New Polo On Top Gear

[stevereeves]

Sunday nite's (17 March) Top Gear did a quick, and I do mean quick, review of many 'regular' cars including the new Polo which was classed as "not a small Golf, but boring" though the Fiesta is apparently "brilliant". It's all opinions but I wouldn't use those words to describe either car. I think the Polo is at least 'very good' and as for the Fiesta I think it's 'good' but the full-on frontal view is dull and I just cannot get over the amateurish, ape-mechanic 'the media touchscreen is too big but I'm gonna fit it anyway, just screw it directly to the dashboard' finish. They did say "just buy a Golf" in the small to medium car class so at least got something right....

[monkeyhanger]

As someone who has both a Polo GTI+ and a Golf R, there's not much in it between the feel and driving dynamics of either car.

They're probably not comparing apples with apples- Golf GTI vs Polo 95ps SE. The lower Golfs are better specced than the lower Polos. If price was not a consideration, I'd bet most would pick a Golf GTI over a 95ps Polo, but again, they probably ignore that the Polo is 3/4 of the price of the Golf, trim for trim.

[peeceeuk]

Clarkson picks one for his choice of hot hatch in The Grand Tour and gives it some compliments.
There were some pictures in a paper of him and some reality TV person or other months back changing a wheel on one.
It was for this.

[Aube]

Typical response from Top Gear bunch of so called motoring experts. Can’t wait to see the new presenters, and thank goodness Matt Leblanc is leaving. He gets the Wooden actor of the decade award.

[Andy Beats]

Haven't driven a Fiesta since our 2009 titanium 1.6tdci
It was built so shoddily pieces of trim literally fell off inside the car, so we (I) vowed not to have a Ford ever again.
But Fords, generally, do tend to drive/handle better than VWs, I suppose that's what they meant?
Mine obviously isn't a GTi, but it still lurches and rolls more that I'd expect for a small car.
The ride is a bit floaty/boaty as well, it could definitely do with stiffer springs/dampers.

[Poachersun]

In nz there is a 16,000nzd difference between polo gti and golf gti. Its well worth the difference (and 8,000nzd from base polo to polo gti)

Golf r us of course almost double....



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[phillos]

In nz there is a 16,000nzd difference between polo gti and golf gti. Its well worth the difference (and 8,000nzd from base polo to polo gti)

Golf R is of course almost double....

Ahh I see you're also from a country were taxes are s**t

Base Polo - Polo GTI is £12.000 diff
Polo GTI - Golf GTi is almost £23.000!
Golf GTI to Golf R is another £19.000!

The Fiesta ST costs about the same as the Polo GTI her, but I would choose the Polo GTI any day over the Fiesta!

Fiesta's dashboard looks like s**t IMHO. The Polo feels like a more expensive car, plus it looks sooo much more mature than the Fiesta boyracer spec (im 29yo btw)
EDIT: Just realized i was looking at the old Fiesta, new 2019 model looks sharp, interior still looks s**t imo.

[stevereeves]

Whne I say quick review, the guy had maybe 20-30 cars arranged in a semi-circle and walked round the lot in about 5 mins and gave a one line opinion of each. It would have been much better to devote say half a programme to the type of car most folk will actually buy rather than "let's see which is the best supercar one can buy for £200,000 while we thrash the wheels off them with plenty of tyre smoke". Probably relevant that the Fiesta ST was actually driven, wheels thrashed off-style of course, and I often wonder in these cases how well the manufacturer of any favoured brand treat the person carrying out the testing. Bias aside, the Polo is still a newish car, many folk have yet to actually see one let alone check one out and it deserved more than the glib, one-sentance comment: it's "not a small Golf, but boring". Well it may be a few things but don't think it's boring, the epsiode is repeated on Tuesday, 19th March on BBC2 at 7pm....

[Andy Beats]

Whne I say quick review, the guy had maybe 20-30 cars arranged in a semi-circle and walked round the lot in about 5 mins and gave a one line opinion of each. It would have been much better to devote say half a programme to the type of car most folk will actually buy rather than "let's see which is the best supercar one can buy for £200,000 while we thrash the wheels off them with plenty of tyre smoke". Probably relevant that the Fiesta ST was actually driven, wheels thrashed off-style of course, and I often wonder in these cases how well the manufacturer of any favoured brand treat the person carrying out the testing. Bias aside, the Polo is still a newish car, many folk have yet to actually see one let alone check one out and it deserved more than the glib, one-sentance comment: it's "not a small Golf, but boring". Well it may be a few things but don't think it's boring, the epsiode is repeated on Tuesday, 19th March on BBC2 at 7pm....

I remember TG before Clarkson, back in the days of Chris Goffey etc.
My GOD it was dull!
Clarkson's 'revolution' of the programme was to largely ignore humdrum cars, arguing anyone can go to a dealer and test-drive one, so he concentrated on aspirational cars that Joe Blogs wouldn't get to driver, ever.
A person can disagree with this all they like, the proof is there that he turned the programme around from dying to the BBC's most successful export.
If it ever goes back to the days of discussing fuel consumption and boot size, it will die.

