Just had a quick flick through the Volkswagen Driver magazine that popped through my letterbox a couple of days ago, and in it was a full road test of the latest spec Polo Sport 130 TDI.

They gave it a good enough write up but you have to beg the question: The five door Sport costs 15.5k, so what do you get over and above the Fabia vRS to justify that price??!!!

The differences in spec to the Furby vRS were, that I noticed, the Polo has semi-automatic air-con. BUT it only has 15inch wheels, no external special touches at all and no real difference inside to a cooking Polo either apart from perhaps sports seats and chrome dial rings plus the ubiquitous leather coverings for the steering wheel etc.

So no black healining like the vRS, no fancy dials, no chrome door lock buttons, no fancy bumpers, no exhaust trim, and to justicy the extra few grand it doesn't even have ESP as standard either, nor cruise control.

One thing I did notice though, that was of interest, was that the top gear ratio is now under 32mph per 1000rpm, which is I think lower again than the last revision to the six speeder.

Plus they said it sits 15mm lower than the outgoing Polo GT TDI, so I wonder if it has springs that would bring the vRS down a tad but keeping the ride comfort and keeping it OE as it looked quite low as standard especially considering the weedy little wheels.

Also, going off previous figures, has anyone noticed that VW seem to quite the Polo performance stats as being quicker on the 0-60 than the Skoda equivalents? Even though the VW version can weigh more?

Case in point is my motor, the pd100, which is quoted 11.5s from skoda to 60 . . . . the polo version is quoted 10.5s. I think the same is for the vRS and GT TDi Polo comparisons, I seem to recall that the Polo was given a sub-9s time?

Is this just pure marketing?

A new polo, which was parked next to my Fabia last week, looked tiny in comparison! How does Skoda fit all that car on a polo chassis? The Fabia would look like better value for money if they where the same price

The styling of the three door Polo does make it look small I agree, same goes for the Ibiza.

Just checked out that 6th gear ratio again: 31.6mph per 1000rpm, that's got to be good for in gear acceleration on the motorway. Do any of you 06 Fabia owners have the same gear ratio???

The Furby has semi-automatic Air Con too.

IIRC the Polo does not have traction as standard?

The Furby has semi-automatic Air Con too.

IIRC the Polo does not have traction as standard?

Doesn't the Polo have proper digital climate control rather than the manual climate control on the Fabia? It's also missing traction control, which is a good thing from a driver's point of view IMHO, but not so good from an equipment level for the price view!

Chris

Doesn't the Polo have proper digital climate control rather than the manual climate control on the Fabia? It's also missing traction control' date=' which is a good thing from a driver's point of view IMHO, but not so good from an equipment level for the price view!

Chris[/quote']

how is it not good from a drivers point of view?

the driver has a choice in the furby as standard and not in the polo? hmm better?

I don't think there would be any one not wanting traction control even if they don't think it is needed.

Iif you nail it is 1st and 2nd in a furby the tyres light up! traction control sorts this and the driver does't have to feather the throttle in.

Even the shorter ratio newer 6 speed boxes have something like a 32.9mph per 1000rpm in 6th.

I think the older boxes, like in Col's vRS is like 36mph per 1000rpm. :eek:

if you nail it is 1st and 2nd in a furby the tyres light up! traction control sorts this and the driver does't have to feather the throttle in.

:rofl:

Chris

No ASR on the Polo :eek:

Over

15.5k? you can get a new focus ST for that! you'd be mad to buy the polo...

why not spend 3k less and get a pd160 cupra with better suspension, better handling, better looks and much quicker.

You could use that 3k you'd saved to push either 300 bhp in petrol form or nearly 240 bhp in diesel form.

The only people who will buy this polo is either badge snobs or people who have no idea about cars.

A Handy guide to what kind of car to buy-

If you live in a muddy field buy a 4X4

If you own an Antique shop buy an estate

If you are a taxi driver buy an octavia

i own an octavia 4x4 estate yet don't work as a taxi, live in a muddy field or own an antique's shop. am i doing something wrong?

POlo will hold its value much better than the Skoda - not fair, but its the way of the motoring world.

Also, the Polo sits on the Skoda chassis not the other way round!! (Skoda got it 1st).

The fab holds its value quite well, i lost 2k in a year yet some Citroens can loose half their value in that time (Ok sorry bad example)

I went for a test drive in the old model Polo GT when they came out before I ordered my VRS I must admit the three door had me thinking for a while but the VRS drove much better than the Polo and ended up being

POlo will hold its value much better than the Skoda - not fair' date=' but its the way of the motoring world.

[/quote']

But the Polo cost more in the fist place... and according to What Car? the vRS (JUST) holds it's value better than the Polo sport... so taking that they're both roughly equal in deprecation after 3yrs the Polo is going to be worth more but u had to pay a fair bit more in the first place and for IMO a lower spec car.

Before deciding on the Furby i did look at the Polo and couldn't see technically what you'd get for the extra money seems like purely a badge thing.

So yet another string for Skoda's bow..

After having my vRS for just a week i've had to garage it while I've been away on a training course :( Had to put with driving a Ford Focus all week...

not knocking the fabia but your probably paying plastic quality, little touches(damped grab handles etc), build quality and a bit for the badge.

I think depreciation wise, only the vRS's (at least in the Fabia guise) seem to hold their value really well. I wouldn't have been able to afford mine otherwise as mine had depreciated from a £12k car to a £5k in 3 years! A 3 year old vRS (which isn't much different in price new) will be fetching a good few grand more than a TDi of the same vintage.

Comes down to badges IMO, even within Skoda itself - a sporty Skoda with a fancy badge / bodykit etc. looks less the 'cheap car' than the non-vrs spec.

My opinion.

I have my doubts on the Polo depreciating better too. I know some of you have trouble shifting your Furbys 2nd hand, but the part-ex values I've seen you guys getting and the prices of 2nd hand ones on the forecourts say otherwise.

I've never been in a Polo, and even though the Fabia dash is a little plain, it always looked more expensive to me than the VWs.

I've had a VW car of one sort or another in my ownership for about 20 years. I really don't think the Polo has any better build quality than any of the other VAG brands. It will have some more expensive tactile materials in it's construction to give it a slightly more upmarket feel than say a SEAT but the Polo has been built alongside the Ibiza in Spain since the late 1980s.

As an example though, I keep an old Polo as a family runabout and have done for years. My 1985 German built car is still going strong with another family member running it even now and always felt solid and well built, but a little spartan. My current 1991 Spanish built Polo doesn't however feel as solid but is still in pretty good condition considering it's useage and general neglect.

I've also owned three Ibiza TDIs and a Leon Cupra and wouldn't say they were of any worse actual build quality than any of the tens of Golfs I've either owned or driven, but some of the trim materials are of slightly lower grade quality, less so in the more modern ones though. Comparing my current Fabia with most of the VWs I've had, yes you can see where the money has been spent and where it hasn't BUT compared to a Polo it is miles ahead on desireability (to me) and value.

And the blue dash lights may be cool but they can get on your t1ts a bit after a while in the dark unless you wind the brightness right down. And in the daytime you'd never know....!