PoloDriver

The 2014 FIA World Rallycross Championship may be over, but the Volkswagen Polo RXs of Marklund Motorsport were in action over the weekend of 13-14 December at the annual Race of Champions.

The Carribean island of Barbados was the venue for the 2014 event which sees motorsport legends compete each other and teamed up with fellow drivers from the same country to fight the Nations Cup.

The 600bhp Polo RXs were piloted by motorsport stars such as nine-time Le Mans winner Tom Kristensen, 2014 FIA World Rallycross Championship winner Petter Solberg, and overall victor F1’s David Coulthard. Duels were fought around a parallel course at Bushy Park.

Polo R-Line owner and 2014 Guild of Motoring Writers Breakthrough Blogger winner John Redfern reflects on 15,000 miles and almost two years of ownership with the small black car from Wolfsburg and finds a friendly, fun and stress-free companion

After 15,000 miles, the Polo R-Line is proving to be a reliable and dependable car to drive. As someone who foots the bill; this is great. But, as someone who also has to write about it, the R-Line makes this particular task a lot more difficult.

It’s quite scary to realise that come January, I’ll have had the R-Line for two years already, with just another 12 months before the end of its Solutions PCP deal. In fact, the latest statement from Volkswagen Financial Services has just dropped through the door today.

As it stands, based on current market trends and values, it looks like I’ll have a nice chunk of equity to use for the R-Line’s replacement come 2016. More of that later though.

Since my last update, Volkswagen has released the revised 6R (F) (6C? – RG) version of the Polo, as covered extensively on PoloDriver.com. Fortunately, the changes to the exterior were relatively minor for a Polo facelift, meaning I don’t feel too much like I’m driving the out-dated model.

Warm hatch ability
It has brought in a new version of the 1.2 TSI engine – as found in the R-Line – packing an extra four horsepower under the bonnet of the updated car. Hardly a huge increase in power, but then the R-Line has always felt punchier than what the official numbers suggest.

In fact, the recent colder weather has made the R-Line’s TSI unit feel rather spritely, to the point of almost bordering of warm hatch ability. Joining motorways and pulling away from roundabouts have resulted in a fairly sizeable smile across my face, with the R-Line nipping through traffic and opening up gaps with ease. Commuting isn’t meant to be this much fun!

More impressive is the upsurge in fuel economy the R-Line appears to be experiencing, despite the more ‘enthusiastic’ driving style. MPG has been nudging over 50 regularly; based on the DIS display at least.

I’ve also been managing a good 350 miles before the fuel warning light appears. That’s an improvement of some 50 miles since my last update for PoloDriver.com, and an extra 30 miles than what it had been achieving more recently.

Minimalist attitude
What could be the cause of this new minimalist attitude to fuel consumption? The TSI engine being fully run in could well be one answer. With 15,000 miles on the clock, it’s reasonable to expect that the engine is now fully bedded in and on peak form.

In addition, with the recent drop in petrol prices, the R-Line has been benefiting from regular tanks of Shell V-Power Nitro+ petrol. This combination has seemingly been enough to endow the R-Line with more power and better fuel economy. Who needs a hybrid, eh?

More importantly, who needs to replace a car that still seems to be doing everything they can ask of it? Well, me, really. As much as the R-Line may do all I need, there are areas where I’d want it to do more – such as being quicker. Or having a sport mode, so it at least fits with the name of my own website (www.engagesportmode.com), for a start.

Thankfully, Volkswagen may have the answer with the latest Polo GTI. You can find the full details here on PoloDriver.com, but the idea of a 1.8 TSI engine, six-speed manual gearbox and the optional ‘Sport Performance Kit’ is very appealing.

The latter includes the all-important ‘sport button’ which changes the steering weight, accelerator response and suspension settings. I’m literally hanging on the edge of my seat waiting for the announcement on pricing, so I can begin harassing my local Volkswagen dealership.

Until then, I’ll be perfectly happy behind the wheel of the R-Line. It has its second annual service to look forward to in January, and there’s also the need for some new front tyres soon. That spirited driving style had to come at a cost somewhere I suppose.

But, with 15,000 dependable miles down, the R-Line probably does deserve some new shoes for doing everything just so very, very, well.

Want to know more? Follow John on Twitter at @EngageSportMode or visit www.engagesportmode.com

The revised Volkswagen Polo has won the 2014 Best City Car Award by Australian automotive website Carsales. ‘Volkswagen’s smallest model in Australia was our top city-car pick even before the comprehensively facelifted version brought more big-car safety and connectivity features in August,’ said Managing Editor Marton Pettendy.

‘The addition of a five-inch colour infotainment touch-screen and smarter electromechanical steering from the standard-setting Golf – not to mention fresh exterior cosmetics – makes the sharpest tool in the light-car shed more entertaining in more ways.

