Polo AW Facelift Spy shots

[OomStu_ZA]

Found this over at a local website this morning:

https://www.cars.co.za/motoring_news/sp ... ted/49415/

Looks more like the Mk8 Golf now...

[SRGTD]

Found this over at a local website this morning:

https://www.cars.co.za/motoring_news/sp ... ted/49415/

Looks more like the Mk8 Golf now...

It may not look like that; the Brazil Automotive pictures are renders of what it might look like. I think we’re some way off seeing official picture from VW. However, when VW do actually reveal the facelift Polo, it’ll no doubt have some of the mk8 Golf styling cues. I think there’s a very good chance that the facelift Polo will also adopt the buttonless interior of the mk8 Golf, which IMO is a bad thing.

We’re all used to the styling of the mk8 Golf now, so Golf styling cues on a Polo might not look too shocking. Whatever it looks like, I won’t be tempted to go out and buy one.

[vc-10]

The exterior of the Golf 8 has grown on me. I'm still unconvinced about the buttonless interior though. I'm not so sure that the Polo will get a fully buttonless interior though. The base model cars have a mechanically controlled heating/AC system, and adding electrically controlled blend doors would cost a fair bit. What I could see them doing is something like the Skoda Scala/Kamiq, where there's regular basic A/C, and then dual zone with a 'cheapened' control unit where stuff is partially controlled through the screen. Although that might be too much cost for a cheap facelift!

[Andy Beats]

No idea what 'electric blending doors' are, but if they're anything like the pop out motorised handles on my wife's Evoque than I'm all for them.
Conventional door handles look so rubbish now that I'm used to them.
And they still work perfectly well even in the horrible ice we've had up here.

[SRGTD]

No idea what 'electric blending doors' are, but if they're anything like the pop out motorised handles on my wife's Evoque than I'm all for them.
Conventional door handles look so rubbish now that I'm used to them.
And they still work perfectly well even in the horrible ice we've had up here.

No, they’re not door handles, blend doors are part of the cars’s hvac system and vary the amount of air passing through the car’s heater core.

[Stuart_Rendall]

I have seen a few articles online. This sideshot is my favourite. The driver appears to not be a fan of the camera men

[vc-10]

In a Polo with manual A/C, when you turn the air selector or the temp selector, you're physically moving the doors in the system which direct air out of different air vents, or to change the temperature. In a Golf, from the Mk.6 onwards, the HVAC is totally electrically controlled, whether you have regular A/C or climate control, and those doors are electrically controlled to direct different temperature air out of different vents. Of course, in cars with climate control, the whole lot is electrically controlled.

[Andy Beats]

Ok, it's white with no form of accenting/highlights and little wheels, and that's not a great combo.
But, god, that's a dull looking car.
Am I the only one that wishes VW were just a bit braver with their styling?

[vc-10]

Well, it's a pre-production test car, hardly one to draw much conclusions from!

If you want a more adventurously styled car, VW have never really been the brand for that. Within the VW Group, Audi and Seat are the more adventurous styling-wise, in my opinion.

[lancslad1985]

The exterior of the Golf 8 has grown on me. I'm still unconvinced about the buttonless interior though. I'm not so sure that the Polo will get a fully buttonless interior though. The base model cars have a mechanically controlled heating/AC system, and adding electrically controlled blend doors would cost a fair bit. What I could see them doing is something like the Skoda Scala/Kamiq, where there's regular basic A/C, and then dual zone with a 'cheapened' control unit where stuff is partially controlled through the screen. Although that might be too much cost for a cheap facelift!

The golf styling has grown on me to the point where I like it, including the look of the interior. My issue is I’m not a fan of the buttonless approach. I personally think it’s more dangerous when driving. If the polo got some of the golfs styling but kept the buttons it would be fine by me, but I’ve only had mine for 4/5 months so no plans to change for a while.

[Andy Beats]

Within the VW Group, Audi and Seat are the more adventurous styling-wise, in my opinion.

This is true, a colleagues new A3 parked up next to mine looks far more adventurous.

