01 Feb 06
All in all, it's an amusing car to drive - especially when you fit snow tyres and studs and fang it around an ice race track, as we were lucky enough to do (you can see some of the highlights in our video featurette).
The Polo Dune is no 4x4, though. It may look like one, with its raised suspension and chunky styling cues, but underneath it all, it's a standard front-wheel-drive Polo (a point missed by one of 4Car's dead-tree rivals) and just a marketing exercise at heart.
However, as marketing exercises go, it's a perfectly good one. The links to a dune-buggy heritage are pretty tenuous, but this is a nice-looking vehicle that's a bit more distinctive than the conservative standard Polo. At a good £1500 more than regular-range equivalents, it should be.
Video: Dune 'on ice'
See the Dune with snow tyres and studs, sliding around an ice track.
Road Test: Volkswagen Polo (2002-)
A car packed with safety features and environmental credentials, and its basic structure is rigid, which means that it's precise and agile to drive...
