PoloDriver

Australian car website Drive have crowned the fifth-generation Polo their Car of the Year 2010. Also winning the Best City Car award, the Polo beat off competition from the Ford Fiesta, Hyundai i20 and Nissan Micra to take the tiddler title. Interior quality, an array of safety features, competent road manners and punchy turbocharged 1.2-litre 104bhp TSI engine, the judges from Drive agreed that, ‘In terms of being a city car, it sets so many benchmarks. The Polo is the first in this class to bring in six airbags, and it sets a standard the other city car competitors have to beat on both engine and gearbox,’ adding, ‘It’s in another land for refinement. It feels like a small car, not a city car.’

A best overall fuel consumption figure was only one of the values that made the Polo win the coveted Car of the Year 2010 title, though, the judging panel citing the ‘fun factor’ of the latest model and the way that, ‘the tiny Volkswagen Polo delivers so many rewards for enthusiastic drivers looking to reduce their carbon footprints.’ The newly-developed turbocharged engine was a major asset when the judges were considering their verdicts. Beating category winners from 14 other segments, the Polo and its larger stablemate the Golf fought for top honours, with the Polo securing leading votes from nine of the judges, who, according to Drive, ‘thought it shifted the goalposts of its class more than the Golf did – and for less of a premium over its competitors.’ Full coverage here.

In a similar prize, Carsguide has also awarded the Polo the ‘2010 Carsguide Car of the Year’, title, establishing itself as the benchmark in the light car class. It’s the second consectutive year Volkswagen have taken the award; last year’s winner was the Golf. Carsguide Managing Editor, Ged Bulmer, said the latest Polo was another example of the company delivering an extremely well-equipped and well-engineered small car at an affordable price. ‘Many of the attributes of the popular Volkswagen Golf have trickled down into the Polo, with the result that it looks like a scaled down version of that winning combination.’ Judging panel member Paul Pottinger said: ‘The Polo scored a convincing win, not because of its $16,690 starting price but because of its impressive safety, quality, comfort and driving enjoyment. The Golf’s little brother is the world’s best small car.’

The new Polo has been chosen alongside the Volkswagen Amarok Double Cab pick-up as a finalist for the 2011 Wesbank/SAGMJ Car of the Year competition in South Africa. The new Polo 1.6 TDI Comfortline 77kW will compete with the Amarok 2.0 BiTDI 4×2 Double Cab and eight other finalists for the country’s premier motoring award. Volkswagen is hoping that the new Polo or Amarok will make it two in a row for the brand, following Golf 1.4 TSI’s success in the 2010 competition. The winner of the 2011 WesBank/SAGMJ Car the Year will be revealed in March next year.

‘Volkswagen Group South Africa is honoured to have two of its cars as the finalists in this prestigious competition, especially the Amarok which has just been launched in South Africa and is the first Double Cab finalist in the CoTY competition. In the past three years, Volkswagen brands have made the final list of the competition. The nomination of our cars as finalists, is a strong endorsement of our brand strength,’ said Mike Glendinning, Director Sales and Marketing, Volkswagen Group South Africa.

The next step of the competition is a two-day test session in February 2011 at the Gerotek test facility near Pretoria, where the cars will be assessed independently by the CoTY jury members. In keeping with the broadened competition, the testing at Gerotek will allow the cars to be evaluated in conditions each vehicle would be expected to perform under. Jury members will pay close attention to the cars’ aesthetics, build quality and ergonomics, while considerations based on perceptions of value for money, cost of spares, safety features and environmental friendliness will be taken into account before scoring the top ten.

Willie le Roux and Hein van der Walt were the overall overall winners of the 34th annual Total Economy Run in Thaba ‘Nchu, Free State, South Africa, achieving a fuel consumption of 4.1l/100 km in a New Polo 1.6 TDI over a two-day 1100km route from 10-11 September 2010. The pair was also awarded for achieving the lowest consumption by a diesel car within Class J (diesel engines up to 1600cc). Second in the diesel category were motoring journalist Geoff Dalglish and Hendri du Plessis who achieved figures of 4.3l/100km in Class J with their Citroën C3 HDi. Roger Hills, a former winner of the Total Economy Run, and co-driver Gordon Stewart placed third in the Class J category in a Ford Fiesta 1.6 TDCi, with a fuel consumption figure of 4.4l/100 km. Pieter Holtzhausen and Danie Fourie took second place in Class E for petrol cars from 1501cc – 1600cc in a New Polo 1.6.

The winners of the lowest consumption by a petrol-engined car were motoring journalists Wynter Murdoch, a former winner of the same award, and Automobil magazine colleague Leon Schnell. Their Daihatsu Charade returned figures of 4.6l/100 km and won the Class A category (petrol engines up to 1100cc). Runners-up in the petrol category and winners of Class E (petrol engines from 1601cc – 1800cc) were Total Economy Run veteran Willie Nel and his son Willem in a Toyota Prius with a consumption figure of 4.6l/100km. Third overall and second in Class A were former racing driver and radio personality Jeanette Kok Kritzinger and Riette Wannenburg who managed 4.6l/100km in their Citroën C1.

