RE: New Polo GTI!

[HighwayStar]

zeDuffMan said:

Vitorio said:

VW need 2 litres to put out 200hp reliably?

embarrassing if you ask me, but good news for prospective tune-happy owners

I read an article a while ago that said after the emissions debacles, some 'performance' engines will be increasing in capacity as it's easier to genuinely meet emissions regs with larger ones.

The Mini Cooper S went up to 2 litres as well, possibly for that reason.

Either way, a simpler, less stressed engine is always better than a highly strung one. Ford's 1 litre engine has had turbos popping left right and centre. There's just no point if yon don't need to.

Yep, there's been a few articles on VW ending engine downsizing as it's harder to hit the emissions target
https://www.google.co.uk/amp/www.telegraph.co.uk/c...

[kayzee]

Is it another performance model only available in 5 door?

[rtz62]

fk me sideways!
200bho isn't enough?
Well, SWMBO says I'm stuck in the 80's, so I'll take myself back there when in 1984 my bar and new Fiesta XR2 had 96bhp and Clarkson (yes, Clarkson!) said it went 'like thunder and lightening'
To be fair it was plenty fast enough, and knew where it stood in the pecking order, under the (then) 105bhp 205 GTi, the Nova GTE, Renault 5 Gordini / Turbo (96-110 bhp), and noticeably a rung below the XR3i (105bhp?), the Astra GTE (118bhp) and the Golf GTi (110-112bhp).
And top of that little pecking order was the Escort Turbo and Golf GTi 16v.
Did I want more power? Hmmmn, possibly.
Did I need more power, even on roads that were less populated by traffic and its congestion?
No. Emphatically no
And yes, soon after he XR2 I had an XR2 Turbo Technics, XR3i, RS1600i, a couple of Escort Turbos and Golf G60s but I didn't need that extra go, I just wanted to own them (and several Cosworths) before the legislators banned them (or so I thought, not realising that rising traffic volume would begin to make them redundant)
So back to my original statement, I don't really think we can moan at a car with 200bhp, the power arms race is getting daft. And the number of Big Brother cameras is increasing.
It's been a wonderful ride, while it lasted...

[neil1jnr]

Mr Tom said:

WCZ said:

No performance pack ? Seems underpowered

Underpowered? Really? Probably too much too enjoy on the road... I think that is more power than the mk5/6 golf gti (I think). 200bhp is ample for a small hot hatch

'Under powered'

'too much power for the road'

I don't know which comment is more laughable.

[Ali_T]

Good grief, that's a dull car!

[g7jhp]

It's got a longer wheel base than the Mk4 Golf Mk4 but shorter than the Mk5.

Golf GTI Mk5 was 200bhp, so new Polo with 200bhp should be quick enough and handle OK.

It does look a little Honda-ish. Would like to know the weight!

[V10Ace]

neil1jnr said:

Mr Tom said:

WCZ said:

No performance pack ? Seems underpowered

Underpowered? Really? Probably too much too enjoy on the road... I think that is more power than the mk5/6 golf gti (I think). 200bhp is ample for a small hot hatch

'Under powered'

'too much power for the road'

I don't know which comment is more laughable.

Was thinking the same thing

[mx-tro]

justa1972 said:

I test drive the current Poli Gti a couple of months ago - was plenty quick enough but it left me utterly cold....

It's the first time I've ever taken a car back early from a test drive !

As a current Polo GTI owner I agree. Solid(ish) build, power on tap and some cornering ability. But it is all front end, rear never moves so understeer is never far away. And there is too much fore-aft movement over crappy roads; hopefully a longer wheelbase and better suspension setup can cure this.

[Dale487]

I like it - fits where you'd expect it to in the VW range i.e not robbing Golf GTI sales.

If the interior space is as good as promised and I don't need as much as I do now, the Polo GTI could be on the short list when I come to replace my Leon FR ST.

And it comes with a true hot hatch feature the Golf doesn't -A proper hand brake!

[loudlashadjuster]

I've a 1.8 GTI, also on a stupidly cheap lease, and I can honestly say I've rarely felt it needed to be any faster for what it is. It's certainly no Caterham in terms of feedback, or even a Clio RS, but for what I got it for it does admirably.

IIRC the 1.8 is already a EA888 variant so this isn't a huge change, similar block just marginally bigger bore & stroke I believe. As the ancillaries/cooling required for 200 ps are similar as for 192 ps who knows, it might even be slightly lighter as a 2.0!

