PoloDriver

While the speculation over the Polo’s move to the US continues, Brazilian car magazine Revista Autoesporte seems to have the clearest rendering yet of the upcoming saloon version. While the new notchback is rumoured to appear in the Chinese, European and Russian markets, it’s the North and South American territories that have been the most reported on in recent months as possible sales destinations.

We still don’t know of course if Volkswagen are going to take the jump and put the boot in (or technically, on) the fifth-gen Polo, and while spyshots are few and far between, the illustration on the front of Revista Autoesporte (alongside photos of the facelifted CrossFox and SpaceFox) definitely seems to resemble a Polo. Unfortunately, there’s no confirmation, just the tag ‘Anti-Civic’, which would point to a sedan-style car with the Polo’s footprint. The waiting game continues.

After the recent months’ snow and an appearance in the March 2010 issue of Volkswagen Driver magazine, Rich Gooding’s Polo GT Coupé is now parked indoors and undercover – temporarily at least…

The biggest thing that’s happened to L307 JTM since my last report is that it’s now taking shelter from the weather in a borrowed indoor parking space not far from home. And while it will have to be moved, blinking into the great outdoors once more, it might not happen for a few weeks yet. Why indoors? The reason is simple – the water leak in the passenger footwell would have had time to dry out, or at least that’s what I’m hoping. Then it’s off to find somewhere that will water test the car, sourcing the leak once and for all.

In other news, fresh from last month’s minor DIY service, I looked back at some old parts receipts. It turns out the spark plugs were only changed 8,000 miles ago in 2008. Yes, that’s right, the Polo’s had only 8,000 miles roll under its wheels in two years. That was news to me (pleasant, I think) and was a much shorter distance than I’d thought. That figure might increase slightly this year, as I intend to attend more shows once the season gets underway, but then again, being effectively laid up for the last three weeks, maybe not…

Costs this month: £0

Just to prove that they are still around, here’s a 1991 Polo GT Coupé that we saw for sale on eBay today. It’s black, done 98,000 miles, has the optional factory-fitted sunroof and alloy wheels (which you don’t see often and are in fact also fitted to the 1980s Polo Coupé Ss) and, unbelievably, has had just two careful owners. With that registration plate, we think it could either be an ex-Volkswagen UK press or fleet car, too. Want a tidy piece of Polo history? Bidding ends here on 13 March.

EDIT: When the end of the auction was announced, the car sold for £620.00, attracting a total of seven bids.

Lower consumption and emissions combine with higher driving dynamics

Currently the Polo’s most powerful engine until the GTI comes along in the summer, the 1.2-litre TSI unit is one of the family of Volkswagen’s TSI powerplants that have been awarded the environmental commendation certified by TÜV Nord. The Life Cycle Assessment on which the commendation is based confirms that the TSI engines have significantly improved environmental characteristics compared with the predecessor models throughout their life cycle thanks to their smaller engine size and lower fuel consumption – while at the same time evidencing higher driving dynamics.

It’s not the first time Volkswagen has won awards for its engine and gearbox technology; last year the automotive giant won three prestigious ‘Engine of the Year Awards’. After the DSG dual-clutch transmission, the TSI engine tech, the second of the three basic technologies in the BlueMotion Technologies brand, has confirmed its outstanding Life Cycle Assessment. BlueMotion Technologies is the Volkswagen umbrella brand for all environmentally-friendly, energy-efficient products and technologies. Thanks to a reduction in engine capacity, the TSI engines significantly lower fuel consumption and CO2 emissions.

For commendation, a 1.4 TSI engine with 120bhp was compared with a 1.6 FSI engine with 114bhp, while a second test compared the Polo’s 1.2 TSI unit with 104bhp and a 1.6 MPI engine with 100bhp. The environmental commendations, which are based on Life Cycle Assessments pursuant to ISO 14040/44, investigate the environmental characteristics of vehicles or technologies throughout their entire life cycle, from manufacture through use to recycling. The environmental commendation is only issued if the overall performance of the new development is better than that of the respective predecessor.

Volkswagen’s new design language is clearly starting to attract the right attention. The Polo has received a gold product design award from the International Forum Design (iF), based in Hannover. The awards which ‘have been a reliable indicator of outstanding quality in design,’ are judged by a jury of 24 international design experts, and denote ‘proven design quality’ according to the German organisation.

Praising the excellent combination of exterior and interior design of the latest version of Volkswagen’s small car, the jury stated that the new Polo is ‘A very successful, striking design for a small car. Both outside and inside is clearly designed and with great functionality. Even more emphasis is placed on the essentials, and there is an excellent combination of interior and exterior design as a logical development of a series.’

The designers of the fifth-generation Polo, Urs Rahmel and Gustav Hofmann (pictured above), accepted the award at the formal iF Design Awards 2010 ceremony last Tuesday, where it was also revealed that the Volkswagen’s latest supermini star was the sole recipient of the gold award in the iF Design Awards 2010 ‘Transportation Design’ category. The latest achievement in the new Polo’s CV will be recorded in a public and online exhibition and the design award 2010 yearbook.