Long-term: Our Volkswagen Polo GTI impresses against the clock

Life sure knows how to throw curve balls at one. Just take 2020 as an example. You couldn’t make this stuff up if you tried. And our long-term Volkswagen Polo GTI fell victim to this reset of planet earth.

The car arrived literally on the day of the announcement that we would be going into a hard lockdown. We had a decision to make. Let is stand or make use of the window of opportunity to get yourself home before the storm troopers were deployed.

Our digital motoring guru Charl Bosch decided he would hit the open road and scamper for the hills. Being the kind-hearted soul he is, the Polo GTI appreciated his gentle approach and ran flawlessly while returning an excellent 6.2 litres per 100 km in fuel consumption on his way to Despatch in the Eastern Cape and back.

But a GTI of any description is designed to excite the senses and lure your inner boy racer out to play. And this is exactly what I got to with the car when I took it down to the Gerotek Testing Facility. Being friendly was over, it was time to strap my trusty Vbox test equipment to the car, burn some Bridgestone rubber and chase the performance times.

The heart of the Polo GTI comes in the form of the well-known, 2.0-litre turbocharged, direct injection EA888 engine that produces 147 kW of power from 4 400 rpm to 6 000 rpm and 320 Nm of torque all the way from just off idle at 1 500 rpm right till 4 400 rpm.

The positive of this is that it always feels like you are in the meat of the torque, and this translates into a fun car that is effortless to drive fast. The downside of having 320 Nm of torque available from just over idle is that wheelspin remains a factor, even with the optional 18-inch alloys and tyres fitted.

Thankfully, the car’s electronics and launch control function of the six-speed DSG box do their job, and while they can’t prevent it, they do allow the car to get off the line the same way over and over. This for a professional road tester like myself is an absolute pleasure, as the times remain consistent and allows me to report that the Polo GTI repeatably ran times better than what are claimed by Volkswagen. Which is rare in today’s world, but ironically not so much for VW, as I have had other models of theirs also beat the claims.

Wolfsburg says you should get to 100 km/h in 6.7 sec, but our car did it in 6.63 and ran the exact claimed top speed of 237 km/h. So, underestimate this compact hot hatch at your own peril.

Catch us next month when our Motoring Editor Jaco van der Merwe brings us his update of living with the GTI on a daily basis.

Highlights

–              147 kW of power and 320 Nm of torque, sport suspension and XDS differential lock

–              Class-leading dynamism thanks to its turbocharged engine and MQB platform

–              GTI insignia and individuality to express sporty design

–              First Polo GTI to feature a 2.0 TSI engine

Gerotek results

Results

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