PoloDriver

Just before we went ‘to press’ with our story of the new Polo Sedan for South Africa, Volkswagen South Africa sent out an official press release, which we didn’t have time to include in our original post. Completing the range of South African new Polo models, the notchback joins the mainstream Polo range, Polo GTI and CrossPolo variants, making South Africa one of the only markets in the world – in our knowledge – to receive all three bodystyles. As we noted previously, the new Polo Sedan for South Africa comes in Trendline and Comfortline trims, powered by 84 and 104bhp petrol engines, and a 104bhp diesel unit. Prices start at R159,900 and rise to R218,000. The full Volkswagen South Africa press release and gallery follows.

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Rachel Inglis’ 1981 Derby GLS is just one of her many Polo possessions, totally original and with just 21,000 miles on the clock. Neil Birkitt finds out more about the jewel in the crown of Rachel’s Polo collection

It’s not often that you’ll see a Derby; indeed, you won’t even find much written about it. In fact, the model profile in the February 2008 issue of Volkswagen Driver is about the only significant article that we know of. The Derby was the booted version of the Mk 1 Polo, introduced in 1977 as an LS with a 50bhp 1.1-litre engine and later supplemented in 1980 by the 60bhp 1.3 GLS. Although immensely practical, with a boot as big as that of a contemporary Ford Cortina, the Derby was never particularly popular at the time, and the Volkswagen Driver model profile concluded by saying that it is ‘quite rare now and largely forgotten…’

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Remember the multi-coloured Polo Harlequin of 1995? Released as a special edition, the Polo Harlequin featured a multicoloured body, with each panel in a different colour. Four different versions and colourways were available – as the model was made in groups of four and the panels interchanged – with Chagall Blue, Flash Red, Pistaschio Green and Yellow being the available colours. Prospective owners didn’t know which colourway their car would be until it arrived, leaving an element of surprise in the buying process.

UK Harlequins were powered by a 1.4-litre 60bhp engine, and were fitted with 14” ‘Indianapolis’ alloy wheels and unique ‘Harlequin’ cloth, as well as a blue leather-trimmed steering wheel. Other exterior changes included white front indicators and tinted rear lamps. Originally limited to 1,000 examples worldwide, around 3,800 are thought to have been produced. Rumour has it that a few were resprayed one solid colour, as sales weren’t as high as VW was expecting.

Paul Baker of Drift Bridge Volkswagen certainly remembers the brightly-coloured special edition Polo. Wanting an eye-catching promotional vehicle to entice prospective fifth-generation Polos into the Drift Bridge Volkswagen showrooms, he had two cars wrapped in coloured film in the same colours as the original Harlequin. ‘I wanted to have a attention grabbing car for my forecourt, as Polo has some great offers at the moment, what with £500 off, 12 months free insurance and three years free servicing* (*if financed with VW Financial Services Solutions). We had two cars wrapped – one here and the other for our branch in Croydon,’ Paul said.

The wrapping was carried out by professional wrappers Creative FX, with Chris Pook leading the transformation. Each car took one day to wrap back in January, with the coloured film wrapped over a red-coloured base car. Based in Bromley, Greater London, Creative FX specialises in vinyl wrapping and personalisation of cars, vans, bikes and scooters, as well as offering stone chip protection and window tinting services for customers. And, it’s not the first time Drift Bridge Volkswagen has used Creative FX’s services. Paul Baker continues: ‘The last car we did was a bright pink Fox that went to a local customer. The Polo Harlequin 6R is for sale and we would be happy to wrap others if a customer wanted a different spec.’

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Following Volkswagen’s sensational announcement of the Polo R WRC on 5 May 2011, we’ve recently created a new section on PoloDriver.com all about the car with which VW will contest the World Rally Championship from 2013. With image galleries of both the Sardinia presentation on the eve of the Rally d’Italia Sardegna, as well as the set of official publicity shots, our dedicated Polo R WRC section on PoloDriver.com also includes the numerous approved press releases that Volkswagen Motorsport has released.

Since that first set of press releases, we’ve since learned that the 1.6T 300bhp Polo R WRC will begin testing at the end of 2011 – even if as reported, it initially appears as a pair of Škoda Fabia S2000 mules – and continue in 2012. A fully-fledged multi-car campaign will then start in 2013, with Volkswagen offically committing to 2015. Head over to our special Polo R WRC pages (navigation can also be found at the top of the page) to find out all about this latest exciting chapter in the Polo’s motorport career. We’ll be updating the section as more details are released before and after the car’s competitive debut.

Recently creeping into the pages of Volkswagen South Africa’s website is the new Polo Sedan. Based on the fifth-generation Polo hatchback and the same as the Polo Sedan sold in Russia and the Vento available in India, the new Polo Sedan joins the new Jetta, new Passat, Passat CC and Polo Vivo Sedan in the German company’s South African saloon model range. We didn’t know the notchback was due to hit South African streets, and as no press release has yet been issued, the launch of the latest new Polo variant is certainly a quiet one. And we think it’s unique that the newest generation of Polo hatchback and saloon are being sold alongside the same two variations of the last generation cars.

The South African New Polo Sedan comes with a choice of 1.4-litre and 1.6-litre petrol engines (with 63kW/84bhp and 77kW/104bhp outputs respectively) and one 1.6-litre TDI with 77kW/104bhp. There are Trendline and Comfortline trims, with the 1.6 Comfortline having the choice of an automatic ‘Tiptrionic’ gearbox. All other versions are fitted with a five-speed manual gearbox. Trendline models get 14-inch steel wheels while Comfortline cars boast 15” ‘Riverside’ alloy wheels. Comfortline sedans are further differentiated by chrome trim on the front grilles and boot lid, and colour-coded door handles.

New Polo Sedan range: retail prices (VAT and Emissions Tax included)
1.4 63kW Trendline: R159,900
1.4 63kW Comfortline: R177,000
1.6 77kW Trendline: R182,200
1.6 77kW Comfortline: R195,000
1.6 77kW Comfortline Tiptronic: R209,000
1.6 77kW Comfortline TDI: R218,000