For anyone thinking of a Polo-sized EV from VAG…….

[SRGTD]

……Here’s the uncamouflaged Cupra Raval (previously known as the Urban Rebel) pictured during testing;

https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/elec ... ial-reveal

IMHO it looks pretty good, although I’m not sure I’d buy one; I’d have concerns over being an early adopter and potential niggles / gremlins, especially given VAG’s recent track record with vehicle software used across their vehicle brands.

[OomStu_ZA]

Heya SRGTD

I came across this article (in Spanish) recently discussing Golf 9: https://www.topgear.es/garaje/volkswage ... 2027a398a9]

I'm not sure what the Skoda equivalent model is in the VW stable but there does appear to be a resemblance.

[SRGTD]

I saw that silhouette image of the Golf on the Golf R forum earlier today, along with the link below to an article on the Autocar website;

https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/elec ... first-time

I think Skoda’s current EV’s are all SUV’s. The current combustion engined Skoda equivalent of the Golf is the Octavia and I read recently that there will be an electric version of the Octavia - likely to be launched towards the end of this decade. This article on the Top Gear website suggests it’s likely to be an estate / station wagon and not an SUV.

https://www.topgear.com/car-news/first- ... via-estate

Not for me as I prefer Polo-sized cars and I don’t need anything the size of a Golf / Octavia. I do quite like the minimalist styling in the pictures on Top Gear’s website.

[Andries Polo6R]

I like a smaller ev, but not fond of the looks just yet. Theyre all so streamlined and flat

[SRGTD]

Not just a Polo-sized EV but the actual ID. Polo EV with pretty much all its camouflage removed (thanks to forum member @Tell over on the main Seat and Cupra forum for the link below);

https://www.carscoops.com/2026/03/vw-id ... ost-naked/

IMHO it looks OK but with VW’s recent track record, I’d be wary of being an early adopter of an all new VW EV - or any all new VW for that matter - in case it suffers similar software gremlins to those that afflicted the mk8 / mk8.5 Golf and many (most?) other VW models.

It’s interesting to see that VW seem to have raided Renault’s R5 EV parts bin for the rear exterior door handles and the row of physical HVAC controls………..

I like the interior but hopefully there will be some darker interior colour options as I can’t see that impractical light coloured fabric trim standing up too well in everyday use over medium to longer term.

[SRGTD]

Here’s a YouTube ‘first look’ video of the Cupra Raval - the guy presenting the video (Scott) is the owner of www.seatcupra.net forum website. It’s great to see the actual production car has stayed true to the early pictures of the Urban Rebel concept car.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2XpRI6uRX ... hdmFs&ra=m

I think it looks very good and if it came down to choosing between the ID.Polo or the Cupra Raval, assuming the Polo’s and Raval’s prices will be similar for comparable trim levels, I’d go for the Raval.

Would I buy one? I honestly don’t know; if I did I certainly wouldn’t be an early adopter - I’d leave that privilege to others who could do the beta testing (as they seemed to have done with the mk8 Golf and its gremlin afflicted software ) and discover the teething problems for Cupra to fix before I’d ever consider one as a next car. No plans at present to change my current car though as I’m very happy with it.

[S_94]

Thanks for posting SRGTD. Really nice looking car, will be interesting to see the spec and total cost, no plans to sell my GTI currently but I do love the Cupra branding.

Shame about the Touch buttons in the interior, never liked the thought of those.

[SRGTD]

Thanks for posting SRGTD. Really nice looking car, will be interesting to see the spec and total cost, no plans to sell my GTI currently but I do love the Cupra branding.

Shame about the Touch buttons in the interior, never liked the thought of those.

I agree on the looks - I think Cupra have produced a cracking looking car. It’s a shame about the touch buttons - I think the ID Polo is getting proper physical controls.

I’m a little surprised the Raval has flush external door handles and that these were type approved. These handles should ‘pop out’ in the event of an accident so the emergency services can open the doors to access the vehicle occupants. They don’t always work as intended though (this has happened with Tesla on a number of occasions).

From what I’ve read on the Seat / Cupra forum, one of the big negatives of the Cupra brand seems to be poor customer service from dealerships with owners having to wait many weeks just to get problems / issues investigated. Cupra seem to have aspirations to be a premium brand and poor customer service won’t help achieve that aspiration.

[SRGTD]

VW have added details of the ID.Polo EV to their UK website - no prices published yet, just the usual initial high level marketing promotional material.

https://www.volkswagen.co.uk/en/new/meet-id-polo.html

It’s good to see some more interesting paint colour options rather than the usual ‘safe’ unexciting colours that VW and the other VAG brands tend to stick with. The ID.Polo’s colour palette includes a new vibrant yellow (Python Yellow), along with Celestial Blue - the colour that has been used in many early promotional shots of the car. Additionally, Tornado Red and Candy White - used previously on various VW models over the years - have been resurrected for the ID.Polo.

