Friday 18th May 2012

Limited-run 220hp VW Polo stars at Worthersee meet

Polo WRC Street will see production in small numbers from 2013

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The GTI meeting at Worthersee in Austria is a bit of a Mecca for fans of fast VWs, and Volkswagen often uses the event to unveil a tasty concept or two.

This year, one of the main stories in VW world is the imminent arrival on the WRC scene of the new Polo R-WRC, which will start its competition career in 2013.

But as well as the WRC car, VW has brought along this to Worthersee, the Polo WRC Street concept.

This WRC-inspired hot hatch isn't just a marketing exercise, either; you'll be able to buy one towards the end of 2013, powered by a 220hp 2.0-litre TSI engine. And the good news for fans of fast Polos doesn't stop there: word has it that the Polo WRC street will eventually be joined by an even hotter 'R' version in due course.

Considering it took Citroen more than a decade and the arrival of the DS3 Racing to do anything more racy than a bit of cosmetic tweakery to capitalise on its rallying successes, it's good to see VW apparently so keen to give the car-buying public a little bit of the WRC love...

[New Scot]

At last, a successor to the Mk1/Mk2 Golf GTi! Bet it's not gonna be cheaper than Mk6 GTi though?

[anonymous-user]

I really love the look of these new Polos.
Can't wait to see them in WRC action

[ikarl]

it looks massive though.....certainly bigger than a mk1 golf

[MrKipling43]

Where are the flared arches? Missed opportunuity for silliness there from VW.

[anonymous-user]

ikarl said:

it looks massive though.....certainly bigger than a mk1 golf

I think they're about as big as a Corsa C.

[ukaskew]

New Scot said:

At last, a successor to the Mk1/Mk2 Golf GTi! Bet it's not gonna be cheaper than Mk6 GTi though?

I think any warm/hot versions of the Up! will be far closer in spec to the early GTIs than a 220hp Polo.

[OliPolo]

ikarl said:

it looks massive though.....certainly bigger than a mk1 golf

Only the 3rd post in and it has been said. New cars ARE bigger, this much is a fact for pretty much every new car for reasons that can't be avoided.

[Defcon5]

Come to Daddy.

Shame it will be about £25k!

[anonymous-user]

OliPolo said:

ikarl said:

it looks massive though.....certainly bigger than a mk1 golf

Only the 3rd post in and it has been said. New cars ARE bigger, this much is a fact for pretty much every new car for reasons that can't be avoided.

Someone else will be along a minute moaning about how much new cars cost and you could buy an old 911 for the same money

[Bezerk]

Defcon5 said:

Come to Daddy.
Shame it will be about £25k!

A specced up GTi is £24k. They are nice little cars but rare due to the cost!

[George H]

Want! But if there's an even hotter 'R' version coming then it might be worth waiting even longer, hopefully that will have 4wd.

[FisiP1]

The Polo GTI has been rather tarnished by the seemingly recurring oil consumption and transmission issues sadly.

I love the basic polo though, had one as a rental car with the 1.4 petrol, thought it was superb, very chuckable. Only criticism I had was that it liked to jump going into first gear, but I think the hill hold assist may have had something to do with that.

Would seriously consider a polo R or similar if they can use a decent engine and give it 4wd.

[roosevelt]

these new polos are about the same size as a mk3 Golf....

[roosevelt]

available in RHD?
probably sold out already....
will wait for the 'R'

[BOBBY G]

MrKipling43 said:

Where are the flared arches? Missed opportunuity for silliness there from VW.

Looks like there are wheel arch extensions, but they are in black, so looks a bit silly.

[Itsallicanafford]

...a polo wih 220Bhp...i remeber being impressed by a mate who had a 1.4...surely this is, say, 100bhp too much for a car like this? Why not go the whole hog and drop a V8 in it and do a factory supercharger conversion....

[tbc]

.... awaits ridiculous pricetag

[Crusoe]

with any luck the dsg might not fit either so it could be spanish

[Froomee]

Not a bad effort in my opinion, should be fast especially once mapped.

Small cars are not really small any more as has been said but its got to the point where this car is similar in size and performance to a MK1 Focus RS or at least it looks that way. The prices seem to reflect this too with most manufacturers......

[Tom_C76]

Itsallicanafford said:

...a polo wih 220Bhp...i remeber being impressed by a mate who had a 1.4...surely this is, say, 100bhp too much for a car like this? Why not go the whole hog and drop a V8 in it and do a factory supercharger conversion....

Certainly not 100bhp too much. I've got the Fabia rather than the Polo GTi, and the chassis copes fine with 180bhp. Remember that as well as being bigger than a mk1 Golf, modern cars are heavier due to all the safety kit (and doors with more strength than tinfoil unlike the old fast Pugs )