2018 Volkswagen Polo | Full Review

The 6th-generation Volkswagen Polo has arrived and, according to a few dealers we've spoken to, the Wolfsburg-based brand's new compact hatchback is already flying off showroom floors.

This is an important car in South Africa for two reasons. Firstly, all right-hand-drive Polos for the entire world will be built right here in SA, which is great for our economy, and secondly, the Polo and its cheaper clone, the Vivo, are consistently the bestselling cars in the country. Yes, South Africans love this little thing. So, will this new Polo live up to expectations?

In this video, we explore the price of the new VW Polo, the three spec levels (Highline, Comfortline and entry-level trendline) discuss the four engines now available in the range, the boot space and take a detailed look at the interior.

0:00 Intro
1:05 Exterior Review
1:45 Price Point
3:04 Interior Review
4:40 Driving experience
6:36 Boot Space
7:00 Engine of 2018 Volkswagen Polo
8:21 Verdict
9:16 Outro

[NickSoper]

I feel like locally produced cars should cost less where they are made compared to overseas. Let’s get behind local.

[thabisor]

Saved up R150k, got me a 2008 BMW 523i A/T e60, 118k milage, @ R133k 2 years back. Got extended warranty and changed front shocks and tires for R20k. Have been to Durbs on numerous occations and Cape once from JHB, no fuss no complaints, only when I drop R912 per tank on fill ups. Other than that its more car than this Polo. R300K+, just why do people do this to themselves?

[nicovanheerden]

Hi, i have the pleasure driving a 5 year old Polo Vivo1.6 what a lovely car, the new Polo range great great great

[corneldup]

I average 6.3l/100km without even trying in typical daily Gauteng (60% stop/go) traffic in my Fiesta Ecoboost 1.0, and I have averaged 5.8 for a month when I deliberately took it easy just to see what was possible. So 7.2l/100 is definitely not at the low end of the spectrum in my book, in fact, I'd be very upset with that figure as that's what my Hyundai i20 1.6 got without breaking a sweat.

I sat in one of these new Polo's yesterday as they were on show in Irene Mall, and it's definitely a very premium looking car on the inside, I'll give them that, but there's no way I'll pay R300K+ for a polo, or for any car in that segment, unless it's the Hot Hatch version. MAYBE if it had all the extras as standard you could make a case for it at that price as some other brands come close to R300k, but then their cars are way better specced, but for me it's just not an option... With R300k you can get WAY better cars, that are almost new in the used market. It just doesn't make sense to me.

I don't know why Polo's sell as well as they do, they didn't even make my top 3 last time I bought a car.... But each to their own I guess, and knowing South Africans, many people will be eating baked beans on toast... but a new Polo they shall drive... VW knows this, and will make LOADS of money because of it.

Very nice review as always!

[sonkengema]

Can you please make a video detailing the difference between the trendline and comfortline

[nickduplooy]

You guys need your own tv show I think

[ArnoBlignaut]

I simply cannot agree with the price. Honestly, this is getting out of hand!

[digital-artz]

That’s much money for a car it’s going to be produced in South Africa 😳😳😳😳

[releM]

A normal aspiration 4 cylinder 1.5l Mazda 2 gives you 6.3l per 100km and it costs less too and you have an option to put leather.... not forgetting that it is imported

[Preyser]

As a blind person from Bergvliet, Cape Town I would like to share some of my opinions on this. I honestly think that for a hatchback like this the price is way too high. in terms of the engine and transmition I would stick with petrol as fuel for small cars like this (I believe diesel should be used in buses like the Kombi/Caravelle and bakkies like the Isuzu KB and Toyota Hilux), and I would stick with a manual (I tend to be old-school, although I was born in 1994), although there are some cars out there that I would prefer with an automatic.  In terms of engine size and number of cylinders I'll never go with an engine that has less than 4 cylinders and an engine size of 1.6 litres, I could push it to 1.4 l and 1.3 l in some cases. My favourite modern hatchbacks from Vw will always be the Golf 4, 5 and 6 with the 1.6 litre petrol engine and the 2002-2009 Polo (before it was called the Polo Vivo) with the 1.6 litre petrol engine (I especially like the pre-facelift versions).

[WaseemKhan-iubh]

at 300k? Rather just get a used polo GTI or Golf 7 GTI

[neokgatla]

No country buys more Polo's than RSA.

[Chif_GT]

Those day time running lights looks like something you can buy at Auto Zone or Midas.

[hwleitner]

Brilliant review. Can you just include a brief moment where you mash the pedal in your reviews.

[Niju]

Ridiculous price tag for a locally produced car.

[pologolfpolott]

Nice car - great review. The specs and prices for the Australian model have just been released and the car here will be around about 20% cheaper here than in South Africa. Cannot quite work that one out.

[chrwl]

7:58 Reminds me of when I took my one colleague for a drive in a VW with a 110kW 1.4TSI engine and 6-speed DSG. I asked the colleague to guess what capacity the engine is, and the guess was a 2.0.

[quintrisfortune]

Nice video...pls do a review of the 2018 vw polo vivo

[herremilkanter]

7, 2 l/100km? How the heck are you driving? Our 2015 Octavia station wagon, with the 1.2 TSI motor, averages 6.1 (after around 20-30 min from cold start) in the middle of swedish winter!

[rnburley]

What is the point of such a high sprung 3 cyl 1.0 turbo motor if it isn't that efficient? I have a higher output 1.6l that gets the same consumption (combined)