2002 Volkswagen Polo from UK and Ireland - Comments

Nothing.

We got this car as a courtesy car whilst our Peugeot was being repaired. And we counted the days till we could hand this piece of crap back.

First of all, we found that the car was very 'boxy'. Including the interior - everything seemed to have very square edges.

The worst feature about this car was that it drank petrol like you could not believe. We were putting £10 in the car every two days. Now you might think that we were doing long journeys then? Wrong. Our 2.0L Peugeot that was being fixed at the garage was only using £10 a week.

Why anyone would buy one of these pants cars is beyond me. I think that you also find that the Polo is very much a women's car. Come on women, you've got better taste than that.

The gearstick was also very difficult to get my head around. Again, it was very block-ish. If changing gear, you had to be very straight and sharp with your movements as there was no smoothness allowed.

I could understand that people may buy the Polo because of it's price, but all I can say is that there are much better cars out there within the same price range.

We were lucky, it was just a courtesy car.

I bought a Polo 1.2 bottom of the range about 5 months ago. I can understand some of your comments as I once owned a 1.9 Peugeot 405. However, you are making the worong comparisons. The Polo 1.2 is a utility car that returns very good petrol consumption if you drive it sedately (I get about 44 mpg). I don't go over 70 on Motorways, and I don't race around (I suppose I sound boring, but my boy-racer days are over, I'm 59!) It is well-engineered, no rattles (I spent a day sticking bits of paper between the plastic trim on my new Peugeot to stop the rattles!) The Polo is a trifle dull, but a very good compromise - you can get 3 largish adults in the back, there is a reasonable boot and it's easy to drive and park. It doesn't compare to a Peugeot saloon, which is all dash and flash, and very enjoyable to drive, but will last half the lifetime of the Polo.

This is surely a biased review. £10 worth of petrol used in 2 days? The mileage covered during that period must have been 150 miles or more!!!

The Polo is a solid and durable car which will outlast by far any Peugeot, Renault etc. I do agree that current VW quality control could be improved, but once any new teething problems have been sorted out and if the cars are serviced according to schedule, they should be very reliable and reward the owners with years of loyal service. I have owned a Polo for 2 years and have nothing, but praise for the car which has a quality feel in every aspect when compared to other cars which I have previously owned.

As an owner of a 1.2 2002 VW Polo, I have to disagree with your comments. I do a lot of motorway driving and £10 petrol takes me from Birmingham to London (110 miles). In my opinion, there is no other small car out there that can compare to a VW Polo. We had a Peugeot 405 as a family car at one point and it gave consistent problems, so much so that I would never consider a Peugeot again. Having driven the 206 model on a test drive when decide which small car to buy, I found that the drive was not as smooth, and the car did not feel as solid and safe as the VW Polo I bought in the end.

My Conclusion.

Peugeot and VW cannot be adequately compared as I do not think they are really in the same class.

It seems to me that the original comment is complete rubbish. You cannot give a fair review on a courtesy car you had for a few days. They have named it a piece off crap, yet nothing had gone wrong with it while their Peugeot was in the garage getting fixed, very amusing. I don’t drive a VW or a Peugeot, but I did get a Peugeot when my Vauxhall was being repaired, the 206 broke down 6 hours into driving it, the ABS brakes locked up stranding the car. It seems to me the reviewer is just bitter as he couldn’t afford the price of VW’s and therefore took out his anger on this smart reliable little car.