PoloDriver

Not for the first time, the Polo Vivo held onto its best-selling car in South Africa crown last month, despite a 10.5% decrease in passenger car sales being reported. A total of 29,993 new cars were sold in the country, a 26% increase on September 2009. Volkswagen South Africa’s entry-level Polo Vivo sold 1939 units, while both it and the fifth-generation New Polo produced at the company’s Uitenhage factory faced build delays, attributed to strikes by motor industry component supplier workers.

‘Despite significant stock shortages as a result of recent industry wide strikes, the Polo Vivo range continued to dominate the entry segment with sales of 1,939 units,’ said Mike Glendinning, Volkswagen Group South Africa Sales and Marketing Director. ‘Supply of both the new Polo and Polo Vivo ranges, manufactured in our Uitenhage plant, was adversely impacted by the prolonged industry strikes. While down on what was an exceptionally buoyant month of new passenger car sales in August, the September new passenger car market performed well, supported by seasonally strong demand from rental car companies.’

The Polo Vivo, which was launched in March 2010 as an entry-level model for the South African market. Available as both a hatchback and saloon with 74bhp/84bhp 1.4-litre and 104bhp 1.6-litre units, two trim levels are available: base and Trendline. Costing from R104,065 for the most basic 1.4 model, the Polo Vivo is based on the facelifted version of the Series 4 Polo, built from 2005 to 2009. Changes include front and rear bumpers, as well as a revised front grille and other minor bodywork revisions.

Back in 1979, the Polo GLS was top of Volkswagen’s baby car tree and was quite the luxurious supermini. With chrome trim embellishments and polished hubcaps, the GLS certainly looked more upmarket than its N and L brothers, and Volkswagen claimed it offered ‘a bit more power and a little more style.’ Dan Higgins must have thought so, too, as his plans for modding this particular flawless example soon took a back seat. We caught up with him at the Stanford Hall 2010 event, where he told us his part in PLM 686W’s story

Dan Higgins has been the proud owner of this concours clean 1980 Series 1 Polo GLS for almost two-and-a-half years. Totally standard and original from its polished hubcaps to its dealer sticker in the rear window, the car has just covered over 22,000 miles in 30 years. It very nearly didn’t stay a remarkably unmolested piece of Polo history, though; when he bought the car in November 2008, Dan had all sorts of Euro-look plans brewing, including taking the car to the deck on a set of 13” rims. But, he couldn’t bear to do anything to it. ‘I soon came to realise that this wasn’t going to happen, I just couldn’t do it. The car was immaculate and it would have been a shame to alter such a great example. With the car being in flawless original condition and with only 16,000 miles on the clock, I know I wouldn’t have made many friends if I would have begun to alter the car in the slightest,’ he says.

[Click 'Read More' below for gallery of pictures at end of post.]

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Hot on the heels of our story from yesterday about the first customer Polo GTI in the country landing, we’re pleased to report that Volkswagen has finally updated the UK Polo brochure to include the latest fifth-generation Polo-based GTI. It’s been in European catalogues since the early summer, so we’re pleased that at last, it is properly included as part of the UK range. The company bills it as ‘the most exhilarating Polo to date,’ and it’s certainly the most powerful, its 1.4-litre, 178bhp engine punting it to 62mph from rest in a claimed 6.9 seconds. Volkswagen also states that the new performance Polo is the ‘most stylish and dynamic Polo we’ve ever built.’ Available online, we don’t know if the printed version of the UK Polo brochure has been updated to reflect the broadening of the range. And while it’s still not quite the standalone catalogue that is available in many European markets, its still big news. Download here.

[Thanks to Court for the tip.]

It may be raining outside, but here’s something to brighten all prospective new Polo GTI owners’ moods. Is this the first customer 2010 Polo GTI in the country? Our entry reporting on the first UK magazine road tests of the new hotshot Polo has become something of a mini-forum, with Polo GTI-owners-to-be who have placed orders with their local Volkswagen retailers commenting about the various build stages of ‘their’ cars. It seems that the latest Polo GTI is something of a hot ticket right now, and prospective buyers can wait anything between 12 weeks and 6 months for cars to arrive. Our special correspondent collects his car tomorrow and it’s pictured here in the retailer’s parking lot, resplendent in its Flash Red paint and protective polythene. In something of an exclusive, we hope to bring you the proud new owner’s first impressions over the next few days.

In the second of our series of dealer view articles, Victoria Stubbs from Volkswagen retailer group Vindis explains the technology behind the company’s TDI engines, as used in the new Polo SE and SEL 1.6 TDIs

If you’re comparing engine options on Volkswagen models, you probably asked yourself at some point ‘What is a TDI engine?’ Well, TDI stands for Turbocharged Direct Injection. TDI engines are Volkswagen’s advanced diesel engines, and are more powerful (with faster acceleration and smooth performance), more economical, produce less CO2, and will require less maintenance and servicing. To find out why, read on.

You need oxygen to burn fuel in an engine, and as only 21% of our atmosphere is oxygen, huge amounts of air are needed for an effective engine. The TDI’s turbocharger squeezes air tightly into the engine’s cylinders (where the combustion takes place) and then cools it so it shrinks further. The injection system then adds fuel (also under high pressure) into the compressed air. This compressed mix burns better but uses less fuel.

The knock-on effect of this more efficient combustion technique is an engine that is powerful even at low revs, and burns less fuel whether at low or high speeds.

More about turbochargers
A turbocharger has two turbines; the first is powered by the exhaust gas and drives the second, which sucks in the air with the oxygen needed for combustion. The air is compressed and then cooled to compress it still further before it is mixed with the fuel and burnt.

A traditional problem with turbochargers is that if the engine is running at low revs then there will be less exhaust gas and therfore less power to drive the turbines. VW use a nifty feature called Variable Turbine Geometry to overcome this problem. Vanes are used to create a smaller area of airflow through the exhaust turbine, increasing the speed of flow and making the turbine work as if the engine were running at a higher speed.

More about fuel injection
The key factor here is the fuel pressure. The more pressure you can put the fuel under, the finer the spray will be that gets injected into the cylinder, and the quicker and more thoroughly it will mix with it the compressed air. This means you get more power – and less emissions – from the same amount of fuel.

Volkswagen use Piezo crystal injectors, which are lighter and twice as fast as the solenoid valves traditionally used. This speed increase means the injector valve can adjust the rate of fuel injection five times faster. This means smoother, quieter and more efficient combustion.

The latest weapon in the war to increase fuel pressure is the ‘Common Rail’ direct injection system. This separates the pressure generation and the fuel injection processes, meaning each can be more efficient. The common rail is the name given to the high-pressure fuel reservoir to which all the injectors are connected. Each injector receives an uninterrupted supply of fuel at the same high pressure from the common rail.

Finally, as well as burning less fuel, the TDI engines also produce less emissions, thanks to VW’s diesel particulate filters. These not only trap even the smallest particles of soot produced by burning fuel, but need no additives to run, meaning they need little or no maintenance. In fact VW recommend the first inspection at 150,000km.

Victoria Stubbs, Vindis
Vindis are retailers for all Volkswagen models including used Volkswagen Passat

Read the PoloDriver first drive of the 74bhp Polo SE 1.6 TDI and the rest of the fifth-generation Polo range here