I’ve previously been critical of VW’s upward move towards the premium segment of the automotive market. I have regarded it as an abandonment of its perceived quality status and a forceful march into a segment I feel it was never meant to have any real estate in. However, having sampled some of its latter products I have been forced to re-examine my position.
For many folk, having a plethora of accessories and utilities as standard in a car equates to luxury. While many of these features were previously seen as luxuries, as the technology has become more prevalent the cost of manufacturing these items has become lower equating to greater accessibility for the masses. I do argue however that having plenty of ‘kit’ as standard does not necessarily elevate a car’s status from the bottom end of the market into the premium segment.
Enter the VW Polo Blue Motion. If you aren’t familiar with VW’s nomenclature, Blue Motion is VW speak for clean(sigh, #dieselgate) diesel technology. It is in a similar vein to Mercedes’ Bluetec badging on its diesel cars. Essentially the badge means that VW has done all that it can to reduce inefficiency in the vehicle all the while protecting the environment and promoting better fuel economy.
For starters, the car in question is a diesel, which as a fossil fuel usually gives more range and better fuel consumption compared to its petrol and even hybrid counterparts to some extent. Some work has also gone into improving the aerodynamics of the car. The front grille is blocked out to aid the car in carving as smooth a shape in air as possible and reduce the effects of aerodynamic drag. VW has also equipped the Polo Blue Motion with stop start technology to help reduce the wastefulness incurred in stop start traffic.
The first point of contact with the VW Polo Blue Motion is its steering wheel. It is wrapped in faux leather with stitching all along its circumference. The diameter of the wheel is just right and its size appropriate for a car of this size. Surprisingly, It feels exceptionally sporty and is endowed with buttons to control the cars audio functions: Volume up and down, mute, skip track forward or backward. The instrument cluster consists of the tachometer and speedometer. While analogue in nature the gauges have very clear graphics that in themselves lend credence for their continued use in lieu of the digital gauge clusters that have crept into this segment. A multifunction information display sits cradled between the two gauges and serves as the trip computer.
The quality and aesthetics of the plastics used around the cabin, especially around the driver is generally quite high and still sits comfortably a notch or two higher than those found in the Polo’s contemporaries. It should be noted though that the steering wheel mounted buttons aren’t pleasant to the touch. They are hard as opposed to mildly soft and rubbery. The same goes for the buttons around the music system.
Dropping into the driver’s seat for the first time I become acutely aware that sporty wasn’t a word that was used in the design brief of the Polo Blue Motion. With the seat set at its lowest position I could barely see over the instrument gauge. My height might be an issue to factor in but a base C 180 with its seat set to the lowest position still gives me a very good view out of the cockpit and onto that famed three pointed star for guidance in car placement. The seats however were engineered with a significant degree of adjustability. The steering wheel is also reach and height adjustable.
Slotting the key into the ignition and turning it doesn’t elicit a raucous bark from the hidden tail pipes. Rather, a rather scandalous diesel drone that emanates from the engine. Thankfully, the Polo is well insulated against outside noise and shutting the door and rolling up all the windows goes a long way in shutting out the outside world. Herein lies the beauty of the Polo. A party trick that is hard to replicate even for more expensive propositions.
At this point I have to admit that I still get giddy each time the orange and red lights in the instrument cluster of any car go on at the turn of the ignition key. Cars have been designed to run a self diagnostic test each time they are switched on. Thats why all the various lights go on and almost all go off as quickly. Beautifully designed instrument gauges make this process magical. Almost as if the cars have some sort of bio-mechanical interface. A self awareness that stems straight from the pages of Asimov’s great classics.
Slotting the manual gear box into reverse reveals that the clutch pedal is well weighted and that VW’s gear arrangement seems natural compared to any of the other automotive marques’. The gear lever is marginally firm and offers some resistance before slotting into the desired position but not unmanageable. I should point out that there is a tiny readout on the trip computer display that lets you know which gear one is in. As this car is geared for efficiency rather than performance there are little arrows that appear just above the gear number whenever the car’s computers work out it is best to shift either way.
It has to be mentioned that the 1.2 litre turbo diesel is underpowered and at times immensely laggy. On the road being caught in the wrong gear at higher speeds necessitates a down change. The turbo only picks up from around 1,800 revs and burying the throttle doesn’t solicit any reasonable response from the engine. On gentle inclines where usually one would be in third I would almost always have to be in second or suffer an eternity waiting for the turbo to spool up. The same applies to being in fifth. Every overtaking manœuvre even on the longest of highways requires a downshift to fourth even if its just a gentle pass in which no real spurt of acceleration is required.
What the Polo Blue Motion lacks in power and responsiveness it makes up for in steering wheel feedback, nimbleness and driver engagement. Whoever said that manual gearboxes are overrated was wrong. This gearbox coupled to the diesel engine gives the Polo character in a way that an automatic transmission never would have. I found myself constantly chasing lower gears at higher speeds to ride out the turbo boost.
Something has to be said of the quality of damping on the Polo. On South African back roads such as vast stretches of the N2, R44 & R45, which are remarkably well paved, the Polo rides out the undulations quite well. At speeds of around 110 kph minor bumps on the road seem to be absorbed through the suspension by the chassis and thrown right back into the road surface. On such roads I found myself falling into a rythm with the car.
Because the car has really high levels of NVH protection I found myself listening to whole albums from my phone through the stereo’s auxiliary connection. Even at speeds of 120 kph wind noise isn’t an issue nor are vibrations from the road surface. The sound quality from the car’s speakers isn’t the best but it isn’t a far cry from being labeled decent. I found that the reproduction of sound across the different genres of music I listen to faithful.
While the air conditioning works well enough it isn’t perfect. Often I would find myself cranking the dial higher and higher then having to crank it lower as the noise levels would make me uncomfortable. I struggled to find a temperature setting that worked for me. It was either full on or just hot. This was a minor annoyance. Driving around in the Western Cape province’s varied microclimate zones can prove to be a challenge. I would pass one small town which would be sweltering hot to be met by rain and hail in the next.
A particular highlight of the Polo Blue Motion is the fuel consumption.While it is nigh on impossible to ever achieve any claimed economy figures the engine proved to be quite frugal. In heavy traffic the Polo would give an economy of around 5.2 l/ 100km while on the backroads this figure fell to 4.6 l/ 100 km.
I found myself longing to go for drives more and more and in particular epic drives that would take me into the far reaches of rural South Africa. The Blue Motion has achieved something that I have only ever dreamed about but I’m yet to experience in a car. I’ve always imagined that the ideal car for me would be my little man cave. A bedroom away from my bedroom. A place filled with hidden caches of carb clever bars and flavoured sugar free bottled water from my favourite South African retailer. A place where my iPhone would be key to my experience and I could store away my laptop safely all the while unplugging from the chaos around me.
