Volkswagen’s Polo is a giant among small cars. In a career spanning almost 50 years it’s shifted over 18 million units, and regularly ranks close to the top of best-seller charts, proving Europeans love competent but dull cars. To ensure it stays there, and to make it slightly less dull, Volkswagen has given it a mid-life refresh, applying a touch of the Mk8 Golf’s design and some tech features more usually seen on cars like the flagship Touareg SUV.
This being a facelift rather a ground-up
rebuild, the major visual changes are limited to lights and bumpers. LED head
and tail lights are standard on every model, the front units connected by an
illuminated strip at the base of the radiator grille. Or you can upgrade them
to the adaptive Matrix LED technology from the Touareg and Passat. That’s not
the only big-car tech the Polo inherits. Volkswagen has bundled various
assistance system together and given them the IQ.Drive Travel Assist tag. Those
extra cost systems include adaptive cruise control and lane keeping assistance,
though a basic lane guidance system is standard on all models.
Moving inside, the sensible Polo still
looks quite conventional compared with the latest Golf, it moves upmarket with
kit like the optional climate control, whose touch-sensitive temperature
buttons look cool, but are going to be a pain to use based on experience with
similar setups in the Golf and ID.4. Also new, and standard across the range,
is a digital instrument pack: 8.0-inches wide, and matched to a tiny 6.5-inch
infotainment touchscreen in the basic cars, moving up to a 10.25-inches gauge
cluster and 9.2-inch media system if you go for the high trim levels.
And on the subject of trim levels, they
also take a leaf out of the Mk8 Golf’s book. The range kick off with the basic
Polo, graduate through Life, Style, sporty-looking R-Line, and top out with the
GTI. VW has yet to reveal any more details about the hot hatch version of the
new Polo, but the R-Line’s chromed tailpipes give it a hint of hot hatch, even
if it doesn’t have the power to back it up.
The GTi’s late appearance means the Polo
launches with four engines, every one a 1.0-liter triple, and every one
turbocharged, save for the lowly 79 bhp MPi. We’ve driven a pre-facelift Polo
with this engine and it is so slow you’ll genuinely be checking that you
haven’t selected third gear instead of first when you pull away.
More appealing are the 94 hp and 109 hp
turbocharged versions, the meeker version of which comes with a choice of
five-speed manual or seven-speed DSG, while the 109 machine is DSG-only. Some
markets also get CNG (compressed natural gas) option. The new Polo goes on sale
in Europe towards the end of 2021; prices are still TBC.
