PoloDriver

UK car-buying magazine What Car? recognised the new Polo at its annual awards last night, held at London’s prestigious Grosvenor House Hotel. Along with the hotly-contested Best Supermini 2010 title, the fifth-generation Polo also picked up the Best Buy award in the more than £11,000 sub-category. Both prizes were awarded to the 1.4-litre 85bhp SE five-door model. The Golf and Scirocco also took top honours in the Small Family Car and Best Coupé Under £25,000 categories respectively.

Presenting the Polo’s award, What Car? Group Editor, Steve Fowler commented: ‘We first got behind the wheel of the new Polo at the Geneva Motor Show and we were immediately blown away by its airiness and the quality of its interior. The Polo’s fine drive and a cabin that is effectively a Golf in miniature had us convinced.’

Chris Craft, Director of Volkswagen UK said: ‘I am extremely proud of these awards and to see three of our key models performing so strongly this evening. The new Polo has enjoyed a fantastic reception since its launch last year, and these latest awards are a good foundation for continued success looking forward.’

It’s starting to feel like 1994 all over again. The autumn of that year saw the third-generation Polo scoop almost every award it was up for and win almost every group test it took part in. To our knowledge no new generation of Volkswagen’s small car has swept the board to the same level since. Until now. Adding to its already full trophy cabinet, the new fifth-generation car was awarded second place in the ‘Automobile’ category at the ADAC ‘Gelber Engel 2010’ (‘Golden Angel 2010’) ceremony in Munich this week.

One of the most coveted awards in the auto industry, a total of 34 cars were up for prizes, voted for by readers of ADAC’s Motorwelt magazine and visitors to ADAC’s website. It brings the total of recent major industry awards that Volkswagen’s new baby has won to five.

The most prestigious is of course, the European Car of the Year 2010 gong, but it has also won the ‘Best Car of the Year 2009: Supermini’ award from Auto Motor und Sport; the ‘Green Steering Wheel’ and ‘Golden Steering Wheel’ from German magazine publishers Springer Verlag and the ‘Auto Trophy’ prize from Autozeitung.

Motoring weekly Autocar pits the new Polo 1.4 SE against the Citroën C3 1.4 VTI VTR+ and Ford Fiesta 1.4 Zetec in the latest issue on sale this week. Squaring up to its French and Anglo-American competition, one of the trump cards played by the new fifth-generation Polo is, unusually, its price.

At £13,030 for the 84bhp SE model tested, the mid-range Polo is the cheapest car of the three put through their paces. That doesn’t mean it skimps on comfort, kit or refinement, though; the magazine states ‘There are very few flaws in the Polo’s package. On the motorway it is the most refined car here, and it is perfectly comfortable in every circumstance.’

So, does the Polo triumph? Buy the 13 January 2010 issue of Autocar available until next Tuesday to find out.

Volkswagen is having a busy time of it at the moment. The company pulled the covers off the Indian version of the new Polo last week at the Auto Expo in New Delhi, and yesterday unveiled the New Compact Coupé (NCC) concept car at the 2010 North American International Auto Show in Detroit. Two debuts at two motor shows in two regions of the world a week apart is no mean feat.

Premiering both the upcoming Jetta (or ‘Mid-Size Sedan’ being developed especially for the US market) and a hybrid powertrain, the NCC is powered by a 148bhp 1.4-litre TSI engine coupled with a 25bhp electric motor using lithium-ion batteries. The German automotive giant states that 48mpg is achievable, along with 98g/km of CO2, a top speed of 141mph and 0-62mph in 8.1 seconds!

Of more interest to us, though, is the styling. There’s no denying the NCC is a handsome piece of kit, but take a second look at the frontal aspect. There’s more than a hint of Polo to the forward-facing styling elements of the NCC and although the looks will no doubt be referred to as VW’s ‘new corporate face’ (which is partly true), there’s definitely more Polo-inspired DNA in there than either Golf or Scirocco.

A new notchback version of the fifth-generation Polo has been widely reported as on its way, but the question that begs to be asked is, does the NCC at least give a subtle hint to how the still-to-be-unveiled saloon will look? We know the smaller car will be a traditional four-door and not the more rakish two-door of this concept, and that the NCC is slated to be positioned between the Scirocco and Passat CC (Golf Coupé then) if it ever makes it to market. But, if the new Polo saloon looks this good, it should banish the memories of the awkward Series 3 notchback of 1996 forever.

With 2009’s Up! Lite concept (above) unwrapped at the Los Angeles Motor Show pointing the way for possible future Polo styling references, Volkswagen seems to be pushing its new-found small car styling confidence and visuals onto many new and forthcoming models. Exciting times. What do you think of the NCC: does it premier the likely new look of the Polo saloon, and, if so, would you buy one? Join the discussion and leave a comment below.

Here’s the TV commercial from the campaign for the Team range of models of which the Polo TEAM we highlighted last week is one. First aired on 23 December 2009, the ‘Winter Fairy Tale’ spot is just one part of a multimedia campaign and along with its print and online equivalents, the 30-second ad promotes the group of Volkswagen special editions made to highlight Germany’s 2010 World Cup entry.

Paraded through the streets of Germany like heroes who have already won football’s biggest prize, the TEAM special editions are given an ovation usually reserved for top players of the sport. German rock band (I know, we thought so too) Revolverhead provide the soundtrack, reworking their 2008 fan anthem Helden 2008 exclusively for VW to become Helden 2010 for the German car maker to take to South Africa in the summer.