Ideal car for small family as lots of space in back seats and boot.
Economical and easy to drive with good handling
We had a VW Polo from new, for three years, and got rid of it sharpish as we were worried about problems after the warranty ran out.
It was a decent enough car to drive when it was out of the garage. I always liked the look of it overall, and it felt nice to get into. It always felt comfy to drive, good suspension and seats, quite relaxing.
We got after market dark tinted glass put on our VW Polo. That was a mistake, can't see out of it at night! Made parking a bit of a nightmare. Still it was handy to be able to quickly change clothes in the back, and see to the kids in privacy, that sort of thing.
Great fuel efficiency as well. Cars nowadays boast about getting the sort of mileage we were getting with our 2002 VW Polo, 50-60MPG depending on the conditions.
I never had any complaints about the way it handled, but my hubby drives a bit faster than me and said it rolled about a bit too much for his liking.
We found the overall space to be ok, although we only had the two kids back then, and thinking about it the boot was a bit of a struggle with a double buggy.
The reason we got rid of our VW Polo in the end was that It had quite a few things go wrong, right from the word go really. The first thing was a cable to the ABS sensors, which took them quite a while to diagnose actually. I'm not sure if they replace the sensor itself before realising it was the cable, but anyway that's what it was. The ECU messed about fairly often, and then after about two and a half years the(about 45k miles) the cam belt started faltering and clutch needed replacing. Not encouraging!
My dad had a Volkswagen Polo when I was a girl, so it's a bit sentimental for me. I didn't let that guide me too much, and in the end it was the fuel economy that won me over. I'm easily getting in the 60s for miles per gallon, amazing as far as I'm concerned. Fuel prices are just silly these days so anything I can do to bring my costs down is very welcome indeed.
I got my VW Polo in the scrappage deal. The dealer also threw in some little extras so I think I got a good deal. During the test drive I didn't get it up to motorway speed, but I have now and it's still pretty smooth at more or less any speed. I keep having to remind myself it's a diesel it's so quiet. I had a few near misses at the pumps early on, oops...
I'm impressed by the way the boot floor opens up to reveal a cheeky little space underneath. Less impressed by the leg room for people in the back. That's something I really didn't think about on the test drive, and I've regretted a bit. I'm quite tall so I have my seat back a fair way. It's hard enough getting tall people into a VW Polo as it's quite low down really, but they really do looked cramped in there behind me.
Another problem in the back is that the seatbelt clips sort of poke out upwards from the bench, so if you're in the middle you get poked uncomfortably.
I might as well mention that my boy racer brother says my Volkswagen Polo is a really under-powered car, even compared to other diesels. It doesn't bother me, works fine and feels perfectly responsive, but he complains about it. I suppose it's a bit tricky overtaking, and it struggles with hills, but none of that bothers me. Anyway I'm the one getting awesome fuel economy so whatever!
I had a previous generation VW Polo and was impressed with it, practical, reliable, very economical. Our newer VW Polo is still practical and economical, but definitely not reliable. It's about seven years old now and I had it second hand at a year old, and since then it's had the bushes done, the electrical thing that handles the brakes, a few touchups to the worst parts of the paint rust (there is quite a bit still left), and it still isn't happy. The suspension still makes a nasty noise and the paint continues to rust. I just expected better, and I feel I've been let down by a trusted brand.
On the positive side....... our VW Polo is easy on the old petrol, high 40s MPG usually. It's very easy to see all around, nice high windows and good driving position. The wing mirrors are heated which was a big plus in the winter.
It's dead easy to drive, especially on account of the big windows, nice and simple to see what's going on round town. It struggles a bit getting up to speed on the motorways, but cruises happily enough. On our old VW Polo the engine got a bit loud above 4k revs but this one is better on that.
I suppose it isn't too comfy in the back of the VW Polo, as in the seats are quite firm, but the headroom seems good. There's a little space for stuff just in front of the gear box which is handy, but I wish it had a hole that dropped down, instead of being on the level. When I put stuff in there it sometimes falls out easily. I once glued a rubber mat in there which worked, but it's gone somewhere and I didn't bother getting another.
Our VW Polo is about ten years old so it's fair enough that some things will be on their way out by now. I had some nasty surprises with some things a few years ago which I thought had died a bit too early, like the clutch at about 60 thousand miles. I was expecting about 80, so 60 seemed a bit too early.
But apart from that it's been ok until very recently when things have started to play up quite a bit. Like the electrics have got some problems, warning lights coming on here and there. Our local mechanic said it's probably nothing after he did the last service, sees this a lot on older VW Polo models, just old age confusion! The rear brake pads have needed doing, I think one of them twice, but in ten years not so bad. Tyres and that sort of thing as well, but no more often than you'd expect.
