Opinion | VW Polo and Polo Vivo

Opening my emails today, I got a spam email saying “Your dream car awaits”. Out of curiosity I’ve opened it, and laughed my ass off. Usually I would not write anything about this car, because it is considered a normal car, and is not within the price brackets I want to focus on, but rules can be bent every now and then.

“A deal of a lifetime, managers choice” all in a big blue box with photos that thankfully does not load. These idiots are trying to sell me a 2014 VW Polo 1.6 Trendline, with almost 29000km. Fair enough. A quick jump to a car trader website shows only one result for the exact same car, with less mileage, and almost 10k cheaper. Now I beg to ask a question?

Why on earth would I spend that amount of money on a car I don’t like? And I don’t like the Polo, or the Vivo for that matter, for a bucket load of reasons. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not a bad car. But I can buy a new, more enjoyable car for the same price. For a lot less I can get an older Merc, BMW, Volvo or another luxury vehicle. Searches for cars in the exact price range brought up a 2012 Mazda 3 MPs, 2012 Kia Rio Hatch, a couple of Nissan Jukes, and even a few Mazda BT-50 double cabs. All this within 5 minutes of searching.

I don’t want a Polo, I don’t want any modern VW for that matter. They are dead cars. The quality is slightly above average, the gadgets in the Golf are interesting but not that innovative, the GTI series are rather gutsy, but its dead and boring. It is overpriced, over rated, and a target for theft and Hijacking.

When I drive, I want to be able to feel the road through the steering wheel, I want to feel the gears engage when I shift, but I do not want to use violence or muscle it, neither do I want to use the force to shift. I want to hear some form of mechanical action at work, I want to feel that I am in constant communication with the car. The VW Polo though, is a mute. It’s like a loyal donkey, always doing as it’s told, reliable to the end, but unlike the donkey never really anything you bond with.

The VW Polo is just too generic. It’s like someone at VW said this is a car, build it, any deviations from the plans or factory quirks, and the engineer or general worker will be shot. It lacks personality, motivation, and that something that makes you look twice.

Polo Vivo Interior

Now you need to understand that I am not unreasonable, I am not matching them up against super luxury cars, nor am I just saying it because I cannot afford one. What I want them to do is be fun to drive in every day conditions, in traffic, to work, to the shop, all this while doing the normal speed limit. I want it to make you feel you are a driving god, I want it to make you smile when your foot accidently pressed down a bit hard on the pedal. The VW Polo does none of this.

It’s quick, but does not feel like it, it’s comfortable, but just enough to make you think you are. The inside is diluted with what they think a car should have, yet you don’t really get what you need.

VW has so much to offer, and did so 40 years back, examples like the Karmann Ghia and the Square Back, but I am afraid to say that the range of cars they have today is just not what it needs to be. If you really want the want the Polo or the Golf, and have no ambition in life, then buy it, I will happily doddle next to you in a Mazda 3 MPS, not as fast as the GTi, but tons of fun to drive! 

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