I think the car looks good in a typically conservative (with a small ‘c’) VW way. However, one negative for me is what seems to be a growing obsession of VW (and some other car manufacturers) for illuminated badges and LED light strips on the front and rear of their cars - the ID.Polo gets them on the both the front and rear of the car. IMHO the red illuminated VW badge on the rear just looks wrong and quite gimmicky. Some will quite like the illuminated badges - we’re all individuals with different likes and dislikes which is a good thing .

Current information on VW’s website doesn’t yet include the ID.Polo GTI, although there’s a digital countdown on one of the web pages that suggests GTI information will be added in 15-16 days time.

[OomStu_ZA]

VW have added details of the ID.Polo EV to their UK website - no prices published yet, just the usual initial high level marketing promotional material.

https://www.volkswagen.co.uk/en/new/meet-id-polo.html

Howzit SRGTD

It does look good but what really grabs me is the retro (albeit digital) dials. That said I still wont be owning an EV anytime soon.

[SRGTD]

VW have added details of the ID.Polo EV to their UK website - no prices published yet, just the usual initial high level marketing promotional material.

https://www.volkswagen.co.uk/en/new/meet-id-polo.html

Yes, the retro dials do look good - a very good representation of the mk1 Golf original instrument display. I think some of the recent retro designs by Renault with their R4 and R5 EV’s are also very good - they have enough retro design cues for those people old enough (like me! ) to immediately associate them with the original versions of those cars from the 1960’s and 1970’s.

Back to the ID Polo and retro design touches - I do like the display of the cassette tape graphic on the infotainment screen when using ‘retro’ mode. It also indicates which ‘side’ of the ‘tape’ is playing . I remember having to physically remove tapes from form the radio cassette player in cars I owned back in the 1980’s and and physically turn them over and then reinsert them to listen to the tracks on the second side; a later car I bought back in the 1980’s had with a radio cassette player with auto-reverse function for the tapes and that was a revelation for me! Interestingly, the mk4 Golf that I bought back in 2002 still had a cassette player (it also had a CD player) which IMHO was redundant tech by that time. I don’t think I ever used it in 4.5 years of owning the car. Memories……………..

[richl123]

Thanks for the posts everyone, I like the retro colours, candy white from the MK5 and tornado red from the MK5/6/7.

I'm in a different situation, running a very old car, so the Ravel VZ or ID GTI are looking attractive especially compared to the price of a low mileage Polo or Golf GTI

I wonder how easy it will be to turn off the drivers aids? I hope VW copy their Porsche design, if its easy, maybe I'm in the market for a silver ID GTI which will nicely show the red accents.

Edit, I also like the dimensions, very similar to the MK4 Golf

[SRGTD]

VW’s website has now been updated to include information on the GTI version of the ID.Polo;

https://www.volkswagen.co.uk/en/new/id-polo/gti.html

And here’s Auto Express’s initial article on the car, which mentions it’s likely to cost from around £34k;

https://www.autoexpress.co.uk/volkswage ... ly-arrived

By way of price comparison, UK list prices of the ‘hot’ versions of Cupra’s Raval - the VZ and VZ Extreme - have been quoted as £34,995 and £36,310 respectively. Prices of Alpine’s A290 are from £30,245 and that figure is net of the UK government’s EV grant. For anyone not familiar with the Alpine brand, Alpine is the sporting brand within the Renault group so the A290 is essentially the ‘hot’ Renault R5 EV.

The A290 qualifies for the Band 1 maximum government EV grant of £3,750. I’m assuming the indicated prices for the ID.Polo GTI and Raval aren’t net of the government grant - other VW ID EV cars currently qualify for the lower Band 2 EV grant of £1,500 so assuming the ID.2 Polo GTI will also qualify for the Band 2 grant - the GTI’s list price net of grant will be from around £32.5k.

I think from an overall packaging perspective, the ID.Polo GTI is better than the Alpine A290 / Renault R5. The ID.Polo has a larger boot and rear seat accommodation looks larger. However, as a trade off, the Alpine A290 and Renault R5 get superior independent rear suspension and a heat pump as standard whereas the ID.Polo GTI makes do with a beam rear axle and I can’t see any reference on VW’s website to the ID.Polo GTI getting a heat pump as standard - it probably doesn’t as a heat pump is a £1,150 extra cost option on most (all other?) VW EV’s and it’s also an extra cost option on the Cupra Raval, so I’d anticipate you’d have to pay extra for one on the ID.Polo.

[richl123]

Thanks

I also spotted

One new feature for this segment is the pneumatic massage function for the electrically adjustable 12-way front seats. For drivers who prefer a particularly dynamic experience, a 19-inch premium sports tyre (235/40/19), the Bridgestone Potenza Sport specifically developed for the ID.

https://www.volkswagen-newsroom.com/en/ ... -gti-20375

And dealers are saying

Orders are scheduled to open in August with first deliveries expected in November

[OomStu_ZA]

Happy Saturday everyone.

I doubt we will ever see the ID Polo here in South Africa, it's just too expensive once all the conversions and taxes are applied, it would cost almost as much as the new Golf 8.5. The range anxiety here would also be an issue for most people to be fair as well but it would not surprise me if there is another ICE face lift on the way before the end of life is declared.