Volkswagen Polo 2021 detailed review. Engine and box life. Is it worth buying? Comparison with the sedan.
Volkswagen Polo found popular love and popularity more than 10 years ago, at the time of the start of sales of the sedan, since then the Polo has been in demand and popular with both ordinary owners, and in cabs and carsharing. A year ago, a new generation of Polo came out in a liftback body, so that the change of generations has not led to a significant increase in price, it was decided to abandon the new platform MQB-A0, which builds the European hatchback, liftback built on the well-known platform for us PQ25. At the time of writing the cheapest Polo costs about 950 thousand rubles. and the most expensive about 1.5 million rubles, the increase in price still happened, the most expensive sedan in 2020 cost a little more than 1 million rubles, but compared to the sedan, the liftback got new options and transformed.
Compared to the sedan of the previous generation, liftback became longer by 79 mm, wider by 7 mm, and the height of the roof increased by 4 mm, the trunk has increased by 70 liters, its volume is 530 liters, the liftback body compared to the sedan is much more practical.
Button to open the trunk moved to the logo, in expensive options in the logo is hidden rear view camera, on the one hand it is good, as the camera is closed and always clean, but personally I have a question resource this decision in the Russian winter. In all configurations, the car is equipped with LED front lights, rear lights also in all configurations LED.
Body liftback has a double-sided galvanized, based on experience with sedans and other models of Volkswagen, metal quality and well resists corrosion, so you can get additional anticorrosion can not bother.
Function Edition Package
Suspension liftback stiff enough, but it contributes to good handling and stability on the road, ground clearance increased by 1 cm and now it is 17 cm if measured by the front bumper overhang, but if measured from the low-lying cups of the rear springs is only 13 cm. The rear brakes can be disc or drum ones depending on a complete set. The suspension is strong enough and the first serious repairs start after 150 thsd.km.
The cabin has become more modern, the trim materials are budget, but wear-resistant. The top version looks very rich, the dashboard is diode, in the center there is 10 inch color screen. The seats in the version with the sports package have a pronounced side support and anatomic shape. In other configurations, the seats are simple, for the city and trips to the neighboring region comfort is enough, the landing is comfortable, the steering wheel has adjustable reach, and the driver’s seat is adjustable in height. Depending on the configuration, the liftback can be equipped with front and rear armrests.
Noise insulation in Polo leaves much to be desired, the main noise enters the cabin through the wheel arches, compared with the sedan noise has not improved.
What else can you get from the equipment? Front and side airbags; directional stability system; tire pressure sensor; cruise; climate or air conditioning; heated front and rear seats; electric heating of windshield, mirrors and washer jets; front and rear parking sensors; reversing camera; cast 15 or 16 wheel disks; atmospheric interior illumination; driver fatigue detection system and other options of modern car industry, not available earlier for sedan.
The main units we know well:
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The 1.6 liter motor can be in two modifications 90 and 110 hp, structurally the motors are the same, differ only by the firmware. The block is aluminum, with thin-walled liners, cast iron.
- Turbocharged engine 1.4 liter. 125 hp. The turbocharged 1.4 liter 125 hp engine was installed on the previous Polo, as well as on C-class cars and crossovers from Volkswagen and Škoda. Motor with aluminum block, with belt in timing and one phase shifter. The average engine life is about 250,000 km, but higher mileage can be found. Seven-speed robot DQ200, can also be found on many vehicles VAG, in conjunction with a turbocharged motor, it gives a liftback economy, smooth running and good for B-class dynamics, the resource robot about 200 thousand km.
Is it worth buying? Polo is not the benchmark of comfort, but from point A to point B it will deliver, the car has a corrosion-resistant body, can have a rich equipment. The basic units are time-tested and well-proven, therefore in my opinion a liftback can be safely considered as a family car or a workhorse. Though the price in my opinion is overestimated and Polo is not so accessible as it was earlier.
Found the Nine with the real mileage of 5 thousand km, went for inspection. Detailed review of the car, condition of the body and interior.
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We took apart the Volkswagen Polo Liftback: what it’s made of and how it’s made
This summer Volkswagen has optimized its production concept on the Russian market. The plant in Kaluga will now produce not two models, but one liftback for two with Skoda. The Czechs, as before, it will be called Rapid, and Volkswagen will receive logical marking Polo Liftback instead of Polo Sedan. We once again decided to buy and disassemble a popular model to understand how well the foreign cars are assembled in Russia.
Volkswagen in Russia is more popular than sister Skoda primarily due to the image: while very similar, and sometimes identical technical characteristics of the respective models, even with the difference in price Russian motorists prefer the more prestigious “Volkswagen”. Skoda always took revenge due to the unique features like original bodies and branded features Simply Clever.
Now the situation with the new Rapid and Polo obviously plays in favor of the last one. Taking into account that the cars are identical and almost do not differ in price, the compatriots will obviously give preference to a car with VW emblem, as, actually, we did: it will be much faster to sell a VW for the same money, than a Skoda.
