PoloDriver

With two previous Rally Sweden victories under his belt, Jari-Matti Latavala was aiming for a hat-trick at the Scandinavian round of the 2014 World Rally Championship, run from 5-8 February. And with his second victory for Volkswagen Motorsport, he got it.

Fighting an exciting duel with team-mate Andreas Mikkelsen saw the Finn emerge victorious, while his Norweigan foe took second. The Swedish forests weren’t kind to world champion Sébastien Ogier, though, who after suffering an off into a snow bank, finished sixth.

Volkswagen’s second one-two of the season came in difficult conditions, with milder than expected weather thawing out the snow-covered tracks, making grip difficult. The Polo R WRC proved it mettle once again, though, taking the top 43 of 69 possible top three times, 18 of which were stage wins.

There were even moments when all three Volkswagen driver pairings were in the top three of the Rally Sweden leaderboard, wiping the floor with their competitors. Latvala’s victory also propelled him to the top of the Drivers’ Championship table (for the first time), five points ahead of Ogier.

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A year into ownership, John Redfern looks back over 8000 miles and 12 months with his Polo R-Line TSI. Is it everything he hoped for?

The past 12 months have seemed somewhat of a blur, and it’s hard to believe that I’m already a full year into ownership of my Polo R-Line. With 2013 proving to be quite tumultuous and challenging in many ways, the R-Line was at least an icon of dependability throughout.

Travelling to Devon for a weekend break chucked the R-Line in at the deep end, having to contend with an 800-mile motorway round trip. Despite its relatively, small stature the Polo coped extremely well and was happy mixing it with the big boys in the outside lane. Comfort from the sport seats meant no aching backs at the end, and the DAB radio kept us entertained.

A trip to Rockingham race circuit in August for the Guild of Motoring Writers’ ‘Big Day Out’ gave the chance for the R-Line to meet up with Rich Gooding’s 6N2 GTI and Alex Grant’s rather special G40. It was also an opportunity to investigate just how deserving of the ‘R’ badge the Polo actually is.

Despite being one of the lowest powered cars there, the R-Line didn’t feel completely out of its depth on track despite a fair degree of body roll! In fact, the morning session with its damp, slippery track even allowed the R-Line to hustle BMW M3s, although this all changed once the tarmac dried out!

Performance from the 105PS (104bhp) 1.2-litre TSI unit continues to prove just about sufficient to satisfy my inner petrolhead, but there are times where I really do wish for an extra 25-20bhp and accompanying torque boost.

While generally fine with just me on board, extra passengers or luggage do make a dent in acceleration that is slightly too noticeable. This is the trade off for low emissions and fuel consumption I suppose. Fuel economy has improved in my time with the R-Line; possibly due to a combination of the engine being more run in, and a commute with less stop-start traffic.

Regardless of the cause, I’m very happy to be averaging 45mpg on a daily basis, with the potential for this to creep even higher on longer runs. A full tank offers a range of around 300 miles before the DIS screen starts to panic and suggests refuelling is needed.

Over the year I’ve tended to stick to regular 95-octane unleaded, as this is all the R-Line claims to need. Experiments with Tesco Momentum99 proved fairly fruitless, making the throttle response seem jerky as if the engine knock sensor was kicking in. Shell V-Power delivered better results, but without a large enough benefit that justified the ridiculous price.

The only trip needed to Pulman Volkswagen in Durham was for the R-Line’s first 12-month service. With the car having the 3-year service package included from new, the oil change and inspection cost me nothing and took less than 90 minutes. The inspection report notes that front and rear brake wear is only around 10% – clearly I need to try braking harder!

As I write, nothing noticeable has gone wrong or fallen off the R-Line yet. A couple of small rattles from the dashboard kick in when the outside temperature drops, and the Bluetooth phone connection continues to frustrate when it comes to streaming music.

The Deep Black Pearlescent paintwork is, predictably, a nightmare to keep clean and has shown up a couple of small annoying scratches that would be undetectable on a different coloured car.

Modifications have been limited to nothing more than the addition of a TSI badge to the Polo’s rump. With Volkswagen now offering ‘R-Line Style’ models on even the 60PS 1.2 model, I felt it was needed to add a subtle reminder that mine was the real deal underneath.

Carbon fibre wrap for the wing mirrors is still being considered, mainly to cover the damage to the nearside one caused by my other half!

Overall, the R-Line has been a nigh-on faultless performer throughout the past year. It’s been dependable, practical and just the right amount of fun to be enjoyable without breaking the bank. Volkswagen’s success in the World Rally Championship has also given it a pleasing, if rather tenuous, degree of motorsport pedigree too!

In short, the R-Line easily keeps fulfilling the brief I asked of it, and I’m looking forward to another year behind the wheel of EngageSportMode.com’s flagship.

Want to know more? Follow John on Twitter at @EngageSportMode or visit www.engagesportmode.com

On 29 January, PoloDriver.com was privileged to attend the press presentation of the new Polo, a revised and refreshed version of the fifth-generation 6R model.

Unveiled at the home of Volkswagen in Wolfsburg, the new model may appear the same as the outgoing car, but has many technological features and innovations under the skin.

With many driver assistance systems first pioneered on the larger Golf, the new Polo is the safest and most technologically advanced in the model’s 39-year history. It’s also an important car for Volkswagen.

The second best-selling model in its range, Volkswagen UK sold over 42,000 examples in 2013.

The new Polo arrives in the spring, after a world debut at the Geneva motor show in March, with a UK on-sale date of July 2014.

