Volkswagen Polo review – The holo hatch

The premium segment hatch Volkswagen Polo is here to stay and that too for a very long time and during its tenure will sure give Maruti Swift, Ritz, Hyundai i10, i20 and other hatch back cars a run for their money, as Polo stands a class apart from rest of the clan. Probably big things come in small packages is a perfect adage to Polo; it sure will be a darling especially for young owners. The German carmaker has left no stone unturned while engineering the Polo and has been quite conscious in equipping the car with the best of everything. This of course has turned on the heat for other hatches in the market and the three levels of Polo i.e. Trendline, Comfortline and Highline would have been nightmarish for the competing brands. Let see why Polo is a hot brand...

Exteriors and interiors

Polo is a hot looking car and in every angle it looks a VW product; the car strikes a fine balance between sporty and elegant look. The dynamics in the design area is a big plus for Polo especially the bold and aggressive front with the huge company logo at the center of the grille catches your eye right away. The nicely carved front end with attractive headlights extends from the fenders to merge neatly with the grille and the two chrome strips in the front also addition to the glamour quotient. The fog lamps sit well on the bumper while the tail end of Polo is equally chic with the third brake light and the fenders seem to grab some boot space. In fact Polo boasts of best in segment boot space with two bag hooks on sides to snuggly hold the bags.

The three levels Highline, Comfortline and Trendline share similar interiors; power steering comes with tilt & telescopic adjustment, power windows, central locking, engine immobilizer, body color bumper, sun film glasses and the door handles inside the car get a chrome finish. The Trendline Polo has additional features such as adjustable headrest for both front and rear seat and the rear seat can be completely folded. The twin tone interiors with a black and beige combination offers a complete upmarket look to the car and minute details such as the AC knobs feel smooth and work fine, which speaks volumes of the impeccable quality delivered by the carmaker.

Engine, performance and mileage

Customers willing to own Polo have two engines to choose from petrol and diesel engine. The petrol variants are equipped with 1198 cc, 3 cylinder, 1.2L engine that puffs a power of 75 bhp at 5400 rpm and peak torque of 110 Nm at 3500 rpm. While the diesel ones are braced with 1199 cc, 3 cylinder, 1.2L, common rail turbo diesel engine that generates a power of 75 bhp @ 4200 rpm and a torque of 180 Nm @ 2000 rpm. There is also a petrol sports variant too that is fitted with a 1.6L, 1598 cc powerful engine, which delivers a power output of 105 bhp at 5250 rpm and torque of 153 Nm at 3750 rpm. All versions are fitted with a 5-speed manual gearbox, although the car have the same gearbox, driving experience and power deliverance by the two engines feels pretty different.



The three diesel variants offer a mileage of 16 kmpl in the city and around 20 kmpl on the highway, while from the petrol versions one can expect a mileage of 12 kmpl in the city and on the highway you may get anywhere close to 17 kmpl. The sports variant petrol enabled Polo gives moderate mileage of 10.5 kmpl in the city and around 14.5 kmpl on the highway. The diesel variant is as silent as the petrol and one cannot make if it's a petrol or diesel if there is no TDi badge in the rear.

Handling and comfort

VW cars are distinctly known for offering great handling and comfortable driving experience. The improvised suspension in Polo offers balanced agility & firmness in any road condition. The superbly built chassis cruises through curvy patches with ease. There could be one compliant; the tyre seems to make a little noise even at low speed, which needs to be tweaked.

Colors, price and variants

The Polo range of cars are available in candy white, flash red, reflex silver, emotion blue, pepper grey and deep black. The Polo variants and prices are as follows:

- VW Polo petrol Trendline 1.2L - Rs 4,57,000
- VW Polo Petrol Comfortline 1.2L - Rs 5,08,500
- VW Polo Petrol Highline 1.2L - Rs 6,04,200
- VW Polo Petrol Highline 1.6L - Rs 6,16,000
- VW Polo Diesel Trendline 1.2L - Rs 5,59,000
- VW Polo Diesel Comfortline 1.2L - Rs 6,10,500
- VW Polo Diesel Highline 1.2L- Rs 7,06,200

Verdict:

The Volkswagen Polo has almost everything that you might have dreamt of in a hatch; style, power, handling and comfort, all in one. The hatch gives a sedan drive feel, neat road behavior, suspension good for Indian roads, availability of a range of engines for frugal customer, six years anti-corrosion warranty as standard and 15,000 kms service interval, makes it a very good buy.

Yet 3-cylinder engine annoys you as it doesn't match the best in the segment and you miss the feel good features including Climate control AC (let along climate control the AC itself is cheapie performer), USB input, electrically adjustable ORVMs, just enough leg room in the rear bench, mean dealer network, and worry of expensive maintenance makes one deny a VW Polo hands down.