Joe's 2016 VW Polo GTI 2016
 

So I finally bought a new car! Was a bit of a toss up to what I would actually get but in the small hot hatch segment I think personally this is the best car out there at the moment as an all rounder.

So it's a 2016 Polo GTI. Manual (70nm more torque than the DSG gearbox) 5 doors, pearl black, sports pack (better throttle response, firms up the suspension, weightier steering and a bit more noise)and convenience pack.

Stats: 1.8 turbocharged 192ps 236ft/ibs (320nm) 1272kg 0-60 6.7 Top speed 147mph XDS Differential (basically an Electronic diff like the one in the Golf, not as good as a proper mechanical one) 17" wheels with 215/40/17 Bridgestone potenzas

Where this car differs to the Clio (which is roughly around the same ball park in terms of performance) is the torque on offer and also where and how that torque is delivered. From 1400rpm the car just pulls all the way to the 6k limit rather than the Clio which needed to be around 4-5k rpm for it to actually go anywhere in a hurry. Driving position is good and heel and toe is now achievable!




Got a fairly good deal on it too as this was already in stock with 7 miles on the clock and as well as the extra features like paint etc I got a year's free insurance and gap insurance on top.

Renault lost out on sale of a 220 trophy due to their shite customer service as per usual but I'm glad tbh.

As a reference against other hatchbacks this has 320nm of torque vs 240nm for the Fiesta ST and 208gti (the new Clio has even less than both of them)

It also has precisely the same amount of torque as the mk5 R32 Golf but weighs 238kg less!

Needs lowering!

Don't mind these, although I have to say they're just a bit "meh" to me. Got any more pics of interior and stuff?

Haha that's what Ross said but it does look worse in the picture as it's on a hill. Will get some more photos when it's clean. I'm quite happy with the "meh" ness of it lol I think if I would have got any of the other cars in my list I would have been scared stiff of someone vandalising it whereas this isn't too in your face. It looks quite menacing and muscular when you see it properly from the front but it's not all shouty about it which I have sort of grown to like.

Headlights at night time are properly awesome too. My brother said that it looked like it was day time how clear they are and they are much better than the Clio which had xenon so not exactly crap.

Only downside I have seen to the car is the boot space which is a bit smaller than the regular Polo due to the battery being in the boot (spare wheel is on top of the battery) it's also very quiet which for me as a "normal" car is a good thing but not exactly hot hatch either.

Some more pictures...

Joined a Facebook vw owners thing and everyone said what a nice Golf I had. My mate the other day Sat in the car for hours and had no idea it was a Polo lol. I'm guessing the lack of Polo badges from the factory might be the cause but they have gotten pretty Golf sized in recent years.

Still it's nice that people think I can afford a Golf GTI lol

Nice little cars these, I like the fact the red gti line goes into the lights. Do find it funny though how cars seem to be coming out of the factory with brightly painted calipers but when people themselves do it to standard brakes they get the piss ripped out of them


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I know what you mean but the brakes on these are so big they look okay plus the red details around the car make them look okay too (I'm also a fan of the red strip that goes into the lights)

Such an effortless car to drive and to drive quick. Whether that will bore me remains to be seen.

Got a right old bargain on that dog guard too! VW wanted about £250 for it fitted whereas I just went on ebay and got one out of a boggo 2011 model that luckily fitted perfectly (wasn't sure if it would as I have battery and spare wheel under the boot floor) for £60. Pretty impressed with that tbh

I hope you leased it!

Finance. But that was only so I got the £1400 contribution the plan is to pay it off in full.

Had one last week as a hire car followed by a a3 sport back the day after, some bits were impressive but on a whole it seemed as if something was missing.

I'm not sure it's going to be much of a trackday warrior but I can't fault it on the road. I've done my time with French hatches and they are a bit like a slurry girlfriend. Grear in small doses but you don't want to live with them everyday.

I know exactly what you mean. It’s almost too refined to be fun.

I also get what you mean but i enjoy it because it's refined but if the mood takes me, hit the sport button and put foot down a bit.

By no means is it a shouty loud fun experience but I think I'm past that now. I'm enjoying the new VW experience whereas I thought I would always stick with French hatchbacks that are fun but in no way refined.

Maybe I'm just getting old. The sense of feel and speed is definately down compared to the 172. I sort of felt odd travelling down a country road local to me and realised I was doing speeds that in the Clio I would have had to work the car hard to achieve whereas I was just pootling along in my mind. So on the one hand it's far easier to go fast but on the other hand the actual feeling of going fast is lost a little.

But then who am I to complain about that as that's why I bought this and not a Fiesta ST/Abarth 595 etc

Nice choice in the end man.

