UK-POLOS.NET - THE VW Polo Forum

hi kam

and no.... too little time and a moderate amount of life, which foruming squishes

i give my time to drop the knowledge no-one reads, but how knows.... someone might be googling for it

The first four ratios of a 4+e are the same as a 4-speed; 4th gives 16.9mph/1000 rpm and 'e' gives 21.4. Another option, in the unlikely event you'll find one, is a 3+e from the early 80s; that gives 18.summat/1000rpm in top gear. Thinking about it so does a mk4 1.3 5-speed box, 18.1 I think. Should be easier to find.

16.9 in 4th? on which model?

the way i worked it out, after an abortive and inexplicable few months showing 17.6, came out at 18.5........ if it was 16.9 for real, on standard tyres (and not 135/70s!) i'd have it a bit more forcefully

3+e, ugh, what a mentalist idea (4th was at least 19/1000, maybe 20 - and 3rd similar to 4th on a close ratio 5-speed!) - leave it in the 80s, and happily attached to the few early-mk2 Formule E's still running (one of which is near me..)

A few figures I have from road tests/VW info.;


Mk1 Polo 895 c.c. 14.1/1000
Mk1 Polo 1093 c.c. 15.1/1000
Mk1 Polo Formel E 18.8/1000
Mk2 Polo 1.05 4spd 16.9/1000
Mk2 Polo 1300 4+e 21.4/1000
Mk3 Polo GT 17.9/1000
Mk3 Polo G40 21.7/1000
Mk4 Polo 1300 18.3/1000
Mk4 Polo 1400 16v 18.5/1000
Mk4 Polo 1400 8v 22.5/1000
Mk5 Polo 1.9 SDI 27.7/1000
Mk5 Polo 1.4 TDI 26.7/1000
Mk5 Polo GTI 22.2/1000
Lupo GTI 5 speed 21.15/1000
Lupo GTI 6 speed 20.77/1000





No wonder my mk1 sounds busy...

I know this is a way down the thread, but I've used my Polo Fox for motorway driving everyday to work. I was doing anything upto 160 miles a day going to and from work. I did 40,000 in that year, of which most of it was over the speed limit and my car still run perfectly.

As long as you keep good oil in it and decent petrol and service it every 10,000 then there shouldn't be any problem

*loves nuttinew long time* ... if those are true official figures..!

well the first two tie up with suspicions at least - the 1.1 is .891 and 4.571 final, and the 900 is at least .895, might even be point-nine-something, on the same diff.... least insofar as i ever saw. totally mental gearing. 5000rpm before you've reached 75mph? i think so..! redlining before the ton? oh, why not dear boy, why not indeed.. (explains it still feeling sparky off the line, too!)

stuff to mull over there they look like my "wrong" old figures in a lot of places, worryingly. you dont happen to have the tyre details at all??
(especially i thought the G40 would be higher than that, and the 8P)
(heheh wierd that the 6 speed lupo is shorter than the 5er.. guess its marketed for the really sporty folks)

heartagram wrote:That roughly translates too "I have too much time and no life". Says he crusing the forum at 2:30am.

haha it's.. true. Mind u Kam, did u sleep last night in the end?.. Bet not

I found a 3+e box in the scrappy a while ago. I was tempted to get it just for the novelty value of having such an amazingly ridiculous gearbox
Think I'll stick to my close ratio 5 speed though.. just slightly more drivable

Should be getting my ATV box in the next few days

GroovyCarrot wrote:I found a 3+e box in the scrappy a while ago. I was tempted to get it just for the novelty value of having such an amazingly ridiculous gearbox
Think I'll stick to my close ratio 5 speed though.. just slightly more drivable

I've done many many miles in a mk1 Jetta Formel E and there's no way I'd prefer a normal 4 speed. If that one you mention is still knocking about...


Tyre sizes vary, e.g. mk4 1.3L used 155/70/13s but 1.3CL used 175/65/13s.

Mk1 895 used 135/13s I'll have mine MIchelin ZX flavoured please.

Fraid it's probably been melted down and turned into a corsa or something by now. The rest of the car wasn't in great condition so the scrappie got rid of it quickly. Did you not find that you had no way of keeping in the powerband with a 3+e box? It's not like the old formel e's had much to begin with..

hardhitter wrote:Should be getting my ATV box in the next few days

Mother Fcuker!

the difference 1st - 2nd was almost 50%, and pretty horrendous 2nd to 3rd as well (with 3rd-4th being comparitively close) - unless that engine had a hugenormous power spread or an odd torque curve it would have been a nightmare to try and go fast in. Nice for cruising i suspect, which is what a lot of formule E drivers would have bought it for anyway...

nutti do you know what size/s that the mk2s and mk3s were on? 17.6 vs 16.9 could be more than explained away by 145/80 vs 135/75, but i dont know what to think on the 1300, GT and G40..!

(my figures however mainly derived from ETKA ratios and ones from on here, with theoretical tyre rolling circumference numbers that im still yet to verify)

Tis true that there is a spread of tyre sizes acoss the range from 175/60/13 up to a whopping 175/65/13. I would be very suprised if those gear numbers wernt absolute, ruins the usfullness of them otherwise. 1.3 incidentally is 17.7/1000rpm for the four speed box.compared with 16.9/1000rpm for the 1.0 which both come up with 155/70 tyres to make the comparison useful.

Gareth_GT_Hatch wrote:there is a spread of tyre sizes acoss the range from 175/60/13 up to a whopping 175/65/13

WOW what choice!!

I would be very suprised if those gear numbers wernt absolute, ruins the usfullness of them otherwise. 1.3 incidentally is 17.7/1000rpm for the four speed box.compared with 16.9/1000rpm for the 1.0 which both come up with 155/70 tyres to make the comparison useful.

now you're making my head swim

too many conflicting nombres, not enough proof of what's going on... it hurts, mummy...

*calculates*

16.9 * 4.267 / 4.0625 = 17.75 *strokes chin* a-hmm...

though i could swear blind thats backwards to what you argued with me before! (that they were actually higher than i thought )