Category: Superminis 
Price Range: £12,460 to £12,960
Neat shape, smart interior, strong quality, brilliant residual values, TDI engine.
Handling and ride lagged behind the best rivals.
Competitive, but embarrassed by Skoda's Fabia.
The 2000 update included a stiffer body, plus suspension revisions with new rubber bushings. This has reduced the floating and heaving that spoilt the old Polo's progress on indifferent roads, but there's still some pitch and wobble on a bumpy bend. Many rivals give a smoother ride. Noise levels are quite high at speed in the 1.0.
Air conditioning is either available or standard on all but the basic E models, and all can be had with a full-length fabric 'open-air' sunroof. Headroom and legroom are fine, but the boot is an odd shape: tall, but not very deep. Cabin storage is better than in the previous Polo, thanks to a better dashboard design with a glovebox, albeit small, on the passenger's side.
Volkswagen has abandoned the old Sony sound systems, so the Polo gets Volkswagen's own, visually-integrated, RDS system. It looks good, sounds good and is easy to use. Satellite navigation is optional on top Polos.
Latest Readers' Drives About the Volkswagen Polo
wrote on 03 03 2008
wrote on 29 05 2006