1996 Volkswagen Polo GLX from UK and Ireland - Comments

The car rattles a lot and there is a loud vibration at certain revs. It is fairly annoying, manifesting itself through the gearbox into the car. After taking the exhaust off the car the vibration disappears, but can't drive without an exhaust! This is the only niggle I've had.

My previous car was a Honda Prelude 2.2VTEC, which was amazing. But when running the car became too expensive, I decided to opt for a cheaper, smaller economy car. My first car was a VW Golf, so, after looking at around 20 or so Honda Civics and finding them all to have been badly neglected, the Polo seemed a good second choice.

The car gets around 33-35mpg day to day which really isn't all that impressive for a little car. The upside to this however is the car is very cheap to maintain, so long as you avoid main dealers.

Apart from having rattles and the engine being quite noisy, the car is actually pretty good, for what it is. It handles the job of being a reliable and sturdy run-a-round very well. It starts first time even on very cold mornings, and warms up quickly.

The gearbox has a very short ratio, but once up to higher gears, bags of torque from the 8 valve engine mean you don't really need to change gears at all! A lot of people mention the bodyroll, but this only occurs at back-off speeds. If you actually drive it slightly harder than you think you can, the handling sorts itself out. Very strange sensation, but quite safe.

The GLX is very comfortable and well kitted out. The seats are Recaro style, with height as well as back adjustments. You also get electric windows and mirrors which is a nice bonus. The only thing wrong about the driving position is the pedals. They are a little too close together, with obtrusive panels either side. This means the accelerator is sometimes hard to get, and there is nowhere to put your left foot after you lifted off the clutch. Very annoying!

Very good review: I have a 1996 1.6 GL and found your comments spot-on, although I found it strange that you mentioned not having anywhere to rest your foot after releasing the clutch -my car has a raised rest for the left foot which I find a real relief (for my poor foot!) afer having driven many cars with no such rest -it's a small thing, but makes all the difference on long journeys. Anyway, an excellant and reliable little runabout with a really gutsy little 8-valve that punches above it's weight.