PoloDriver

Fresh from day of driving the latest Volkswagens last Wednesday, here is our first drive report of the 2011 Polo GTI. We tested both three and five-door versions, and can report that the 178bhp performance Polo is a real firecracker and a lot of fun. Yes, it costs £18,795 (which is twice as much as our Polo GT Coupé did in 1994), but as a cut-price Golf GTI, it’s an enticing proposition. See how we got on driving around the leafy lanes of Berkshire by clicking on the magazine graphic below, or if you can’t see the preview, visit this link. The fifth of our special digital ‘mini-magazines’, check out the PoloDriver bookshelf for our previous four titles. The first issue features mini-tests of the current Polo range in general, while the third is an account of our first drives of the SEL 1.2 TSI and 1.2 BlueMotion TDI.

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To celebrate the launch of the 2011 Volkswagen Polo GTI, PoloDriver.com delves into the archives to trace the history of the performance Polo. In the first issue of a special series of digital mini-magazines, we focus on the Series 1 Polo GT of 1979-1981. Each issue will focus on the history of the sports variants – GT, G40, and GTI – of each Polo generation, culminating in the introduction of the current 1.4-litre 178bhp Polo GTI. Read the first of our performance Polo special issues by clicking on the magazine graphic below, or if you can’t see the preview, visit this link. Head over to the PoloDriver virtual bookshelf for our previous titles covering the fifth-generation Polo range (including the TSI and BlueMotion) and the smallest Volkswagen, the Fox.

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While the first deliveries of the new Polo GTI are imminent, there are other less obvious models in the fifth-generation Polo range that deserve a look if you’re not after the 178bhp performance version. Topping the mainstream range is the 1.2-litre 104bhp TSI. An out and out roadburner it might not be, but it is swift, comfortable and as refined as many larger cars, but with a sporty edge. At the opposite end of the market, the latest Polo BlueMotion is powered by an economical 1.2-litre 74bhp engine and fitted with an aerodynamic body kit and a whole host of other eco-minded mods, enabling it to post a claimed 80.7mpg figure on the combined cycle. We’ve just updated our test drive report from July 2010 on these two £14,500 models; click on the magazine graphic below or click here to find out what we thought.

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Here is our first drive report of two of the new Polo range’s most interesting new models. Both turbocharged, but with very different jobs to do, these two 1.2-litre cars even share similar £14,000-£15,000 price points. But, whereas the SEL provides a suitable stopping point for the mainstream Polo range, the BlueMotion shows that driving economically can be fun. With the new Polo saloon and CrossPolo not currently coming to the UK, and with the exception of the GTI, this pair complete the Polo range for now. See how we got on driving around the leafy lanes of Leicestershire by clicking on the magazine graphic below, or if you can’t see the preview, visit this link. The third of our special digital ‘mini-magazines’, check out the PoloDriver bookshelf for our previous two titles. The first issue features mini-tests of the new Polo range in general, while the second four-pager is an account of our findings after a week spent with the Polo’s baby brother city car, the 1.2 Volkswagen Fox Urban.

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While Polos are obviously our main interest here at PoloDriver, we do have a roving eye for most other Volkswagen models, too. So, last summer, we took a 1.2-litre Fox Urban to the North York Moors for a 1200-mile road test to see if Volkswagen’s city car can do most of what the Polo can do, but for £2000 less. Can the smaller, Brazilian-built town tiddler be a true cut-price Polo alternative, and is there character busting to get out under all that functional practicality? For answers to these questions and more about the global Fox family, read our digital mini-mag (previewed below) here.