Order books open in April, and with prices expected to be the same as the outgoing car, expect a base-model Polo S to start at around £11,000, but be better equipped for the money.

UK trim levels are expected to be S, SE (forecast to be the most popular version), and SEL as upon introduction of the soon-to-be-discontinued car, with BlueMotion, R-Line and GTI models to follow before the end of the year.

The biggest change for the UK is the switch of the BlueMotion to petrol power with the arrival of a new 1.0-litre 89bhp TSI engine, capable of 68.9mpg.

A raft of EU6-compliant new petrol and diesel engines replace the ageing units which currently serve the 6R, with efficiency and emissions improvements for almost all.

Optional driver aids include Adaptive Cruise Control, a driver alert system, City Emergency Braking, Sport Select adaptable damper suspension, and Front Assist ambient traffic monitoring system.

All new Polos will be fitted with the Automatic Post-Collision Braking System as standard, while new touchscreen infotainment displays feature in the revised interior. There’s also a new steering wheel, instruments and fabrics.

Full LED headlights are also an option on certain models.

Make no mistake, it’s a thorough going-over. While the exterior hints at the mildest Polo ‘facelift’ in history, the engineering innovations suggest otherwise. In fact, so thorough are the changes, we’ve created a new section of pages for the new car.

Individual pages pinpoint the major aspects of the refresh: exterior, interior, engines, and technology, as well as giving the key facts about the new model. Finally there’s an image gallery, displaying all the new pictures of the incoming car.

Head here for a section overview – focusing primarily on UK models (with the full UK press release) – and click on the menu drop-down links on the ‘Polo 6R (F)’ tab above to visit an individual section page in our all-you-need-to-know guide.

It may have been unveiled only last week, but Volkswagen’s factory in Spain has already started the build of revised Polo 6Rs (6R2?). The new generation of Polo will co-exist with the outgoing model until late April when the pre-facelift car is phased out at the Navarra plant.

Incorporating many advanced driving technologies and driver assistance systems, the new Polo is the most advanced yet in the model’s 39-year history. The Navarra factory currently builds 1524 Polos daily.

Volkswagen Navarra is located in the industrial area of Landaben, within the municipality of Arazuri, on the western edge of Pamplona, Spain. It has been building Polos since 1984, and has assembled four generations of Volkswagen’s second best-selling car.

Eighty-nine per cent of the 6,514,573 Spanish-made Polos have been exported, making the plant the leading exporter of the model. Last year 289,589 Polos were manufactured, with 93.2 per cent of those exported to over 70 countries in five continents. Most of those exported cars end up in Germany, France and Italy.

Right-hand drive models are exported from Pamplona, in addition to South Africa. The Spanish factory has over 4900 staff, while Polo production alone has generated almost 4000 jobs in the Pamplona region.

Integrated into Volkswagen’s ‘Think Blue.’ factory programme, the Navarra facility is an example of how sustainability and respect for the environment begins with the manufacturing process. The Pamplona factory aims to reduce energy and water consumption, waste generation and C02 and other emissions.

Spanish marketing activities for the revised Polo will start in May 2014.

All new variants of the Polo sold in India will now have dual front airbags as standard, after a non-airbag equipped version failed a Global NCAP crash test. The Polo, along with four other models – including the previous generation Fiesta-based Ford Figo – failed a 64km/h crash test and received zero-star adult protection ratings.

Volkswagen will be the first manufacturer to offer the safety kit as standard on a model in the small car segment. Mid-range Comfortline models will also receive anti-lock brakes (ABS) as standard.

The first-ever independent crash tests of a selection of India’s popular and important small cars displayed a high risk of life-threatening injuries in road crashes.

The best-selling Suzuki-Maruti Alto 800, Tata Nano, Ford Figo, Hyundai i10 and Volkswagen Polo took part in the Global NCAP tests. With a market share of around 20 per cent of total car sales in India last year, these five models were chosen in entry-level form, meaning none were fitted with airbags.

The Suzuki-Maruti, Tata and Hyundai models proved to have inadequate vehicle structures, collapsing and resulting in life-threatening injury risks to passengers. Such was the extent of these weaknesses, the fitting of airbags would not have been effective.

The Ford and Volkswagen cars fared better, though, with bodies that remained in a stable condition. The tests found that if airbags were fitted, occupant protection would be greatly increased.

Volkswagen India’s decision to withdraw the non-airbag equipped Polo meant that it had to resupply a model to Global NCAP to reassess the version with the safety protection, as that would now represent an entry-level model. The variant with airbags received a four-star rating from the independent testing organisation.

Arvind Saxena, Managing Director, Volkswagen Passenger Cars, Volkswagen Group Sales India Pvt Ltd said: ‘We are proud to be leading the cause of driver safety, and we believe the introduction of airbags as standard fitment across all variants of the Polo is a major step forward. Once again, this step underlines our commitment to producing better – and better-equipped cars – for the discerning Indian consumer.’

At the same time, the German manufacturer announced a 2.7 per cent price increase on its Indian Polo and Vento (Polo saloon) models. Effective from 1 February 2014, Polo prices rise by Rs 22,700 and Vento models will cost up to Rs 26,800 more. Volkswagen India puts the price increase down to high input costs and unfavourable exchange rate changes.

Saxena commented: ‘Input costs have steadily increased over the last few months, and exchange rate movements have not been favourable. We have tried our best to absorb some of these, but in order to be able to continue to offer best-in-class quality and technology to our customers, we have now announced a 2.7 per cent rise in our car prices.’