[WCZ]

rtz62 said:

fk me sideways!
200bho isn't enough?
Well, SWMBO says I'm stuck in the 80's, so I'll take myself back there when in 1984 my bar and new Fiesta XR2 had 96bhp and Clarkson (yes, Clarkson!) said it went 'like thunder and lightening'
To be fair it was plenty fast enough, and knew where it stood in the pecking order, under the (then) 105bhp 205 GTi, the Nova GTE, Renault 5 Gordini / Turbo (96-110 bhp), and noticeably a rung below the XR3i (105bhp?), the Astra GTE (118bhp) and the Golf GTi (110-112bhp).
And top of that little pecking order was the Escort Turbo and Golf GTi 16v.
Did I want more power? Hmmmn, possibly.
Did I need more power, even on roads that were less populated by traffic and its congestion?
No. Emphatically no
And yes, soon after he XR2 I had an XR2 Turbo Technics, XR3i, RS1600i, a couple of Escort Turbos and Golf G60s but I didn't need that extra go, I just wanted to own them (and several Cosworths) before the legislators banned them (or so I thought, not realising that rising traffic volume would begin to make them redundant)
So back to my original statement, I don't really think we can moan at a car with 200bhp, the power arms race is getting daft. And the number of Big Brother cameras is increasing.
It's been a wonderful ride, while it lasted...

I had lesser powered cars in my youth too which were a lot of fun to drive at the time but times have changed.

Cars now are so capable, competent and heavy in general now and 200bhp in the new polo will feel dull and lack sensation imo

[NicGTI]

mx-tro said:

As a current Polo GTI owner I agree. Solid(ish) build, power on tap and some cornering ability. But it is all front end, rear never moves so understeer is never far away. And there is too much fore-aft movement over crappy roads; hopefully a longer wheelbase and better suspension setup can cure this.

Aren't most fwd road cars set up to understeer as it's safer?

edit: not a rhetorical question btw. Genuinely asking.

Edited by NicGTI on Wednesday 21st June 12:18

[M-SportMatt]

NicGTI said:

Aren't most fwd road cars set up to understeer as it's safer?

edit: not a rhetorical question btw. Genuinely asking.

Edited by NicGTI on Wednesday 21st June 12:18

Most RWD cars are let alone FWD ones......

[KOMODO999]

Polo's are slow and boring cars driven by old people not the gti generation that once was.

[daemon]

KOMODO999 said:

Polo's are slow and boring cars driven by old people not the gti generation that once was.

Well thanks for registering just to share that insight with us.

[TurboFlorio]

This engine remaps to 280hp with only software, will be spinning that inside wheel forever

[aka_kerrly]

TurboFlorio said:

This engine remaps to 280hp with only software, will be spinning that inside wheel forever

Ah this old st again, the theory that only FWD wastes power spinning wheels Do people really not realise that a RWD with an open diff will simply spin the inside wheel on tight corners and struggle to put it's power down in just the same way?

If you want to run decent power , you will want decent tyres and a LSD regardless which wheels are driven.

Besides it's fairly fffin obvious that only a tiny number of Polo GTIs will be made into track cars , a small number will be remapped/played with enthusiast owners but by an large the majority of people buying a new GTI will find the standard performance is more than enough!!

I honestly think that there are too many people who have become obsessed with BHP figures and have completely lost all sense of just how fast 200HP and that on a normal days driving I'd say that only 5-10% of the cars I see have more than 200hp and a substantial number of cars on the roads don't even have 100hp.

[va1o]

I'd echo the MK5 GTI comments - hopefully it will be the modern day equivalent to that. Easily the best all round hot hatch from the 00s so far IMO. And it also had a £20k starting price at launch

RE the engine size don't really see the big deal. BMW did exactly the same with the F56 MCS stepping up to a 2.0 from the 1.6 fitted to the R56. Doesn't look to have any efficiency impact compared to its predecessor and should be more reliable.

[Pulse]

I would put money on the actual retail (using a broker) being sub-£20k, despite what some posters have said.

The Audi S1 (which I have) can be had for around £24k brand new, so natural placement for this in the VAG pricing will be a few grand less.

Being based on the MQB chassis sounds interesting, and I agree it'd be like the Mk5 Golf GTi, which can only be a good thing. It'd make a good replacement for my S1, when the time comes.

[Mr Tidy]

I read a short article about this Polo in a magazine a few days ago, and I'm pretty sure it is a bit over 4 metres long!

Back in 2003 I bought a 2000MY Leon Cupra that was about that size, and it performed more than adequately with "only" 180bhp!

I'm sure this Polo will perform just fine! And given how big cars in the Golf sector have got I think I'd prefer something like this myself.

I hope they sell loads and values drop quickly!