2002 Volkswagen Polo PD100 Sport review from UK and Ireland

Anti-roll bar bushes failed at 21,000 miles.

Sticking rear brake calipers.

Rattles coming from dash board.

The Polo was my first diesel and I searched high and low for the right one at the right price. I picked up a Silver 3yr old with 18,000 miles and FVWSH for £7,000, bit of a bargain considering they are selling all day long on VW’s forecourt for £8,000+ with more mileage.

The 1.9TDI Polo shares the same engine that is used throughout the VAG range and can be found in Golf’s/Passats/A3’s/A4’s etc. Whilst driving at high or low speeds you wouldn’t think you’re in a diesel car, infact, it’s quieter than a lot of petrol engine cars I have been in. The only time it is noisy is when the engine is cold, but it soon warms up.

The performance is impressive; the mid-range torque is good for overtaking and it can embarrass a lot of bigger engine cars. The thing I like most is that there is always usable power available although it does die off after 4,000rpm. The 0-60 time of 10.2s is underestimated it's more around 9 seconds, but the car is more for mid-range acceleration which is were the 177lb of torque comes into play.

The handling is decent enough, but it can suffer from understeer. I plan on improving this with an uprated suspension kit. If you are planning on tuning the engine as I am, there are plenty of options available. A custom remap of the engine, a full sports exhaust system and a decent free-flowing air filter would make a reliable 160bhp+ and over 250lb of torque is available without needing to spend serious amounts of money. The brakes are very good and sharp vented disc brakes up front and solid rear with ABS, ESP and traction control are available as an optional extra.

Economy is excellent I’m averaging around 42mpg on short stop-start travel and on longer journeys it can go up to 55mpg, but if you put your foot down it can drop to as low as 35mpg. Parts seem reasonably priced for a VW, I recently bought new rear discs and pads for £64.77 from a VW main dealer. Cheap tax and insurance also make the car an excellent buy.

The standard equipment is reasonable, but adding on extras can boost the price up considerably. Mine came with a dash mounted CD changer which is not cheap. I would recommend traction control as the car likes to wheel spin in the wet whilst accelerating; I’ve had mine wheel spin in third gear a few times! The standard stereo system is excellent with 8 speakers as standard, very high quality gamma unit. Also the blue backlit display is a nice touch for when you turn the lights on.

The interior is excellent; the sports seats are very comfortable offering good support and are height adjustable on both driver and passenger side with pull-out storage space under the seat. The dashboard is well laid out and made of high quality plastics, it doesn’t look cheap or tacky like a lot of other cars in its class.

The exterior is also excellent and very well built. This is a good looking car and the 15” alloys look excellent. The usual high standards of paintwork and build quality remain and there are very few cars that can rival this.

A lot of people have written reviews complaining about poor build quality. I do agree with this to an extent as the car does have a few rattles here and there and my car has suffered a few minor problems, but I still think the car has very good build quality. After test driving all the other small cars in it's class in my opinion the Polo is the best car.

To sum up, I would give the car 7 out of 10, it has a lot going for it, but it does have a few minor niggles and the handling could be better. If your thinking of buying one I would say go for it as it’s an excellent little car, just look out for any ‘clunking’ noises coming from the suspension as it will more than likely be the anti-roll bar bushes and/or sticking rear brakes.