04 Apr 07
Now, the Toyota Prius hybrid is well known for its silence (in all-electric mode) or near-silence (with the petrol engine in operation), but if that's led you to equate clean running with silent running then this Polo will be a surprise. It is, in fact, one of the noisiest diesel engines around. VW has clearly saved some weight by skimping on the soundproofing. It's most pronounced at low speed but the diesel clatter remains at higher speeds.
It's also very slow. The official performance figures show a 0-62mph time of 12.8 seconds and a top speed of 109mph (in either version) but - as with all performance figures - they would be achieved with your foot to the floor and the engine at its least economical. In normal driving, with the driver exercising restraint, the BlueMotion just crawls and clatters along, with the high gearing discouraging anything resembling zipping about.
Drive it with a very light foot and I'm in no doubt that you could easily get 700 miles from the 45-litre tank, but you'd need the patience of a saint to achieve that. In a day spent driving the BlueMotion on a mix of fast motorway, slow town and reasonably swift B-roads I managed just 438.7 miles from full before my nerve gave out and I had to refuel. I'd used 42 litres of diesel, giving me a fuel consumption figure of 47.5mpg: not bad, but a long way shy of the official figure of 70.6mpg for the BlueMotion 2 model I tested.
