PoloDriver

Volkswagen is having a busy time of it at the moment. The company pulled the covers off the Indian version of the new Polo last week at the Auto Expo in New Delhi, and yesterday unveiled the New Compact Coupé (NCC) concept car at the 2010 North American International Auto Show in Detroit. Two debuts at two motor shows in two regions of the world a week apart is no mean feat.

Premiering both the upcoming Jetta (or ‘Mid-Size Sedan’ being developed especially for the US market) and a hybrid powertrain, the NCC is powered by a 148bhp 1.4-litre TSI engine coupled with a 25bhp electric motor using lithium-ion batteries. The German automotive giant states that 48mpg is achievable, along with 98g/km of CO2, a top speed of 141mph and 0-62mph in 8.1 seconds!

Of more interest to us, though, is the styling. There’s no denying the NCC is a handsome piece of kit, but take a second look at the frontal aspect. There’s more than a hint of Polo to the forward-facing styling elements of the NCC and although the looks will no doubt be referred to as VW’s ‘new corporate face’ (which is partly true), there’s definitely more Polo-inspired DNA in there than either Golf or Scirocco.

A new notchback version of the fifth-generation Polo has been widely reported as on its way, but the question that begs to be asked is, does the NCC at least give a subtle hint to how the still-to-be-unveiled saloon will look? We know the smaller car will be a traditional four-door and not the more rakish two-door of this concept, and that the NCC is slated to be positioned between the Scirocco and Passat CC (Golf Coupé then) if it ever makes it to market. But, if the new Polo saloon looks this good, it should banish the memories of the awkward Series 3 notchback of 1996 forever.

With 2009’s Up! Lite concept (above) unwrapped at the Los Angeles Motor Show pointing the way for possible future Polo styling references, Volkswagen seems to be pushing its new-found small car styling confidence and visuals onto many new and forthcoming models. Exciting times. What do you think of the NCC: does it premier the likely new look of the Polo saloon, and, if so, would you buy one? Join the discussion and leave a comment below.

Here’s the TV commercial from the campaign for the Team range of models of which the Polo TEAM we highlighted last week is one. First aired on 23 December 2009, the ‘Winter Fairy Tale’ spot is just one part of a multimedia campaign and along with its print and online equivalents, the 30-second ad promotes the group of Volkswagen special editions made to highlight Germany’s 2010 World Cup entry.

Paraded through the streets of Germany like heroes who have already won football’s biggest prize, the TEAM special editions are given an ovation usually reserved for top players of the sport. German rock band (I know, we thought so too) Revolverhead provide the soundtrack, reworking their 2008 fan anthem Helden 2008 exclusively for VW to become Helden 2010 for the German car maker to take to South Africa in the summer.

Classified advertisement pages have now come to PoloDriver! Although basic in style and layout, we hope to improve the pages over time to include both self-posting for users and increased ads to browse. Check out the cars for sale by clicking on the ‘Cars’ button under the ‘For sale’ tab at the top of the page, which at the moment include a low-mileage and very tidy 1992 Polo Coupé Fox, as well as a fantastically clean 1992 Polo Genesis (above).

To advertise your car or parts for free, just drop Rich an email at rich@polodriver.com with all the details and photos and we’ll make sure your advert appears to visitors to the site.

The latest issue of Volkswagen Golf+ magazine has a two-page feature on PoloDriver in the club profile section. Showcasing the newest online Polo resource, the article tells the story of how the website came about and details the developments we hope to make, as well as featuring founder Rich Gooding’s 1994 Polo GT Coupé. The February issue of Volkswagen Golf+ magazine is on sale now until 29 January 2010.

So far this week there seems to be a motorsport theme developing on PoloDriver. Yesterday we posted news about the Volkswagen Polo Cup India and today we have something very special to report on. Taking internet forums by storm is the innocent-looking AME Racing Polo with 1047bhp. Yes, that’s right. A Series 1 Polo with more power than a Bugatti Veyron. It is, quite literally, a pocket rocket, and it’s brought out the boy racer in us.

It’s set all sort of class best times at Volkswagen and drag racing events in Germany and blitzed, no, annihilated the competition. Just look the videos in this post; it leaves everything for dead and shoots off at such a speed it’s almost cartoon fast. If not cartoon fast, then definitely with performance even more scorching than Disney’s modified Herbie stunt cars. But what makes it go so quickly?

The basic Series 1 Polo bodyshell has had a 1.9-litre turbocharged 16V engine shoehorned into the small engine bay (a debate rages as to whether it’s actually a V6), mated to a four-wheel drive transmission from an Audi TT. AME’s drag star can rev to 9400rpm, do the standing quarter mile in 9.5 seconds, get to 62mph in 2.3 seconds (with 125mph coming up four seconds later) and has a top speed of 160mph and 950Nm of torque. It’s the stuff of legend.

Getting the power down is clearly and occasionally a problem. The car visibly bucks and jumps and you’ve only got to look at the size of the madly large tyres to see what’s needed to try to get maximum traction. The AME Polo runs on 15-inch alloys with M+H slicks or 16-inch rims with 205/55 16 boots stuffed under the tiny arches. The engine has far too many mods to list here; visit AME’s page on the car to find out exactly what’s been done.

Volkswagen’s engineers never expected the Seventies Polo to go like this; the highest-powered factory-approved model was the 59bhp 1272cc Polo GT of 1979. The AME super-Polo has 988bhp more and although it’s got around 300kg more (980kg with driver) to lug around, the performance is simply off the scale. The world’s fastest Polo? We wouldn’t bet against it. Watch all the videos linked from these and be amazed.