PoloDriver

Following last year’s concept at the Wörthersee GTI Treffen, it was inevitable that Volkswagen would chop the top of the Golf GTI and create the Golf GTI Cabriolet, the full details of which have now officially been released. Making its debut at the Geneva motor show next week, the latest addition to the GTI family is the most powerful open-top Golf that Volkswagen has ever produced. Practicality, long a GTI trump card, stays, and the addition of an electrically-powered folding fabric roof opens up the sporty Golf’s four occupants to the open-air experience.

Visually, the Golf GTI Cabriolet looks the same as the tin top, with honeycomb grilles, red grille trim, a smattering of ‘GTI’ badges, side sill extensions, smoked LED tail lights, double exhaust pipes, and those distinctive 17-inch ‘Monza’ alloy wheels. The black, fully-insulated and powered fabric roof can be retracted in 9.5 seconds up to speeds of 18mph, and underneath lies the standard Golf GTI cabin. That means tartan ‘Jacara’ cloth upholstery, GTI multifunction steering wheel, stainless steel pedal caps and gloss black inlays on the door caps and dashboard.

The GTI Cabriolet shares its engine with its revered hatchback sibling, too. The 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder engine produces 208bhp, gets the car to 62mph in 7.3 seconds (0.4 seconds down on the metal-roofed car), while top speed is 147mph. Ratios can be changed via a six-speed manual gearbox or seven-speed DSG. Maximum torque is 206lb ft (280Nm), available from 1700-5300rpm, while the standard Golf GTI’s XDS transverse differential and EDS electronic differential lock help transfer the power to the road through the front wheels.

Safety is as the standard Golf Cabriolet. The open-top Golf GTI comes with automatically deploying rollover protection, front and side head/thorax airbags and a driver’s knee airbag as standard, all of which helps it to achieve a five-star (96 per cent) rating for adult occupancy in Euro NCAP crash tests. UK buyers will have to wait until the second half of 2012 for the Golf GTI Cabriolet, when prices and final specification details will be announced, but with a basic three-door Golf GTI costing £25,320, expect the GTI Cabriolet to start upwards of £27,000.

It’s soon to celebrate its 37th birthday, but today the Volkswagen Polo was announced as the best-selling supermini in Western Europe, based on new registrations by automotive data and marketing solutions organisation Polk. The fifth-generation Polo was launched in 2009, and has won numerous international prizes, including ‘European Car of the Year 2010’ and ‘World Car of the Year 2010’, as well as a ‘Red Dot Design Award’. The car has also won 22 out of 22 comparative tests both in Germany and overseas.

Dynamic design, driving fun, comprehensive safety equipment and a cutting-edge engine line-up mark out the latest Polo, although class-leading quality and refinement still have their part to play, just as they did when the first generation was launched in March 1975. The second-generation Polo arrived in 1981, while the third generation model came in 1994. The series four Polo was ushered in during 2001, bringing with it a whole host of safety features and technology, which its successor has comprehensively built upon.

‘After a very successful 2010, 2011 proved to be an outstanding year once again for the Polo. To be the number one in the supermini segment all across Europe demonstrates that the Polo is the first choice for many customers. In Western Europe alone, more than 340,000 vehicles were sold,’ says Xavier Chardon, Head of Sales Europe of the Volkswagen Passenger Cars Brand. The international popularity of the Polo is reflected in the best-seller’s production locations. The latest Polo 6R is currently manufactured at, and sold from, seven global locations in Europe, Africa, South America, China, India and also Russia.

[Image: Massimiliano Sermisoni Fotografie]

As if being new and distinctive wasn’t enough, renowned Volkswagen Group tuner ABT has focused its attention to the smallest member of the VW family, the Up, releasing details of a very bright styling kit. The Kempten, German-based company says that the red, white and black kit ‘draws upon the extravagant designs of the “Swinging Sixties” with which the power versions of plain mass-consumption cars – from “Herbie” the Beetle to Renault Gordinis and Mini Coopers – showed that sensible can also be cool.’

