Yet another great car not coming to the US

[Draftee]

Now THIS is what we need. Awesome looking car, heaps of equipment. Runs on the smell of an oily rag.

The Motor Report

 

[StageLeft]

I just honestly cannot get excited about volkswagens, not even a little bit.

 

[krunchykrome]

so it's a rabbit with a different name...?

 

[DeviousTrap]

Originally posted by: krunchykrome
so it's a rabbit with a different name...?

No, a polo is one size smaller than a golf (rabbit). This would be competition for cars like the Fit/Yaris.

 

[lurk3r]

Its smaller than a gokart, runs on farts.

 

[zoiks]

Originally posted by: Skoorb
I just honestly cannot get excited about volkswagens, not even a little bit.

Same here. I feel different about Audi's though.

 

[StageLeft]

Originally posted by: zoiks

Originally posted by: Skoorb
I just honestly cannot get excited about volkswagens, not even a little bit.

Same here. I feel different about Audi's though.

Me, too, though until their quality is clearly solid and better than it was I'd not be able to stomach buying one.

 

[Arkaign]

Meh, 1.2L, 1.4L, and 1.6L motors, with Diesel prominently featured. Not interested. We already have the Insight for a premium compact with good fuel economy without the diesel hassles common in many areas (high price, low availability). Coming soon is the Fiesta, as well as the new Chevy subcompact (quality questionable?, but likely $11k price tag makes it a different market anyway).

 

[Strk]

Originally posted by: Arkaign
Meh, 1.2L, 1.4L, and 1.6L motors, with Diesel prominently featured. Not interested. We already have the Insight for a premium compact with good fuel economy without the diesel hassles common in many areas (high price, low availability). Coming soon is the Fiesta, as well as the new Chevy subcompact (quality questionable?, but likely $11k price tag makes it a different market anyway).

The Polo gets close to 70mpg, I believe, so it has quite an edge on hybrids.

 

[ViviTheMage]

I'd like the TDI polo...for sure.

It's basically a toned down Golf.

 

[Arkaign]

Originally posted by: Strk

Originally posted by: Arkaign
Meh, 1.2L, 1.4L, and 1.6L motors, with Diesel prominently featured. Not interested. We already have the Insight for a premium compact with good fuel economy without the diesel hassles common in many areas (high price, low availability). Coming soon is the Fiesta, as well as the new Chevy subcompact (quality questionable?, but likely $11k price tag makes it a different market anyway).

The Polo gets close to 70mpg, I believe, so it has quite an edge on hybrids.

Again, that's with expensive diesel fuel. From the article :

"The diesel-engined Polo BlueMotion we mentioned earlier today will achieve a fuel economy of 3.8 l/100km"

100km = ~62 miles.
3.8L = 1 Gallon.
Fuel economy = 62mpg US Diesel Gallons.

So 62mpg from a tiny diesel in a tiny car. With Diesel prices commonly more expensive than gasoline, the returns begin to diminish.

In my town, regular unleaded is $1.75 right now, and available at every station. Diesel is only at two stations, and is priced at $1.99 and $2.49 (no shit, I checked twice on Gasbuddy).

The new Insight has returned higher than 60mpg in independent testing, meaning that it would probably cost more to run the Diesel Bluemotion Polo than the Insight, while forcing you to go to stations that supply Diesel, which is no problem in some areas, but problematic in others. Very few stations on my daily commute have diesel pumps, and they are frequently MUCH more expensive than the 24-cent gap in my hometown.

The final nail in the coffin is the testing done by European groups such as 5th Gear, where the supposed high diesel fuel economy figures were found to be exaggerated compared to the real world testing.

 

[ElFenix]

Originally posted by: Draftee
Now THIS is what we need. Awesome looking car, heaps of equipment. Runs on the smell of an oily rag.

The Motor Report

hey, a car with a dashboard that looks like it belongs in a car instead of in seaquest dsv

 

[ballmode]

why get that over the current golf hatch?

 

[ElFenix]

Originally posted by: ballmode
why get that over the current golf hatch?

cheaper

 

[Draftee]

There's a lot to be excited about. The quality is very high. It'll have the same quality interiors as the Golf. They're very safe, the 7-speed DSG gearbox is to die for, and VW's diesels are very easy to drive. Compared to hybrids, diesels are better suited to highway driving. They trounce hybrids on the open road.

Also, the GTI version will have a 1.4L supercharged and turbocharged direct injection engine, and it'll weigh in at only ~2200 pounds, so times of less than 7 seconds for the 0-62 are expected.

 

[Kabob]

Originally posted by: Skoorb
I just honestly cannot get excited about volkswagens, not even a little bit.

+1...

