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**Ben_GTI** · 03-01-2008, 05:38 PM

Hehehe, it will wobble in corners a bit while you get use to it, but once u learn when to chuck it and how much to hold it the car settles out. The wobble is usually the back wheel lifting off and the stability control trying to figure out WTF is going on.

The gear changes are hard to get smooth if you aren't use to it. I find when the aircon is running I cannot get a smooth change unless i keep my foot on the throttle. Without the aircon running smooth changes are easy.

I agree with you about the aircon, there is something not quite right with polo aircon. The compressor seems to take a lot out of the motor for not much cooling capacity. I know people say its a 4cyl thing, but my 2L Mk3 probably drives better with the aircon on (yea the cars a bit spastic). So I only turn the aircon on in the GTI when I absolutely have to, otherwise it stays off.

Every car has its quirks, The Verada I had before the polo had a really hesitant gearbox and its brakes were constantly squeeky no matter what.

**s1831559** · 03-01-2008, 05:41 PM

compare to other cars in its class.
polo gti is best buy for its value.
even there are weakness, but u get what u paid for.

ps. mine aircon works a magic!

**VWindahouse** · 03-01-2008, 06:21 PM

Originally posted by s1831559 View Post

compare to other cars in its class.
polo gti is best buy for its value.
even there are weakness, but u get what u paid for.

ps. mine aircon works a magic!

Fair comments POLOMAN. Welcome to the forum!

But I did a lot of research on the cars in this class and price range and tend to agree with s1831559. With some simple mods such as front strut brace and rear sway bar the car is awesome through the corners and with the seat intake and forge TIP and BMC or K&N panel filter the car is more responsive more powerful and with rev to redline healthily! Well as for the aircon, it is a little weak! Sorry s1831559...

My 2 cents.

**insanekiwi** · 03-01-2008, 06:22 PM

Very honest review and I agree!

I don't know if you have started modding it yet, but for the handling try installing the rear sway bar, it made a huge difference for me in terms of handling. I think next mods will be front strut bar brace for me. Don't really like to lower my suspension at this stage for comfort reasons.

Love my GTI, but somethings I am a bit disappointed are rattles in the dash (which hopefully will be sorted within 2 weeks after servicing) and gearbox quality is I do not is think up to scratch with other cars... (looking at percentage of people who are not happy with the gearbox does mean something).

What else... my rear seats (on 4 door model) are quite hard and little cushioning.

That's pretty much it from me. Quality car for the amount of money.

Haven't used airconditioning much, but I also do find harder to drive smooth with airconditioning on and have to more throttle get it smoother.

One real positive aspect of Polo GTI is the fuel consumption... I've currently done 470km with approx 60km on fuel gauge left.. meaning I can probably do another 100km. This is with spirited drive of 280km, and rest most of city driving (around 65% city 35 motorway).... this is REVOed... amazing!

**WEDEL.1** · 03-01-2008, 06:34 PM

Originally posted by poloman View Post

It also needs a tad bit more power... not the power you get from a flash, but just that bit more to give it the total edge on all the competitors...

If you think a little car needs more power than a 1.8L Turbo....try a 1.4 AUTO with 55KillerWasps.

My T4 Transporter has 62 KillerWasps and it's been in every state of Australia except WA (so far) without incident.

Anyone can drive a powerful car, just look at the number of people driving holdens & fords (170-180-250KW hasn't saved alot of them), but it takes skill to drive an underpowered car. Judgement become critial with less power.

Holden did a big job on the people of Australia by saying "This is a big country, and you need a big car to cross it." What rubbish. There have been many, many VW owners around the world who get true "driving enjoyment" without BIG power (and the associate costs).

Sorry, I'll get off the soap box.....

Maris

**Sharkie** · 03-01-2008, 06:41 PM

I've had a number of European cars to date. So in my opinion the quality of the Polo is OK .... not great, too many little rattles and a bit of cheap plastic here and there, but still good. Better than any other small car of similar size.

Considering the price you pay, I think the quality and the features is spot on.

I bought it for a few reasons.

