Sprint Review: VW Polo GTi

VIEW THE ACCELERATION & BRAKE TESTS HERE

Volkswagen Text: Hanjo Stier Images:Nico Boshoff Polo GTi What deines a hot hatch? In the old days, all you needed was a feisty engine in a small body with some go-faster bits. Nowadays you need a bit more though…

You should know: The Golf GTi got too heavy and complicated a few generations ago, and some might argue that this Polo is heading the same way. Burdened with modern safety standards and consumer demands, this GTi is no longer a nimble little pocket rocket. It’ s an extremely intricate medium-weight battle cruiser. More info: I fondly remember the days of compact body panels, izzy fuel injection motors and snappy manual gearboxes but – alas – we ’ ve all been infected by dreary trends. What we all want, apparently, is a tyre-shredding turbo torque motor and the most over-hyped nuisance of modern motoring: a DCT. Why you shouldn’t:The dual-clutch (automated manual) transmission can pre-load all the gears, make TacoTuesday noises, and swap cogs faster than you can blink, which is great on a race-track but utterly hopeless at walking pace trafic, delicate parking manoeuvres, or anything involving a slight incline. The almost completely digital cabin may be another point of contention for more mature audiences as a lot of physical buttons have wondered into the abyss of the dashboard’ s shiny touch-screen. If you ’ re into new tech, you ’ll certainly love it. If you ’ re not, I suggest a night or two of heavy experimentation. Oh, and on the bright side, at least this model has a physical volume knob. Why you should:Besides the looks, name, status, ire power and toys… maybe even resale value? We might not get the full-fat Polo GTi as they do overseas but our local models come nicely spec ’d with some more tasty options for you to choose. At 515k it’ s not exactly cheap but it’ s almost 200k cheaper than the Golf. What else? The new VW Polo GTi is extremely reined, some even accuse it of being numb, but thanks to the retention of its previous 147kW motor, power delivery and torque are still manageable. Ditto for the fuel consumption. A 3-year/120,000km warranty and 45,000km service plan is standard.

FULL SPEC SHEET

Engine: Drive Train: Power / Torque: Avg consumption: 0-100km/h: Top speed: List Price: 1,998cc i-4 turbo-petrol 6-speed DCT, FWD 147kW / 320Nm * 6.4L/100km 6.49 seconds (* 6.7) * 238km/h R514,500