SA Road Tests

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This is the home of automobile road tests in South Africa. I drive South African cars, SUVs and LCVs under real-world South African conditions. Most, but not all, the vehicles driven are world cars as well, so what you read here possibly applies to the models you get where you live.

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We stir things up in the 2015 Volkswagen Polo GTI m/t

The real deal

Posted: 5 November 2015

The numbers
Price: R313 300
Engine: 1798 cc, EA888, chain driven DOHC, 16-valve four-cylinder turbopetrol
Power: 141 kW between 4200 and 6200 rpm
Torque: 320 Nm between 1450 and 4200 rpm
Zero to 100 km/h: 6.7 seconds
Maximum speed: 236 km/h
Real life fuel consumption: About 7.8 l/100 km
Tank: 45 litres
Luggage: 280 – 952 litres
Warranty: 3 years / 120 000 km
Service plan: 3 years / 45 000 km; at 15 000 km intervals

I never got to drive the previous Polo GTI and that’s a pity. Even though it was available only with VW’s seven-speed DSG, I would have liked points of reference to compare the old car, with auto and 1.4 TSi engine, to the new version with bigger motor, bigger body and standard stick shift. But we can’t have everything can we?

To begin with, let’s look at some differences:
•    1800 cc turbo replaces 1400 cc twin-charged motor
•    Gains 9 kW to peak at 141 kW
•    Torque stays the same at 320 Nm, but spread over a wider rev range
•    Six-speed manual box is standard, with DSG 7 optional
•    New body is 310 mm longer and 9 mm narrower. Height and track measurements                 stay the same. Gains 76 litres of luggage space
•    Wheels are half-an-inch wider at 7.5” but standard tyre size is still 215/40R17
•    Ground clearance increases from 104- to 133 mm
•    Suspension still 15 mm lower than on regular Polos
•    Sheds 106 kilograms of engine- and body mass; down from 1269 to 1163 kg
•    Zero to 100 km/h sprint is 0.2 seconds quicker and claimed average fuel economy            improves by 0.3 l/100 km

The engine is 5.4 kg lighter thanks to thinner crankcase walls, a new single scroll turbocharger integrated into the cylinder head, lighter crankshaft, integrated exhaust manifold, a plastic oil pan and by using aluminium screws. Other changes include water-cooling of exhaust gasses routed to the ‘charger; dual, high pressure, direct and manifold injection and better thermal management.

Visually, it features new bumpers, flared door sills, GTI logo on front wings and red strips in radiator grille and headlights. It’s available for the first time with optional LED headlights (dipped and main beam) and LED daytime running lights. New 17-inch ‘Parabolicca’ alloy wheels with GTI styling enhance sporty appeal. At the rear, a roof spoiler, dark red tail light clusters, black grained diffuser and chromed dual tailpipes continue the theme.

Inside, the leather sports steering wheel, adapted from Golf GTI, has contrasting red stitching, as do gear- and handbrake levers. Floor mats have red-beaded borders. Heated sports seats are upholstered in Alcantara with leatherette inserts. GTI instrument cluster, black headliner and aluminium-look pedal caps complete the look.

Hill hold assist, XDS+ transverse electronic differential lock, driver alert system, cruise control and automatic post-collision braking are also standard. This last feature can be overridden by deliberate acceleration if the driver chooses to.

The new Composition Media system with 5.8” colour touchscreen offers Bluetooth connectivity for mobile phone and audio streaming and a proximity sensor (other menu details are shown when hand approaches the screen). Featured too are CD- and MP3 player, USB port with MP4 capability, auxiliary- and SD inputs and six speakers. Thankfully, it’s easy to use.

Apart from the usual options (lights, sunroof, nicer aircon, parking aids and camera), buyers can choose Sport Select suspension with Sport Performance Kit at R4200. This simply means electronically adjustable dampers that tweak the suspension up nicely, and quicker response to steering and accelerator inputs.

The first two items were noticeable, making the car’s handling more exhilarating, but the jury is out on accelerator response. The exhaust note becomes a bit more raucous, but not excessive. Possibly more interesting is that one can now release the ASR in two stages. A single press of the skid-marked button on the dash switches it off completely, as it always has. Pushing and holding for three to four seconds gives you an intermediate stage called ESC Sport that dials back the safety kit only part-way. These functions can be replicated in the settings menu.

The drive was like coming home to a much earlier Golf GTI - one built before it became just another German car loaded to the gunwales with gadgets; sort-of your father’s car in a smaller body.

You don't just sit in the Polo GTI. You wear it like a favourite jacket. It feels almost feral; like a greenbroke mustang. The seats adjust manually because there’s no point in lots of settings, and expensive electric motors, if you set them only once. It has a proper hand brake and real instruments. The shifter is exactly where it should be, within comfortable reach. It snicks through gears like a knife through not-quite-melted butter and the car reacts like a student to a party call.

The engine spins eagerly at 2600 rpm at 120 km/h in sixth. That’s well within its strongest torque range, so flooring it at cruising speed in top results in instant and recognisable results. Think legal to big, big trouble; quicker than you can think it.

The drive on my regular test route, that takes me along some of KZN’s finest country roads, was magical. Accelerating, braking, turning, hanging in and accelerating again was fun enough to make me think (mistakenly of course) that I was actually pretty competent. Dialling in Sport mode made me almost believe it. The ASR button remained untouched, however, because one does have responsibilities. And it is a public road with other, unpredictable, users.

In a nutshell, this six-speed manual-shifting Polo GTI is what the Golf version used to be, before progress advanced too far. It’s pure. It’s the real deal. Give me one of these, rather than its big brother, the "wannabe Dad's car", any day.

Test car from VWSA press fleet


We drove a 2.0 GTI in 2022

Automatic version shown

What We Do

This is a one-man show, which means that every car reviewed is given my personal evaluation and receives my own seat of the pants judgement - no second hand input here.
Every test car goes through real world driving; on city streets littered with potholes, speed bumps and rumble strips, on freeways and if its profile demands, dirt roads as well.

I do my best to include relevant information like real life fuel economy or a close mathematical calculation, boot size or luggage space, whether the space is both usable and accessible, whether life-sized people can use the back seat (where that applies), basic specs of the vehicle and performance figures if they are published. In the case of clearly identified launch reports, fuel figures are of necessity the laboratory numbers provided with the release material. If I ever place an article that doesn't cover most things, it's probably because I have dealt with that vehicle at least once already, so you will be able to find what you want in another report under the same manufacturer's heading in the menu on the left.

Hope you like what you see, because there are no commercial interests at work here. As quite a few readers have found, I answer every serious enquiry from my home email address, with my phone numbers attached, so they can see I do actually exist.

Comments?
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