Pretty practical to drive day to day. Boot is a pretty good size for a dinky little car. Usually got the kids stuff in there for weekend trips to see grandparents. Not quite big enough for holidays after they were about 5 years old, so we got a little roof rack that did the trick just fine.
Back seats are good for kids but not really comfy enough for adults on anything but pretty local drives. I've usually got some cushions back there just in case. Our VW Polo is a pretty basic model so not many luxuries, but it's got some handy stuff like elec wing mirrors.
Plenty of power for a 1 litre but super economical too, even if it has developed a slight oil leak that isn't really bad enough to pay out to get it fixed. Just sips fuel, very pleasing to drive for that reason.
I am driving this car for 2 months now and there are good and bad things I can tell about it.
Positive:
- For a small car, there is surprisingly much space. Even the pram fits in the boot which was a quite nice surprise. And there are lots of tiny storage places all over, e.g. underneath the steering wheel and the driver seat.
- The 1.2L engine is powerful enough to get up a steep hill without losing too much speed. It is also enough for overtaking without risk of running out of power in the wrong moment. Acceleration from 60miles/hour to 80miles/hour takes a bit of time. The car is not a race horse but good for steady driving.
- The clutch is very forgiving. It is even possible to start up in 3rd gear without the engine stopping.
- The back window is nicely large which is quite uncommon with newer cars of that size.
- The car is reasonable in fuel consumption when the air conditioning is off.
Negative:
- When it is sunny, there are reflections from the air conditioning outlets on the dashboard directly in the field of view along the whole front screen. It's annoying and, even worse, distracting as the eyes unwillingly focus on these reflections instead of the road. That's a big minus and even a safety issue.
- The back mirror on the inside is too small. It is just big enough to see through the back window if it is perfectly aligned. However, it is not big enough to allow for any movements of the driver off the original positioning (and show me the person that sits exactly in the same position ALL the time).
- The air conditioning is very noisy, as is the engine.
- There are no lights in or near the boot. If you want to unload the boot at night, you need to have some exterior light.
- Fuel consumption goes up quite a bit once the air conditioning is on.
I don't have the car long enough to properly judge reliability. All in all, I am quite happy with the car, although I am not sure I would buy it again.
Had the Bluemotion VW Polo now for about 2 years and what a couple of years it's been. Seriously incredible, is this car. Yoda talk over, but seriously, it's so impressive. It has a 1.4-litre 3-cyclinder diesel engine that can hit upto 78mpg. I've actually managed 84mpg on a combined run from York to London once, so that shows just how frugal this car is.
Ok, so it's ridiculously slow thanks to the aforementioned engine. I'm fairly confident I could run quicker, but just think of the savings. This engine basically does double what a standard hatchback does. That's double the mileage!
Inside, it's basic VW. Pretty Boring but extremely well-made. There's little to tell apart from that it's soldily built and has yet to break or look dated. Just make sure you've got some good cds or you will fall asleep.
If all you want is something that will get you from a-to-b as cheaply as possible, get a Bluemotion,
We've had our VW Polo for a couple of years now and we've found it to be really reliable, cheap to run, tax and insure - overall its been a good two years. Parts are easy to come by and i've often fitted things myself due to the ease of the build. One negative is the power steering or lack of it!
Hi, my name's Hannah and I'm 21 and i own one of the new VW Polos. I was lucky enough for my Dad to buy it me for my birthday and, as it was my first car, I was given the choice between a Clio, Corsa and Polo.
I went for the Polo as it drove lovely, felt really well mad and, above all, looked cute. I went for a silver one because It's easy to keep clean - not that I clean it ha. I also went for one of the smaller engined models as I wanted to keep petrol costs down.
The running costs are superb; I hardly ever have to put the stuff in it, which is nice. For people who like a lot of room, I'd recommend a Golf, as the Polo isn't that big. But for a learner driver, it's perfect.
Hi, I bought, or should I say my Dad bought me, a VW Polo for my 21st birthday, and ever since I've been telling everyone how good it is. It's like a little scaled-down version of the Golf, and while it might not be as big, as practical or as quick as the Golf, it's still perfect for the weekly shop, taking the girls on trips and surviving all my make-up marks.
I've taken the Polo on 2 holidays in the UK and each time it's been fantastic. The boot has just about managed to hold all of our things, while the engine performed well by giving over 40mpg over a 150 mile trip.
Overall, it's a great little city car that's perfect for a trip away or if you want to save money.