Faults:

Only thing that went wrong since I had the car was the gearbox that I had to service due to traveling long distances for the company I worked for. (72000km per year)

Due to poor quality diesel, at 335 678km I had to replace the throttle body. It was clogged up with greasy stuff that made the car not start.

Had many people stop me and wanted to buy it from me.

I bought it for R89900 and people are willing to buy it back from me at R70000.

Durable and economical. Got 21,3km/l over 3544km at a speed of 130km/h with the aircon on and 3 people with all their luggage.

Best buy ever. Thanks VW...

General Comments:

Everything that I expected from it and more.

Love my TDI.

Faults:

Mostly just wear and tear.

Driver's door handle was very stiff as was the rear hatch.

Had an ABS sensor go, but was cheap to fix.

Engine a little noisier and developed a small leak in its final year with me, but nothing serious.

Interior plastics not as hard wearing as I thought they would be for VW.

Passenger side electric mirror stopped working.

General Comments:

My Polo was one of my first cars and was a great economical car that never gave me too much trouble.

1.2 S was a very basic model, but good enough for me. Interior was dull, but it was laid out well and functional. Rear passenger and boot space was a joke however, but an OK car to run about in yourself. Seats were good, but not the most comfortable car, a bit noisy on motorways.

Did a solid 45 mpg (sometimes a bit more) no matter how you drove it, excellent for petrol. Handled very sharp.

Cold reception for older cars at VW dealers (in my experience); had to find a friendly independent garage for services and repairs as the car got older, but was relatively trouble free and cheap enough to repair.

Traded it as I needed a bigger car, but it was still running good at 11 years old and higher mileage. Just a solid little run about, much better than a Fiesta or a Corsa in my opinion, and certainly better than a Clio, trust me I know ;)

Faults:

In 5 years not much other than wear and tear parts replaced. Has been very reliable. Keep these engines serviced and they will return with reliability.

General Comments:

If you want a reliable run about, the Polo is a good choice. A much more spacious car than my previous Lupo which was a joke to be honest; the Polo is on another level, but not quite as big as a Golf.

Match is a middling spec. It has - electric windows and mirrors and air con.

1.4 is nippy and economical. OK to drive.

For a 2008 car it is getting on a bit, but I see no reason to change for now.

Faults:

Driver's electric window stopped working at 55000 km; cheap to fix.

Rear seats would not fold at around 60000 km; very expensive to fix, because the piece that had broken was very difficult to access.

Front brake discs have had to be replaced at 100000 km.

General Comments:

The best thing about this car is the fuel economy; about 4.5 litres per 100 km if driven at 90 km/h; 5 litres at 120 km/h; and 6 at 140 km/h.

Handling is excellent, stability very good, dynamically an excellent car with great grip, good with wet weather, excellent brakes...

Seating is comfortable enough, but not great.

Stereo system is very good.

All in all, however, I regret having bought this car. Servicing is very expensive, which means that, despite the unbelievable fuel economy, running costs are average.

All in all, I have spent around 2000 euros for servicing and repairs on this car in 2 and a half years and a little over 50,000 km. I have always taken the car to the official Volkswagen dealer, which is extremely expensive.

There also seems to be a chronic untraceable fault with the electrical system, which means that the lights on a few occasions start to suddenly flicker, as though there was not enough electrical power to feed them - can be disturbing at night.

I expected this to be a more utilitarian, simpler, more practical car, but, despite its small size, it is an incredibly safe, stable, Porsche-handling car, with all that comes with that: very complex and sophisticated parts, which drive the running costs all the way up.