Volkswagen Polo 2009 Review - International

What we liked
>> Superb 1.2-litre petrol turbomotor
>> Outstanding ride and handling against light-car rivals
>> Sensible packaging for families

Overall rating: 3.0/5.0
Engine and Drivetrain: 3.5/5.0
Price, Packaging and Practicality: 2.5/5.0
Safety: 4.0/5.0
Behind the wheel: 3.0/5.0
X-factor: 2.5/5.0

OVERVIEW

Yet the fifth generation of Volkswagen's Polo provides a strong counterpoint. Like Ford's new Fiesta, the Polo is a light car of the same size and distinction as small cars from just a few years ago. It's not that Polo has swollen that much in the transition from old to new, but it's more capable across a broader range of criteria and offers a wider range to meet the needs of more.

Timing is everything and the Polo's introduction comes at what is widely regarded as the worst global economic period since the Great Depression. Everyone is downsizing and the Polo is well placed to take advantage of that. Young families who would have previously purchased a Golf can look at Polo as an alternative now. In future then, the Polo could replace Golf as the de facto family car in Europe and other markets.

Volkswagen benchmarked the new Polo against Peugeot 207, Opel/Vauxhall Corsa and the Ford Fiesta. None of those are cheap and nasty little cars that are sold on price alone, but they're still affordable, practical and economical. They are however a little more prestigious than we've come to expect from this market segment.

Perhaps that's why Volkswagen air-freighted the Polo to Sardinia rather than let us loose driving the Polo in what some would say is its natural habitat -- traffic jams, school zones, shopping strips and multi-storey carparks.

How will the new car shape up on pricing? We suspect Volkswagen would like to keep a 'loss-leader' model in the range and -- given the relative health of the Australian dollar (and presuming it stays so healthy), a three-door model would be likely to arrive at around $17,000. Our assumption is based on Volkswagen's efforts at keeping the Golf 6 entry-level model under $26,000.

Whether that parity is also achievable in the light-car segment, where margins are that much narrower, who knows? Probably not even Volkswagen Australia at this stage.

Taking into account the current model's pricing, you could expect the new model five-door variants to start from 'around' $19,990 (price guide -- recommended price before statutory and delivery charges).

For the drive program, Volkswagen laid on different specifications and variants of the Polo -- not all of which we'll see here. The three levels of trim in the default five-door model range are Trendline (base), Comfortline (mid) and Highline (upper). These levels of trim may vary in detail for the Australian market when the new Polo goes on sale sometime early next year.

Based on the cars driven, the Trendline features: electro-hydraulic power steering, front electric windows, central locking, height adjustment for the driver's seat, height-and-reach adjustable steering and 14-inch steel wheels. We reckon it's a safe bet that the entry-level models will get rear electric windows for Australian delivery.

Once again, the Comfortline grade won't necessarily reach Australia in the same configuration as the cars driven in Sardinia. At any rate, they varied from the Trendline models in offering the following additional features: chrome interior trim, rear electric windows, climate control, remote central locking and 15-inch steel wheels. It's possible that the Polo Comfortline may be the entry-level car in the local market.

Polo Highline cars in Sardinia came equipped with these items to position them above the Comfortline spec: 'small leather pack' for steering wheel/gearshift/parking brake, chilled glovebox, three-spoke steering wheel, front fog lights, dust/pollen filtration, reverse-parking acoustic guidance and 15-inch alloy wheels.

Safety features (SAFETY is covered in greater detail below) for all Polo variants include: stability control, antilock brakes, traction control, electronic limited-slip differential, engine-braking control (MSR), braking assistant, dual front airbags, thorax-protecting side-impact airbags for front-seat occupants and head-protecting side-curtain airbags.

There's a 55kW version of the diesel, but we can't see much appeal in that unit.

The final engine is a 1.4-litre petrol engine.

In the near future, Volkswagen will also introduce a 1.2-litre TSI (turbocharged and direct-injected) engine to the range and that's virtually a given for the Australian range, in our opinion.

Bluemotion is the name Volkswagen applies to its economy and efficiency models. There is a Bluemotion package to go with the 66kW 1.6-litre TDI variant that uses 3.6L/100km of fuel and produces 96g/km of CO2. Peak torque for this engine is 230Nm. As part of the Bluemotion pack, the 66kW TDI Polo comes with an auto-stop/start facility.

Volkswagen also has a 'SuperBluemotion' Polo up its sleeve. That variant is powered by a 1.2-litre turbodiesel engine that returns a fuel consumption figure as low as 3.3L/100km. The CO2 emissions figure for this variant is just 87g/km.

