[51morris]

Hello TBHP’ians!

Having driven a Ford Fiesta (1.0L Turbo) for about a year, I was almost fed up with it due to 3 main reasons.

1. MOST ANNOYING “Powershift” gearbox. Constantly juddering at slow speeds, especially when it switched from D2 to D3. This started to get alarmingly bad in traffic when the car would lunge forward almost uncontrollably. Two different Ford dealerships did a software reset, which sorted the issue for a few weeks. But 500 miles on , the problem came right back.
   
2. The start-stop system had a mind of its own – it would not work for weeks and then randomly start working. Completely unpredictable!
   
3. Poor build quality. I did about 14000 miles in it and over the course of this time the car developed all sorts of rattles in the dash, in the sunroof and so on.

I decided to switch before the Fiesta lost too much value (it still is the #1 bestseller in its segment in the UK). The apartment I live in is about 40 years old and since back in the day cars weren’t as big as they are today, the garages are TINY! Since I am very particular that my car should be parked in the locked garage overnight, I had to look at small hatchbacks.
I had my eye on the new Polo ever since it was launched here in the UK. With its new 1.0L TSi engine, Golf-like looks, classy lines and updated tech, this in my mind was the perfect small hatchback. I was finally able to find a fabulous Polo 1.0L from a dealership that gave me a really good part-ex deal on the Ford.

Here’s a quick review of the Polo!

What I like:

• THAT ENGINE! VW has done something magical with the new 1.0L engine – its BUTTER SMOOTH! More on this later
• THOSE LOOKS! The new gen Polo is longer and wider than the outgoing model, making it look more like the Golf.
• Build quality. Everything is just so well built and works.
• Fit and finish of the interiors is easily comparable to cars from a couple of segments above
• ICE – brilliant ICE system
• Ride quality – absolutely uncompromising and a very quiet ride, both in the city and at motorway speeds
• Loaded with tech!

  • Driving modes – 3 preset modes (Eco, Normal, Sport) and 1 Individual mode where various settings can be changed by the user
  • Automatic headlights and wipers
  • Adaptive (radar guided) Cruise Control which maintains a preset distance from the car in front
  • Variable speed limiter
  • Front and rear parking sensors
  • Park assist (parallel and perpendicular)
  • Reversing camera (the rear VW badge opens up when the gear lever is moved to R
  • Front and reverse collision prevention braking
  • Multitude of sensors (the other day the rear left brake light was not working – I got a message on the MID alerting me to the specific problem)
  • Auto dimming rear view mirror
  • Electrically adjustable and folding side view mirrors with heating function
  • Left side view mirror curb activated – focusses on the curb when the gear lever is moved to R

What I don’t like:

• The boot could be a tad larger (I am being picky here)
• Curb activated side view mirror works only on the left side
• While the build quality/fit-and-finish of the interiors is top-notch, the plastics used on the door panels is quick tacky. Could’ve been better quality/softer to touch.
• This is a problem I’ve seen on many cars with radar guided cruise control – if the car in front switches to the left lane (or exits from the motorway), the radar cruise control almost panic brakes!!

Here are some details along with pictures.

Exterior:

This generation saw the Polo become wider and longer. As a result, at first glance, many people mistake the Polo to be a Golf. Despite the increase in dimensions, it still maintains its simple and classy lines.



The steel finish line running across the front actually gives the car a wide and planted look.





This variant (top minus one, I believe) comes with halogen lights (no LEDs). The fog lamps have the LED DRLs that run vertically beside it.





The blackened roof (no sunroof), blackened side view mirrors and the privacy glass at the rear adds a nice touch of contrast, especially for the car in this colour, which VW calls “Energetic Orange”. In my personal opinion, this is a very nice colour for the Polo (I had a similar colour Polo 1.5L TDi in India many years ago).








This variant comes with nice looking 17” wheels.



Interior:

In this generation of the Polo, VW has completely redone the interior. The exterior colour has been carried forward onto the dash, the center console and elements of the side panels (around the door handle). When I looked at pictures of the car, I felt this would look too flashy. But when I saw it in person, it looks very refreshing and makes the interior an overall nice place to be in.






The door handles (front seats only) have a small LED light inside the cavity – small touches that make a difference.






Both sun-shades have a vanity mirror behind them. Opening it will switch on a small LED lamp.





The car comes with fabric seats with elements of the exterior colour embedded into the stitching.



The increase in dimensions has resulted in better elbow room and leg room, especially for rear seat passengers. Rear leg-room was one of the negatives of the outgoing model and this is something that VW has addressed with this generation of the Polo.



Rear passengers get 2 USB charging slots, no rear AC vents here. Not sure if these 2 USB slots are Carplay/Android Auto enabled, never tried since there are 2 more slots in the front.



