Volkswagen Polo – The new Polo supermini

The Volkswagen Polo is one of Britain’s most popular cars, the high-quality and dependable supermini having appeared regularly among the country’s top-sellers across its illustrious history.

Bolstering its position as a class-leader, the model has been refreshed and enhanced, with intelligent assistance systems and innovations, a new look and trim levels, and even more generous standard equipment. The new model is available to order now, from £17,885 OTR.

The Polo is currently in its sixth generation, and was introduced to the UK market in 1975. More than 18 million have been produced during its 46-year lifespan. This latest version – the mid-life enhancement of its sixth iteration – rationalises the model’s trim line-up into the familiar Y-structure of other Volkswagen models; the range starting at £17,885 OTR with the Polo Life, and moving up into a two-pronged structure of comfort-focused Style and sportily-designed R-Line specifications, both priced from £20,785 OTR. The high-performance Polo GTI will arrive at a later date.

Four engine and gearbox configurations are available across the standard Polo line-up – all 1.0-litre, three-cylinder petrol engines, ranging in power output from 80 PS to 110 PS. A five-speed manual gearbox accompanies the entry-level 80 PS, 93 Nm unit, while the 95 PS, 175 Nm power plant is available with both 5-speed manual and 7-speed DSG transmissions. The range-topping 110 PS, 200 Nm engine is available exclusively with the 7-speed DSG, and ahead of the Polo GTI, is the most rapid Polo in the range, taking 10.4 seconds to reach 62 mph.

With fuel economy of 54.3 mpg and CO2 emissions of 118 g/km (WLTP, combined), the Polo Life, with the 95 PS engine variant and 5-speed manual gearbox, is the model with the lowest emissions and greatest fuel economy across the Polo range, closely followed by the R-Line with the same engine and gearbox and the DSG-equipped, 95 PS variant of the Polo Life. The 95 PS engine is expected to take around 60% of UK sales, shared between the manual and DSG configurations.

New Polo starts from £17,885 OTR in new Life trim; 95 PS TSI includes Travel Assist, Digital Cockpit and Adaptive Cruise Control

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