Hello! might post a post...

[poloman]

First things first.. I do not hate the polo gti that i have purchased... And some of the things i might say are negative...But it is my opinion.....

I have had my car for nearly a month now, and have just ticked over 800kms and this is my impression..

I like the fact that its A vw, something different and less of a tosser car that many people my age and below drive.

Even the magna that i used to drive had become a tosser car... It used to be just a car before people started modding it with Big decals, loud exausts, stupid rims and bonnot scoops. and big wings. big big wings.

The polo feels light and nimble, its somewhat economical and its got a bit of power...

Interior is nicely done and its a safe car all round that looks good...

Now the bad things ive noticed...

While flooring the car around corners, the car becomes, or seems to become unsettled and maybe its my bad driving skills, but my friend also noticed it too.... Its a bit weird to point the car in one way for it to just feel wobly....

And I dont think its to do with it being front wheel drive.. I have not tried it with TC off but thats because i spend more time at work and sleeping than i do doing things i like.

The gear box Doesnt crunch, but its never a smooth gear change (the actual car momentum gear change is fine, not the actual lever gear change) and fifth gear took a while to get used to... the brute force clunking that gear in was annoying before... now im used to it... the gear box is clunky...

Some of the plastics are questionable... they seem very cheap... But at the same time... some of the other plastics feel great....

Aircon when the weather turns hot, struggles, and i dont care that its a european car. It should be able to cope. Install a larger compressor but dont make excuses why it doesnt work that well....

It also needs a tad bit more power... not the power you get from a flash, but just that bit more to give it the total edge on all the competitors...

I think this car could have been better.... But i know that if it was any better it would be clashing with the king, the golf gti.. But would be 15 grand cheaper.... and i understand why they dumbed it down a bit...

I dont agree on dumbing down a car, but at least the options are there for us to make the car go faster, handle better and break harder. Pitty that it didnt come standard...

Please dont take things as if i hate the car... Im just honest with my opinion..

I bought the car because i liked it... and now i love it! but just because i love my girl, doesnt meen i agree with her all the time....

[Ben_GTI]

Hehehe, it will wobble in corners a bit while you get use to it, but once u learn when to chuck it and how much to hold it the car settles out. The wobble is usually the back wheel lifting off and the stability control trying to figure out WTF is going on.

The gear changes are hard to get smooth if you aren't use to it. I find when the aircon is running I cannot get a smooth change unless i keep my foot on the throttle. Without the aircon running smooth changes are easy.

I agree with you about the aircon, there is something not quite right with polo aircon. The compressor seems to take a lot out of the motor for not much cooling capacity. I know people say its a 4cyl thing, but my 2L Mk3 probably drives better with the aircon on (yea the cars a bit spastic). So I only turn the aircon on in the GTI when I absolutely have to, otherwise it stays off.

Every car has its quirks, The Verada I had before the polo had a really hesitant gearbox and its brakes were constantly squeeky no matter what.

[s1831559]

compare to other cars in its class.
polo gti is best buy for its value.
even there are weakness, but u get what u paid for.

ps. mine aircon works a magic!

[VWindahouse]

compare to other cars in its class.
polo gti is best buy for its value.
even there are weakness, but u get what u paid for.

ps. mine aircon works a magic!

Fair comments POLOMAN. Welcome to the forum!

But I did a lot of research on the cars in this class and price range and tend to agree with s1831559. With some simple mods such as front strut brace and rear sway bar the car is awesome through the corners and with the seat intake and forge TIP and BMC or K&N panel filter the car is more responsive more powerful and with rev to redline healthily! Well as for the aircon, it is a little weak! Sorry s1831559...

My 2 cents.

[insanekiwi]

Very honest review and I agree!

I don't know if you have started modding it yet, but for the handling try installing the rear sway bar, it made a huge difference for me in terms of handling. I think next mods will be front strut bar brace for me. Don't really like to lower my suspension at this stage for comfort reasons.

Love my GTI, but somethings I am a bit disappointed are rattles in the dash (which hopefully will be sorted within 2 weeks after servicing) and gearbox quality is I do not is think up to scratch with other cars... (looking at percentage of people who are not happy with the gearbox does mean something).

What else... my rear seats (on 4 door model) are quite hard and little cushioning.

That's pretty much it from me. Quality car for the amount of money.

Haven't used airconditioning much, but I also do find harder to drive smooth with airconditioning on and have to more throttle get it smoother.

