PoloDriver

The latest version of the Polo GTI has been added to Goodridge Performance’s Phantom line of brake hose kits. Priced from £74.95 in the UK, the fittings of the ‘High Performance Brakelines’ kit come in a choice of stainless steel or zinc-plated materials, while the hoses can be specified in one of nine colours.

PTFE inner, stainless steel outer
The hoses have a PTFE inner, with a stainless steel outer braid. Goodridge states that this eliminates ‘the spongy feel’ under arduous conditions, resulting in a greater clutch operation. The kits are also said to provide superior resistance to abrasion and corrosion, and ‘not only provide the reliability and safety demanded but offer brilliant good looks that improve the appearance of any installation.’

Drawing on professional motorsport heritage and use, the Polo GTI brake hose kit is, as with all hose kit applications, 100 per cent pressure tested and is guaranteed to be leak-free and give an improved braking performance. The lines are also 100 per cent TÜV, DOT, ADR and ISO approved. Each kit is supplied with a selection of brackets and contains both square and banjo type fittings, one at either end of the line.

The ‘6C’ Polo GTI 2014 > brake hose kit is product number SVW0706 and is available to order via the Goodridge Performance website. A range of brake line products is also available to fit Volkswagen Polo models from 1994 onwards. The full list is available here.

Once again the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) failed to lived up its 2016 all-conquering Sébastien Ogier expectations, with part-time Citroën driver Kris Meeke stepping onto the winner’s podium at the eighth round of the series, Rally Finland. Finnish Volkswagen Motorsport driver Jari-Matti Latvala was second at his home rally, set in the forests and lakes around Jyväskylä on 28-31 July.

Form in Finland
Latvala has form in Finland, having won one of the fastest events on the WRC calendar in both 2015 and 2014, and he set the pace on the pre-event shakedown, 0.5 seconds ahead of team-mates Sébastien Ogier and Andreas Mikkelsen, both of whom tied for second. Latvala’s start in Finland – his 164th – saw him surpass Mikko Hirvonen as the most experienced Finnish rally driver in WRC history.

The Finn’s second place in his home country event sees him and co-driver Miikka Anttila climb to third place in the Drivers’ Championship, behind runner-up team-mate Andreas Mikkelsen and fellow Volkswagen Motorsport driver and current world champion Sébastien Ogier. Although a good result, wrc.com reports that a ‘lack of fighting spirit’ was to blame for the Finnish driver not securing a third successive win.

However, it was Ogier’s somewhat uncharacteristic excursion into a ditch following a tight hairpin on stage 10 which made him revaluate his performance. Overall, though, Latvala seemed happy with the result: ‘I am happy with my performance this weekend, even though I came up just short of a hat-trick of wins at the Rally Finland.

‘Very good haul’
‘Second place and a point on the Power Stage is a very good haul. I also climbed a place in the overall standings. All in all, we could not have done any more against Kris Meeke this weekend. Thank you to all the many fans who supported me. It is always very special to drive here on home soil. We now move on to the asphalt season, which was remarkably good to me last year,’ he stated.

2016 Volkswagen Polo R WRC, Rally Finland: Latvala/Anttila

2016 Volkswagen Polo R WRC, Rally Finland: Latvala/Anttila

2016 Volkswagen Polo R WRC, Rally Finland: Latvala/Anttila

2016 Volkswagen Polo R WRC, Rally Finland: Latvala/Anttila

2016 Volkswagen Polo R WRC, Rally Finland: Latvala/Anttila

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Continuing its sales success, the Volkswagen Polo has once again been named as one of the top 10 best-selling cars in the UK. According to the latest figures released by the Society of Motor Manufactures and Traders (SMMT) for June 2016, the Polo was the eighth most popular car in the UK, with 4930 cars finding new homes. For the year-to-date, the Polo is at number seven, with 28,000 examples registered.

A popular choice
Although it is one place below its May 2016 position, it shows that despite the basic shape of the current fifth-generation Polo being unveiled in 2009, seven years on it is still proving a popular choice. This is borne out by the evergreen VW being named as the 2016 Supermini of the Year in the recent Auto Express Awards.

