PoloDriver

Shanghai-Volkswagen has launched the Polo GTI onto the Chinese car market, but all is not what it seems. Externally identical as the European model which develops 178bhp/132kW, the Chinese version of the performance hatchback makes do with 131bhp/96kW. Still equipped with a seven-speed DSG gearbox, the pared-down Chinese car uses an older 1.4-litre turbocharged ‘TSI’ engine to propel it. Critics are vary of the expensive price, too: 158.900 Yuan, which equates to approximately US$25,000 or £15,500.

Debuting at the Chengdu Auto Show on 19 September, the Chinese-spec Polo GTI is manufactured by joint-venture company Shanghai-Volkswagen, and certain reports state that the European engine would have been too costly to import, as the car is made locally. It will only be available with five doors, and has a 0-62mph time of 9 seconds, as opposed to the European car’s 6.9 seconds. It also misses out equipment highlights such as 17-inch wheels (smaller 16-inch rims will be fitted), LED daytime running lights, xenon headlights and headlight washers, multifunction steering wheel as well as cruise control.

Volkswagen Switzerland has announced the Polo GTI Carbon Edition, a very limited edition model, which will only be available on the Swiss market. Essentially a Polo GTI with some added visual punch, only 100 examples will be sold.

The most striking external additions are the distinctive 17-inch, 10-spoke ‘Serron’ polished alloy wheels with black inserts, the ‘GTI Carbon Edition’ honeycomb door decals, and yes, you’ve guessed it, lots of carbon fibre-look trim. The door mirrors are covered in it, as are the B-pillars, which also bear the car’s number in the production run.

The interior features carbon-look trim from the official Volkswagen Accessories catalogue on the radio and air-conditioning surrounds, while standard Polo GTI equipment such as four electric windows and a media-in multimedia socket with USB adapter cable stays.

Four colours – Candy White, Flash Red, Deep Black Pearl Effect and Oryx White Pearl Effect – make up the Polo GTI Carbon Edition’s palette, and while it may be no more than a visually-decorated special, it’s bound to go down well with Swiss Polo fans. The price? €26,430. Deliveries and orders start in October.

The latest version of the Polo GTI has once again claimed Australian car magazine Motor’s ‘Bang For Your Bucks’ award. It’s the second year the Polo has done so, taking the same best-value performance car title in 2011. Beating off 17 other new and returning competitors in 2012, the Polo GTI receives the award in the September issue of Motor, impressing judges with its performance, handling and standard kit list.

The Motor judging panel said: ‘The Polo GTI is an elegantly stylish, roomy, comfortable, refined, safe, beautifully finished small car that also happens to be a fantastic all-round hot-hatch. What the Polo GTI aces without question are the fundamentals of not just every great hot hatch but every great car.’ High praise indeed.

Standard equipment in the Polo GTI 6R includes a seven-speed, double-clutch gearbox with paddle shifters, ESP, and XDS electronic differential lock. Visual punch is added by a red-trimmed grille, 17-inch Golf GTI-style alloy wheels and VW’s signature tartan interior trim. The 2012 Polo GTI is powered by a 178bhp/132kW/250Nm 1.4-litre TSI supercharged and turbocharged engine, and in Australia is priced from $27,790 (recommended price before statutory and delivery charges for three-door model).

[Source: www.vwwatercooled.org.au]

Y464 GHJ has seen almost a full calendar year in Rich Gooding’s ownership. Before he celebrates their first anniversary together, he reports on what’s happened to the car in the past three months

It’s been a busy month for the GTI, not least as it’s been pressed into almost daily service again. I reported last time that I’d been using the car for commuting to a new place of work, which soon ended. Well, the situation has repeated itself, with me taking regular trips to carry out some freelance sub-editing and magazine layout for Bauer Media in Peterborough. The international publisher has titles such as CAR, Classic Cars, Classic Car Weekly, Land Rover Owner International, Parkers and Practical Classics on its roster, so when I’m needed it’s a 175-mile round trip, sometimes four times a week. Which is more than enough miles to get to know a car quite intimately.

