The first point to note is that yes, the Polo is slightly more expensive than other cars in the bracket, but it’s hard to argue that this isn’t justified. You won’t find too many hard, rattly plastics in one of these. For the most part, you’ll get the same high-quality experience that you’d see in the Gold and other cars in the VW range. This is a car you can buy and be happy with for a few years; you’re unlikely to find yourself wishing for something else after six months. If you do want to try and push the price down, a site like Orangewheels may help.
There’s definitely a big car feel to them; equipment levels can be specified quite highly, but you’re still getting something small, manoeuvrable and manageable, which is crucial in your first car; you don’t want to be struggling with something much larger than what you learned in.
Perhaps the best thing about the modern Polo is the range of engines that they’re offered with. The Volkswagen group’s new engines have been widely praised because they’re small, but when equipped with a light pressure turbo, still offer good performance, the equivalent of larger engines. This means that you can get a good, involving drive, whilst having very low emissions, low insurance and excellent fuel economy. On the motorway especially, the Polo offers fantastic ratings of up to about 70 mpg realistically.
There are even performance models available, though they’re probably out of reach of the first-time buyer. If you like the styling though, the R-Line models have all of the same body kit and leathers but with the standard engines. This shouldn’t alter insurance too much, if at all - it’s a common misconception that sport trims increase prices.
So if you’re looking for the best first car that you can buy new today, the Polo is probably just that. All the benefits of a small car, but with the quality of a bigger one.
