1,355kg) and has a relatively big 2-litre turbocharged engine it can compensate for the inevitable loss of power an auto brings. Plant the throttle in sport mode and this little flyer makes a great noise as it shoots you towards 62mph in just 6.7 seconds on your way to a 147mph top speed.

There’s quite a lot that’s new about the latest VW GTi. The Mk1 in 2000 had just 123bhp from its 1.6 nonturbo engine; 18 years later and we are up to 197bhp and almost two seconds quicker from 0-62mph than the original. And that 2-litre power plant from the Golf GTi is the biggest yet for a hot Polo.

The car is available in five-door and front-wheel drive only. It has a six-speed twin-clutch DSG automatic gearbox or six-speed manual.

There are four drive modes from eco through normal, sport and individual, which allows manual settings for steering, drive and engine sound as well as Sport Select adjustable suspension.

In eco VW claim the GTi will do a shade under 47mpg - not bad for a 2-litre petrol engine and a figure which seems perfectly achievable as I used the little flyer for a 400-mile round trip to a motoring event near Slough, only having to add £20 worth to the tank on the way back.

The Polo proved comfortable at motorway cruising and once on the twisty B roads putting it into Sport proved most rewarding - plenty of power, great handling and even a few little pops on the turbo on over-run from those twin rear pipes.

The standard kit list is impressive and includes a new Active Info Display which has high-end infotainment and driver assistance systems. However, the car’s sat-nav seemed determined to steer me into traffic jams rather that away from them!

Also on board is a great selectable