The Polo’s larger brother the Golf took fourth place in both the June and year-to-date figures, while the seemingly immovable Ford Fiesta was once again at the top of the charts with 11,357 cars registered last month and a staggering 68,833 units for the year-to-date. As the small Ford celebrates its 40th birthday in 2016, it remains the premier and most popular choice for the UK as a whole.

Best half-year performance
Other SMMT figures point to a 3.2 per cent rise in demand for new cars between January and June 2016, with 1,420,636 registrations – the best half-year performance ever recorded. Overall demand in June fell, though, with a small 0.8 per cent dip. The UK’s top 10 best-selling passenger cars during June 2016 and the year so far (sales figure and position in brackets) are as follows:

1 Ford Fiesta: 11,357 (68,833, 1st)
2 Vauxhall Corsa: 8837 (42,356, 2nd)
3 Ford Focus: 6833 (37,715, 3rd)
4 Volkswagen Golf: 6775 (37,577, 4th)
5 Mini: 6284 (24,293, 8th)
6 Nissan Qashqai: 5832 (33,656, 5th)
7 Vauxhall Astra: 5628 (28,406, 6th)
8 Volkswagen Polo: 4930 (28,000, 7th)
9 Vauxhall Mokka: 4356 (22,462, 9th)
9 Mercedes-Benz C Class: 4112 (22,069, 10th)

Round six of the 2016 FIA World Rallycross Championship saw the second double final of the season for home team Volkswagen RX Sweden, with Polo RX drivers Johan Kristoffersson and Anton Marklund finishing the event in fifth and fourth places respectively.

The 1.21km Holjes Motorstadion circuit played host to the FIA World Rallycross Championship circus from 1-3 July and Marklund set the fastest lap on day one’s wet conditions. The young Swede fought his way through the traffic-filled qualification races and made it into the semi-finals. A third-place finish in the second semi-final saw him join Kristoffersson in the Supercar final.

In the final race, Sebastien Loeb’s Peugeot was put under pressure by Marklund’s Polo on the opening lap and the Swede passed the Frenchman at the start of the second lap. Disappointingly, a technical issue slowed the 600bhp Polo down towards the end of the race, and resulted in a fourth-place finish.

2016 Volkswagen Polo RX, World RX of Sweden: Marklund

2016 Volkswagen Polo RX, World RX of Sweden: Marklund

2016 Volkswagen Polo RX, World RX of Sweden: Marklund

‘Fastest lap time’
Marklund was content with his run, though: ‘The pace has been really good, we really showed that we have found a lot of speed, especially from testing. I had the fastest lap time for the whole of Saturday – that really showed what we could do.

‘Holjes is a tough track, it’s easy to damage the car and to get in trouble, so I played it safe to get to the semis. You know at Holjes if you are on the back row of the semis that you have to be quite aggressive, I was into turn one and I made it into the final,’ he continued.

‘I knew I had to do that again in the final. I was third position after turn two and I was faster than Loeb on the first lap and was able to pass him. When I jokered, I came out right in front of Mattias Ekstrom, but then I started to have some troubles with the car. It will be fixed easily and we will be ready for Canada, where I have always been in the final,’ he concluded.

2016 Volkswagen Polo RX, World RX of Sweden: Kristoffersson

2016 Volkswagen Polo RX, World RX of Sweden: Kristoffersson

2016 Volkswagen Polo RX, World RX of Sweden: Kristoffersson

Top of the pack
Kristoffersson meanwhile finished top of the pack after the first day’s second qualifying session and remained there at the Intermediate Classification after the fourth qualifying heat. He secured 16 championship points as well as a front row start for the first semi-final, from where he made it onto the second row for the final itself.

A great start saw Kristoffersson joker straight away and the driver from Arvika seemed to be heading for a podium place. Sadly, a puncture on the front of his Polo with just two laps remaining put paid to any podium hopes, and dropped the 27 year-old down to fifth.