The boot is adequately sized as well, with two height settings that enable easy loading of cargo into the boot. The picture below is with the boot floor raised to the higher setting.

The car comes with a space saver spare tyre (a rarity these days!!) and even more interestingly a TOW BAR!! I had read on one of the reviews here in the UK that the VW Polo is not too bad to tow a caravan, although this is something I will never try to do!



Engine:

The new 3 cylinder 1.0L engine comes in various states of tune. The one I have is the 1.0L TSi producing 115bhp. More than the performance (which is plenty for the speed-restricted roads here), it is the refinement levels that surprise me each time I get behind the wheel. It is incredibly refined and quiet, be it at idle, at city speeds or even at motorway speeds (70MPH). The only time you hear/feel the engine is when the auto start/stop kicks in and there is a slight shudder when the engine starts. Otherwise, one will find it hard to hear/feel the engine at other times. This engine and the 7 speed DSG is a fantastic combination. It’s a gem of an engine and truly makes the car feel like it’s a segment above!





In terms of efficiency, I get about 50-52 MPG which is roughly about 17kmpl, with a mix of urban and motorway driving. Which I think is not too bad considering traffic in London and the fact that its an automatic.

Air conditioning:

The car comes with dual-zone automatic climate control and heated seats (driver and passenger). Compared to the Ford Fiesta, I feel the Polo takes a tad longer to heat up the cabin during cold mornings. The heated seats have two settings (LOW and HIGH) and work extremely well. The seats get nice and toasty very quickly, especially under the HIGH setting. Thankfully, the setting switches to LOW once the seats are heated up sufficiently.



Center console:

The car comes with the 7 speed DSG, with the sports mode (no paddle shifters, though). Next to the gear shifter are:
• Auto start stop deactivate
• Driving mode selector (more on this later)
• Parking sensors deactivate



Multi-Information Display: (MID)

While the VW polo comes with the traditional rev counter and speedo with a 4” MID between then, mine has the optional extra. VW call it “Active Info Display” – a 10” display covering the entire area behind the wheel. It really is a fantastic display – crisp colours and great readability day or night.



The display has multiple modes, which can be set using buttons on the steering wheel.



The rev counter shows the current gear (and the driving mode) while the speedo shows the current speed digitally. The best part of the Active Info Display is that these are completely configurable.




VW also has integrated navigation into the head-unit (more on this later). An interesting feature is that the VW navigation can be switched from the head unit to the Active Info Display.







Sadly, in this day and age, most people use Google Maps/Waze. And this navigation CANNOT be projected onto the Active Info Display. Hope VW can do something about this.

[51morris]

[Contd..]

The Polo comes with a lovely flat-bottom steering with leather stitching. It has a nice weighted feel to it and is a pleasure to hold.

The left side controls include a Mode button (switch between Cruise Control and Speed Limiter), SET/RES buttons, Adaptive Cruise Control setting (sets the distance from the car in front) in the center, left and right to change cruise control/speed limiter speeds (increments of 5mph) and volume controls.



The right side controls include vertical and horizontal scrollers to go through the active info display, OK to select, a VIEW button to change the Active Info Display view, a voice control button (which needs a code to activate) and buttons to switch tracks/radio presets. Everything is extremely well built and feels like it will last a long time!



Head Unit:

This was one of the big updates in the Polo and comes with a very smooth and intuitive unit with DAB radio and Android Auto/Apple Carplay integration. It still retains a few physical buttons (which I think are god sent!). The knob on the left is for volume while the one of the right is for navigating through the menus (rotate to navigate and push to select). I prefer this rather than using the touch screen interface.



The car comes with DAB radio with the presets displays with their logos (both on the head unit and behind the steering).



Apple Carplay and Android Auto works flawlessly.



Vehicle settings are easy to access from the head unit.



Next service due is also shown here.



The car comes with 4 driving modes. Each mode has varying settings for Steering, Drive, Adaptive Cruise Control and Air Conditioning.

Eco mode comes with:

• Steering: Normal
• Drive: Eco
• Adaptive Cruise Control: Eco
• Air conditioning: Eco

Normal mode comes with:

• Steering: Normal
• Drive: Normal
• Adaptive Cruise Control: Normal
• Air conditioning: Normal

Sports mode comes with:

• Steering: Sport
• Drive: Sport
• Adaptive Cruise Control: Sport
• Air conditioning: Normal

The Sports Mode really changes the dynamics of the car. Throttle response is immediate, steering is nice and heavy and the engine note changes noticeably.



Individual mode lets the user configure the settings for these 4 options.





