Category: City Cars 
Price Range: £7,110 to £8,665
Impressively roomy cabin, large boot space, excellent functionality, good engines, fun to drive, unpretentious and utilitarian.
Cheap-feeling and dated cabin, staid styling, lack of character, no central rear seat, probably still not affordable enough to be a real budget 'world car'.
It's a Volkswagen, no doubt about that, even if it feels like a Volkswagen from a decade or so ago and is a long way from being a genre-definer. Good basic transport and a decent drive nonetheless.
Who needs a mini-MPV? The Fox shows that you can have a compact car which drives like a proper car, yet still has masses of head- and leg-room, a generous boot and all the interior functionality you'd ever really need. Like the ground-breaking Renault Twingo, it has a monospace-style cabin - a huge, airy affair, which seems even larger than it is thanks to the large windows, without having a stupidly high roof. It's wider elbow-to-elbow than its Far Eastern rivals, though the driver might not have room to spread knees too far apart, and even large and long-legged people can find a comfortable driving position - or sit at ease in the back. A tallish passenger can even stretch out sitting behind a six-foot plus driver - some achievement.
The Fox not only feels roomier than a Polo, it'd give a three-door Golf a run for its money. And there's even a decently-sized boot, too, which is more than you can say for the Ka, Picanto, Panda or C1. The one-piece rear seat folds flat and tumbles forward to give up to 1016 litres of luggage space; a split rear seat which also slides forward by up to 15cm is to be offered as an option, for even more versatility. The only drawback is that there is no central rear seat - not even a small space for occasional/emergency use, or to accommodate a small child. The space between the two rear seats is filled with a plastic console and cupholders, just to make sure no-one sits there.
The engines can be a little noisy when pushed - there isn't the sound-proofing in the Fox that there is in the Polo - but aren't intrusive; there is some wind noise at higher speeds, but it's all to acceptable levels. The ride is firm and can be bouncy, but this is inevitable in a car with such a short wheelbase; pitch, body roll and wallowing are all very well-contained, even under hard cornering. The Fox rides more smoothly, and is less easily unsettled, than a Panda.
The seats aren't particularly well-bolstered front or rear, with flat cushions and little under-thigh or lateral support, but they're no worse than those of near rivals; they have (tasteful) stripy central cushions which lift an otherwise very dull, dark and plasticky cabin, without being garish or overdone. The cockpit is absolutely generic-Volkswagen (think low-spec '90s Polo), with a minimum of styling details and trim - uninspiring, but perfect if you can't stand fussy detailing, over-styled instrument pods, wacky textures, special effects, bright colours and materials, or fake wood and metal-look trims.
Standard kit includes storage compartments, front and rear cupholders, seat-back nets and door bins, a height-adjustable driver's seat with under-seat storage drawer, tinted glass, a rev counter, heated rear window and vanity mirrors. Options will include air conditioning, worth specifying in a car with such large greenhouse-like windows, remote control central locking, an electric glass sunroof and alloy wheels; all come with a radio/CD player; which has surprisingly good sound quality in the cars we tested. No clever tricks like rain-sensing wipers, automatic headlights or satellite navigation here - but who needs them? You've got the basics.
Latest Readers' Drives About the Volkswagen Fox
wrote on 16 11 2006