 

[ElFenix]

Originally posted by: Draftee
There's a lot to be excited about. The quality is very high. It'll have the same quality interiors as the Golf. They're very safe, the 7-speed DSG gearbox is to die for, and VW's diesels are very easy to drive. Compared to hybrids, diesels are better suited to highway driving. They trounce hybrids on the open road.

Also, the GTI version will have a 1.4L supercharged and turbocharged direct injection engine, and it'll weigh in at only ~2200 pounds, so times of less than 7 seconds for the 0-62 are expected.

quality and volkswagen should not be used in the same sentence. being pleasing to the eye and having nice tactile feedback does not equal quality.

 

[Draftee]

Originally posted by: ElFenix

Originally posted by: Draftee
There's a lot to be excited about. The quality is very high. It'll have the same quality interiors as the Golf. They're very safe, the 7-speed DSG gearbox is to die for, and VW's diesels are very easy to drive. Compared to hybrids, diesels are better suited to highway driving. They trounce hybrids on the open road.

Also, the GTI version will have a 1.4L supercharged and turbocharged direct injection engine, and it'll weigh in at only ~2200 pounds, so times of less than 7 seconds for the 0-62 are expected.

quality and volkswagen should not be used in the same sentence. being pleasing to the eye and having nice tactile feedback does not equal quality.

And saying super witty things like that doesn't mean you're right. The mk3 and 4 Golfs weren't stellar, but that is 10+ years ago now. Build quality is regularly high in reviews of recent models. Even those built in Mexico

The mk6 Golf/Rabbit scored 97% in the newest, stricter EuroNCAP crash testing, equal with the Volvo XC60 and better than the Audi A4. Not bad for $16,300.

 

[mwmorph]

Originally posted by: Strk

Originally posted by: Arkaign
Meh, 1.2L, 1.4L, and 1.6L motors, with Diesel prominently featured. Not interested. We already have the Insight for a premium compact with good fuel economy without the diesel hassles common in many areas (high price, low availability). Coming soon is the Fiesta, as well as the new Chevy subcompact (quality questionable?, but likely $11k price tag makes it a different market anyway).

The Polo gets close to 70mpg, I believe, so it has quite an edge on hybrids.

1. Its deisel
2. The Euro combined cycle is much, much easier than the US combined cycle.

The 328i in Europe gets 31mpg in the combined cycle, in the US with our more harsh/accurate measurements, it gets 22.

The VW Jetta TDI gets a euro combined 51.4, the US tests give it 34.

Why? Because Europeans use IMPERIAL gallons. A imperial gallon is 1.201 US gallons. Even after takingthat into account, the tests are about 15(for gas)-20(for diesel)% easier, almost directly comparable to the old EPA tests.

Now put it together and the Polo pulls around 46mpg compared to other cars in the US, good but not incredible considering its a 80hp 1.4L diesel in a car the size of a Yaris for £13355(18,978.79)

Thats the base price for a much larger Honda Insight that will accept gasoline from any station and get 41mpg(which means $115 more over 1 year of gas (15k miles) at $3 a gallon or $68 at gas prices as they are now).

This whole Euro diesel mpg this is just so misleading, nobody ever bothers to fact check to make sure Euro combined cycle does NOT equal EPA combined cycle mpg. In fact the 2 numbers are so off, they're essentially completely worthless for comparison.

Originally posted by: Draftee

Originally posted by: ElFenix

Originally posted by: Draftee
There's a lot to be excited about. The quality is very high. It'll have the same quality interiors as the Golf. They're very safe, the 7-speed DSG gearbox is to die for, and VW's diesels are very easy to drive. Compared to hybrids, diesels are better suited to highway driving. They trounce hybrids on the open road.

Also, the GTI version will have a 1.4L supercharged and turbocharged direct injection engine, and it'll weigh in at only ~2200 pounds, so times of less than 7 seconds for the 0-62 are expected.

quality and volkswagen should not be used in the same sentence. being pleasing to the eye and having nice tactile feedback does not equal quality.

And saying super witty things like that doesn't mean you're right. The mk3 and 4 Golfs weren't stellar, but that is 10+ years ago now. Build quality is regularly high in reviews of recent models. Even those built in Mexico

The mk6 Golf/Rabbit scored 97% in the newest, stricter EuroNCAP crash testing, equal with the Volvo XC60 and better than the Audi A4. Not bad for $16,300.

Build quality is fine... for the first 30 days.

Countless VWs come through the dealership off lease, 2, 3, 4 years old and they all have some quality problems from the paint coming off the buttons or power window switches not working (all very, very common problems). It's right to be wary about any VW past the warranty ESPECIALLY about those from Mexico.