While a sometime source of frustration, motorways see the Polo settle into a comfortable and soothing rhythm, its blend of high-specification and sporting élan coming into its own. It’s improved the fuel economy, too, with two recent readings of 41 and 44mpg recorded. I never thought I’d see that! When I do get bored of monotonous stretches of straight tarmac, winding B-roads are handled vigorously by the small Volkswagen, and if not the last word in sporting finesse and pedigree, it puts up a valiant effort. The steering is nicely weighted, and while there’s more body roll than you might expect at times, it’s easily controllable.

Spending more time in the car has allowed me to notice a couple of things. Firstly, the rear window gets dirtier under the rear spoiler than anywhere else on the glass (the water also drops off rearwards from the roof at a heavy rate), and the standard speakers really do produce a great sound, pumping music from my iPod via the cassette deck adapter. The boot light has also – typically – started working again, after my lambasting of it in my last report. In other news, I’ve removed the red grille trim already, as it was more pink than red due to excessive fading, and after having had both a new Polo BlueMotion and Up from the Volkswagen UK press office, the GTI has shared the drive with newer relatives.

With moving house and the new ‘commute’, the Polo’s had a lot to put up with, and I’ve not helped the situation. Two wheel rims on those gorgeous alloys have been kerbed, at opposite diagonal corners, and I reversed into another car on the driveway of the new house, taking the paint off the offside rear bumper corner. While deeply frustrating, there are worse things to worry about, and the first wheel has been painted and repaired. While the car was in the ever-dependable Sani’s Motors in Chelmsford, the slight chips in the wheel boltholes were touched in (making the second wheel kerning incident even more annoying). The second wheel is yet to be taken in, and will be looked at properly when the car has its impending – and soon overdue – 76,000-mile service.

Bought eight months ago, how is Rich Gooding’s 10 year-old Polo GTI adjusting to daily life once again? It’s not all been plain sailing…

The largest development in the ownership of Y464 GHJ came back in January. As reported last time, I took a job at a local design agency which put the car back in daily use, a somewhat alien concept to it. It was used sporadically after I bought it back in September, but had sat for at least four months before coming home with me. Sadly, that spell has now ended and I’m back to freelance work, which sees the car getting less use. Sad news for me, but happy news for the car, as the mileage is currently being kept down. And it also means that I enjoy it more when I do drive it, a positive upside.

On the whole, there’s been no major negatives to report over the three-month period that the car was in regular use. Every day it provided reliable transport, with a added sporty spring in its step, and, as reported last time, it can do the sporty thing and the calming thing in equal measure. I’ve been reading some old road tests of the car, and found out that only 4 per cent of Polo sales in 2001 were of the GTI, and in total, from the summer of 2000 when it was introduced to the start of 2002, only 3393 examples found their way onto UK roads. Well-equipped now, let alone back then, it should have sold more, but was up against fierce competition in the form of the Peugeot 106 and 206 GTIs, and the Citroën Saxo VTS.

The early-2000s Polo GTI deserved to be bought in bigger numbers on looks alone. I’ve said it before, but it is a good-looking car. But, that doesn’t mean it can’t be improved. A little. I’ve added red edging trim to the grille surround (sometimes referred to as ‘lipstick’), to bring the car in line with Volkswagen GTIs from 2004-2009, and think it looks a lot more ‘GTI’ than without, the red trim picking up the red ‘I’ on the front grille ‘GTI’ badge. I’ve yet to replace the rear ‘GTI’ badge with the new one I have sitting in storage, but with the weather the way it has been over the past month or so, there’s been neither rarely a dry day, or a warm one for me to even contemplate easing the old badge off. And, with Volkswagen events being cancelled left, right, and centre due to sodden venues, the car’s not had much chance to be shown off anyway. Let’s hope that soon changes.