PoloDriver

‘The Polo GTI is back. A powerful 180 PS comeback!’ Drip-feeding the hungry and prospective owners and teasing the rest of us, Volkswagen has released more information about the long-awaited Polo GTI. Coming from the company’s German headquarters, the latest press release tells us few things new, but it is, interestingly, headed ‘Wolfsburg/Nürburgring’. Is this where VW is going to let the first media drives of the car happen; does the company have that much confidence in its latest pocket rocket?

We suspect that part of the development work for the new hot Polo was done at the ‘Ring, and Volkswagen is marking the connection, as every new production seems to boast some sort of Nordschleife connection. Whatever, there are eight new photos too, this time of a red car, much more subtle than the white car images released back in February. From the new release, we learn that the interior roof liner, roof pillar trim, grab handles and sun visors are all black, and that the 0-62mph dash takes 6.9 seconds.

With a German launch at the end of May, the 1194kg, 1.4-litre TSI-engined, 178bhp Polo GTI will then be introduced to Europe and Japan. Due to hit the UK in the summer and priced at £18,275 for the basic three-door model, there’s no word in the latest press information about a manual gearbox version, so it’s seven-speed, paddle-shift DSG only. We look forward to bringing you a first drive report later in the year. For now, though, the latest full and unedited Volkswagen press release follows below.

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The hottest factory Polo to date was the 178bhp GTI Cup Edition produced in 2006 to tie-in with the German ADAC Volkswagen Polo Cup racing series, so imagine our surprise when we saw this 485bhp monster in the May 2010 issue of Redline magazine. Yes, that’s right, a Polo GTI with 485bhp. Faster than a Mitsubishi Evo X FQ-330, Liam Burke’s tuned Polo sleeper boasts a GTI Cup Edition body kit, has 416bhp-per-tonne (203bhp-per-tonne more than the Evo) and 384lb/ft of torque. Quite an improvement on the standard GTI’s 148bhp and 384lb/ft. Available as a back issue, buy a copy of the May issue of the performance tuning title here and read more about this mental Polo.

[Images: Redline magazine]

Here’s the latest UK TV commercial for the Polo range. First aired last month, and focusing on how competitively priced and well-specced the car is against its rivals (therefore how good value it is), the 30-second spot uses classic, subtle humour to good effect. Part of the ‘Volkswagen value’ promotion, check out Volkswagen’s cool value-inspired website here.

The first Bank Holiday in May means only one thing to VW enthusiasts of a classic persuasion; Stanford Hall. The long-running Leicestershire and Warwickshire VW Owners Club show has kicked off many enthusiasts’ seasons for the last 34 years and is usually blessed with good weather. This year wasn’t quite so good on that front (in fact, at times it was very cold), but that didn’t dampen the spirits of the owners who brought their classic Volkswagens to the grounds of Stanford Hall itself, just outside Lutterworth.

Traditionally a show with an air-cooled bias, the water-cooled fraternity have been embraced in recent years and 2009’s event saw something of a Polo coming, with the forming of a dedicated single-model concours class. It was the same again this year. The field may have been a little down on 2009 with only four cars vying for points, but 2010’s competition threw up a few surprises. One of which, was Nathan Popple’s 1986 Polo C hatchback, which has appeared on the scene after being liberated by a selling elderly owner. Not the first choice for a concours car you may think, but for a first time out, the low-mileage ‘breadvan’ picked up a respectable 108 points out of 150.

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Don’t be fooled by the stories this week about the possibility of a 1.6-litre turbocharged 210bhp Polo R. The UK’s Autocar and Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport have both been sources of speculative ‘are they, aren’t they’ stories this week regarding a possible hardcore Polo. And that’s just they are: speculation. We’ve been onto the Volkswagen UK press office today, and they’ve told us: ‘The news of a Polo R is speculation – we have no plans to build an R model of the Polo.’ So it’s official: a Polo R still isn’t on the cards.

The R’s possible arrival has been one of the most hotly-debated and popular Polo forum and internet topics for months. We doubted that the R was coming at all – the GTI is due to hit the UK in August, and with prices starting at £18,275 for the three-door 178bhp car, an expensive R version would surely be a very niche-market product. Saying that, with reports stating that the allocation for the £30,300 Golf R has sold out, there is obviously a market for super-hot über-hatches.

Edit, 22 May 2010: senior officials at Volkswagen in Germany have now also confirmed that there will be no Polo R, partly in order to protect the Audi S1, which will have the same 1.4-litre, 178bhp TSI engine as the 2010 Polo GTI.

Are you disappointed that Volkswagen have said ‘no’ to building a Polo R? Let us know what you think by leaving a comment.