RE: VW confirms Polo R

[MG CHRIS]

So PH members moan about manafactures not making road going version of race and rally cars, vw brings out a road going version of it's rally car and people still moan about it make your mind up.

This was the same with the gt86 moaning about no affordable quick sports/coupe type car that is n/a Toyota then brings that exact car out and then people moan about it not being quick enough needs to have more power, more grip oh and turbo charged you just couldn't make it up.

[loudlashadjuster]

va1o said:

Sounds just a bit awesome

Be interested to see what the performance figures are like for the and the S1. Very much doubt the £21k price point though sadly.

Also hoping we'll see the UP GT makes its debut alongside!

Up R, anyone?

180 ps, ~1000 kg

[anonymous-user]

projectgt said:

Haldex is FWD with drive shafts at the back. Not a fan, bring back the real quattro 4WD system I say.

It hasn't gone anywhere!

[anonymous-user]

skyrover said:

make it rwd and I might be interested

Don't be silly

[Cutmore]

Love the idea of this.

Those wheels are terrible underwhelming though, they look like something you find on Gumtree for £80.

[Axionknight]

va1o said:

Oh and I'd be more than happy if its DSG only. That gearbox is phenomenal and once you've experienced it there is no going back to Manual.

Really, says who, apart from you?

[b0rk]

Richair said:

Props to VW to building something that at least 'resembles' a current WRC car, but the 2.0 engine confuses me

VAG don't have a 1.6T production engine currently so using the 2.0T lump is the only option for 200hp+, unless your saying VAG should have developed a production engine especially for this car only. This actually a very clever move as it means Renault, Ford, Vauxhall will have to either:
A. ignore this market segment,
B. develop a very highly tunned (and stressed) version of their existing 1.6T's to compete
C. re-engineer the engine bays to make existing 2.0T's taken from next size up cars fit.

VAG have imho planned for the option to drop this engine in very early in chassis design 5+ years ago.

Cutmore said:

Those wheels are terrible underwhelming though, they look like something you find on Gumtree for £80.

They're VW standard "r-line" wheels so I'd expect these not to make production as standard fit on the full fat version.

[jbforce10]

skyrover said:

make it rwd and I might be interested

Well, if it's any consolation, 4th gen Haldex can send 90% to the rear wheels without having to sense front wheel slippage... I just doubt VW will configure it that way (unlike Saab, who did for their TurboX and XWD models).

[chrisw666]

Vladimir said:

If you goons can't appreciate a small, 4wd, petrol hatch, you simply aren't a car enthusiast.

Actually I wonder how many proper enthusiasts there are here?

This.

I don't think I've got any desire to own one of these but I'm not sure there is anything negative to be said, very odd reaction.

[vtgts300kw]

George29 said:

Why give it a manual? The Polo GTI is better for not having a manual option. This will be too.

Plus the " The rally cars have paddles" marketing.

[Rammy76]

Good on VW for making a car like this, although it appears they can't win judging by some of the comments on here!

[anonymous-user]

I like the sound of the Polo R, it may well fix the issues of the 6R GTI, which I still adore. The talk of DSG boxes being out of place, I cant understand. After 20,000 miles in a 6R GTI, it feels perfectly integrated to me. As a real world point to point jack of all trades car, the Polo is doing a stirling job.

Maybe the DSG argument just boils down to a 'it isn't a driver's car if it has no gearstick'. My racecar had a big button for changing gear, I suppose that wasn't a real driver's car either

Either way, good news, and good on VW for going against the grain somewhat (when Subaru and co are becoming increasingly less rally rep focussed).

[sat1983]

Love my 6R GTI- doesn't look fat and bloated and is just such a nice drive. The proper modern GTI.
I'm putting my name down for an R when VW retail it- more power, probably the same economy and 4WD. What's not to like??

[Dalmahoy]

My next car - until I read its DSG only.

Back to the drawing board again for me.

[prg123]

We had DSG in our old Touran, fantastic smooth gearbox... Ours didn't have flappy paddles though.

Does the Polo have flappy paddles, I think that would be fantastic....

I also drove an Audi TT-S when my R8 was in service, loved the gearbox in that too although the paddles were a bit close to the steering wheel .

I don't know why people prefer manual to DSG, with the flappy paddles you can still change gear, albiet without having to press the clutch, and so much better in traffic.

Also DSG has auto-blip I believe on downshift....

- Pete

[anonymous-user]

prg123 said:

We had DSG in our old Touran, fantastic smooth gearbox... Ours didn't have flappy paddles though.

Does the Polo have flappy paddles, I think that would be fantastic....

I also drove an Audi TT-S when my R8 was in service, loved the gearbox in that too although the paddles were a bit close to the steering wheel .

I don't know why people prefer manual to DSG, with the flappy paddles you can still change gear, albiet without having to press the clutch, and so much better in traffic.

Also DSG has auto-blip I believe on downshift....

- Pete

The 6R GTI does have paddles yep, and they're a very snug fit to the back of the wheel (very similar to Audi's ones I guess). Personally I'd prefer them to be offset a bit, the Porsche PDK layout seems to be ergonomically ideal. A nice halfway house between the VAG and Ferrari layout.

In sport mode, the GTI will auto-blip on down changes. In manual it's left a bit more to the driver.

[Nors]

Escort Si-130 said:

+1 its good to know some manufacturers are still producing models for petrol heads, even though numpties here on PH don't seem to appreciate them. Maybe its jealousy as they cant afford it.

This made me chuckle!!

Agree though (like some other comments on this thread) that there is so many negative comments for what is a little cracker imho. WHY?

Go back a few years, a 'supermini' with 4wd, really well built, DSG and 250bhp would have been a pipedream. Most true petrolheads would be falling over themselves.

As said, I think folks are getting spoilt by the choice of fast cars from all sectors at the moment.

[George29]

fuelracer496 said:

The 6R GTI does have paddles yep, and they're a very snug fit to the back of the wheel (very similar to Audi's ones I guess). Personally I'd prefer them to be offset a bit, the Porsche PDK layout seems to be ergonomically ideal. A nice halfway house between the VAG and Ferrari layout.

In sport mode, the GTI will auto-blip on down changes. In manual it's left a bit more to the driver.

I presume it will be the 6 speed DSG unit used in the R rather than the 7 speed GTI one though, and that does auto-blip on downshifts all the time.

[epom]

Wow some balanced arguing on here for a change... I'm impressed you lot

[mini me]

Axionknight said:

I know right, imagine such a large community of people and all of them having different opinions.

Im more concerned about the majority of them seemingly having had lobotomies.