The 77kW TDI engine (1.6 litres, like the 66kW Bluemotion unit) produces 250Nm of torque for a combined-cycle fuel consumption figure of 4.2L/100km.

An upgrade of the engine currently powering the fourth-generation Polo, the 1.4-litre naturally-aspirated petrol engine boasts revised electronics and induction hardware. Producing 63kW and power and slightly higher peak torque of 132Nm, the tweaked 1.4 is more economical, using 5.9L/100km of fuel and producing CO2 emissions of 139g/km.

The turbocharged 1.2 TSI engine, which we had the opportunity to drive in Sardinia, produces 77kW of power and 175Nm of torque for a combined-cycle fuel consumption figure of 5.5L/100km. CO2 emissions are rated at 129g/km. All engines in the fifth-gen Polo are Euro 5-compliant.

It's our guess that Volkswagen Australia will introduce the Polo range to Australia in a range comprising the 1.2-litre TSI petrol engine coupled to a six-speed manual transmission, the 1.4-litre naturally-aspirated petrol four and the two 1.6-litre turbodiesels already mentioned.

Other than the 1.2 TSI, the Polo's engines drive through five-speed manual transmissions. A seven-speed DSG transmission is available as an option and we would certainly expect to see that box form part of the Australian-delivered Polo offering.

The transversely-mounted engines drive through the transmission to the front wheels, which are suspended by MacPherson struts and steered by an electro-hydraulically-assisted rack-and-pinion system. This system relies on electric motors providing hydraulic pressure, rather than the engine-driven pump of older systems or the electric servos of other cars. The upshot of this is that the Polo is just that little more efficient because it's not constantly drawing power from the engine and only using the power from the battery when the driver turns the wheel.

For braking, the front discs are ventilated, but the Polo is fitted with solid rotors at the rear.

The new Polo is built on a new platform that incorporates many of the lessons VW learned in the evolution of Golf from its lookalike fifth to sixth generations.

Volkswagen claims that the larger exterior dimensions contribute to the added spaciousness of the interior -- now said to be improved by 8mm for rear-seat kneeroom and 22mm for front shoulder room.

Headroom in the front seats is impressive, but it's only marginal for rear-seat occupants if they're average-sized adults or teenagers. The improvement in rear-seat kneeroom seems to have been a worthwhile gain, but legroom in the rear is not really sufficient for adults or teenagers. There's just no room for taller occupants to stretch their legs. With the driver's seat positioned for an occupant of average size, rear-seat access is also just a bit tight for those of us with larger feet.

Kids will find the rear of the Polo nicely accommodating. The beltline is low for even children under the age of five, most of whom will probably be boosted in a car seat anyway.

The Polo's pedals felt slightly misaligned to the right (in the left-hand drive variants we were driving). Instruments were clear and legible. The layout of infotainment and HVAC systems in the centre console was in keeping with VW corporate style -- which means it's all fairly easy to use.

A Volkswagen interior designer advised us that the satellite navigation system is shared with the Golf 6, as is the high-end audio system, which Volkswagen terms the RNS 310 unit. This incorporates a five-inch TFT touch-screen and hard disk drive.

One of the cars sampled was the Polo Trendline with the Bluemotion pack (the 1.6 TDI developing 66kW of power). This car was trimmed in harder plastics (base-grade spec) for the dash and came with a manual air conditioning system, rather than the climate control of other variants tried.

The Polo's seats were comfortable and generally held the occupant in place well, but the cushion in the squab feels just a little short.

The 'Highline' seats are definitely better than those in the Trendline and Comfortline cars. They're contoured differently and will accept a person of larger stature and remain comfortable -- significantly more so than in the lower-spec cars.

The centre armrest folds up out of the way, which is a damned good thing, because it's an annoying hindrance to gearchanging when lowered.

Volkswagen anticipates the new Polo will score a five-star rating in Euro NCAP testing.

Torsional resistance of 43Hz and bending resistance of 46Hz represent significant gains on the same stats for the old car -- and not only aid passenger protection after the prang, but enhance roadholding and handling to reduce the risk of a crash in the first place.

The specification for Australia is yet to be confirmed by Volkswagen, but it's a strong likelihood that the Polo will be sold here with the full gamut of safety aids, including: stability control and antilock brakes, six airbags and front seatbelt pre-tensioners.

There are still some models that leave something to be desired, but against the Polo, there is a increasing number of capable competitors.

