UK-POLOS.NET - THE VW Polo Forum

Golf was at dealership for attention; tyre pressure warnings when tyre pressures were ok. Typically, no faults found but but in fairness they advised me to return if it occurs again but not to reset the system.

The relevant bit here is the loan car was a red Polo SE petrol manual 5-speed gearbox model with lowish horsepower engine not sure which, I'm no burn-up merchant I'd be looking at a 115 SEL, but it needed really revving to get up to speed on nearby A-road but it was prefectly ok pootling along at 30-40MPH. I had the car all day but only did around 25 miles, I can easily compare to last model Polo as a relative drives one and my own Mk7 Golf. The Polo was certainly quieter and defo bigger than last Polo, I liked the re-designed dashboard which is bound to appear on the new Mk8 Golf next year, liked the higher touch screen though it wasn't as responsive as on my Golf. The mirrors are possibly a bit small but ok to see where you've been and may reverse into (!), over-the-shoulder rear vew through side windows not as good as my Golf but better than last Polo, steering was light and resonsive, clutch and gearchange were smooth and road noise was very quiet compared to the last Polo (and my Golf!) - but it didn't occur to me to check the tyre brand (duh!). The rear centre rear seat buckle was slightly rasied, dunno if that means it's been modified or not ?

Stuff we all alrady know about really, but ok here's the rub: if it weren't for the Golf's existance, and much better availability from the same dealerships, though the new 1.5 EVO engine is in short supply due to the same WLTP testing which is mostly holding up Polos, choosing a Polo be an easy choice. I certainly liked it, though prob not choose this particular model, I'd go for 1.0 115 SEL with park assist and climate control. We are all aware of Polo delivery times; I was told "very few Polos in current stock but you're looking at 26 weeks if you're lucky, but in all honestly probably longer depending on the extras and if you pick the SEL, GTi, etc. A Golf: you're looking at almost immediate delivery, or 12 weeks or so for a factory order and / or if you spec special extras, like sunroof, etc or if you want the 1.5 EVO engine". So kinda confirmed what I already knew, in addition the Polo would only be £50 p.a. cheaper insurance premium for me. Personally, I'm not that fussed at the mo because as John Lennon said "life is what happens when you make plans" and I certainly have more than enough things to cope with right now than to bother with choosing & changing & waiting for cars (not whining & crying, just sayin'). But while VW may struggle to sell Polos that are not still actually available in any great numbers, when people do their sums, check the calendar and have a think about it VW may sell a few Golfs than they otherwise might not have.

Forgot to mention; as is usual I was asked to replace the petrol I used, put a gallon in but the fuel gauge didn't move or the trip computer register the extra fuel. I told the receptionist on retuning the car in case they thought I was 'travelling on a freebie' and didn't add any fuel, she replied they'd had a few folk complain about unresponsive or sticky fuel gauges on new Polos....

Now that you have mentioned the fuel gauge and probably the fuel computer if it had one, not resetting quickly, my wife has the previous model of Polo, and typically after the summer grass cutting season is over, I empty any remaining stored petrol from my 2 X 5 litre held supply of petrol into the tank in her car as it does most of the family running, I do this to avoid storing petrol for too long as it goes off and changes colour quite quickly - but I keep forgetting to log the current "since refuelling" figure for MPG, not a big problem in the scale of things, but as soon as you add a small amount into the tank, the previous MPG figures get cleared - and I have been logging fuel data for our cars for far too many years, yes there are other ways to work this out, but I tend to stick with what the fuel computer thinks is the MPG.