PoloDriver

The Polo may sit in the second half of the UK’s top 10 best-selling car chart, but in Europe, it’s a very different story. Volkswagen’s perennial supermini was the second best-selling car in mainland Europe last month. Selling 23,512 units, the total number of Polos that found new homes was up 3.3 per cent on January 2014. And the car that topped the chart? The Polo’s bigger sibling, the Golf.

UK best-selling superminis the Ford Fiesta and Vauxhall/Opel Corsa were fourth and fifth in the European chart with tallies of 21,833 and 21,255 respectively, meaning UK buyers are a patriotic bunch. Another small car rounded out Europe’s top five – the Renault Clio sold 22,238 examples in January. The Peugeot 208 was in eighth place and the Toyota Yaris tenth.

Overall, the picture was a buoyant one. New car sales for the month of January were up 6.4 per cent over the same period in 2014, say JATO Dynamics’ latest figures. Volkswagen, Ford and Renault were the best-selling brands, while the five biggest markets in Europe (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) all recorded growth, as did a further 14 countries.

The top 10 best-selling cars in Europe (sales figure in thousands) are as follows:

1 Volkswagen Golf: 41,307
2 Volkswagen Polo: 23,512
3 Renault Clio: 22,238
4 Ford Fiesta: 21,833
5 Vauxhall/Opel Corsa: 21,225
6 Nissan Qashqai: 18,163
7 Skoda Octavia: 17,294
8 Peugeot 208: 16,047
9 Audi A3/S3/RS3: 15,438
10 Toyota Yaris: 15,298

The latest version of the most economical Polo, the BlueMotion, has just been released for sale. Long and exclusively powered by a diesel engine, the new model also fields a petrol version. At a stroke it has created a lineage back to the early 1980s when another Polo was aiming to provide environmentally-friendly motoring. Its name? The Formel E.

Over a series of model profiles, PoloDriver.com will be looking at the most fuel-efficient Polos in each generation and the technology which made them so frugal. The story starts with the Polo Formel E of 1980 and finishes with the new diesel and petrol Polo BlueMotion TDI and TSI.

The first profile in the series is of the Mk 1 Polo Formel E, which first appeared in the autumn of 1980. Read about the first Volkswagen supermini which was fitted with a high compression engine and special economy-minded gearbox here, and check back for updates on all of the Polos that boasted remarkable parsimony and very economical leanings.

Starting the new year with a bang, the New Volkswagen Polo has landed a place in the top 10 best-selling cars in the UK list, according to figures released by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT). January 2015 saw 3,517 Volkswagen Polos sold, placing it eighth in the UK sales chart.

The SMMT states that overall registrations grew 6.7 per cent in January 2015 to 164,856 units: the strongest January since 2007. The first month of the 2015 was also the 35th consecutive month of rises. Once again, the Ford Fiesta was the best-selling car in the UK for January 2015, with 8,674 examples finding homes.

Mike Hawes, SMMT Chief Executive, said: ‘These figures mark an encouraging start to the year after a very strong 2014. January saw increased uptake of both petrol and diesel cars, while last year’s 9.3 per cent rise in the overall market was fuelled by stronger than expected economic confidence. Demand is back to pre-recession levels following record-breaking growth.’

The UK’s top 10 best-selling passenger cars during January 2015 and the year so far (sales figure and position in brackets) are as follows:

1 Ford Fiesta: 8,674 (8,064, 1st)

2 Vauxhall Corsa: 6,879 (6,879, 2nd)

3 Ford Focus: 4,824 (4,824, 3rd)

4 Nissan Qashqai: 4,676 (4,676, 4th)

5 Volkswagen Golf: 4,387 (4,387, 5th)

6 Audi A3: 3,648 (3,648, 6th)

7 Mercedes-Benz C Class: 3,534 (3,534, 7th)

8 Volkswagen Polo: 3,517 (3,517, 8th)

9 Fiat 500: 3,189 (3,145, 9th)

10 Vauxhall Astra: 2,996 (2,996, 10th)

Volkswagen UK sold 48,004 new Polos during 2014, an increase of some 5,395 cars and 112 per cent over 2013 volumes.

Volkswagen has continued where it left off at the end of the 2014 FIA World Rally Championship (WRC), and taken victory at the 2015 Rally Monte Carlo. The opening event of the 2015 season last weekend actually saw a Volkswagen podium lock-out, with Sébastien Ogier taking first place, Jari-Matti Latvala finishing in second, while Andreas Mikkelsen rounded out the third step of winners’ rostrum.

The second-generation Polo R WRC was unveiled a week prior to the legendary ‘Monte’, and with tweaks including a paddle-shift gearbox and 3bhp more powerful engine, powered Volkswagen to become only the fifth manufacturer ever to claim a one-two-three at one of the world’s most iconic motorsport events. Ogier and Latvala took control of the new-for-2015 Polo R WRC in Monte Carlo, while Mikkelsen and his co-driver Ola Fløene were piloting the 2014 championship-winning car.

23rd Polo R WRC victory
The Rally Monte Carlo 1-2-3 was Volkswagen Motorsport’s 23rd victory with the Polo R WRC, as well as the 11th time it has had more than one crew on the podium since it joined the WRC in 2013. It was Ogier and co-driver Julien Ingrassia’s 25th podium in Monte Carlo, the second consecutive year the pair have done so. Other manufacturers to have scored a Monte Carlo ‘triple’ finish are Audi, Citroën, Lancia and Renault-Alpine.

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Rich Gooding updates the story of his 2001 Polo GTI, which, used almost daily, has seen a fair of share activity since the last report almost eighteen months ago…

This report almost got broken down in several updates, it’s been so long since I reported on Y464 GHJ, my 2001 Volkswagen Polo GTI that I’ve owned since September 2011. The last report highlighted how fun the car was at the Guild of Motoring Writers’ Big Day Out at Rockingham Motor Speedway in the summer of 2013. So just what has happened in the intervening 18 months?

The car’s annual service was due last March and, at 99,963 miles, it was taken into the ever-dependable Sani’s Motors (01245 460040) in Chelmsford. Y464 only needed an interim tune-up, so all the usual procedures were carried out, with the addition of a new pollen filter and new front brake discs and pads. The only minor problem reported was a leaking offside headlight washer pipe.

Losing power
Nothing major then, and I thought the car left the garage fully fit and feeling better after its fettling. That was a mistake. That very same month, on the way to work, warning lights started appearing on the dash, and the car showed signs of losing power. The battery had been replaced a few months earlier, so my thoughts turned to the alternator. Or lack of it, as the car slowed to a halt a few moments later and resolutely refused to start.

Thankfully, I had decided to take a non-busy backroad route in case the inevitable happened, and so found myself just outside a waste management site with an hour’s wait for the RAC. The technician’s battery check proved that it was indeed OK, and that the alternator was the cause of the problem.

A quick call to work, and I was then on my way back to Sani’s with the RAC van following behind, in case the ‘borrowed’ charge petered out. With just two weeks separating its visits, Y464 was back at the Essex VW specialists having a new alternator, auxiliary belt and oil filter fitted. Another £218.51. In-between its visits, the car’s mileage had just toppled over 100,000.

Early summer saw me fit a genuine set of 6N2 Polo GTI front mudflaps. I’d managed to track down a pair on eBay, and although used, they were in good condition even if they didn’t come with new self-tapping screws. 6N2 GTI front mudflaps have mouldings which take into account the model’s deeper sills, and wraparound them snugly.

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