Buyers may consider such cars as the Citroen C3, Ford's Fiesta, the Honda Jazz, Mazda2, Peugeot 207 and Suzuki Swift. All of these cars offer some cachet and the usual light-car attributes of low running costs, good value for money and better-than-reasonable dynamics at an affordable price.

Hyundai is planning to bring out the i20 within a matter of months. Though we haven't driven the car, if the i30 is any indication, it might just be the joker in this pack.

Vehicle dynamics were a little easier to assess. Turn-in was responsive but measured. The Polo's handling felt as close to neutral as the Ford Fiesta's and although steering feedback for the Volkswagen wasn't as well regarded as the Ford's by some, we would prefer to wait and test both on home turf before passing judgement. Overall, the tiller is well weighted and consistent.

The Bluemotion pack's fuel-frugal tyres did very little for vehicle dynamics.

On the straight and narrow, the 1.2 TSI will happily spin up to high revs (making the exercise worthwhile), but still offers handy torque from low revs to maintain speed in higher gears -- on uphill grades, for instance.

The 1.4-litre naturally-aspirated engine offered similar performance to the 1.2 TSI, at lower speeds but the turbo engine was faster -- with more revs in hand -- and was quieter and also more refined. In fact, the 77kW 1.6 TDI variant also seemed quieter than the 1.4 petrol, though the diesel was also fitted to a Highline-spec Polo, and that is possibly just a quieter package all round.

In respect of NVH, the Polo proved very quiet at 100km/h. It's hard to establish what generated the most noise at cruising speed, although the subdued wind noise won out, in our opinion.

The diesel variants didn't sound like diesels. Volkswagen attributes this to the powerplant's latest generation common-rail induction. It's a very refined engine and suitably quick, although displacing 1.6 litres, it needs a few revs up -- especially with its high ratios (five-speed box).

Of all the variants tried, the Polo 1.6 TDI with Bluemotion pack generated more drivetrain noise at speed, but this car was only equipped to the base 'Trendline' specification -- so higher levels of trim could be expected to be better insulated against noise.

We figure the Polo's tyres will prove noisier on Australian country roads than they were on the roads of Sardinia -- but perhaps not so the low-rolling-resistance tyres fitted to the 1.6 TDI/Bluemotion package. In the twisty bits, they were noisy even in Sardinia.

The gearshift was pleasant to use; it was light and precise, but the shift quality of the six-speed transmission coupled to the 1.2-litre TSI engine was sweeter still.

Sardinia was not an especially demanding environment for the Polo and that's perhaps best illustrated by the fuel consumption figures over the course of the drive program. It was rare on the shorter loops of the drive program for the Polo to hit speeds above 80km/h (due to traffic).

Nonetheless, the figures remain perfectly respectable, even in light of that. The 77kW Polo TDI with manual transmission (the 'grunter') returned an average fuel economy figure of 5.8L/100km. By way of comparison, the 1.4-litre Polo with manual transmission returned a fuel consumption figure of 7.4L/100km and the DSG-equipped 1.2-litre TSI Polo averaged 7.8L/100km. On a longer run, the manual 1.2-litre TSI variant dropped back to 7.1L/100km.

In the Polo 1.6 Bluemotion, the auto-stop/start function kills the electro-hydraulic assistance to the steering if the engine isn't running -- on the very sensible grounds that if the engine isn't running, there's no need to steer the car. So it came as a surprise the first time the driver of this variant allowed it to roll forward on a slope and found that the steering was completely lacking assistance.

The auto-stop/start facility had switched off the engine as we waited for a gate to open. As the driveway was on a downhill slope, there was no need to press the accelerator for the car to move off, so the engine remained switched off as the car rolled forward and the steering was suddenly unassisted until the engine fired up again. It's not a safety issue per se, just one of those things that can crop up with new technology.

The satellite navigation took us on the 'scenic' route after we missed a turn. We proceeded as far as we could through a bucolic Sardinian village before the road ended at a ramshackle farmhouse. Curiously, the satnav expected us to proceed along a road, which, as far as we could see, didn't exist -- or said farmhouse was built over the top of it. Either way, we weren't going any further along that route.

Mapping of European roads for satellite navigation systems frequently throws up unexpected problems. Hopefully the cartography data for Australia will be better.

Though the Polo crew may have lost their way in Sardinia, we're happy to attest to the fact the car itself is heading in exactly the right direction. It will really stir up the light-car market once it reaches us around this time next year.

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