PoloDriver

The day of 22 January was a re-awarding one for the current sixth-generation Polo, as it collected two industry awards. Volkswagen’s evergreen supermini collected the 2019 What Car? Small Car of the Year award at a ceremony at Grosvenor Hotel in London, while earlier in the day fleet and business magazine Company Car Today bestowed its Supermini of the Year prize on the Polo at its CCT100 Awards.

‘The Polo sets the standard’
The Polo – the second most popular car in the UK during December 2018 – dealt a sucker punch to the competition to emerge victorious and take the keenly fought-for What Car? award, thanks to some long-held qualities as well as its price. The judges commented: ‘The Polo sets the standard for comfort, practicality and refinement in the small car class, while its frugal 1.0-litre petrol engine and strong resale values make it a good long-term buy, and Volkswagen has kept the pricing sensible. There are no weaknesses in its armour.’

Additionally, the T-Roc took the What Car? Best small SUV for more than £20,000 win, a year after being commended at the 2018 ceremony in the publication’s Safety Award. And continuing a run of success at four consecutive What Car? Awards, the Touran seven seater scooped 2019’s Best MPV for between £20,000-£30,000 prize. The Polo’s 2019 What Car? prize comes 24 years after it was triumphant in the same category, from where it went on to be named the overall 1995 What Car? Car of the Year.

What Car? editor Steve Huntingford said of 2019’s honours: ‘Volkswagen’s cars are consistently among the class leaders, which is all the more impressive when you consider how diverse its range is. The brand’s successes at the 2019 What Car? Car of the Year Awards reflect this. With the I.D electric car and the eighth-generation Golf set to be revealed later this year, it seems there’s plenty of opportunity for further Volkswagen success at the 2020 What Car? Awards.’

‘High-quality and practical package’
The Polo also scores with fleet and businesses (look into this website to know more about how to set up one), too, and the latest version collected the title of Supermini of the Year from Company Car Today at the magazine’s second CCT100 Awards. Editor Paul Barker applauded the car’s mix of – once again, long-held – virtues: ‘Volkswagen’s Polo won in one of the most closely-fought sectors of all, proving that a desirable badge can also make sense in terms of overall running cost. The Polo impresses for all the sensible things such as efficiency, residual value and cost per mile, but in a high-quality and practical package with VW badge appeal.’

For a second year, the Up also impressed the Company Car Today judges. Awarded the title’s City Car of the Year accolade, the panel remarked that the compact Volkswagen ‘proves that high-quality little cars can also be fun and cost-effective’. Barker added: ‘The Up is at its best around town, but also surprisingly capable and spacious, making it a versatile car that keeps running costs low.’