12 Jun 06
The wheels are also a copy of the Golf's, although they're only 16s - arch-filling 17s unfortunately aren't available. At the back there's a twin exhaust poking from the plain rear bumper and a miniscule spoiler on top of the rear screen. All very restrained and very Volkswagen.
Inside, the attention to detail continues. There's red stitching on the steering wheel, gearstick and even the seatbelts have a red-stitched edge to them. There's a splash of retro coolness in the tartan seat fabric on the sports seats (complete with GTI stitching in the seat backs) and some sci-fi coolness in the blue backlighting of the dials. The blue glow of the cabin at night makes it a much nicer place to spend a late-night traffic jam than a bland and orange-lit Fiesta ST, for example.
OK, so you sit a little higher than would be ideal and the steering wheel is a little on the big side, but apart from that, the driving position is fine - the steering wheel can be moved every which way, as can the driver's seat. Standard kit includes a CD player, air-con, electric windows and mirrors, alarm and immobiliser and front fog lights. The options list is long and expensive - as with all VWs, but apart from a CD autochanger, there's little there that'll add real value. An un-optioned Polo GTi costs £14,810 - which for a VW isn't too bad.
