PoloDriver

We’ve not come across that many stunning photos of Polos taken by their owners in our regular web trawls, but these are exceptional. Found on the Australian Volkswagen forum VWWatercooled.org.au, this Reflex Silver Polo 77TSI Comfortline is owned by Roxanne Turner, and her partner Adam Lee took the fantastic photos. Rox takes up the story about how and why she went the way of the Polo: ‘I was driving a well-worn little ’98 Ford Festiva that had clocked up over 350,000kms when I decided it was time to upgrade. After doing quite a bit of research about the best small cars around, I was nearly ready to buy the new Ford Fiesta.

‘That same week, the new Polo was released in Australia. It was getting rave reviews, and sounded good on paper, so I decided I’d head to the nearby Darryl Twitt Volkswagen dealership in Shepparton to take one for a test drive. I was won over straight away! I loved the six-speed gearbox, and the way it pulled so eagerly from low revs despite only being a 1.2-litre engine. The class-leading fuel efficiency was also very impressive, and it also has the RCD 510 Audio Pack, tinted windows and Bluetooth kit fitted. It took a while to arrive, but it was worth it! It’s a fabulous little car to nip around town in, and also a great tourer. Since it arrived in November 2010, I’ve done over 2000kms in my Polo, and I love it!’ And we love Adam and Rox’s photos.

[Images: Adam Lee – www.photosbyadamlee.com]

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The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders’ (SMMT) latest set of UK car sales figures are in, and it’s good news for the Polo. Re-entering the top 10 in November 2010, it charts in sixth place for December. Even more encouragingly, it was the sixth best-selling car in the UK last year, selling 45,517 units, 8000 more than Volkswagen UK’s early forecasts. December saw 3724 Polos find UK buyers. Rival to the Polo, the Ford Fiesta, was two places down on November’s placings, selling 4560 units (the Vauxhall Astra was first with 5377), but the small Ford grabbed the 2010 overall best-seller title for the second successive year, shifting 103,013 examples. Ford was again the best-selling brand.

Registrations fell by 18.0% in December, with the market a little below expectations. If scrappage volumes were removed completely from the December 2009 tally, then the December 2010 figure would have been up almost 6,000 units or 4.8%. On a more positive note, the SMMT reports that the 2010 market rose by 35,847 units to 2,030,846 units, ending 1.8% up on 2009 figures. The market is forecast to decline by 5% in 2011 to 1.93 million units as difficult market conditions continue. ‘2010 was a year of recovery for the motor industry,’ said Paul Everitt, SMMT Chief Executive. ‘Economic conditions remain challenging, but the industry expects demand to strengthen in the second half of the year.’

To see the Volkswagen Polo’s UK sales figures for 2010, visit our fifth-generation Polo ‘Heritage’ sales figures page here. The UK’s top 10 best-selling cars for December 2010 and the year (sales figure and position in brackets) are as follows:

1 Vauxhall Astra: 5377 (80,646, 2nd)
2 Vauxhall Corsa: 4737 (77,398, 4th)
3 Ford Fiesta: 4560 (103,013, 1st)
4 Mini: 4236 (41,883, 9th)
5 Ford Focus: 3831 (77,804, 3rd)
6 Volkswagen Polo: 3724 (45,282, 6th)
7 Volkswagen Golf: 3267 (58,116, 5th)
8 Nissan Qashqai: 2841 (39,048, 10th)
9 Vauxhall Insignia: 2587
10 BMW 3 Series: 2477 (42,020, 8th)

(The 2010 best-seller absent from December’s sales figures is the Peugeot 207 selling 42,185 units in 7th place.)

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In the words of the marketing campaign for the Polo Vivo, Volkswagen Group South Africa has ‘so much to celebrate’. The Polo Vivo was the best-selling car brand in the country during 2010, with 23,297 units sold. The fifth-generation New Polo 6R also became a favourite with South Africans, finding 16,006 homes last year. 26,615 new passenger cars were sold in South Africa during December 2010, an increase of 38.9% when compared to the same period in 2009, while the full 2010 new passenger car market total was up 30.6% on 2009.

‘Volkswagen Group South Africa sold a total of 67 023 passenger cars in 2010 – growth of 34.3% over 2009 – 4% ahead of the total market year on year growth. With 19.9% of the total passenger market, Volkswagen Group SA was again passenger market leader,’ commented Mike Glendinning, Director of Sales and Marketing, Volkswagen Group South Africa. ‘Notably, Polo Vivo was firmly established as South Africa’s top selling passenger car. The new Polo also ensured that the Volkswagen brand continues to dominate the affordable, entry level segment of the market. Given the outlook for 2011, we expect continued growth in demand for new vehicles.’

The Polo Vivo was launched in March 2010 as an entry-level model for the South African market, replacing the Series 1 Golf-based CitiGolf. Available as both a three or five-door hatchback and four-door saloon with 74bhp/84bhp 1.4-litre and 103bhp 1.6-litre petrol engines, two trim levels are available: base and Trendline. Costing from R104,065 for the most basic 1.4 hatchback to R156,220 for the 1.6 Trendline Sedan, the Polo Vivo is based on the facelifted version of the Series 4 Polo, built from 2005 to 2009. The New Polo is available as Trendline, Comfortline, BlueMotion and CrossPolo models, costing from R147,180 to R224,500.

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Although the Polo GTI may be getting all the buzz at the moment, we mustn’t forget what a fundamentally good car the more basic Polo is. Arguably the best-looking Polo since the Series 1 of 1975, the fifth-generation model wears its sharply-creased suit well, and serves up big doses of quality, refinement and performance. Launched – as the Series 2 Polo was – on the island of Sardinia, it’s hard to believe the Polo 6R has been with us since early 2009. We’ve updated our YouTube channel, PoloDriverTV, with official driving footage from the Sardinia unveil, and have more videos planned for later in the year. Head over or subscribe to PoloDriverTV to see the latest video updates.

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The UK rate of value-added tax (VAT) rose 2.5% on 4 January 2011 to 20%, and Volkswagen has correspondingly realigned its ‘on the road’ prices for all models, the Polo included. The range stays as it is, with six basic models, and eight engine choices. The cheapest Polo is the three-door S with 59bhp, at £9995, a whisker under £10,000. BlueMotion models kick off with the £14,860 three-door, while the mid-range, fashion-conscious Moda 1.2-litre, 69bhp five-door is £12,810. The 84bhp 1.4-litre SEL three-door is £15,410 when ordered with the seven-speed twin-clutch DSG gearbox, while the 104bhp turbocharged TSI starts at £15,155. The fiery Polo GTI with 178bhp now starts at £18,790 for the three-door, while the five-door with the same 1.4-litre TSI engine is £19,410. A fixed price, 3-year/30,000-mile servicing plan is also available until 31 March 2011 for £299. Full prices and specifications for the 2011 Volkswagen Polo range can be found here.

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