[Simonz]

I have seen a few articles online. This sideshot is my favourite. The driver appears to not be a fan of the camera men

That looks hardly different from the current model, in fact the wheels seem worse with that spoke design and the bolt holes integrated giving the appearance of a cheap wheel trim fake alloy. They do need to make it more visually appealing, perhaps some striking colours or a way of breaking up the slab sided look. If I have one criticism of the Polo is seems rather dull and made worse in some colour combinations. There is no imagination to the design, the rear looks almost identical to the previous model 10 years ago - the light clusters and hatch. Front end is dominated by the over size badge.

[SRGTD]

That looks hardly different from the current model, in fact the wheels seem worse with that spoke design and the bolt holes integrated giving the appearance of a cheap wheel trim fake alloy. They do need to make it more visually appealing, perhaps some striking colours or a way of breaking up the slab sided look. If I have one criticism of the Polo is seems rather dull and made worse in some colour combinations. There is no imagination to the design, the rear looks almost identical to the previous model 10 years ago - the light clusters and hatch. Front end is dominated by the over size badge.

But we are looking at a lightly disguised facelifted version of the current model, so it will look basically the same as the current car. The purpose of any facelift is to maintain customer interest in the vehicle during the second half of its lifecycle, without significant cost to the manufacturer. With this in mind, a facelift will look very similar to the pre-facelift model - this has always been the way with VW and many other car manufacturers too. Also, VW’s approach to model facelifts and next generation models tends to be evolutionary rather than revolutionary so as not to alienate their core customer base. So with a VW model facelift in particular, anyone expecting significant design changes will be disappointed. The large front badge is here to stay IMO as it’s part of VW’s brand identity and common to the entire VW range of vehicles - present and future (there’s a similar sized grille badge on the all electric ID3).

Usually, exterior facelift changes are limited to subtle tweaks to freshen up a car’s appearance, and those tweaks will usually be limited to new bumpers, grille, headlamps / rear light clusters and new wheel designs, with minimal - if any - changes to any of the body panels in order to keep production cost changes under control. Looking at the pictures at the link posted by @OomStu_ZA, there are taped up sections on the tailgate that appear to be concealing a new inner section to the light cluster. That’s a little surprising IMO, as it would involve a new metal pressing for the tailgate. So it looks as if the facelift Polo might get mk8 Golf style rear light clusters.

As for wheels; quite often, disguised / camouflaged pre-production versions of new and facelift models use wheels that won’t be seen on the production models, so those wheels in the picture might not make it onto the actual facelift cars. Having said that, the wheels on some current VW models are pretty awful IMO - take a look at the mk8 Golf’s wheels for instance - so it’s quite possible any new wheel designs for the facelift Polo might not be so great.

There’s always a chance we might see some new colour choices on the facelift model when it’s launched though. One or two VW models have ‘interesting’ choices in their available range of paint colours - e.g. Lime Yellow on the mk8 Golf and Makena Turquoise on the T-Cross and ID3, Honey Yellow on the up! (think the Polo was meant to get this colour but it never happened) and Turmeric Yellow on the T-Roc, so maybe it’ll be the facelift Polo’s turn next to get some more interesting colours.

[OomStu_ZA]

And here is the German website Autobild's take on the facelift:

https://www.autobild.de/artikel/vw-polo ... 38345.html

Not sure im sold on this:
"an LED strip connects the daytime running lights of the headlights"

[SRGTD]

And here is the German website Autobild's take on the facelift:

https://www.autobild.de/artikel/vw-polo ... 38345.html

Not sure im sold on this:
"an LED strip connects the daytime running lights of the headlights"

The mk8 Golf (or at least some models of the mk8 Golf) has a full width LED strip that runs across the top of the grille between the headlamps. I personally think it looks tacky and gimmicky. I can remember seeing a particular make / model of car in the 1980’s and 1990’s in the USA with full width illumination between the headlamps (sorry, can’t remember which car it was) and also thought it very tacky and gimmicky at the time.

Hopefully there’s an option to turn it off, or at least get it coded out.