1.) I wanted the lightest body around with the 20V turbo motor as standard. A friend (racing buddy) had a MK1 Golf with the 20V turbo motor properly modified and made over 350kw on the wheels with the help of a bit of nitrous..... Needless to say it still is the fastest Golf I know off.

2.) I needed a small light car to commute to work in and needed performance to nip in and out of traffic and especially around the slow and fat Falcodores and white goods Toyotas.

3.) I have always loved VWs ...

4.) I really like the look of it. Just today walking out of the shopping centre I was admiring it as I walked up to it. It really stands out among the thousands of drab cars most people drive.

5.) I drove the Golf GTi and Polo back to back for 2 days (drove my dealer nuts) and eventually picked the Pogo. It was bought not on price but on the feeling you get from driving it. It is more fun than the Golf in which you can really feel the extra weight.

**Adam** · 03-01-2008, 06:42 PM

hey poloman,
alot of stuff is quite true as said by many others.....but yeh, you get what you paid for...

for me, i find the power to be enough for daily run. not over the top, and not underpowered. while its always good to have "more" power, there comes to point on whether it'll become practical in using them all.

**GT3** · 03-01-2008, 06:56 PM

Originally posted by poloman View Post

I dont agree on dumbing down a car, but at least the options are there for us to make the car go faster, handle better and break harder. Pitty that it didnt come standard...

The VW GTI division (over 160+ ppl) would have debated long and hard about how far to go in terms of the Pog's performance, and fundamental to their initial design brief would have been .."what do we want to achieve?".

My guess is that they wanted to create something that had broader market appeal, was safe and comfortable, and yet engaging to drive. These considerations and compromises never suit everyone. Safety is also a very high priority for VW, which is why their cars are deliberately set up to understeer.

A case study is a car I once owned, a Peugeot 205 GTI, a hot performance hatch without design compromise, eg close ratio gearbox, precise and direct steering/suspension etc. When the mood struck, it really got the adrenalin pumping, but it all other situations, it was hard to live with - peaky, bone-jarring ride, noisy and buzzy. If you drove if for more than an hour you were exhausted and ...(eventually) you tired of it. Bit like having an ice junkie for a gf ha ha

VW are well aware of these types of hot hatches and their GTIs are designed to be used in the real world. They're also aware that mugs like us relentlessly modify our GTIs

, and they'd prefer we, ..umm, made our own necessary 'adjustments' - rather than them having to design a Pog GTI that only appealled to a narrow segment (like us).

..and let's face it, ppl like us are outraged that it can't outrun a Porsche GT3 for under 30k

.. I want a refund VW, not good enough

**Sharkie** · 03-01-2008, 07:12 PM

Mmmm, I suspect a K04d etc Pogo would eat a GT3 alive in a roll on start from 20km/h to 200km/h.

In fact in 2001 I had an Opel Corsa 1.6 turbo (Holden Barina in Oz) that made 155kw atw and did exactly that. Things have moved on since then for the GT3 but a K04d etc Pogo should also make more power.

Alas.... at the 1st bend in the road the GT3 would be gone, but I take heart from the fact that some of the GT3's DNA is evident in my Pogo

**ralphk** · 03-01-2008, 08:08 PM

I will bring the KO4 Polo.....can you organise a place and a GT3 ??

**GT3** · 03-01-2008, 10:57 PM

..good luck! I came up against a new 911 turbo recently (more powerful and faster than a GT3). I did ok, well sort of

, ..but as soon as he planted 3rd gear, he just BLASTED OFF into space.

here's some stats:

911 Turbo 480 hp @ 6000 rpm, 3.7 s 0-60 mph, top speed 311 km/h.

911 GT3 415 hp @ 7600 rpm, 4.1 s 0-60 mph, top speed 311 km/h.

911 GT3 RS 415 hp @ 7600 rpm, 4.0 s 0-60 mph, top speed 311 km/h.

911 GT2 530 hp @ 6500 rpm, 3.6 s 0-60 mph, top speed 328 km/h.

..when those GT2s are released in Oz, you'd need stage 3 kit as a minimum, ..it's bizzare to even claim that a Pog with a K04 would 'blow' a GT3.

hey ralphk, what power are you getting at the wheels with K04? let me guess, ...155kw at best? wouldn't make it a 4.0 sec 0-100 or 311 kmh car sharkie, surely, ..surprises me why many don't bother to research and determine what the difference is between a KO3S and a KO4? some of us have, which for all the hassle and expense, doesn't constitute a compelling purchase/upgrade option.