Like Marklund, Kristoffersson was pleased with the pace of the Volkswagen Polo RX Sweden Polo: ‘We came here with some new updates and we proved all through the event that we have been quick in wet, dry and tricky conditions. I have to say that we really had the pace this weekend again, like we did in the first four events of the season.

‘We’ve found a lot of speed since Norway, which is great. It’s boring that we got the puncture in the final, as I was in a very good position to get a podium. We lost a bit on lap one but we caught it back and on lap four I was right on Andreas Bakkerud’s bumper, but I landed from the jump at turn two and got a puncture. That’s life.’

Kristoffersson currently sits fourth in the Drivers’ Championship, while Volkswagen RX Sweden is third in the manufacturers’ points. The seventh round of the 2016 FIA World Rallycross Championship takes place at Trois-Rivieres in Canada on 6-7 August.

2016 FIA WORLD RALLYCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP,

DRIVERS’ CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS

1 Mattias Ekström, Audi S1: 142
2 Petter Solberg, Citroën DS3: 137
3 Andreas Bakkerud, Ford Focus RS: 110
4 Sébastien Loeb, Peugeot 208: 106
5 Johan Kristoffersson, Volkswagen Polo: 106

2016 FIA WORLD RALLYCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP,

TEAMS’ CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS

1 EKS: 224
2 Team Peugeot Hansen: 192
3 Volkswagen RX Sweden: 152
4 Hoonigan Racing Division: 133
5 World RX Team Austria: 109

[Images: FIAWorldRallycross.com / Volkswagen RX Sweden]

The Volkswagen Polo has been crowned the best supermini in the UK by motoring magazine Auto Express. It’s the second consecutive year the small Volkswagen has topped the small car category, the refreshed and efficient engine line-up helping it pick up the 2016 prize.

‘Huge breadth of appeal’
Alison Jones, Director of Volkswagen UK, said: ‘The Polo neatly typifies all the positives of the Volkswagen offering in the UK. It has a huge breadth of appeal thanks to a broad choice of models and engines, great styling and that class-leading quality for which Volkswagen is rightly renowned.’

Auto Express Editor-in-chief Steve Fowler said: ‘A 2015 facelift kept the Volkswagen Polo looking fresh and boosted its charm, and this year the German brand has added even more efficient engine options that see the supermini once again edge ahead of its rivals.

‘The Polo shares Volkswagen’s 1.0-litre three-cylinder petrol engine with the Up city car, but there’s also a more potent turbo version available. Even the lower-powered model is sufficient, thrumming along at motorway speeds with plenty of refinement.’ The four-cylinder turbocharged 1.2-litre TSI version was also mooted as one of the picks of the range.

‘Extra interest’
The new Polo R-Line which adds Volkswagen ‘R’-type styling flourishes was also praised by Fowler: ‘Volkswagen released a sporty new R-Line model this year to address one of the Polo’s biggest downfalls, which ensured the supermini can no longer be accused of looking a little safe or lacking style. The R-Line bodykit and bigger wheels add some extra interest to the car’s solid surfaces and sharp creases.

‘It looks like a smaller Golf – which is no bad thing – and that’s reinforced from the moment you shut the door with a solid thunk. The cabin is very well built and feels genuinely upmarket. There’s a wider range of petrol and diesel engines available, too, with a larger, more powerful 1.4 TSI. Not only is this hotter, but it also features clever tech like cylinder deactivation to improve efficiency when cruising.

‘Eco champion’
The new petrol-powered Polo BlueMotion 1.0 TSI was also noted for its economy and low emissions: ‘If you’re after an eco champion, VW’s high-efficiency BlueMotion technology has been applied to the already frugal 1.0 TSI, with impressive claimed fuel economy of 68.9mpg and 94g/km CO2 emissions,’ said Fowler.

We’ll admit to being surprised that the fifth-generation is still winning prizes, seven years into its production run. A new model is mooted for 2017/2018 and will be based on the smallest version of the new Volkswagen ‘MQB’ modular platform architecture. The current Polo range is priced from £11,525 OTR. For more details, visit the Volkswagen UK website.