PoloDriver

Reports are coming in that the latest Polo GTI 6R is to be produced in China, but with one major difference – its 178bhp engine will be replaced with a lower output 131bhp unit. The engine – still a turbocharged 1.4-litre TSI from the locally-produced Lavida – is thought to be cheaper to import than the higher output ‘twincharged’ unit, meaning lower retail prices of each completed car, therefore potentially appealing to more prospective customers.

The Chinese Polo GTI is expected to take a public bow in May, after having debuted at the upcoming Beijing Motor Show. It will be the first time the model has appeared in China, and also marks the first time the GTI has been made outside of Germany, manufactured by the Shanghai-Volkswagen joint venture. The good news is that there are no visual changes to the Chinese-produced car compared to its more expensive European counterpart.

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Outstripping the grids of other classes, the second race weekend of the 2012 Engen Volkswagen Cup took place at Killarney on 31 March – 1 April. In total, 33 racing Polo Vivos took to the track ensuring lots of race action. In a change to the usual two races, Killarney saw three, with the first pair being sprint races of six laps, while the third 12-lap event was run later in the day. The top six drivers in qualifying drew grid positions for race one, while the second race grid was made up from the top six finishers starting in reverse order. The third race grid was determined by the racers’ second-fastest lap time in qualifying sessions.

In the first race, defending champion Devin Robertson created a gap between him and the rest of the field, all the time keeping Kosie Weyers at bay. Weyers had made his way past fastest qualifier Matthew Hodges, and was lucky to fend off Kelvin van der Linde. Robertson crossed the line first, followed by Weyers and van der Linde, and it was all to drive for, as the second race grid was a reverse of the first. Robertson started sixth, Weyers fifth, and van der Linde fourth.

Trevor Bland was in pole for the start of race two – his first ever – and made a good start, but soon lost it, as van der Linde, Kyle Barnes, Weyers, and then Robertson made their way past. Van der Linde took the flag, with Barnes seconds and Weyers third. Race thee meanwhile saw local racer Weyers take victory, with Robertson taking the R2000 prize for the fastest lap and the second spot on the podium, followed by van der Linde. Bland finished fourth overall after the races had been run, and was named ‘Driver of the Day’.

Guest racer Sudhir Matai of Car magazine had a tough day. A broken gear linkage eliminated him from the second race, while race three saw him shunted off the track, and he hit the wall going backwards. He got his Polo Vivo racer back on the track, but when the front left tyre deflated on the main straight, he parked up and waited for the race to finish. The Engen Volkswagen Cup racers will take to the track for round three of the national championship at Aldo Scribante Raceway in Port Elizabeth on Saturday 28 April.

The 2012 Engen Volkswagen Cup series is similar to the other racing Volkswagen Polo Cup single-series championships run in China, Europe and India. Just as in those officially-sanctioned Volkswagen-moderated series, the South African one-make format highlights new driving talent. In the Engen championship, as many as thirty drivers regularly take to the tracks in technically-identical, 2.0-litre, 234bhp Volkswagen Polo Vivo racers.

RACE RESULTS
Race 1
1 Devin Robertson (1: Sparco/Big Boss Auto)
2 Kosie Weyers (2: Engen Xtreme)
3 Kelvin van der Linde (31: Ferodo Racing)

Race 2
1 Kelvin van der Linde (31: Ferodo Racing)
2 Kyle Barnes (4: Gold Liberations)
3 Kosie Weyers (2: Engen Xtreme)

Race 3
1 Kosie Weyers (2: Engen Xtreme)
2 Devin Robertson (1: Sparco/Big Boss Auto)
3 Kelvin van der Linde (31: Ferodo Racing)

Overall standings
1 Kelvin van der Linde (31: Ferodo Racing)
2 Kosie Weyers (2: Engen Xtreme)
3 Devin Robertson (1: Sparco/Big Boss Auto)

