New Polo GTI revealed ahead of Geneva

[team_v]

An extra 100kg to get more power to the ground

Plus you get some lightweight wheels and remove the spare and you have already saved about 30kg.
Alluminium roof/hood/tailgate would save a bit of weight as well.

Definitely worth it imho.

[Servo]

...Definitely worth it imho.

Wheel spin and losing traction is our enemy along side with heatsoak. And not to forget to mention traction of all 4 wheels in the wet - another tick in safety.

[naughty]

the more i read about the Polo though the more i fall in love with the idea of the new one. It has everything i was after when i purchased my current one reluctantly instead of a Golf 5 GTI

it has more power and higher speed and its got the DSG box and it also can look as elegant if you take the leather interior which i am sure will be offered as an option and then its got the xenon lights as well and it wont be using the stupid manual gearbox of the current polo gti

so for me it s win/win situation all round - im definitely going to get this car when it arrives to South Africa no matter the price cos here it will definitely still be around R100k (ZA rand) cheaper than the Golf 6 GTI. and the biggest attraction for me is that due to the smaller engine it will be kinder to my pocket at the fuel pump (not as good as a diesel but still better nevertheless) since its a a 1.4 and considering the new emission taxes that have been introduced here i will be a lower tax on this one than on the Golf 6 GTI

altogether i think that this is going to be the last slightly sporty runaround daily driver i get before i move over to only buying huge luxury sedans like mercedes etc

[Timbo]

...it has more power and higher speed and its got the DSG box and it also can look as elegant if you take the leather interior which i am sure will be offered as an option and then its got the xenon lights as well and it wont be using the stupid manual gearbox of the current polo gti

.... here it will definitely still be around R100k (ZA rand) cheaper than the Golf 6 GTI.

It will be interesting to see pricing, because my prediction is that the high spec Polo (as above) will hover just below the base spec Golf 6 GTI. This will be quite intentional on VW's part.

[barra240t]

What would be the reason for no manual transmission? I know the dual clutch auto's are pretty sweet but still, you will always have manual buyers, even more so for a turbo 4cylinder. The new Polo looks very nice! I love it all the inside and outside. Bummer about no manual transmission though.

[team_v]

What would be the reason for no manual transmission? I know the dual clutch auto's are pretty sweet but still, you will always have manual buyers, even more so for a turbo 4cylinder. The new Polo looks very nice! I love it all the inside and outside. Bummer about no manual transmission though.

It allows them to claim Euro VI Compliance for emissions as the car will not rev over 3k RPM i assume.

[Rocket36]

I know the dual clutch auto's are pretty sweet

Just to clarify, the DSG is not a "dual clutch auto".

It allows them to claim Euro VI Compliance for emissions as the car will not rev over 3k RPM i assume.

Not rev over 3,000 rpm? What would be the point of the GTI badge then? lol

[team_v]

Not rev over 3,000 rpm? What would be the point of the GTI badge then? lol

Why bother putting in a 7speed gerbox when the car is only going to get up to 110km/hr? That's about 15km/h for each gear.
The GTI badge has been watered down by the eco/green movment and the consumer is now wanting to be associated with greener vehicles.

The DSG7 is put in so the car changes gears at lower revs and uses less fuel = less emissions.
3k was probably a bit meager, more likely to be maxing out at 4k before gear changes in auto mode.

[naughty]

It will be interesting to see pricing, because my prediction is that the high spec Polo (as above) will hover just below the base spec Golf 6 GTI. This will be quite intentional on VW's part.

okay - in terms of South African pricing here is what im estimating - you can use XE.com to get an idea of exchange rate differences, but prices could be different

when i purchased my 5 door polo GTI i paid R210000 (ZA rands) and that included the leather interior as well as sunroof and 18" rims and tyres minus a discount cos i paid cash for the car (no bank loans) .... at that time a golf 5 gti dsg with xenon lights and sunroof as well as satnav and the 18" rims was adding up to R290000 (ZA rands)

in December the Golf 6 GTI was available here in SA but the old Polo was still applicable - so one identical to mine with leather interior and sunroof and 18" rims would set you back R284000 (ZA rands) and if you wanted the SATNAV in there add in another R15k but the base price was R249000 in 2009 as opposed to R189500 in 2007 when i got mine ...... then the Golf 6 gti with the sunroof and leather and xenon lights plus all the park distance aids and automatic parking aids etc was around R360000 (ZA rands) add in around R30k for the satnav and R12k for the Dynaudio audio setup - so more-or-less around R400k with all the interesting extras

im estimating the base price of the Polo GTI to be around R300k and add in around R30k if you want all the extras including Satnav so my guesstimate of around R100k less than the golf 6 GTI here is probably inaccurate since it would probably be closer to R70k or so but then again it is based on the price being around R50k above the price of the old one and it might not be that much or it could be that much (i doubt it will be more)

the thing is that the tax implications are also still to be seen and i reckon you will save a lot on having the smaller engined vehicle and i think that the Golf 6 GTI will be far more expensive in a year from now here, than it is currently

pricing strategies will obviously be different according to the country you live in - im basing all my guesses on how VWSA normally work and current pricing here - but it should be indicative of pricing generally if you look at it based on percentages instead of straight exchange rate conversions

[Timbo]

To be fair, I'm comparing configured (ie, optioned up) list retail prices, not actual buying prices, as there's many factors that come into play in determining what the dealer finally agrees to sell a car for.

Indeed, one of these is the existence of certain model configurations, such as a highly spec'd leather pack. Dealers and car companies like these in a model range, because they are usually high(er) margin models and they are usually placed to tempt, for example, someone who is keen on the Golf GTI, but can only afford the base spec. You'll see dealers steering them to the higher spec (and margin) Polo GTI "for the same money"