Volkswagen Polo 1.2 TSi 3dr

Classy looks and great refinement make supermini a winner

Cheaper, sportier and better looking... That’s what’s on offer from a three-door supermini.

Take Ford’s Fiesta, for example. While the five-door is a fine looker, it’s the three-door that really turns heads.

Up until now, though, you’d have been better buying a walking stick than rely on a three-door VW Polo to boost your image! Can the new version do anything to change that?

VW claims that subtle tweaks to the bodywork give the three-door a more aggressive stance. It’s luxurious too, with four trims – S, SE, Moda and SEL. And the three-door is expected to cost about £600 less than the five.

It uses the same engine range as the five-door, including the 1.6 TDI diesel, 1.2-litre three-cylinder and ageing 1.4-litre four-cylinder petrols. From next year we’ll also get a BlueMotion model with a 1.2-litre, three-cylinder diesel giving 88g/km, plus a GTI with VW’s 170bhp 1.4 TSI twincharger unit.

The top seller, however, is predicted to be this model, the new 104bhp 1.2 TSI.

After the buzzy 1.4, the 1.2 TSI feels lively and revvy. It pulls strongly from low revs, but is smoother and more refined.

It’s also faster, with a claimed top speed of 119mph and 0-60mph in 9.6 seconds.

However, fuel consumption of around 51mpg is 25 per cent better than the 1.6-litre unit the TSI replaces, while a CO2 figure of 130g/km means the 1.2 will fall into road tax Band D, costing £120 a year.

The six-speed gearbox is slick, but the seven-speed DSG twin-clutch transmission is definitely worth going for. Handling is crisp, if not as sharp as the Fiesta’s.

The electrically assisted steering reduces its effort with road speed and provides decent feedback. The ride is good, too, although road noise is obvious on concrete surfaces.

Even so, we came away from our encounter impressed. The Polo’s blend of refinement, driver involvement and practicality mean it really is a shrunken Golf.

Rival: Ford Fiesta
The Fiesta rains on the Polo’s parade in terms of sharp looks, price and handling.
However, only the 1.6 keeps pace with the 1.2 TSI, and you’ve got to go down to a 1.25-litre to match its economy.

VW Golf MkVII exclusive pics

The MkVI Golf has been in showrooms for less than a year, but already we have the best images yet of how its successor is shaping up. And our information on this radical new hatchback, slated for a 2012 debut, has come from the most unlikely source - VW itself!

A promotional video for VW's recently revealed L1 concept accidently revealed a groupe of designers hard at work on a clay styling model of the next-generation Golf in the background. You can see a freeze-frame from that video on the right. It might be a bit blurry, but the photo proves that work is well underway on the new Golf, suggesting a particularly short lifecycle for the current MkVi car.

As with the transition from MkV to MkVI, styling changes will be subtle and evolutionary - in keeping with the firm's existing design language. Changes include a sharper snout and more steeply raked windscreen, as well as narrower headlights and more pronounced wheel arches.

VW is staying tight-lipped about the leaked image, but the scene has been promptly erased from the official video.

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Is VW Taking Porsche Mainstream?

What the Porsche mid-engine roadster could look like if built. - Illustration by Radovan Varicak

Winterkorn, Volkswagen Group chief, just days after the denouement of the VW-Porsche takeover saga. Porsche had to give up its four-year attempt to take over VW and was itself taken over. Porsche CEO Wendelin Wiedeking lost his job while VW chief Martin Winterkorn got named CEO of the new combine, which will merge in 2011. And shortly after Wiedeking departed, German prosecutors raided his office and others in an investigation of possible market manipulation.

Winterkorn was, as expected, in expansionist mood. How many cars might Porsche build a year? "There's no limit," he said. Is 150,000 possible? "Why not?"

He advocated doing this by 2012 or 2013, by entering new sectors with new models. (Porsche had sold 98,652 cars as of July.) Winterkorn later told Germany's Manager Magazin that Porsche should add three new cars, including one smaller than the Boxster.

Return of the 928? Producing a coupe version of the Panamera could be just what Dr. Winterkorn orders. - Illustration by Radovan Varicak

This ties in with a strategy outlined in our reports in past months. VW brand chief Ulrich Hackenberg told Motor Trend that the BlueSport midengine roadster needs a sister car from another brand to make a business case. It would make a good Audi R4, but that might sit uneasily alongside the TT roadster. From a new fuel economy/emissions standard perspective, an entry-level four-cylinder Porsche does make sense.
Porsche management, including new CEO Michael Macht, have spoken against making a car cheaper than the Boxster. They no longer call the shots. They're not against expanding Porsche, as they did first with the Cayenne and now with the Panamera. But they want the expansion to be measured, and done with expensive vehicles.

Winterkorn is also considering reviving the idea of a Porsche twin to the Audi Q5 small SUV. The tie-up between the Cayenne, Touareg and Audi Q7 has been a sales success for all three brands.

As with the new Touareg, (Trend, September), the new Cayenne, pictured below during testing, is on its way. It still uses the Touareg platform, this time in Mk II form. It's based on the original but is lighter in base-model form, by making heavyweight off-road hardware optional.

The new Cayenne was spied testing recently at the Nurburgring.

The design has a more Porsche-like nose: the hood cutline comes forward between the headlights. The new model gets more profiled side panels with obvious shoulders over the rear wheels. The tailgate is faster, and the third side window more rakish and triangular. The cabin features a dash architecture and switchgear rather like the Panamera's. The main new engine is the supercharged V-6 hybrid edition. Other powertrains continue with little change. The new Cayenne will be shown in 2010 for sale in 2011.

VW's New Midsize Sedan Plan

Volkswagen's New Midsize Sedan (NMS) may displace the smaller Passat from the North American market, says VW chief Ulrich Hackenberg. The NMS is aimed, in terms of size, power, price and taste (read: lots of big cupholders) directly at the heartland of cars such as the Camry, Accord, Fusion, and Malibu, but with VW's premium feel.

VW will start building the car in early 2011 in its new Chattanooga, Tennessee, assembly plant. It will be joined later by a Jetta replacement designed with the States in mind. Hackenberg says he hopes to sell 150,000 NMSes a year initially, with plant capacity expandable to 300,000. VW currently sells about 50,000 Passats in the U.S. in a good year.

To get the necessary quality, VW will use many of the same suppliers as Mercedes' Alabama plant. The critical thing for the NMS is its costs will be low because it's built locally and because some of the Passat's expensive running refinement and noise, vibration, and harshness suppression hasn't been engineered in. In line with the group's push for clean diesel, it will be offered with a TDI option as well as four and V-6 gas engines, mounted transversely. A double-clutch transmission is also on the list. It gives better fuel efficiency than a conventional auto.

The NMS is part of VW's Golf-Passat platform matrix. The imported Passat is smaller than the domestic-built NMS, but would need to sell at a similar price, and by VW's own reckoning have no higher visible quality. The Chattanooga car will sell beyond the bounds of the Americas: It will also be built in China as a replacement for the local long-wheelbase Passat, called Passat Lingyu.

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