First Drive: Volkswagen Polo TSI

04th September 2017

Richard Bremner

According to Renè Renger, the chief designer of the new Volkswagen Polo’s interior, the main goal when developing this sixth generation edition was to have customers deciding ‘that I want this because I like the design, and not because I can’t afford a Golf.’

To this end, the latest Polo’s creators have aimed to produce ‘a more emotional car’ by which they mean a design with a bit of dynamism, want-one allure and vibrant colour.

This new Polo certainly has a measure of each quality, especially compared to its sensibly sober predecessors, even if it’s a long way from triggering the kind of lightly irrational desire that buyers of Minis and Fiat 500s experience. But VW generally doesn’t do light irrationality (GTIs and Sciroccos are the exceptions) and that’s the way its millions of customers like it. So the new Polo doesn’t look wildly different from the previous, 4.2 million-selling fifth edition, which isn’t to say that there aren’t plenty of changes.

Most noticeable is the latest Polo’s extra girth, which swells by 63mm to the benefit of cabin width and the muscularity of its flanks, if not manoeuvrability. It’s 81mm longer too, but more useful is a wheelbase extended by 92mm to provide more rear room and a 71 litre larger boot. Disappointingly the Polo’s weight increases by around 50kg with its larger footprint, but the bodyshell is stiffer too, potentially benefitting refinement. As will the fact that it’s built around the VW Group’s so-called MQB architecture, whose dimensional flexibility allows this car to share innards with models as diverse as the Golf, Tiguan, and Audi TT. More beneficial to buyers is that accessing larger car hardware provides the Polo with more sophisticated electronics, ranging from re-configurable instruments that can present a full-colour navigation map to a suite of aids including autonomous emergency braking, blind-spot assist and rear traffic alert.

More striking than all of this, however, will be the possibility of enjoying a more colourful Polo cabin, two-tone ceramic and black dashboards, coloured satin inserts and more colourful upholstery all on the options palette. It’s tasteful, too, although the dubious can still have pitch black.

The engines pulling this decidedly more inviting interior around are three-cylinder 999cc petrols of 64bhp, 74bhp, 95bhp and 113bhp, the last two turbocharged. A 197bhp GTI is coming. There are two diesels of 79bhp and 94bhp, although VW doesn’t expect much demand here. Instead, the best-seller will likely be the 94bhp petrol when the new Polo is available to order this October for January deliveries, prices starting at £13,500.

This engine issues a soft but noticeable three-cylinder throb at low revs, along with decently solid thrust that makes it easy to drive, if not quick. It’s relaxing, too, the air of quiet excellent. Ride comfort it was hard to judge on Germany’s millpond roads, but the odd lump suggests adequate rather than outstanding absorbency. Despite its slightly more dynamic demeanour the Polo certainly isn’t a car to encourage cornering for the joy of it, but there are no obvious flaws in its direction changing abilities.

Instead, it feels very mature, which is no surprise given its enlargement, that it relies on the hardware of bigger cars and that VW has made a major (and largely successful) effort to invest it with the fit, finish and ambience of pricier models. And yes, it’s easy to imagine wanting this Polo for itself, rather than for it being a shrunken Golf.