PoloDriver

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.

It was business as usual for the Volkswagen Motorsport team, as Sébastien Ogier and co-driver Julien Ingrassia recorded a seventh consecutive S2000 class victory at the Neste Oil Rally Finland. Coming in 10th overall, the pair finished just behind winner fellow Frenchman Sébastien Loeb. ‘I’m satisfied with tenth place. On the fast gravel tracks like the legendary Ouninpohja stage, we extracted absolute everything that was possible from our Škoda Fabia, when compared to the significantly more powerful WRC cars. Obviously next year we aim to be higher up the field with the 300bhp, four-wheel drive Polo R WRC,’ Ogier enthused.

Nearly 300,000 spectators saw the French pair cross the line, after 18 special stages, stretching over 304 kilometres – some with 50-metre jumps – and speeds of up to 125mph. Meanwhile in the number two car, Andreas Mikkelsen and Ola Fløene from Norway finished 10th in the S2000 class, after battling with an electrical problem on the tenth special stage, losing almost nine minutes. A later puncture saw them further down the field, although Mikkelsen’s battling spirit saw the duo finish in 27th place. Ogier and Ingrassia didn’t escape mechanical maladies, either – suffering from a broken damper on the same stage.

‘With its hard and fast gravel tracks this Rally Finland certainly numbers to the most challenging and spectacular rallies this year,” said Volkswagen Motorsport Director Jost Capito. ‘The entire team deserves great praise for doing a great job and for quickly solving the small problems that appeared. The driver teams were in good form despite the difficult and tough conditions and collected valuable experience for our WRC programme next year.’ The next round of the WRC is the ADAC Rallye Deutschland in Germany, on 26-28 August.

The second TV commercial promoting Volkswagen UK’s ‘Volkswagen Value’ finance offers takes the same ‘shopping’ theme as the first spot, which features the Golf. While the first ad was set on a bustling outside market stall, the latest Polo-based 30-second commercial takes place in supermarket, where a young trolley-pushing couple are seen getting their groceries. There is one item, though, that’s just too large to go in the trolley and has to go on it instead…

Volkswagen Group South Africa is celebrating once more, as the Polo Vivo was again named the top-selling car in South Africa. With 3499 units sold in July 2012, the Polo Vivo led the market – a familiar story. The latest Polo 6R was also popular, with 2459 examples sold. The Volkswagen Group South Africa also maintained its top position in the new passenger car market, reporting total sales of 8689 units last month. During July 2012, a total of 37,844 new passenger cars were sold in South Africa.

‘Volkswagen Group South Africa is pleased to start the second half of 2012 in a top position in the passenger car market. Polo Vivo continues to be our top performer and in July it was once again the best-selling brand in South. Polo was the second best-seller in the passenger car market. Both brands have been market leaders in the A0 segment for the past seven months in spite of the introduction of many new models in the most competitive car sales segment in the country,’ said Mike Glendinning, Director, Sales and Marketing, Volkswagen Group South Africa. The Polo Vivo was the top-selling brand in the South African passenger car market from January to June 2012 with 16,139 units.

In related news, Volkswagen South Africa’s engine plant in Uitenhage has received an export order for 12,000 engines from China. The factory is scheduled to produce 107,200 engines in 2012, of which 50,200 engines are for the locally-built Polo 6R and Polo Vivo models. Of the remainder, 57,000 engines will be produced for three export markets, namely India, Mexico and China – Volkswagen Group South Africa’s biggest engine export market.

The Polo Vivo was launched in March 2010 as an entry-level model for the South African market, replacing the Series 1 Golf-based CitiGolf, and is available as a three or five-door hatchback and four-door booted saloon with 74bhp/84bhp 1.4-litre and 103bhp 1.6-litre petrol engines. Costing from R106,100 for the base-model 1.4 hatchback to R153,200 for the top 1.6 Trendline Sedan, the 2012 Polo Vivo is based on the revised version of the Series 4 Polo (9N3), built from 2005 to 2009. The fifth-generation Polo (6R) is available as both a three and five-door hatchback, in addition to the traditionally-styled four-door Polo Sedan.