Volkswagen Polo is a good looking car by all means. Even in the car’s base form, the Polo is an iconic hatchback and Volkswagen India has been launching new faster Polos. After launching the regular Polo hatchback, Volkswagen launched the GT siblings with 105 PS of maximum power. Now Volkswagen has a new kid in the block, and it should be called the first true hot hatchback of India, if we ignore the MINI models. It is the world’s fastest Polo and finally it is in India. Here is what we think about the car.
Looks
Even though the resembles the regular Polo by a huge margin. The hatchback has few attributes that differentiates it from the regular Polo. To start with, the iconic GTI grille and then comes the GTI moniker, that are placed on the grille, flank and the boot of the car.
Even though the car is available in both 3-door and 5-door configuration in the International market, in India, Volkswagen has only launched the 3-door version of the car to differentiate from the regular Polo. The red accent on its honeycomb grille and headlight make the car look really aggressive. On the rear, the car gets twin-exhaust set-up. The disc brake calipers are painted in red, which adds to the sporty nature of the car immensely.
Interiors
The GTI is an iconic car and the interiors carry the same iconic checkered pattern fabric on the seat that is seen in the international models. Being an expensive car, the built quality is really meets the expectations. The interiors get red stitching like the Polo GT but the main difference is the flat-bottom steering wheel with paddle shifters that just look way brilliant. The GTI misses out of electronically adjustable seat to save the weight, which is very much acceptable given the fact that the car is a performance vehicle
Engine and performance:
This is where all your money goes! The car is powered by EA888 engine that powers higher segment cars like the Skoda Superb and the Skoda Octavia but the best part is the weight of the GTI, it is way less than the sedans where the engine has been seen earlier and it really kicks in the performance of the hatchback.
The 1.8-litre turbo-petrol engine sends as much as 189 bhp to the front wheels, that’s 12 bhp more than the larger cars like the Superb or the Octavia.
The GTI can reach 0-100 km/h in just 6.9 seconds while the top speed is 236 km/h. The engine is mated with 7-speed DQ-200 twin-clutch DSG automatic gearbox which has a maximum torque limit of 250 Nm.
Should I Buy One?
To be true, the GTI comes with an inflated price tag of Rs. 25.65 lakh. Now that is huge for a car that almost looks like Polo from the outside. Even though the car drives like a true enthusiastic car and would make perfect sense for people who are regular on the track, the DQ200 gearbox is turn down for the tuners because the maximum torque is limited to just 250 Nm.
I suggest that you should go for a MINI Cooper. The car is more iconic and is more powerful than the GTI too. Should you go for the GTI, you sure will see a lot of unexpected cars in the rear view mirror of your vehicle when you start from the red light.
