Gold dust-grade VW Polo G40 for sale
Any hot hatch these days has a downsized, forced induction engine - the G40 was there 30 years ago
With Volkswagen now full steam ahead with its EV strategy, it’s hard not to look back wistfully at some of its memorable combustion engines. For a manufacturer not always regarded as the most exciting, it produced more than its fair share of wild and wacky powerplants. It sold a supercharged and turbocharged Golf in the 2000s, not long after it had also offered its family car with five and six-cylinder engines. The Passat (in)famously got a W8; at the same time, the Phaeton was available with a W12 and the Touareg a V10 TDI. As electric cars already feel a bit samey from a powertrain perspective, so the nostalgia and curiosity for such diversity are inevitable. If potentially financially ruinous as well.
There was VW’s supercharged era, too, don’t forget. Its G-Lader scroll-type superchargers seemed an innovative solution back in the late 80s and early 90s, adding power to small-capacity (and therefore light) engines without the lag of a turbo. So, Volkswagen being Volkswagen and never one to miss an opportunity to show off, supercharged everything. People know about the Golf G60, and the related Corrado, but there was even a Passat G60 as well. Plus, of course, the smallest supercharged one of the lot - the Polo G40.
First introduced in 1987 (though not in the UK until 1990), the most powerful Polo was a G40 and not a G60 as it used smaller spiral chambers in the ‘charger. It was still enough for serious performance from just 1,272cc more than 30 years ago: with 116hp and 109lb ft, the Polo could scoot to 60mph in little more than eight seconds, and reach 120mph. Prototypes in fact set 1.3-litre endurance speed class records, which is little surprise when you consider what typical 1.3 would have been capable of back then.
By all accounts, the G40 was decent to drive, too. The Polo GTIs that followed never had the best reputation, though Autocar called the G40 ‘tantalisingly close to being an excellent car’, praising its handling and, of course, performance. This was the era of the 205 GTI, don’t forget, so the bar was high.
Alas, even with that in its favour and a price that compared favourably to both the GTI and Fiesta XR2i, not many G40s sold - it’s believed only around 600 or so in the four years it was on sale. Given it left UK showrooms almost 30 years ago, it’s no shock to find precious few supercharged Polos remaining. The global Golf GTI fascination means many more of those were sold and have been preserved, even in its less-than-inspirational Mk3 guise.
Coming across a G40 this good, then, is a real turn-up. Because it’s not a cheap project, it’s not a barn find, it’s not an engine transplant or badly restored car. It’s simply a low mileage (42k), fantastically well cared for (look at that engine bay) and apparently immaculate G40. All these years later and a small, sporty VW still looks perfect on BBS wheels, the oh-so-90s upholstery brightens up a dour interior and seeing ‘ladelluft gekuhlt’ under the bonnet - or ‘charge air cooled’, says Google - will always raise a smile.
Naturally, it’s expensive, because old and cool hot hatches are these days - the dealer is asking £16,995. But then name a comparable car of the time that isn’t pricey now. Opportunities to get them will only become rarer, and it might reasonably be argued that this is the most interesting supercharged VW of the time, because you’d want a VR6 in the Golf or Corrado. It’d surely be the perfect weekend fun car, alongside an ID.4 for commuting…
SPECIFICATION | VW POLO G40
Engine: 1,272cc, supercharged four-cyl
Transmission: 5-speed manual, front-wheel drive
Power (hp): 116@6,000rpm
Torque (lb ft): 111@3,600rpm
MPG: c. 39
CO2: N/A
Year registered: 1992
Recorded mileage: 42,000
Price new: £11,568
Yours for: £16,995
Interesting, if dull-looking curiosity though, and good to see a non-barried one. Lose the stupid plate...
The G40 cup (with a BTCC like atitude to "contact") probably finished off quite a few as well.
I was (and am) a Golf person, but was surrounded years back by G40 fans and have very good memories of the cars.
I drove a friend’s car when they were current and nearly became a statistic on the M6 when I had to push on the brakes and found they seemed to have very little assistance and so a proper stamp and pray was required.
I drove a friend’s car when they were current and nearly became a statistic on the M6 when I had to push on the brakes and found they seemed to have very little assistance and so a proper stamp and pray was required.
I am sure that they also only had drum brakes on the rear
My brothers died like all old, cheap hot hatches should, in a field via a hedge entrance. It got 're-shelled' aka had all it's bits transplanted into a basic Polo and finallly, like so many others, got butchered for it's engine and gearbox to be fitted to a 'small block' Mk1 Golf 5dr with chrome roof rails and tweed interior.
Given the condition and mileage, and some of the crazy prices asked for other hot hatches of that era, it seems a bit of a bargain.
My first car was a Polo of this generation, although a 55bhp 'CL'. It was crap but I loved it, and I always had my eye on a G40 (when they were everywhere and cost a few grand for a clean one)...
Seems increasingly unlikely to happen now, nice original RHD cars are extremely scarce, many were presumably written off or victims of rust.
The problem is as others have mentioned, they're nippy but don't handle or stop particularly well, so need a few choice modifications to bring them to life (H&R suspension - better yet a subframe conversion, decent LSD, upgraded / Golf brakes).
A few years after I went to Madeira on hols and saw more in a day round Funchal than I’d seen in years in UK. They were everywhere some 20 years back
It's a pity there isn't a Delta HFie in the classifieds for me to show a preference towards, but is comparing this Polo to a 1.6 turbo Delta fair as I suppose the Lancia was more of a Golf rival at the time.
A few years after I went to Madeira on hols and saw more in a day round Funchal than I’d seen in years in UK. They were everywhere some 20 years back
Might have been Autocar but my mind is frazzled
It's a pity there isn't a Delta HFie in the classifieds for me to show a preference towards, but is comparing this Polo to a 1.6 turbo Delta fair as I suppose the Lancia was more of a Golf rival at the time.
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