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Polo BlueMotion test drive impressions
I drove a Polo BlueMotion yesterday at a local VW dealer. I only had the car for about ten minutes, but it seems pretty good from what I could tell.
Some things that stood out for me:
Auto stop/start works great. The engine dies when you come to a complete stop in neutral and restarts when you push in the clutch again. No fuss, no drama. Bonus feature: I stalled the car and it started up again straight away.
The gearing is really, really tall. 3,000rpm in second gear takes the car to about 60km/h, and I'd guess most people will get into third around town and leave it there. Fourth leaves very little torque for acceleration at city speeds.
The torque increase when the turbo comes on boost is huge (at least it feels that way). I suppose a better way to describe it would be that there's almost no power until the turbo kicks in, and then there is plenty. I've seen the torque peaks on turbo diesel engines getting lower and lower over the years, but this engine isn't one of those.
The seats are a strange light blue colour that looks like it would get dirty quickly. I hope they make an alternative colour available.
The wheels are alloys with plastic covers that seem to smooth out the gap between the wheel and the tyre. So the visible wheel appears to be half plastic, half metal. Very strange design, but I'm guessing it has aero benefits.
All in all, the car was less exciting than I'd anticipated. I suppose it's just a Polo that happens to use very little fuel. Very competent, very comfortable, but no particular spark.
-Simon
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