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The Polo has claimed another awards victory, taking the ‘Small Hatchback’ title in the Parkers Cost of Motoring New Car Awards 2012. Judged the cars which make motorists’ cash go the furthest, the Polo beat off the Ford Fiesta 1.25 Studio three-door and the Citröen DS3 1.6 e-HDi 110 Airdream DSport three-door, scoring victory with the 1.2 Match TDI three-door. No mean feat in a market sector which is so price-sensitive, Volkswagen also emerged as the winner in another category, with the Touran S 1.6-litre TDI BlueMotion Technology taking the top spot in the ‘People Carrier’ category.

Parkers New Car Awards winners are determined through data produced by Parkers’ ‘cost of motoring’ tool. This uses objective data to identify all the different elements involved in keeping a car on the road for three years and covering 30,000 miles, including depreciation, taxes, service, maintenance and repair, fuel consumption and breakdown cover. Kieren Puffett, editor of Parkers said: ‘To win one Parkers Cost of Motoring New Car Award is a real achievement, but to win two is outstanding. These awards are a clear demonstration that the Volkswagen Polo and Touran both provide new car buyers with exceptionally competitive running costs, strong residual values and fuel efficient engines.’

Volkswagen recorded one of its strongest performances at the 2011 Australia’s Best Car Awards, taking five category wins. For the second consecutive year, the Polo 66TDI took the ‘Best Light Car over $20,000’. Other Volkswagen Group Australia winners included the Golf 90TSI (‘Best Small Car under $35,000’), Jetta 118TSI (‘Best Medium Car under $50,000’), Tiguan 103TDI (‘Best SUV under $40,000’), and Touareg V6 TDI (‘Best Luxury SUV over $60,000’).

Anke Koeckler, Volkswagen Group Australia’s Managing Director, was honoured to receive these accolades: ‘2011 has been huge for Volkswagen, with awards such as these, it is really the perfect conclusion to what has been an overwhelmingly positive year. The Polo continues to impress, being recognised for the second consecutive year. One of our strongest and most popular models, the Golf 90TSI, has been judged as one of Australia’s best vehicles marking it the sixth time a Golf has appeared amongst the winners at Australia’s Best Cars.’

The Australia’s Best Cars judges were particularly impressed with the Volkswagen Polo: ‘The Volkswagen Polo has redefined the class with the German carmaker adding a touch of esteem and luxury to a sector of the market not traditionally known for above average levels of quality and refinement.’ Australia’s Best Car Awards are now in their eleventh year and are a co-operation between the seven State and Territory based car clubs of Australia. It is the nation’s most comprehensive and independent consumer vehicle testing and award program.

Australian motoring website Drive has named the Polo 77TSI as the Best City Car in its Car of the Year 2011 awards. The Volkswagen supermini took the overall title in 2010, and the car was an unanimous choice by the judges for 2011’s accolade, largely due to its ‘great engine, excellent road manners and classy cabin.’ Up against the Kia Rio Si and the Toyota Yaris (both newer rivals), the judges described the latest iteration of the Polo as ‘a little Volkswagen with big car credentials,’ stating that ‘the fifth-generation Polo’s 1.2-litre turbo engine delivers unrivalled performance and refinement for a car priced from $19,850.’

Another Australian website has also praised the Polo highly. Pitting the small VW against its 10 chief rivals in a Light Car mega-test, motoring.com.au stated that ‘There are ample reasons the Polo has won more trophies than the athletics champion at the school sports carnival. It’s earned almost straight As in a category dominated by B and C-grade students. You might argue it’s not fair that one of the richest kids in school gets all the kudos, but in this instance, the $22,350 Polo is worth every cent and has earned each of its accolades.’

The Polo BlueMotion 1.2 TDI won its class at the 2011 Total Economy Run in South Africa last weekend. Competing in the diesel engines up to 1400cc class, driver Natie Ferreira and his co-driver Christo Ferreira achieved a winning fuel consumption figure of 4.44 litres/100km. The duo were also placed second overall in the diesel category. The official quoted imperial fuel consumption figure for the Polo BlueMotion is 80.7mpg. The 35th running of the 2011 Total Economy Run took place in and around the Thaba ‘Nchu, Free State. A Volkswagen won the event overall, too – the winning team of Eddie Bielfeld and Brian Page squeezing 4.39 litres/km from their 1.6 TDI-powered Golf BlueMotion.

The Polo BlueMotion was launched in South Africa in December 2010, and features a state of the art 1.2-litre, 74bhp/55kW TDI engine with 133lb ft/180Nm of torque at 4200rpm, a top speed of 107mph (173km/h) and emissions of 91g/km. It has many aerodynamic body styling modifications which differ from the standard fifth-generation Polo hatchback and help cut fuel consumption including a larger rear spoiler, side skirts, blanked-off front grille, front and rear skirts, 5.5J x 15 ‘Greenland’ alloy wheels with low-rolling resistance tyres and special ‘BlueMotion’ badging. The Polo BlueMotion is available in South Africa from R178,100 and was first launched in Europe in 2007, in fourth-generation Polo guise.

In other news, Volkswagen’s BlueMotion range has won the inaugural Green Award from UK magazine Auto Express. A range of innovations that help to cut the cost of motoring by making every drop of fuel take you further, Auto Express stated that, ‘Simplicity is the key to the BlueMotion line-up, as clever technology such as stop-start and brake regeneration combines with measures like low-rolling-resistance tyres and optimised aerodynamics to bring fuel-sipping economy and low emissions to the mass market. The best thing about BlueMotion is how few compromises it demands. Sealing the deal is the fact it delivers genuine gains for business users and private buyers, as well as the environment.’

The latest version of the Volkswagen Polo GTI has scooped Australian car magazine Motor’s fiercely-fought ‘Bang For Your Bucks’ award. According to Motor, the performance Polo was the ‘hands-down performance bargain of the year. We pumped its Bang and Buck scores into our formula for the last five years and it won, every time,’ the judges wrote. ‘When we set up our formula, you were never supposed to be able to buy this much performance for just $27,990,’ the judging team continued.

The annual ‘Bang For Your Bucks’ winner is decided by the competitor’s ability over categories such as dynamics, handling, performance and speed. One of the key attributes in the Polo GTI’s success is the clever 1.4-litre, 178bhp/132kW engine which uses a supercharger to provide boost at lower revs, before a turbocharger kicks in at higher engine speeds. Add a trick seven-speed DSG twin-clutch gearbox to the package, and Volkswagen have clearly created a technology-packed winner.

‘We are pleased the judging team at Motor magazine appreciated the Polo GTI’s all-round potential and obviously its affordable performance,’ said Anke Koeckler, Volkswagen Group Australia’s Managing Director. ‘With the larger Golf GTI winning last year’s Motor “Bang for Your Bucks Award”, the 2011 Polo GTI definitely lives up to the legendary badge with its superior handling properties combined with uncompromising engine responsiveness and impressive safety and economy figures’.

[Image: Motor magazine]