So, at our disposal was a new Volkswagen Polo Liftback of silver color in Respect configuration. The engine is a petrol 1.6 with 110 “horses”, the gearbox is 5-speed, manual. With the metallic color and a couple of optional packages the car cost us 1,005,200 rubles, which, of course, we can’t get used to. A million for a “budget” manual!
Engine and attachments
Under the hood of the Volkswagen Polo is a well-known atmospheric four-cylinder 16-valve gasoline engine EA211 series, corresponding to the standards of Euro-5. It has two variants of forcing – 90 hp (code CWVB) and 110 hp (code CWVA): the difference in power is mainly achieved in software.
The engine has a belt-driven timing system, a 180-degree rotated cylinder head, phasing units on the intake shaft, and an improved cooling system.
Since the fall of 2015, this engine has been manufactured in Kaluga. The blocks and block heads are cast from domestic raw materials in Ulyanovsk, in the Russian branch of the Mexican company Nemac. Although some of the iron parts of the engine have German company SHW marking. The rest of the final assembly, including the processing of the heads and crankshafts, is done directly at the VW plant. For the quality of assembly 13 modern robots are responsible. We were unable to find any visible flaws, with the exception of minor chips and rare irregularities on the edges of the seams.
As for the attachments, looking ahead, we should say that Volkswagen uses only products from world suppliers, and in the vast majority – from European production sites.
For example, the standard timing belt comes from Contitech, one of the industry leaders. The radiator for the cooling system is from Behr, as well as the heater fan from Czech manufacturer. The air filters from the same company are used. Oil filter is supplied by the world giant Mann Filter.
The radiator air conditioner of the American company Modine comes from Austria, and the original fan is made directly in Germany. There are no questions to the quality of manufacturing of cooling system parts.
The original starter is supplied by Bosch from the Hungarian factory. By the way, the part is not cheap: about 28,000 rubles. The Polish air conditioner compressor was provided by the Japanese company Sanden.
Suspension and brakes
As for the suspension and braking system, the Polo Liftback uses the classic scheme: an independent system “mackferson” in front and semi-independent beam at the rear; the front brakes are only disc, but the rear the buyer can choose – leave the basic drum or pay extra for disks.
Who is the supplier of brakes for Volkswagen Polo Liftback, it turned out not quite clear. Parts are marked with Indian TVS and German Girling. The latter brand is little known in Russia, but is reputable in Germany. Girling once supplied brakes even for Formula 1 race cars. Today, the company is a division of TRW KFZ, which itself is a part of the ZF concern. Indian manufacturer TVS is known primarily at home and, according to official information, does not participate in any international joint ventures.
The parking brake cable, which is always dangling from under the underbody, is supported by two flimsy wires, which are likely to fall out sooner or later due to the jolting.
A long-standing supplier of suspension parts for Volkswagen is the well-known Monroe brand, which supplies components for the Polo from Europe. In particular, the shock absorbers come directly from Belgium. The rest of the chassis components are also very well made: even the bumpers of the chassis supports come from Germany.
The only inscription “China” we’ve seen only in two places: on a cooling system tube and on the fuel absorber.
As for localization, there are two types of domestic components on Polo Liftback: Russian brands and foreign companies, having a factory in Russia.
Completely domestic, for example, turned out to be the exhaust system, and the junior Volkswagen equipment is satisfied with Russian Cordiant tires. Almost all of the plastic in the car – from the bumpers to the interior armrest – is also Russian, but it is already made at the Kaluga plant of the global magnate Magna.
Body and interior
If to move from details to the car as a whole, it is impossible not to pay attention to the approach of concern VAG to body protection. From below the Polo Liftback, as well as the Skoda Rapid, is covered with two plastic covers, under which the underbody is completely wrapped in anticorrosion. Yes, there are some small gaps in processing, but all the same it is the best level of preparation, which I’ve ever seen. In addition, the perimeter sills are also in protective treatment.
The body elements are notable, maybe not very small, but universally smooth joints. The same concerns neat rubber seals.
We did not find any special remarks or inconveniences during disassembly, except the only moment. To get to details of the climate – simply speaking – the heater, it is necessary to remove a plastic cover of the central tunnel, which is pressed by the carpet, which in its turn cannot be removed without unscrewing the seat. In general, if, God forbid, something happens in bowels of the central console, it will obviously cost a lot of work to fix it.
What’s the bottom line?
Though the disassembly is not completed, we can say with confidence that Volkswagen Polo Liftback, and Skoda Rapid as well, is the best that we have seen from the cars we have bought because of the quality of assembling and the level of components. The most part of components are the parts of world brands, and they are of European manufacture. Well, you can shake hands with the level of adaptation to the Russian conditions.
Considering that the Volkswagen Polo Liftback is not fundamentally different in price from its direct competitors, we can say that in terms of potential service life it is one of the best options on the market.