**mitch_gti** · 04-01-2008, 08:21 AM

Dont know what everyone is complaining about, for such a small amount of dosh the GTI Polo delivers soo much.

I think the interior is astounding for a car in this class. Compare it to the Ralliart colt (YUK) the only good thing about that interior are the seats. Which look great but if i had to sit in them day to day they would piss me off very quickly.

I fail to see whats wrong with the gearbox, ive crunched a couple gears but that was down to me doing the wrong thing. Ive found it smooth, easy to change, never have i found it hard to get into 5th gear. The thing i love about the gearbox is that you can actually feel each individual gear, its nice and tight. Honestly there is nothing worse than hopping into a car with a sloppy 'knife through butter' gearbox ala 10 year old hyundai lantra.

My A/C is perfect, very cold.
Seat warmers when its winter- which other car in its direct class has this?

20 valve turbo 1.8 used in how many VAG cars? tried and proven... albeit very detuned in the Pog for obvious reasons.

I found handling of the car in standard form to be very 'safe', very grippy and adjustable. Mine did come with Dunlop SP sport maxx which have been more highly spoken of than the conti's (harder sidewall than the conti's)

Overall the balance of the complete car was fantastic, mix between quality, interior, power (3rd gear is a killer), brakes (which were very adequate for standard power, my brother owns a RX8 and could not believe how well the pog stops) quality exterior and grades of metal seem to be much thicker than most cars. Tap the door on the Pog, then tap the door on a swift, Fiesta and colt. Tell me which is more solid.
Standard alarm system, how many airbags ?!?! how many airbags does the colt have?!? ESP/traction, ABS and the list goes on.

When you look at it this way, there really is very little to fault in the car. Thats why i love owning and driving my gti (on weekends

, it sleeps in the garage during the week)

If you get fussy or greedy, a set of springs, rear sway bar and a flash tune can be yours for not much moolah and will see the car eat most other cars on the road.

**Sharkie** · 04-01-2008, 09:44 AM

I said rolling start. The GT3 has excellent traction and will absolutely kill a Polo off the line.

Rolling starts are a totally different ball game. Here torque comes into the equation and the GT3 is at a serious disadvantage. It makes 405NM at 5500rpm whereas the Polo with K04 + some bits will be making 390NM+ at 2800rpm.

Thus:
GT3 = 1470kg thus NM/100k0g = 275

Polo = 1190kg so for only APR chipped is NM/1000kg = 278 and for K04 is NM/1000kg = 330

So anywhere between 2000rpm and 5000rpm the Polo has the GT3 beat.

Did some more research and came up with interesting figures....

Rolling accelleration
Std Polo GTi 3rd 5.4s - 4th 6.6s - 5th 8.6s
GT3 3rd 3.7s - 4th 5.1s - 5th 6.6s
APR only GTi 3rd 3.9s - 4th 5.1s - 5th 7.0s (remember it has 115NM over standard)
K04 Polo GTi 3rd 3.5s - 4th 4.5s - 5th 6.5s (remember it has 170NM over standard)

So not only should a K04d Polo beat the GT3 in rolling runs, a chipped only Pogo will seriously embarass a GT3 driver if he is not on the ball in overtaking manouvres.

I'd say bring a GT3 and lets see what it can do in rolling start runs against K04d and chipped only Polos ! You would get some seriously unhappy Porsche owners walking away and selling up !

**Sharkie** · 04-01-2008, 09:46 AM

Its all about the way (and the reason) a car makes power. NA's suffer by being peaky with bad torque curves whereas turbo cars make lots of torque at low revs.

I'm not comparing to a 911 Turbo since due its turbo power there is no way a Pogo would see it up close in a run. The GT3 however which is NA will be fair game in rolling start runs !!!

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