To summarize, the Polo has matured into a well-rounded premium hatchback. With plenty of tech, simple/classy looks, a fabulous engine and a very smooth drive, it is an absolute joy to drive in the city or on the motorways.

Hope you enjoyed reading the review!

[Vid6639]

This is exactly the Polo that VW needs right now to go up against the competition. But sadly thanks to the complete nonsensical rule of a car being sub 4 metres length to be eligible for excise benefits, we cannot get this Polo anytime soon till VW figure out a VW to tuck the bumpers by a couple of inches.

Great ownership review and looks like a very nice package overall. Loaded to the gills in features.

[GTO]

What a great looking hatchback! Thanks for sharing. Just love VW's cars, but not their attitude for India where they are selling a 10+ year old product. Agreed with Vid6639. If this new Polo was in India, it would easily be doing 5,000+ units / month.

Originally Posted by 51morris

The increase in dimensions has resulted in better elbow room and leg room, especially for rear seat passengers. Rear leg-room was one of the negatives of the outgoing model and this is something that VW has addressed with this generation of the Polo.

good to hear.

it is the refinement levels that surprise me each time I get behind the wheel.

Some brands really go out of the way to sort their NVH right. Even Hyundai's 1.0L turbo-petrol is a fantastic motor.

Can you please elaborate more on the performance of the engine? Low end driveability, mid-range, top end, rev-happiness, how it sounds near the redline etc.

Thanks for sharing this awesome review! Your car will go to our homepage tomorrow .

[libranof1987]

What a pretty looking car; the already timeless design looks perfect with these right dimensions, not limited by a silly sub-4m rule! Also it's good that unlike what's in store for the Polo in India, this one comes with a DSG.

IMO, the only sore point is the loud body-color strip on the centre dashboard. A well rounded package otherwise.

[shibujp]

Originally Posted by 51morris

Hello TBHP’ians!

Having driven a Ford Fiesta (1.0L Turbo) for about a year, I was almost fed up with it due to 3 main reasons.
I had my eye on the new Polo ever since it was launched here in the UK. With its new 1.0L TSi engine, Golf-like looks, classy lines and updated tech, this in my mind was the perfect small hatchback. I was finally able to find a fabulous Polo 1.0L from a dealership that gave me a really good part-ex deal on the Ford.

Congrats on your purchase and the choice of color looks fab!

Many thanks for giving us a preview of the engine that is going to land up here in a month or so. The 1.0 TSI is going to do duty in the Polo GT petrol, Vento and the Rapid. Your review augurs well for the engine in India.

But as GTO mentioned a more detailed description of the powertrain performance in real world situations please...we can't have enough of that!

Originally Posted by Vid6639

This is exactly the Polo that VW needs right now to go up against the competition. But sadly thanks to the complete nonsensical rule of a car being sub 4 metres length to be eligible for excise benefits, we cannot get this Polo anytime soon till VW figure out a VW to tuck the bumpers by a couple of inches.

I have always wondered why VW makes such tasks that other manufacturers carry out pretty simply, seem like a humungous engineering job. Though with regards to introduction of the Polo I think the main hurdle was the cost of introducing the MQB platform in India, which led to Skoda developing the MQB-A0-IN after the still born alliance with Tata Motors.

Drive on,
Shibu.

[ChiragM]

Yup, this is the car that Volkswagen should have got to India, instead of selling the same old product with different stickers.

As others have already mentioned, do tell us more about the 1.0L TSI. The engine is now offered on the Polo here, instead of the 1.2L TSI. It is slightly detuned compared to your car (108 BHP) and does not get the DSG gearbox. But yes, BHPians would love to hear more about how this engine performs under different scenarios.

This is a problem I’ve seen on many cars with radar guided cruise control – if the car in front switches to the left lane (or exits from the motorway), the radar cruise control almost panic brakes!!

Why would this happen? If the car in front exits your lane, your car should detect the space ahead and speed up instead of panic braking. Could you please explain more on this?

[ash22]

Looks Fab! Thanks for Sharing.
Wish VW brings this to India ASAP. But not with the Boring 1.0/TC combo.

[BZ25]

Hi sir, congratulations on your new acquisition! Despite the conservative design, it looks quite alluring in that orange shade.

Would it be wrong to say that, after your experience with the Fiesta, do you think that it is over hyped by the British Motoring Journalists? In my humble opinion, the Fiesta may be a great car to drive( so is the Mazda 2) but is too compromised when it comes to practicality.

I can't wait for Volkswagen to bring this to India, optimistically (though not possible) in a similar specification. It would crush its rivals in India, if not by it's sales, but in terms of all round ability.

Wishing you loads of fantastic miles. Cheers.

[prajakt_23]

Any idea when is this making its way in India market? I have been waiting for it a long :-(

[51morris]

Originally Posted by Vid6639

This is exactly the Polo that VW needs right now to go up against the competition.