The father of ABT Sportline’s managing director was very much into his motorsports and was successful, too, both inspirations which the tuner has used to embellish the small Volkswagen. Still ecological and economic, the graphics lend an aggressive air, with the champfered window line, front and rear bumper ‘smiles’, and side skirts being picked out in contrasting red on this white car. A black roof and bonnet matches the glass tailgate, while the white stripes evoke those classic white lines of blue Renault Gordinis.

Lowered suspension springs and a fruitier twin-pipe exhaust with red-trimmed tunnel help the sporty looks, too, while mirror caps and ABT-branded red hub covers complete the makeover. The car will debut at the Geneva motor show next month, where we expect ABT Sportsline GmbH to release final and official pricing details.

Fresh from its recent class victory at Rally Sweden, Volkswagen Motorsport gave the much-awaited Polo R WRC rally car its first official public outing at the weekend. The ‘reveal’ took place at winter sports resort Ellmau in Austria at Volkswagen’s Winter Night event, with driver Sébastien Ogier piloting the near-300bhp four-wheel drive Polo around the ice and snow-covered track. Carlos Sainz, who has also had a hand in developing Volkswagen’s 2013 rally challenger, appeared in a Race Touareg.

In related Polo R WRC news, wrc.com reports that the first tests of the ‘proper’ car were completed last week. Volkswagen Motorsport ran the car in Norway, with Ogier and Dieter Depping sharing the driving, close to the Rally Sweden stages, where Ogier had competed only a few days earlier. Completing the 1000km test programme with no reported faults, the team focused on transmission and suspension components, and compared the results to the Škoda Fabia S2000 cars, VW currently runs in the 2012 World Rally Championship (WRC). The official WRC website states that the Volkswagen Motorsport testing circus moves to Spain later this week, with the focus on gravel.

[Source: German Car Scene]

All Volkswagen Racing South Africa’s 2012 National Rally Championship hopes rest on the rather broad rear shoulders of the latest Polo S2000 rally car, unveiled to the press at Stellenbosch vineyard yesterday morning. Replacing the Polo Vivo S2000 (and the series four-based Polo S2000 before it), the latest version of the company’s rally challenger, according to Volkswagen Racing South Africa, ‘pushes the boundaries of what has been done previously, and rewrites the rally car rules from the ground up.’

Using some of the most advanced technologies available, the new Polo 6R-based cars are built at Volkswagen’s Uitenhage plant from scratch, and are not deconstructed production vehicles, as was the practice in the past. The S2000 car uses tweaked standard Polo parts (also made locally at Uitenhage), which have been extensively tested to meet the exacting standards of competition at the highest level.

Powered by a 2.0-litre, four-cylinder engine producing 270bhp/200kW driving all four wheels, the latest Polo S2000 boasts 184lb ft/250Nm of torque at 7200rpm, and makes effective use of a Sadev 4/45 six-speed sequential ‘Powershift’-equipped gearbox. Inside, the interior electronics have new EFI systems and the wiring harnesses are constructed to aircraft specification. Tolerances within the build process are down to 1mm.

Known as the P5R (Volkswagen Polo 5 Rally), the new Polo S2000 is designated PQ250, and is based on the five-door fifth-generation Polo 6R body, unlike the three-door Polo R WRC. Taking the large wheel arches and pumped-up looks from the WRC car, the Polo S2000 does without the oversize rear wing, as it does not comply with S2000 regulations. The rally car is 15mm wider than its road relation, with an 8mm longer wheelbase.

With all these far-reaching changes, drivers now have to undergo specific training to drive the Polo S2000 – it is no longer a turn-key rally machine. And those lucky drivers have also been announced. Long-standing Volkswagen driver pairing Enzo Kuun and Guy Hodgson will drive one car, with Hergen Fekken and Pierre Arries piloting another. Newcomers Hans Weijs Jnr and Bjorn Degandt, will drive the third car in Volkswagen Racing South Africa’s offensive. With an enviable record of six consecutive national rally titles since 2005 in the S2000 class, the VW team has set the standard for all other crews to follow.