PoloDriver

Jetex has recently announced a new 3-inch high-flow race cat and downpipe for the 2010- Polo GTI 6R. Designed to be used with their cat-back 27-HADR system, the 100-cell race cat can be fitted to an OE exhaust system, but some modification will be needed. With a pipe diameter of 76mm + 63.5mm (3 and 2.5 inches respectively), it complements the 27-HADR system perfectly, and fits directly to the turbo itself. To get the full performance effect, Jetex recommends that the complete pairing should be fitted in conjunction with a Stage 2 remap. For further information and prices, call 01789 298989 or email sales@jetex.co.uk. The kit should also fit the latest Škoda Fabia vRS.

With the Volkswagen Group holding many brands in its hand, it can afford to manufacture and market many cars with the same mechanical components, and has been doing for many years. Take the Polo for example. All of the group’s supermini models share its components (for reasons of simplicity, we’re disregarding which group model came first), and so all offer much the same package, but with slight styling and tuning differences. Or do they? We’ve got, courtesy of Škoda UK, a Škoda Fabia vRS for the week, to see if there really are major differences between it, and the Polo GTI which shares the same 1.4-litre 178bhp TSI engine. Check the site in a few days’ time to find out what we discovered.

Volkswagen France have actively promoted the current fifth-generation Polo since its launch in 2009. Here’s a recent TV commercial for the Style special-edition model, which plays on simple childhood emotions. A Les Télécréateurs, Paris, production, the 35-second ‘Instant Pleasures’ spot was directed by Rudi Rosenberg. A companion commercial featuring the Golf was also created, while a behind-the-scenes video is here.

According to recent reports, a technology-laden Polo 1.4 Active Cylinder Technology (ACT) model is to be launched in late 2012. The revolutionary-engined Polo employs Volkswagen’s new 1.4 TSI unit with ACT, the first four-cylinder engine in the world with cylinder deactivation technology. Soon to be introduced in the new Audi A1 Sportback., and improving both fuel consumption and C02 emissions under light engine loads, the 138bhp engine shuts down two cylinders when the unit is less stressed, displaying a ‘two-cylinder mode’ warning telltale in the dashboard display.

Prototypes (like the Braunschweig-registered car pictured above on the roads outside Wolfsburg) are already doing the rounds. UK motoring title What Car? Has already tested the car, and states that ‘VW sources suggest the Polo ACT will be a stand-alone model in the range. A price of around £17,000 seems likely.’ The new engine, a member of Volkswagen’s new EA211 family, is one of the first fruits of the company’s flexible new Modular Transverse Matrix (MQB) chassis and platform technology.

VW states that MQB (the German translation is Modularer Querbaukasten) exploits synergies in key technologies across vehicle classes, making luxury technologies accessible to high-volume models. The first products of the new transverse-engined system are reportedly the Mk 7 Golf and Audi A3, both due for launch later this year. The MQB will also extend down to the Polo (we presume the next generation model) and also covers Beetle, Jetta, Scirocco, Passat, CC, Tiguan, Touran and Sharan.

Making production easier, all of these models could theoretically be produced on the same assembly line, despite their different wheelbases and track widths. All the engines will be mounted uniformly, with the EA211 petrol family (engines with 59-149bhp) and EA288 diesel family (engines with 89-189bhp) key ingredients of the new system. Hybrid-drive and other alternative-fuel powerplants will also see modules mounted in the same place on every variant, cutting production costs considerably. Volkswagen says that MQB will also allow the group to deliver individually-tailored vehicles which can be sold much more competitively in the company’s diverse global markets.

With more than 200,000 spectators watching, the Volkswagen Motorsport factory team successfully took a class victory on the Rally Sweden over last weekend. The French pairing of Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia clinched the S2000 class win at the second round of the 2012 World Rally Championship (WRC) with their Škoda Fabia S2000 rally car. Andreas Mikkelsen and Ola Fløene, their junior teammates, came in third place, while the two teams were placed 11th and 14th overall. Volkswagen Motorsport’s two Czech cars also ran reliably on the 350-kilometre, 24-stage event.

Ogier took the S2000 class lead on the event’s opening stage, and not even a puncture on the 12th stage or a fuel filter change on the 18th could stop him. With eight top-ten results he repeatedly moved into the leading group of the more powerful WRC cars. ‘That was a very good rally for us. I’m very happy with our class win. The conditions on the stages were better than expected and it was great fun to drive here. Our pace was very good and because our team mates were also very fast,’ said the 28-year old Frenchman.

‘The Rally Sweden is one of the real highlights of the World Championship season since it is only here that spiked tyres are used on snow and ice throughout the entire event. The character is unique and it was equally important for our team to collect experience in order to be as well prepared as possible next year with the Polo R WRC. Sébastien Ogier and Andreas Mikkelsen effectively controlled the Super 2000 class and were not only fast in the process, but also drove very reliably and within their limits – our two Fabias ran without problems’ explained Volkswagen Motorsport Director Kris Nissen.