Great ownership review and looks like a very nice package overall. Loaded to the gills in features.

Thanks, Vid6639! I agree, this would be a good competition for the likes of the i20.

Originally Posted by GTO

What a great looking hatchback! Thanks for sharing.

Some brands really go out of the way to sort their NVH right. Even Hyundai's 1.0L turbo-petrol is a fantastic motor.

Can you please elaborate more on the performance of the engine? Low end driveability, mid-range, top end, rev-happiness, how it sounds near the redline etc.

Thanks for sharing this awesome review! Your car will go to our homepage tomorrow .

Thanks, GTO, for featuring the review on the homepage! Yes, the focus on reducing NVH levels clearly stands out with the new Polo. It does sound remarkably silent at all speeds (up to 70MPH).

I am penning down my thoughts on engine performance/driveability and handling/ride quality. Will post this soon!

Originally Posted by libranof1987

What a pretty looking car; the already timeless design looks perfect with these right dimensions, not limited by a silly sub-4m rule! Also it's good that unlike what's in store for the Polo in India, this one comes with a DSG.

IMO, the only sore point is the loud body-color strip on the centre dashboard. A well rounded package otherwise.

Thanks, Libranof1987! With regards to the body-coloured strip on the dash, I too felt the same when I saw pictures of the car. But it has kind of grown on me now and I love the interior! Although, it is a purely personal opinion.

Originally Posted by shibujp

Congrats on your purchase and the choice of color looks fab!

But as GTO mentioned a more detailed description of the powertrain performance in real world situations please...we can't have enough of that!


Drive on,
Shibu.

Thanks, Shibu! Yes, a review on the engine and handling is coming up shortly!

Originally Posted by ChiragM

As others have already mentioned, do tell us more about the 1.0L TSI. The engine is now offered on the Polo here, instead of the 1.2L TSI. It is slightly detuned compared to your car (108 BHP) and does not get the DSG gearbox. But yes, BHPians would love to hear more about how this engine performs under different scenarios.



Why would this happen? If the car in front exits your lane, your car should detect the space ahead and speed up instead of panic braking. Could you please explain more on this?

Thanks, Chirag!

I believe the Adaptive Cruise Control radar scans the road ahead in the pattern of a V. So, anything within that V will cause the car to brake. Even if its at the edge of the V (e.g. existing from the motorway)

Originally Posted by BZ25

Hi sir, congratulations on your new acquisition! Despite the conservative design, it looks quite alluring in that orange shade.

Would it be wrong to say that, after your experience with the Fiesta, do you think that it is over hyped by the British Motoring Journalists? In my humble opinion, the Fiesta may be a great car to drive( so is the Mazda 2) but is too compromised when it comes to practicality.

I can't wait for Volkswagen to bring this to India, optimistically (though not possible) in a similar specification. It would crush its rivals in India, if not by it's sales, but in terms of all round ability.

Wishing you loads of fantastic miles. Cheers.

Hello, thanks!

I completely agree - that the Fiesta is over-hyped by the motoring media. While it is an absolute hoot to drive (one of the best in terms of driving dynamics), it still leaves a LOT to be desired in terms of build quality and fit-finish. Still, it has been the BEST SELLER in the segment for the past 8 years! I was watching Top Gear the other day where Chris Harris was giving quick "best car to buy" tips in each segment. The Fiesta was his choice in the supermini segment!

[CountMe91]

I had driven a similar spec Polo in Spain back in 2019 but it had a manual gearbox. Throughout the 5 days we had covered more than 800 kilometres in the car. The car is very balanced and never felt out of power irrespective of the puny 1.0 liter engine. True to the word, the engine is very refined. The Polo looks more like a Golf now.

Congratulations on your new car and good to know that you are getting 50-55 mpg. My car only returns 25-30 mpg in urban.

[W.A.G.7]

Wow! This Polo looks real nice, I wish VW brings it to India ASAP. This is the kind of arsenal they require to face the competition in India. While I am not a fan of those orange inserts, it really suits this car.

Two questions -
1. Is the MID fully digital? That is, no physical meters?
2. The rear number plate is yellow and the front one is white? Is it me or is it a photographic effect?

[jogidada]

The active info display looks great and the implementation seems better than Skoda IMHO. Would have preferred the colour of the needles to be red instead of white, that would have been perfect. Does the layout or colours change when you switch to Sport mode on the gearbox?

[anandpadhye]

Interesting to read that the new 3 cylinder 1L TSI is smooth revving and sweet sounding. Feels too good to be true, would like to test drive soon. Sadly, they are selling it with a torque converter gearbox in India instead of DSG.