The 2010 Total Economy Run class winners were as follows:
Class A: Wynter Murdoch/Leon Schnell (Daihatsu Charade), 4.59l/100km
Class B: Wynand Volschenck/Machiel Viljoen (Fiat Uno Mia), 4.92l/100km
Class C: Stuart Williams/Lauren Smit (Daihatsu Sirion 1.5), 5.72l/100km
Class D: Harry Young/Manfred Hertz (Ford Fiesta 1.6), 5.63l/100km
Class E: Willie and Willem Nel (Toyota Prius), 4.62l/100km
Class F: Gordon Noble/Graham Bate (Mazda6 2L), 5.99l/100km
Class I: Ben and Isabel van der Westhuizen (Lexus GS450H), 7.46l/100km
Class J: Willie le Roux/Hein van der Walt (Volkswagen Polo 1.6 TDI), 4.11l/100km
Class K: Rod Kinsey/Huibert Phielix (Audi 2 TDIe), 5.07l/100km
Class L: Ernest and Gert van den Berg (Mercedes-Benz C220 CDI), 5.50l/100km
Class M: Roger Rouessart/John Smit (Jaguar XFS), 5.69l/100km
Class O: Pritesh Ruthun/Reuben van Niekerk (Daihatsu Terios 4×4), 7.24l/100km
Class P: Dan Esterhuyse/Pierre Jordaan (Tata Xenon 4×4), 8.11l/100km

[Source: Volkswagen South Africa]

The latest version of the Polo BlueMotion has been shortlisted for the WhatGreenCar Car of the Year 2010 award, which the organisers claim is the most scientifically-based green car prize in the UK. Now in its third year, WhatGreenCar uses unique ratings to rank the greenest new cars to come to market, and shortlisted cars are rated for environmental impact, value, driving experience and design.

To be eligible for the award, new models must be commercially available for purchase direct from the manufacturer or order in the UK during 2010. City cars, superminis, small family cars, large family cars, MPVs, executive and sports classes form the initial selection. The judging and test drives of the 10 shortlisted cars takes place on Wednesday 30 June at Imperial College, London, a university specialising in technological innovation. This makes it an ideal place for the judges to assess the final line-up. The overall winner of the WhatGreenCar Car of the Year 2010 awards will be announced on Thursday 1 July.

The 10 cars shortlisted for the WhatGreenCar Car of the Year 2010 award are as follows:

• BMW 320d EfficientDynamics; WGC rating 31; CO2: 109g/km
• Citroen DS3 1.6 HDi; WGC rating: 29; CO2: 99g/km
• Honda CR-Z hybrid; WGC rating: TBC; CO2: 117g/km
• Kia Venga 1.4 CRDi; WGC rating: 33; CO2: 117g/km
• Mitsubishi i-MiEV 47kW synchronous/Li-ion; WGC rating: 10; CO2: 0g/km
• SEATt Leon 1.6 TDI Ecomotive; WGC rating: 28; CO2: 99g/km
• Toyota Auris hybrid; WGC rating: TBC; CO2: 89g/km
• Vauxhall Corsa 1.3 CDTi ecoFLEX; WGC rating: 29; CO2: 98g/km
• Volkswagen Polo 1.2 TDI BlueMotion; WGC rating: 26; CO2: 89g/km
• Volvo C30 1.6D DRIVe; WGC rating 29; CO2: 99g/km

(Note: WGC rating = WhatGreenCar rating)

Edit, 1 July 2010: WhatGreenCar have awarded the Toyota Auris Hybrid its Car of the Year 2010 prize, ahead of the SEAT Leon 1.6 TDI Ecomotive, the BMW 320d EfficientDynamics and the Citroen DS3 1.6 HDi. A missed opportunity we think, as the Polo BlueMotion makes use of existing technology to get the ideal pairing of low emissions and high miles per gallon, while Toyota reportedly uses more harmful environmental processes to manufacture the NiMH battery packs for both the Prius and Auris Hybrid – coincidentally launched today – while posting similar CO2 and mpg values.

The new Polo SEL has been declared the most secure supermini at the recent British Insurance Vehicle Security Awards (BIVSA), presented by Thatcham, the Motor Industry Repair Research Centre, in Berkshire. Claiming honours in the City Car/Supermini category and beating off in-house competition from the SEAT Ibiza and Škoda Fabia, Volkswagen won a raft of awards as well as the overall accolade for the best car manufacturer.

The British Insurance Vehicle Security Awards are hosted by Thatcham and supported by the Home Office, the DfT, What Car? magazine and the AA. Since their launch in 2004 the highly regarded BIVSA accolades have recognised all that’s best in vehicle security, on the newest cars and vans on the market, applauding the work of vehicle manufacturers and raising consumer awareness. Vehicles were judged on a number of criteria identified by the creators of the New Vehicle Security Ratings (NVSR) scheme. Those that had a maximum five stars for ‘theft from’, had double locking, and an ‘E’ insurance suffix (indicating they had a feature that exceeds the required standard) were shortlisted for final evaluation and ranking.

Rod McLeod, Head of Marketing for Volkswagen said: ‘It’s a tremendous achievement for the Volkswagen range to be ranked as the best on the market here and one of which we’re very proud. To win the overall award is proof that security and safety features should not be the reserve of an elite few. Increasingly we aim to extend the technology available on our flagship cars such as the Phaeton right down to the volume models such as the new Polo.’