Driving Volkswagens’ diminutive hot hatch today, the Polo GTi. The VW Polo GTi
has been in its current guise since 2018, but freshened along the way with more
equipment, a pocket rocket and a driver’s car through and through, priced at
$39,690 plus on-road costs although Volkswagen Australia has had a special
drive-away offer of $39,990 driveaway which finishes today, providing a saving of
around $4,000. This small five-door hot hatch surprisingly comfortable given its
size, the seats accommodating in tartan cloth trim highlighted with red stitching.
Touch-sensing buttons on the steering wheels are a minus and take time to get used
to while touch-sensitive controls for the aircon a real negative, difficult to use and
a distraction whilst driving. Fit and finish and quality hard to fault while
everything is easy to hand and well positioned. But this is a hot hatch and
performance is the keynote. With a 2.0-litre turbo four-cylinder driving the front
wheels via a 6-speed dual clutch transmission it’s very satisfying to drive – and
despite its small footprint it displays driving characteristics of a much larger car.
Loaded with the latest drive technology it feels enormously secure on road with
sharp accurate steering. More impressions next segment.

Download this podcast here