Polo Driver

While the speculation over the Polo’s move to the US continues, Brazilian car magazine Revista Autoesporte seems to have the clearest rendering yet of the upcoming saloon version. While the new notchback is rumoured to appear in the Chinese, European and Russian markets, it’s the North and South American territories that have been the most reported on in recent months as possible sales destinations.

We still don’t know of course if Volkswagen are going to take the jump and put the boot in (or technically, on) the fifth-gen Polo, and while spyshots are few and far between, the illustration on the front of Revista Autoesporte (alongside photos of the facelifted CrossFox and SpaceFox) definitely seems to resemble a Polo. Unfortunately, there’s no confirmation, just the tag ‘Anti-Civic’, which would point to a sedan-style car with the Polo’s footprint. The waiting game continues.

After the recent months’ snow and an appearance in the March 2010 issue of Volkswagen Driver magazine, Rich Gooding’s Polo GT Coupé is now parked indoors and undercover – temporarily at least…

The biggest thing that’s happened to L307 JTM since my last report is that it’s now taking shelter from the weather in a borrowed indoor parking space not far from home. And while it will have to be moved, blinking into the great outdoors once more, it might not happen for a few weeks yet. Why indoors? The reason is simple – the water leak in the passenger footwell would have had time to dry out, or at least that’s what I’m hoping. Then it’s off to find somewhere that will water test the car, sourcing the leak once and for all.

In other news, fresh from last month’s minor DIY service, I looked back at some old parts receipts. It turns out the spark plugs were only changed 8,000 miles ago in 2008. Yes, that’s right, the Polo’s had only 8,000 miles roll under its wheels in two years. That was news to me (pleasant, I think) and was a much shorter distance than I’d thought. That figure might increase slightly this year, as I intend to attend more shows once the season gets underway, but then again, being effectively laid up for the last three weeks, maybe not…

Just to prove that they are still around, here’s a 1991 Polo GT Coupé that we saw for sale on eBay today. It’s black, done 98,000 miles, has the optional factory-fitted sunroof and alloy wheels (which you don’t see often and are in fact also fitted to the 1980s Polo Coupé Ss) and, unbelievably, has had just two careful owners. and with that registration plate, we think it could either be an ex-Volkswagen UK press or fleet car. Want a tidy piece of Polo history? Bidding ends here on 13 March.

Volkswagen’s new design language is clearly starting to attract the right attention. The Polo has received a gold product design award from the International Forum Design (iF), based in Hannover. The awards which ‘have been a reliable indicator of outstanding quality in design,’ are judged by a jury of 24 international design experts, and denote ‘proven design quality’ according to the German organisation.

Praising the excellent combination of exterior and interior design of the latest version of Volkswagen’s small car, the jury stated that the new Polo is ‘A very successful, striking design for a small car. Both outside and inside is clearly designed and with great functionality. Even more emphasis is placed on the essentials, and there is an excellent combination of interior and exterior design as a logical development of a series.’

The designers of the fifth-generation Polo, Urs Rahmel and Gustav Hofmann (pictured above), accepted the award at the formal iF Design Awards 2010 ceremony last Tuesday, where it was also revealed that the Volkswagen’s latest supermini star was the sole recipient of the gold award in the iF Design Awards 2010 ‘Transportation Design’ category. The latest achievement in the new Polo’s CV will be recorded in a public and online exhibition and the design award 2010 yearbook.

It’s already been crowned European Car of the Year 2010, but the Polo is now in the running for the World Car of the Year 2010 title. Last month we reported on the model’s success in the preliminary voting by the 59 international motoring journalist jurors where it made it into the initial top ten, but now there’s even better news; the car has now made it to the final list of three. Announced at the Geneva motor show this week, the Polo is doing battle with the Mercedes E-Class and the Toyota Prius. Fingers crossed – the winner will be announced at the New York International Auto Show on 1 April.

With the Mk 6 Golf the overall winner in 2009, can Volkswagen make it two years in a row? Start the discussion by leaving a comment below.