irishcar.com - VW Polo 1.2

Volkswagen’s latest Polo is arguably the best Volkswagen ever built, certainly in its own class and maybe even in VW segments above it.

And there are a small legion of Polo owners out there who have been waiting anxiously for the current version to arrive, given that the Skoda equivalent car on the same platform has been out for yonks.

Now they can exchange their valued cult badge for a new one. And they won’t be disappointed.

The latest Polo is available in 3-cylinder 1.2-litre petrol form as well as a 1.4-litre petrol, and a brace of diesels - the 3-cylinder 1.4 from the A2 and a normally-aspirated 1.9-litre oilburner.

The bones of this review are based on time spent in the 1.2-litre petrol. And a fine buzzy little machine it is, coming really into its own when you take it out of the struggling gridlocks and wheeling it up through hilly and twisty country roads, taking advantage of a bit of fun whenever visibility is good and roads are definitely clear.

The somewhat sewing machine sound that in traffic might feel a bit wearing becomes a whirr of pokeability, and the gearshift a willing partner in getting the best verve out of the entry-level motor. There’s a quantum leap of difference in performance of this entry-level against the lowest-level one in the Polo’s last incarnation.

(Though a small caveat - this car had the 65bhp engine ... a 55bhp version has arrived since I drove it.)

The handling of the old Polo could never be faulted, neither can it be in this one. Again, it only comes into its own when pushed.

Visually they’ve substantially improved the car also, with a front end borrowed from the previous Lupo (or, some suggest, Mercedes?) sporting separate front lights in a classy nose.

But they’ve not gone crazy with the rest of the body, following that conservative VW dictum that it shouldn’t tamper too much with a favoured thing.

The car is definitely roomier inside, though, and even for me the headroom and legroom is more than ample (in the back too, though I increasingly find it tiresome to climb into the rear of a 3-door, as was the review car.)

I have to say that the dashboard disappointed, being very black and kind of dull, and rather old-fashioned in design. But this IS a VW, and there’s no point, or need to, in pushing out the envelope and possibly frightening the existing customers.

The instruments are good, though. I particularly like the blue lighting pioneered by the marque on its last Golf, which is by far the best and most visible colour for anyone over 40 (there are optical reasons, and very few of us are exempt from them: I remember a former and internationally-respected optician of mine saying that EVERYBODY over 40 needs glasses of some kind. Something to do with the fact that we’re living longer than many of our accessory systems were devised to last for).

You don’t get much in extra kit in Volkswagens - everything beyond the very basic stuff is extra, and in the review car the only working button amongst a set of them on the dashboard was for the rear demister. But there are upgrade packages which bring different things on-line. And if you want to switch off the passenger airbag, the switch will cost you 68 euros.

But anyway, the only reason you’d want to do that is to put a child in the front seat, either in straps or in a child seat. And both of those things are totally illegal in this country, so don’t bother.

But the review car had slide-in boxes under the front seats, and there was a neat between the seats unit to hold a couple of cans. And the boot looked reasonably capacious for the class.

I’ve written before that there is a cult of Volkswagen, and once people experience the marque they tend not to change. Which accounts for the very small differentials between new and old versions for the most part.

But there is much more competition now, and I suspect a reduction in brand loyalty which could be already affecting VW in this class particularly.

Perhaps I’m imagining it, but I don’t figure I’m seeing as many new Polos out there as I expected. The official expectation for next year is 7,000 units.

Perhaps people are hanging in for other superminis, lately arrived or soon to come. Like the VW sibling the SEAT Ibiza which comes in a fancier package, or the remarkable Citroen C3 which is without doubt that brand’s best-conceived small car ever, or Ford’s Fiesta now on limited sale.

In this class, it is for the motorist a vintage year. It will for us motoring writers be a difficult choice to pick the best of the vintage. As to the cost of popping the cork, Polos start at 14,270 euros, and this one goes for 14,680 euros.