It’s not often you hear of an automaker describing one of its vehicles as “better to drive” than another, but that’s exactly what has just happened over at Volkswagen with its GTI twins.
Ralf Kölling, Volkswagen’s small car line director, told Autocar that the new Polo GTI is “more agile” than its bigger brother, the Golf GTI.
“The Polo GTI is shorter, lighter and better to drive,” said Kölling told the British publication.
“The Golf has performance more oriented to the highway; the Polo GTI is more agile for a really good drive. The shorter wheelbase than the Golf gives the Polo that extra feeling of agility,” he added.
Kölling added that his team started working on the GTI early in the sixth-generation Polo’s development.
“We decided early in the project that we wanted a GTI version of the Polo and that has helped with having space under the bonnet for the bigger engine,” said Kölling.
Thanks to a 2,0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder engine, the new five-door Polo GTI makes 147 kW and 320 N.m, sprinting from standstill to 100 km/h in a claimed 6,7 seconds (precisely the same as the outgoing model) when fitted with the six-speed dual-clutch transmission. The option of a six-speed manual is set to follow at a later stage.
“It was a really hard decision between the DSG and manual, but the market is deciding and performance models are trending to DSG,” Kölling said.
The new Polo is due to launch in South Africa early next year, although it’s not yet clear exactly how long we’ll have to wait for the GTI to join the local range.
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