Masters Championship overall standings
1 Dean Ball (M5: Champion Motors)
2 Eddie Rodrigues (M7: SEW Eurodrive)
3 Justin Taylor (M3: VW Techniques)

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The current Polo GTI isn’t known for its lack of power. Yes, it may not develop quite as much go as the Renaultsport Clio 200, but its 178bhp serves it well. Now, though, if you want more, you can have more, with Volkswagen Racing UK official tuning partner Superchips’ ECU remap. The Buckinghamshire company’s software tweak sees the Polo GTI’s 1.4-litre ‘twincharged’ engine 27bhp more powerful (the 204bhp Superchips Polo GTI is only 3bhp down on a Mk 6 Golf GTI), with an additional 26lb ft (35Nm) of torque.

Both evo and Volkswagen Driver magazines have tested Superchips’ demo car, and while the extra power takes the GTI over the 200bhp threshold, it does have to pump the extra power to the road through the front wheels. The Superchips remap has to be carried out at one of the company’s outlets, and can be removed and reinstalled with the supplied Bluefin handheld device. The Superchips remap costs £455.

[Source: German Car Scene]

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With three in-house rivals, the Polo GTI is one of a four-strong Volkswagen Group attack on the hot supermini market. The Audi A1 1.4 TFSI Sport, SEAT Ibiza Cupra, Škoda Fabia vRS and Volkswagen Polo GTI all employ the same 1.4-litre ‘twincharged’ engine, and all pump out, more or less, 180bhp. So, are there any real differences? We thought it was about time we found out. We recently had a Fabia vRS from Škoda UK’s press fleet spend a few days with us, to see if there really is £2645 worth of difference between it and the hot Polo. Read what we thought of the (very) green machine here, or click on the magazine graphic below. The seventh of our special digital mini-magazines, check out the PoloDriver bookshelf on issuu.com for our previous six titles.

[issuu width=600 height=400 backgroundColor=%23222222 documentId=120426094249-a1d235cb052e4cfe979ed41bf3d716db name=polodriver_skoda_fabia_vrs_road_test username=polodriver tag=Autos unit=px v=2]

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The Volkswagen Polo has jumped one place up the UK top 10 best-sellers list. According to figures released by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) for March 2012, the small Volkswagen was the seventh best-selling car last month with 7748 sales, three places behind its larger Golf relative. March was a bumper month for supermini sales, with half the cars in the best-sellers list of a smaller persuasion. Even the misguided youth-orientated advertising campaign for the new Toyota Yaris seems to have worked positively, with the model chasing the Polo’s tyre tracks in eighth.

March’s 372,835 units bettered the SMMT’s forecast for the month by some 20,000 units or almost 6 per cent, and looks set to beat the 18 per cent share of total annual volumes by 1.4 per cent. Supermini registrations rose in both March and Q1, to account for 39.1 per cent and 37.7 per cent respectively of the market. ‘The important March new car market performed above expectations rising 1.8 per cent to 372,835 units. Domestic demand for new cars is showing signs of recovery with private buyers increasingly returning to take advantage of a wide range of excellent products and, this month, the new 12-plate,’ said Paul Everitt, SMMT Chief Executive. The top 10 UK best-selling cars in March 2012 and for the year overall (sales figure and position in brackets) are as follows:

1 Ford Fiesta: 22,667 (33,390, 1st)
2 Vauxhall Corsa: 17,271 (23,750, 3rd)
3 Ford Focus: 15,086 (24,442, 2nd)
4 Volkswagen Golf: 11,945 (18,794, 4th)
5 Vauxhall Astra: 9965 (14,894, 5th)
6 Nissan Qashqai: 8487 (12,491, 6th)
7 Volkswagen Polo: 7748 (12,164, 7th)
8 Toyota Yaris: 6973
9 Peugeot 207: 6948 (10,221, 8th)
10 BMW 3 Series: 6472 (9948, 9th)

(The 2012 year-to-date top 10 best-selling car absent from March’s sales figures is the Mercedes-Benz C Class selling 9485 units in tenth place.)

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