January 2016|TOPCAR.CO.ZA 51Road test: VWPolo 1.0TSI Bluemotion
The
acceptable
lightness
of being
For small car buyers who care as much for
the planet as they do for mid-range urge
the wait for fun-to-drive affordable hybrids
and cheap electric cars goes on. But don’t
despair, in the meantime there’s this
T’S NOT LOSTon us that mere months before
Dieselgate first hit, Volkswagen began the switch
from diesel to petrol engines to drive its
Bluemotion eco label into the near future. It’s
almost as if the decision makers in Wolfsburg
knew someone was ab out to dump a truckload of
poop into their wind tunnel. I’m kidding, of
course they knew. VW’s execs have beensaying
for some time now that the cost of continuallyreducing diesel emissions has become prohib itive. Still, given the
growing vilification of diesel and the steady promotion of el ectrification
in al l its forms who would have thought the immediate future of the eco
car would lie with turbocharging. Sure, the downsize-turbocharge
mantra isn’t new, but as anyone who has driven one of these one-litr e
wonders in an enthusiastic manner knows, the fuel consumption
transforms from fuel-sipping afternoon tea to half-yard guzzling college
days. Yet this Polo is efficient without being boring; you don’t need a
brick beneath th e throttle pedal to get impres sive tank range. And that
makes all the difference.
Slicked-back hair day
Cars with an efficiency bent aren’t sexy. In the interests of supe rior
aerodynamics and the mostly misguided need to appear quasi-futuristic
they’re usually featureless monovolumes. And while I’m not saying this
Polo is sexy, at least it looks like a regular Polo hatch and not something
that’s escape d from the aquarium – new Prius anybody? Subtle hints to
its altered purpose include side skirts, black spoiler extensions either
side of the rear window, a mostly blanked-offfront grille, Bluemotion
badges and a set of slippery but still sporty looking 15-inch ‘Buenos
I
WordsWayne BattyPhotographyPeet Mocke