I'm a fan of these. I understand the "something is missing comments", and I'd agree - but this and the golf are 'perfect' all rounders for me. not quite as engaging to drive as renaultsport for example, but far less harsh than renault sport, nicer interior and still plenty of engine power.

I approve :y: ha

Just as much as a girls car as the clio :P

Never, ever thought I'd read that from you.

To be fair I could have stretched to a Golf but there's less of a difference between these (performance wise anyway) as there is between the Golf Gti and R (only 24bhp and 22ib/ft between this and the Golf but a bit less weight) so I think the Polo at the moment is very good value for money. Cruise and climate as standard would have been nice though but it doesn't bother me a great deal what does bother me is the £700 sat nav option because my missus has a perfectly good system in her Seat mii that she got thrown in with the car!

I am curious as to what power this actually puts out, as I've read the Golf's actually put out around 10-15 bhp more than claimed figures

I like these, definitely a better choice than the Golf Gti imo. Did you spec the Cruise control or did you leave it off? They are quite easy to retro fit if you haven't spec'd it.

Nah more effort than they are worth imo as I had it in the Clio.

Only extras I got was the paint, doors, sports pack and convenience pack.

Sweet, I didn't have CC in the S3 I just retro fit it. I use it a lot like but cost me about £40 for the stalk then took an hour to fit & code up with VCDS.

Whats in the sports pack on these?

Adaptive dampers and adds weight to the steering, more aggressive throttle mapping and fake noise lol
I've used it quite a bit on smooth roads but it's perfectly okay on normal roads although normal mode is beautifully comfortable considering the 17" wheels with 40 profile tyres.

Not a fan of the steering feel in sport though. On long corners it feels really odd like the wheel is made of wood or something!

Stupidly I found this

http://m.racechip.com/chiptuning/vol...w-mt/index.php

230bhp is nice from a €139 chip!

Quick video of it in sports mode.

https://youtu.be/3CNIeMOZQJw

Wish it was a tad louder ;)

Adaptive dampers are cool I didn't realise they did them on the Polos. Sounds like a well worth package apart from the fake noise! I'd avoid that chip like the plague though!

Sounds really good there is that the speaker noise as well or can you turn that off? I've not heard any of the new cars with fake noise before it sounds pretty real in that video to me!

I'm not too sure if it is speaker noise or not as it seems to do it with the music on (I'm guessing it would be hard to play music and fake noise simultaneously)

I suspect it's some sort of sound channeling pipe or something that opens as it sounds similar to what the engine sounds like normally but louder!

Had some idiot in a Astra GTC up my ass earlier. If I'm honest I was quite shocked at the rate he went backwards at considering there were 2 and a half men in the car :)

I think one of my favourite bits of the car is the way it revs and how with heel and toe you only need a little dab and it's bwap! So nice and quick with it unlike the Clio which needed a full in stamp on it (when I could actually ever do it) and took ages for the revs to rise when the clutch was done. This feels so nice in comparison!

Startup, revs and fly-by.

https://youtu.be/Yts4uM4XHlo

Not bad aye.

This seems a very biased thread.

Course it is. Even if I hated the fucking car I paid enough money for it so it's instantly the best car in the world LOL

But yeah to be honest I'm shocked at how much I like it considering it's not my usual cup of tea (German)

I think if I modify it the first thing I would do is out an LSD in as I was amazed while pushing on earlier at the understeer control (XDS diff) now that's just an electronic braking system and I thought it was brilliant how it pulls the car in on a turn so I can only imagine what a proper diff would be like. Jealous of anyone that has one.

Bought a HD camcorder.....

Did another video..

https://youtu.be/UO0GhSeV8Sk

Sounds like the exhaust is blowing weirdly

It's just what they sound like, I've compared to other youtube vids and sounds the same

Ah yeah I highly doubt it would've been either, YouTube+Mic's still don't quite compare to the sound IRL

Weird how it only revs to about 4k with it in gear, wonder if it's some sort of basic launch control as engine oil was fully warm and after "launch" (I just do them rolling to save wear) it revs to 6k

I’m not entirely sure what you mean by this. But from what I think you’re talking about, it’s not launch control, it’s a trait of VAG engines. Some Audis (for example the A3 8P3onw), will only rev to 3-4k when in neutral. It’s something used during testing / setup of the car and to prevent revving the engine unloaded. It’s present in all petrol engines including the entry ones so I highly doubt its performance oriented.

Ah cool. Is very weird feature though. At first I thought I'd broken the car!

Why would you think that?

Because it only revs to 4k and makes a puffing popping sort of sound. I'd be quite concerned if my car that revs to 6 suddenly only revved to 4!

I set the part of your walk around video where you say "sexy time" about the exhaust tip as my phone's text message tone. In all seriousness though, the car looks really nice. The touch screen looks really responsive.

LMAO!!!