Polo GTI – Enter the Powerhaus

By Lawrence Minnie 

Volkswagen SA has now completed their Polo trifecta. On the back of the release of the well-received new Polo, and the new (read old) Polo Vivo, we now receive the car with the three letters that car nuts go gaga over: GTI.

GTI has been the benchmark for performance from the German automaker since the late 70’s, and remains as such. The new Polo GTI was promised to be a powerhouse and judging from what we drove on the South African launch, it absolutely is. But before we get to the power and drive, let’s talk a little about what makes the GTI a GTI.

Styling Ideas

The iconic red stripe, badging, and grille design makes your GTI instantly recognizable. Throw in a unique set of designer wheels, a sporty rear hatch spoiler and those red brake callipers, and people will have no doubt as to what you are driving.

Interior wise, the red stripe theme and black accents continue and everything that isn’t the primary colour scheme of red, black, and grey, gets a texture or material coating that really sets it apart, such as the seat centre material. Volkswagen have also used chrome to excellent effect around the cabin, in places like the gear knob, steering wheel, pedals, and switchgear.

The GTI will only be available in the GTI colours of Flash Red, Deep Pearl Black, Pure White or a metallic Reef Blue.

Powerhaus

Apart from looking like a GTI, I can confirm that it does indeed bark like one.

That bark comes from a 147 kW 2.0-litre turbocharged engine, and the sounds it makes from the exhaust pipes is enough to make many a VW aficionado go weak at the knees.

The 320Nm of torque is carried to the wheels via six-speed DSG transmission as standard, and road-holding is taken care of by the sport suspension and XDS torque vectoring systems. The GTI will hit the 100km/h mark in 6.7seconds, and that is astounding in what is essentially a small family car, weighing in at just shy of 1.4 tonnes.

Options for days

This is where it actually gets interesting, because this is the first time that the Polo GTI is being offered with a comprehensive list of options.

You will be able to customize your Polo from a list of tasty Volkswagen mainstays such as Sports Select Suspension, Driver Profile Selection, Active Info driver display, Panoramic sunroof and a host of Driver Assistance packages. But what is it like to drive?

At home on the mountain passes

The twisty, mountain roads of the Western Cape became our proving ground for the day, and the GTI did not disappoint.

Our test mules were fitted with an array of options, and I believe that our car was the best of the lot. Our Pure White GTI was fitted with the optional Sports Suspension, 18-inch Brescia wheels and all the driver assistance features you could shake a stick at, and they were put to the test on the three-passes trip we took.

Off the line, the GTI takes off like a scalded cat and climbs through the gears seamlessly with just the slightest burble, when downshifting before corners. I will say that the distinct DSG exhaust burble seemed to be absent during the spirited sections of our driving. This, however, didn’t matter that much as the pinpoint-accurate handling of the drivetrain inspired a lot of confidence on the tight bends. The XDS system saved our bacon on more than a few occasions on the descent sections and at no time did I detect any wheel slip.

The GTI, even though stiffly sprung, even handled the dirt road section with very little effort, and I dare to say that this is one of the best offerings in this segment I've driven in a long time.

Verdict

The new GTI absolutely lives up to the nomenclature, and in places completely surpasses it.

This is going to be a hot seller and the car to own. We love it, the people love it, and you should definitely take one for a test drive.

Model and price

VW has also surprised us with the news that the GTI would be completely locally built, and because of that, the price has actually come down since the last model. Even when adding a few of the optional extras, you could probably still end up at the previous model's purchase price.

Volkswagen POLO GTI 2.0 TSI 147kW DSG                 R375 900

The new Polo GTI comes standard with a 3-year/120 000km warranty, 3-year/ 45 000km Volkswagen Service and a 12-year anti-corrosion warranty. Service interval is 15 000km.