Volkswagen Polo 77TSI Comfortline DSG 2010 Review

Volkswagen Polo 77TSI Comfortline DSG

Road Test

Price guide (recommended price before statutory and delivery charges): $22,350
Options fitted to test car (not included in above price): nil
Crash rating: 5 stars Euro NCAP
Fuel: 95RON PULP
Claimed fuel economy (L/100km): 5.5L/100km combined cycle
CO2 emissions (g/km): 128
Also consider: Ford Fiesta, Honda Jazz, Hyundai i20, Mazda2, Suzuki Swift, Toyota Yaris

Overall Rating: 3.5/5.0
Engine/Drivetrain/Chassis: 4.0/5.0
Price, Packaging and Practicality: 4.5/5.0
Safety: 4.0/5.0
Behind the wheel: 3.0/5.0
X-factor: 3.5/5.0

About our ratings

Volkswagen's Polo never has never had much difficulty earning a price premium over competitors from Japan, Korea and, more recently, Thailand. The German giant knows how to reconcile day-to-day practicality and driving satisfaction like few others, all with the economies of scale to keep its products half-way affordable.

The latest Polo ups the ante yet again. With the light car sector more crowded than ever and Europeans like Ford's Fiesta encroaching on its space, VW has dug deep. The fifth generation Polo is a step up over its predecessor in virtually every respect. It's bigger in every way, better equipped and a better drive.

Most visibly, it's broader across the beam. That makes for more thigh and shoulder room while helping with cornering in a car that often outhandled its competition.

The interior retains all the usual Volkswagen traits, with plenty of tactile appeal in trim materials of a quality that goes close to matching the larger Golf. Indeed, this Polo considerably narrows the gap with its sibling on size and overall feel, particularly in the grown-up legroom it offers in the rear.

Kit levels are high, even for the upper end of its price bracket – in Comfortline spec, on top of the usual air conditioning, power windows all round and remote central locking you get cruise control, a trip computer and a leather coated multi-function steering wheel. There are rear map lights as well as front, the power exterior mirrors are heated and the single-CD audio comes with six speakers, MP3-compatibility and an AUX input.

The drive is pure Volkswagen, with a nice meaty feel to a steering setup that still tops its class for sharpness. The suspension is firm enough to hold the chassis flat through corners with a bit of pace, with enough damping to insulate you from the rough stuff.

A highlight of this generation is its new 1.2 litre direct-injection turbo engine. It's a terrific, perky little engine, with loads of natural low-down power and a low turbo cut-in threshold of about 1700rpm. The result is virtually no lag – a smooth, linear delivery of power with a nice flat torque curve serving up its peak 175Nm at just 1500 revs. And a pleasant by-product of a blower tuned for fuel economy over speed is a surprising ability to climb hills, even with several adults on board.

If it's no Lexus, NVH levels come as a pleasant surprise for an engine of this size; Volkswagen has done an equally exemplary job in dispensing with road and wind noise.

The joy was staunched a little by our test car's seven-speed twin-clutch DSG transmission. It's sold as an auto, but left to its own devices it's lumpy and hesitant down low. The solution is to drive it as a manual, in which case it can be reasonably rewarding.

Personally, I'd opt for the six-speed full manual. In doing so, you get the best out of the engine and pocket $2500 into the bargain. You don't even sacrifice in fuel economy.

Not that that's a major concern in a car that's officially good for a combined-cycle 5.5L/100km.

It's restricted to PULP (95RON), but with a 45-litre tank, that's a fair time between drinks. In our week with the Polo, we ran 6.7L/100km effortlessly without leaving Sydney. Remarkable, given Volkswagen's quoted 7.2 in the urban cycle.

It's clean, too, getting 4.5 stars from the federal government's Green Vehicle Guide for emitting just 128g/km CO2.

This Polo seems consciously designed for maximum convenience and minimum irritation in daily commuter life. Being a small hatch, it's easy to park, and made more so by excellent visibility all round.

With the seats up, it offers a reasonable 280 litres of bootspace, opening up to 952 with both sides of the 60:40 split-fold rear seat down. A dual-level boot floor behind the rear seat makes for a bit of extra depth when it's needed, or a decent hiding place for valuables. When it's not needed, Volkswagen has filled it up with a smart compromise spare that's somewhere half way between a full sized wheel and one of those withered little Dinky-toy temps – a space saver that performs like a full sizer.

Such neat touches abound throughout, extending beyond the car to things like roadside assistance throughout its three-year, 100,000 km warranty.

Beyond the DSG, the biggest grumble I could come up with is with the size of the exterior mirrors. I found them too small, leaving more blind space down the sides than most.

Rated at five stars Euro NCAP, it's furnished with plenty of safety gear as well: front, side and curtain airbags, seatbelt pretensioning and ESP, ABS with brake assist, hill-start assist and an electronic limited-slip diff.

Past incarnations of the Polo have never really fired up local buyers – the Golf was Aussies' favourite VW. The combination of ease of use, versatility, fun factor and value for money that the new Polo delivers may very possibly change that...

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