Everything you need to know about the Volkswagen Polo Hatch

By Martin Pretorius 

Apart from the basic concept and configuration, today’s Volkswagen Polo has almost nothing in common with the model which appeared in South Africa midway through the 1990s. They’re both small front-wheel drive hatchbacks with transversely-mounted engines, but that’s about where the similarity ends. However, its history goes back a lot further, seeing as it was one of the cars which led Volkswagen’s transition into their current water-cooled, FWD era.

It all began with an Audi

The year was 1974, and Audi was riding high on the success of their all-new Audi 80, which was launched the previous year. The next step in Audi’s product range expansion looked at the lower end of the market, for which they had developed an advanced transverse-engined three-door hatchback: the Audi 50. But, seeing as Audi was by then wholly-owned by Volkswagen, it made sense to market this supermini as a new entry point into the Volkswagen range as well.

Remember, at this stage, the Beetle was still in production, and VW had no real idea how they would go about replacing their most iconic car. Slapping some VW badges on a very lightly restyled Audi 50 simply made sense, and would give Volkswagen something modern with which to compete against the Fiat 127, Renault 5 and a host of other superminis (as this class was called).

History has shown this to be an excellent decision, as the Polo range has held considerable sway in its market segment ever since. Meanwhile, the Audi 50 was cancelled in 1978, leaving the Polo as the only VW Group product to fight in this market niche – a position it would hold until well into the 1990s.

We missed out on the first ones

It’s safe to assume that Volkswagen South Africa would have loved to offer the Polo on local shores right from the start. Unfortunately, they didn’t have the production capacity to build yet another small Volkswagen in Uitenhage, and they had to choose between the cute little Polo and the far more practical Golf for local production. That was a wise decision, as the first-generation Golf proved to be massively popular among South Africans, and ended up living on as the CitiGolf until 2009.

But while the Golf legend was building in South Africa, Europe received some interesting Polos of their own. There was a supercharged, fuel-injected variant in the second- and third generations, for instance: the G40 boasted a 1.3-litre supercharged engine which was good for upwards of 85 kW and 148 Nm. Predictably, fitting Golf GTi-level power to a smaller, lighter car made for quite a road rocket, and it previewed what we would eventually see in high-performance Polos in the future.

Enter SEAT

By the time the 1990s rolled around, Volkswagen was already well underway with the development of an all-new Polo, but the signs were that this new Polo would end up being more sophisticated (and thus pricey) than the market segment demanded. Furthermore, their newly-acquired Spanish subsidiary (SEAT) needed a new entry-level hatchback – one with lower production costs and more space. And so a new SEAT Ibiza was born: the small car known to South Africans as the Polo Playa, and our first introduction to the Polo nameplate.

While our Polo Playa (and Classic) bore a superficial resemblance to the 1994 Polo, it was a fundamentally different car. It was larger in every direction, and rather than being based on the small Polo platform, it used a development of the “Jumbo” Golf’s hardware. In fact, the Playa hatch was never sold in Europe with a VW badge, with only the SEAT sticker being applied in those markets.

Why not build the “real” Polo here? Well, VW South Africa decided to rather use the SEAT as a base for the local Polo because it could accommodate the newly-refined (and locally-made) range of fuel-injected Golf/Jetta engines, rather than the physically smaller (but imported) Polo-family engines.

Performance was always on the cards

In today’s terms, 82 kW isn’t a huge lot of power, but in the late-1990s, that output figure was enough to turn the Polo Playa 1.8i into quite a stormer for its era. It out-muscled its main opponents (the Ford Fiesta and Opel Corsa) by a healthy margin, and became a favourite among the car-modifying set after the turn of the century.

But the really interesting performance options would only arrive after the next-generation car appeared in 2002 – and this time around, the South African Polo was almost identical to the European model. Performance enthusiasts were offered two distinct flavors of hot Polo, with a choice between two 1.9 TDI diesels and a 1.8T GTI petrol version – the latter taken directly from the concurrent Golf GTI (mk 4), and the former donated by the highly-regarded Golf TDI (mk 5).

The hottest diesel could even be had with 3 doors, and has since proved to be surprisingly tuner-friendly. Unfortunately, this generation lost those turbo engines upon its transition into the first Polo Vivo, but its successors have since flown the performance flag with a succession of boosted petrol engines. The latest Polo GTI yet again has a variant of the Golf GTI’s engine, detuned slightly to deliver 147 kW in the smaller Polo.

It’s still the right car for its times

Whether in European specification, as a Classic sedan, or as a local-market-only Playa, the Polo has always been the appropriate car for its times. In their normal (non-GTI) versions, they’ve always appealed to sensible buyers as a somewhat conservative but practical small car, which, combined with their traditional VW dependability, usually guaranteed their position at the top of this class.

The latest generation continues this trend, through its use of Volkswagen’s latest MQB small-car platform (shared with the Golf) and downsized turbo-charged engines. Meanwhile, the Vivo is essentially a re-badged previous-generation Polo, and continues to cater for budget-oriented buyers. The new car is superior in every way, that’s for sure, but the Vivo makes its own case based upon value. And between them, they simply rule the local small-car market. We may have missed out on the first couple of generations, but when the Polo finally arrived here, this small car certainly made big waves.

Current Polo Range

There’s very little overlap between the Vivo- and Polo ranges, with only one engine being shared between the two models. The cheaper Vivos use the larger, normally-aspirated engines from a few generations ago, and offer only 5-speed manual gearboxes (or one 6-speed automatic). For a 6-speed manual or forced induction, you’ll need to look at the new-generation car (or a Vivo GT), and the hot GTI is only available in the new body style.

Polo Vivo

Priced between R185 900 and R253 200, the Vivo covers the entry level market with a selection of two 1.4-litre engines and a 1.6-litre (both non-turbo petrol engines), and a sporty Vivo GT with the 1.0TSI turbo three-cylinder petrol. Equipment levels vary from adequate to pretty decent, and all variants have 5 doors. The 1.6-litre derivative can also be had in butched-up “Maxx” trim, which adds plastic fender flares and some other soft-roader styling bits. Meanwhile, the GT has almost the same power (81 kW) as the old Playa 1.8i...

Polo Hatch (new generation)

In its most-basic specification, the new Polo costs slightly less than the Vivo GT, but offer significantly less power (70 kW and 175 Nm in both Trendline and Comfortline variants). They come with either a 6-speed manual gearbox or a 7-speed DSG auto (in Comfortline or Highline spec), with Highline specification lifting the power output to 85 kW and 200 Nm. For the speed freaks, the Polo GTI is only offered with a 6-speed DSG automatic, along with a 2.0-litre turbo petrol from the Golf GTI, tuned for 147 kW and 320 Nm in this application. Prices range between R240 700 and R381 500, and there are all manner of styling add-ons and options from which to choose.

There we have it: from humble beginnings as a micro-sized Audi to a major market force, the Polo is enjoying a long and illustrious career. It caters for most buyers, with list prices spanning a range of almost R200 000, and it can be tailored to most needs. And why not? Its formula obviously works!