GENEVA MOTOR SHOW: Volkswagen Polo facelift

Volkswagen has just released images of the facelifted version of its small-car rock, the Polo, which it plans to publicly reveal at the Geneva motor show in March.

The fifth-generation Polo has received a series of subtle exterior design tweaks to bring it more in line with the Golf 7’s clean-cut appearance, along with a raft of interior upgrades, engine fiddles and economy improvements.

After five years of service, the Polo also adopts the Golf’s attitude towards bringing large-car electronic safety systems into the small-car arena, going well beyond the traditional traction- and stability-control systems.

But the most significant changes to the three- and five-door hatchback are new or upgraded engines in every offering. The Polo’s base engine, the three-cylinder 1.2-litre petrol motor, has been reworked significantly, even though it retains multi-point fuel-injection rather than more accurate direct-injection. 

Even so, Volkswagen claims that idle-stop and brake-energy recuperation systems give the base 1.2-litre a 21 per cent reduction in fuel consumption – down to 3.8L/100km, which translates to CO2 emissions of only 106g/km, while putting out 44kW of power.

There is now a stronger version of this naturally aspirated motor, which puts out 55kW of power (up 3kW) but retains the same consumption details.

They aren’t the only three-cylinder engines in the Polo’s arsenal, though, because Volkswagen also turbocharges the 1.2-litre block to deliver versions with 66kW and 80kW of power.

In what is surely a record number of three-cylinder engines in a line-up, Volkswagen has also fitted an all-new 1.0-litre, three-cylinder engine for the Polo TSI Bluemotion, which delivers the astonishing fuel-consumption claim of 3.4L/100km and has the ability to run comfortably in traffic thanks to 66kW of power. 

It is one of the few petrol engines on sale with emissions under the 100g/km mark, with Volkswagen claiming 94g/km for CO2 emissions, and the number is so low that it’s the first petrol-powered Volkswagen to wear the Bluemotion badge, reserved for its most economical machinery.

Of course there are four-cylinder Polos, and they, too, have been improved. The 1.4-litre four picks up the ability to switch off two of its cylinders when it’s cruising thanks to cylinder-on-demand technology and also picks up 7.5kW of power. It now has 110kW at 6000rpm in the Polo Blue GT model.

The Polo GTI has been the victim of its own success, with huge waiting lists in Australia, and there’s no reason to expect that to change with a 7.5kW power hike to 141kW in the facelifted version.

The Polo’s diesel powertrain has also been revised, with the 67kW 1.2-litre, three-cylinder diesel and the two 1.6-litre, four-cylinder diesel engine variants replaced by 55kW, 66kW and 77kW versions of the new 1.4-litre three-cylinder engine.

Volkswagen insists the 55kW version of the new diesel delivers 210Nm of torque at just 1500rpm, but flits along drinking just 2.7L/100km, translating into a CO2 figure of just 82g/km.

Choosing three cylinders over four has also slashed the economy in the more powerful diesel variants, too, with the 66kW version cutting 21 per cent from the consumption of the outgoing four-pot, with similar power numbers. Its fuel use drops from 3.8L/100km to just 2.8.

Volkswagen has backed its re-engine campaign with a either five- or six-speed manual gearboxes or a seven-speed DSG.

Don’t expect the current generation of Polo to benefit from Volkswagen’s latest march into alternative powertrains and hybrids, because the Polo’s architecture predates the Golf’s MQB platform and, essentially, none of the work done for the Golf or the up! will fit into it. 

Volkswagen also insists the Polo is too far into its model cycle to recoup the costs of re-engineering it to accept full electric or plug-in hybrid drivetrains.

While electrification is out of the question, Volkswagen has worked on the Polo’s already impressive ride and handling characteristics, giving it a new electro-mechanical power-steering system to go with an optional, two-stage Sports suspension system.

While its exterior changes are focused on bringing it into line with the Golf, the main points of change are around the front bumper and grille. There are larger air intakes and an emphasis on accentuating the width of the nose via a decidedly horizontal grille. 

Volkswagen had to do this because it couldn’t change the light housing, though it has reworked the LED segments of the headlight so that there is now the option of LED main beams on the premium versions.

The car’s back-end gets new tail-lights, though the exhaust is identical and the wheel sizes, ranging from 15- through to 17-inch, are unchanged. There are some new paint colours for the Polo.

The interior has seen Volkswagen again attempt to bring the Polo closer to the feel and look of the latest Golf, complete with new instrument graphics, a new centre console, new HVAC controls and a new three-spoke steering wheel.

The centre console now has either a 5.0- or 6.5-inch touch-screen multi-media display, which also shows the work of its reversing camera.

That’s not the end of electronic assistance systems, though, because the Polo also gets fatigue monitoring, radar active cruise control, an emergency braking function for city use and a system that keeps the brakes jammed on hard after a collision.

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