[S_94]

Just watched The Grand Tour segment with the GTI, ST and Yaris. Felt all three cars came across well, the price of the Yaris is ridiculous though!

Was shocked that the GTI managed to beat the ST in the end, given the weight of the Polo. Definitely worth a watch for anyone who's ordered/got a GTI.

[Poachersun]

In nz there is a 16,000nzd difference between polo gti and golf gti. Its well worth the difference (and 8,000nzd from base polo to polo gti)

Golf R is of course almost double....

Ahh I see you're also from a country were taxes are s**t

Base Polo - Polo GTI is £12.000 diff
Polo GTI - Golf GTi is almost £23.000!
Golf GTI to Golf R is another £19.000!

The Fiesta ST costs about the same as the Polo GTI her, but I would choose the Polo GTI any day over the Fiesta!

Fiesta's dashboard looks like s**t IMHO. The Polo feels like a more expensive car, plus it looks sooo much more mature than the Fiesta boyracer spec (im 29yo btw)
EDIT: Just realized i was looking at the old Fiesta, new 2019 model looks sharp, interior still looks s**t imo.

WOW! 12k difference! By my google calc ours is equivilent to just under $5k Euro,
and 10k euro from polo gti to golf gti.

Guess that's why i was happy to pay the $38k NZD for the Polo GTI (ours come standard with 17", all safety features and options except: No beats audio, no adaptive cruise(+$1000), i upgraded to Brescia 18" (+$1000) and the digital dash (+$1500), has all the climate control features, no heated seats tho (don't really need in my location), LED headlights standard.
https://www.volkswagen.co.nz/media/5002 ... n-2019.pdf

So - $38k "base" is 23k euro.
HMM! Food for thought

[monkeyhanger]

Just watched The Grand Tour segment with the GTI, ST and Yaris. Felt all three cars came across well, the price of the Yaris is ridiculous though!

Was shocked that the GTI managed to beat the ST in the end, given the weight of the Polo. Definitely worth a watch for anyone who's ordered/got a GTI.

There's no replacement for displacement (the ST is a 3 pot 1.5 now). Its a common conception that VW do tend to understate output.

I tried to see what rubber the GTI was on. There was a close-up of a wheel, but it was dirty. Didn't look like a Bridgestone Turanza though.

[S_94]

Just watched The Grand Tour segment with the GTI, ST and Yaris. Felt all three cars came across well, the price of the Yaris is ridiculous though!

Was shocked that the GTI managed to beat the ST in the end, given the weight of the Polo. Definitely worth a watch for anyone who's ordered/got a GTI.

There's no replacement for displacement (the ST is a 3 pot 1.5 now). Its a common conception that VW do tend to understate output.

I tried to see what rubber the GTI was on. There was a close-up of a wheel, but it was dirty. Didn't look like a Bridgestone Turanza though.

Yeah I was trying to spot the tyres myself, would be interested to know what they used for this segment. I'm keeping an eye out for the ones you swapped to and hopefully I can pick some up at a good price when the car arrives (hopefully the next 4-6 weeks).

Funny how they were driving a LHD GTI, maybe even the Grand Tour had problems getting their hands on a RHD version.

[RyanH]

Just watched The Grand Tour segment with the GTI, ST and Yaris. Felt all three cars came across well, the price of the Yaris is ridiculous though!

Was shocked that the GTI managed to beat the ST in the end, given the weight of the Polo. Definitely worth a watch for anyone who's ordered/got a GTI.

There's no replacement for displacement (the ST is a 3 pot 1.5 now). Its a common conception that VW do tend to understate output.

I tried to see what rubber the GTI was on. There was a close-up of a wheel, but it was dirty. Didn't look like a Bridgestone Turanza though.

Yeah I was trying to spot the tyres myself, would be interested to know what they used for this segment. I'm keeping an eye out for the ones you swapped to and hopefully I can pick some up at a good price when the car arrives (hopefully the next 4-6 weeks).

Funny how they were driving a LHD GTI, maybe even the Grand Tour had problems getting their hands on a RHD version.

I can’t remember exacly which bit it was visible on but I’m pretty sure at one point you could see it was on Michelins. Couldn’t tell any more detail than that but definitely saw a Michelin logo at one point.

[stevereeves]

I j-u-s-t recall TG with Noel Edmunds in the pre-Clarkson days, i.e when he took TG over and made it much more entertaining. I mostly still tune in but it's borderline dull again, IMO, with one miserable-sounding presenter and a twit who isn't even funny. The one ok guy on Sunday, Chris Harris ?, I thought could have done a quick 'Buy, Consider, Reject' on each car class. Or they could have tried a car each, 3 from every category, otherwise what's the point to line up so many cars just to say "buy that one". Mind, car and bike magazines mostly comcentrate on the latest rocket ships and thrash them to within an inch of crashing, ignoring what poeple will actually buy....