‘But throw in a lower starting price, benchmark fuel economy and the availability of class-exclusive technologies like driver fatigue detection, multi-collision braking and radar cruise control, and it’s easy to see why VW’s latest Polo is the clear winner of the City Car race,’ Pettendy continued.

The 2014 Carsales Car of the Year Awards use motoring’s 13-category Top 5 recommendations as shortlists and ‘combine critical expert evaluation with data from the automotive network’s Redbook and DataMotive divisions to refine and determine each winner’.

‘The carsales.com.au Car of the Year Awards bring an important consumer element to Australian automotive awards. Cost to run, retained value and affordability are all important factors for car buyers,’ said CEO and Managing Director, Greg Roebuck.

As part of the awards, Redbook calculates cost to run and retained value based on an ownership period of three years and a total mileage of 60,000km. Eligibility for price-defined categories is based on recommended retail price of the base model under consideration.

All expert evaluation, ownership costs and affordability calculations are based on the price, packaging and equipment of the respective top-selling variants. Editors then award the Carsales Car of the Year title to the vehicle determined to be the most deserving of the category winners.

Two more Volkswagens picked up Carsales 2014 Car of the Year Awards: the Best Family Car under $30K went to the Golf, while the Amarok pick-up took the Best Tradie Vehicle prize.

In a familiar story, the Volkswagen Polo is still one of the best-selling cars in the UK, according to latest industry sales figures released by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT). Tallies for November 2014 see the Polo rise two places from last month – the recently-introduced revised model has no doubt helped the VW small car’s fifth placing. The SMMT states that 4075 new Polos were sold last month.

The Ford Fiesta is unstoppable and once again sat atop the chart, selling 7660 cars, while the recently revised Vauxhall Corsa sold 4,832 units and is in third place. The Volkswagen Golf takes the runner-up spot in-between, with 5440 cars finding homes. The SMMT figures show that UK new car registrations jumped 8.0 per cent in November to 172,327 units, marking the 33rd consecutive month of growth.

The UK’s top 10 best-selling passenger cars during November 2014 and the year so far (sales figure and position in brackets) are as follows:

1 Ford Fiesta: 7660 (123,747, 1st)
4 Volkswagen Golf: 5440 (69,787, 4th)
3 Vauxhall Corsa: 4832 (73,709, 3rd)

4 Ford Focus: 4813 (78,944, 2nd)
5 Volkswagen Polo: 4075 (44,815, 7th)
6 Nissan Qashqai: 3947 (47,154, 6th)
7: Vauxhall Astra: 3710 (54,753, 5th)
8 Nissan Juke: 3557 (36,215, 10th)
9 Audi A3: 3451 (42,949, 8th)
10 Mercedes-Benz C Class: 3336

(The 2014 top 10 best-selling car absent from last month’s sales figures is the Fiat 500 with 41,297 units sold in ninth place.)

We are pleased to announce that PoloDriver.com has received a highly commended prize at the 2014 Guild of Motoring Writers’ Awards. The awards recognise the Guild members’ work but the prizes also encourage new motoring writers, and it was for the Breakthrough Blogger of the Year sponsored by Motoring Research that PoloDriver.com was entered.

Richard Gooding started the Polo enthusiast website five years ago, from the ashes of the VW Polo Register, the UK’s first and longest-running club-level organisation for Volkswagen’s small car. A former editor of the club’s newsletter, Richard has been writing for over 20 years for both the local and national specialist press and has been in editorial job roles for the past 15 years. He is currently writing a history book for Crowood Press on the Porsche 914.

‘Richard’s work made the decision really tough for us as his extensive and professionally-created site is an excellent example of publishing,’ said Motoring Research managing director Richard Aucock. ‘For this reason, we’re going to work with Richard and try to develop a work experience and exposure package with him too; we’d love to give him a platform to showcase and develop his own abilities as a motoring journalist,’ he continued.

Richard Gooding commented: ‘After a dedicated five years starting and promoting PoloDriver.com, it’s truly an honour for it to be recognised by the motor industry. From covering mainly UK-based Polo news, the content has grown alongside the car’s global career to include stories from around the world as well as regular coverage of the Polo’s participation in many motorsport arenas.

‘I’d like to take this opportunity to thank PoloDriver.com’s loyal readers, social media followers, as well as its contributors, who make the site what it is. It makes all the hurried lunchtime posts and more developed features worth the effort. It still aims to be the one-stop-shop for all things Polo, and while that may be some time off, I think we’re getting there!’

PoloDriver.com is delighted to report that contributor John Redfern took the top honour in the same category with his own website, engagesportmode.com.