One real positive aspect of Polo GTI is the fuel consumption... I've currently done 470km with approx 60km on fuel gauge left.. meaning I can probably do another 100km. This is with spirited drive of 280km, and rest most of city driving (around 65% city 35 motorway).... this is REVOed... amazing!

[Sharkie]

I've had a number of European cars to date. So in my opinion the quality of the Polo is OK .... not great, too many little rattles and a bit of cheap plastic here and there, but still good. Better than any other small car of similar size.

Considering the price you pay, I think the quality and the features is spot on.

I bought it for a few reasons.

1.) I wanted the lightest body around with the 20V turbo motor as standard. A friend (racing buddy) had a MK1 Golf with the 20V turbo motor properly modified and made over 350kw on the wheels with the help of a bit of nitrous..... Needless to say it still is the fastest Golf I know off.

2.) I needed a small light car to commute to work in and needed performance to nip in and out of traffic and especially around the slow and fat Falcodores and white goods Toyotas.

3.) I have always loved VWs ...

4.) I really like the look of it. Just today walking out of the shopping centre I was admiring it as I walked up to it. It really stands out among the thousands of drab cars most people drive.

5.) I drove the Golf GTi and Polo back to back for 2 days (drove my dealer nuts) and eventually picked the Pogo. It was bought not on price but on the feeling you get from driving it. It is more fun than the Golf in which you can really feel the extra weight.

[WEDEL.1]

It also needs a tad bit more power... not the power you get from a flash, but just that bit more to give it the total edge on all the competitors...

If you think a little car needs more power than a 1.8L Turbo....try a 1.4 AUTO with 55KillerWasps.

My T4 Transporter has 62 KillerWasps and it's been in every state of Australia except WA (so far) without incident.

Anyone can drive a powerful car, just look at the number of people driving holdens & fords (170-180-250KW hasn't saved alot of them), but it takes skill to drive an underpowered car. Judgement become critial with less power.

Holden did a big job on the people of Australia by saying "This is a big country, and you need a big car to cross it." What rubbish. There have been many, many VW owners around the world who get true "driving enjoyment" without BIG power (and the associate costs).

Sorry, I'll get off the soap box.....

Maris

[Adam]

hey poloman,
alot of stuff is quite true as said by many others.....but yeh, you get what you paid for...

for me, i find the power to be enough for daily run. not over the top, and not underpowered. while its always good to have "more" power, there comes to point on whether it'll become practical in using them all.

[GT3]

I dont agree on dumbing down a car, but at least the options are there for us to make the car go faster, handle better and break harder. Pitty that it didnt come standard...

The VW GTI division (over 160+ ppl) would have debated long and hard about how far to go in terms of the Pog's performance, and fundamental to their initial design brief would have been .."what do we want to achieve?".

My guess is that they wanted to create something that had broader market appeal, was safe and comfortable, and yet engaging to drive. These considerations and compromises never suit everyone. Safety is also a very high priority for VW, which is why their cars are deliberately set up to understeer.

A case study is a car I once owned, a Peugeot 205 GTI, a hot performance hatch without design compromise, eg close ratio gearbox, precise and direct steering/suspension etc. When the mood struck, it really got the adrenalin pumping, but it all other situations, it was hard to live with - peaky, bone-jarring ride, noisy and buzzy. If you drove if for more than an hour you were exhausted and ...(eventually) you tired of it. Bit like having an ice junkie for a gf ha ha

VW are well aware of these types of hot hatches and their GTIs are designed to be used in the real world. They're also aware that mugs like us relentlessly modify our GTIs , and they'd prefer we, ..umm, made our own necessary 'adjustments' - rather than them having to design a Pog GTI that only appealled to a narrow segment (like us).

..and let's face it, ppl like us are outraged that it can't outrun a Porsche GT3 for under 30k .. I want a refund VW, not good enough

[Sharkie]

Mmmm, I suspect a K04d etc Pogo would eat a GT3 alive in a roll on start from 20km/h to 200km/h.

In fact in 2001 I had an Opel Corsa 1.6 turbo (Holden Barina in Oz) that made 155kw atw and did exactly that. Things have moved on since then for the GT3 but a K04d etc Pogo should also make more power.

Alas.... at the 1st bend in the road the GT3 would be gone, but I take heart from the fact that some of the GT3's DNA is evident in my Pogo