2018 Volkswagen Polo 1.0 MPI Review
Car Tested: Volkswagen Polo 1.0 MPI; Road Test No. 989; Test Location: Mumbai
Price OTR Mumbai: Rs. 6.60 – 8.70 lakhs
The 1.0-litre MPI engine does little to up the performance of the petrol Polo
The Volkswagen Polo is one of the best hatchbacks in India, marred down by two glaring drawbacks, one is the lack of rear seat space and the other is the lacklustre petrol engine. That aside, there is nothing to fault with the Polo which also happens to be the cheapest German car you can buy in India. Volkswagen has now ditched the 1.2-litre petrol engine for a downsized unit that promises better performance but does it deliver?
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This generation of the Polo has been on sale since almost a decade now
Exteriors – There is nothing to differentiate the Polo MPI from the regular Polo (other than the fact that the diesel gets TDI badging), it looks the same, the top-end Highline Plus variant gets 16-inch alloy wheels with a design that is far from exciting. Although the car has the classy lines of VW, some might call it timeless but it has started to show its age now and no amount of chrome can hide that. In fact, the lack of projector headlights at this price point is a glaring omission.
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The cabin feels well-built with rich materials all around
Interiors – Step inside and everything seems familiar here too with some kit which will call for applause like cruise control and rear AC vents while the car continues to lack essentials like keyless entry, push button start and even a reverse parking camera, it does get a nice touchscreen infotainment system with Apple CarPlay, Android Auto and there are reverse parking sensors too. The car gets artificial leather seats and the piano black finishing in the centre console looks good too. However, space continues to be lacking at the rear (no legroom, big centre hump and no centre headrest) and although there are plenty of storage bins here (including one inside the front centre armrest), the cluster feels too dated now.
