Volkswagen Polo

In many areas, the VW Polo trumps other superminis, but its clinical excellence also leaves it free of joy

It doesn’t seem that long ago that almost every car manufacturer sold a compact hatchback in the supermini segment, yet today, the Volkswagen Polo seems to be one of the few remaining players in a shrinking market.Small cars are still popular, but more so these days when they’re loftier compact SUVs. VW itself has embraced the development with two such Polo-based models — the more practical T-Cross and the sleeker Taigo.Since the demise of the previously ubiquitous Ford Fiesta and several other names that were once commonplace on UK streets, VW has not had it all its own way.Yes, when this sixth-generation Polo made its appearance at the end of 2017, we thought it so good that it immediately became the class leader. Competition improves the breed, though, so while it’s hardly an also-ran, there’s stiff competition from the Peugeot 208, Renault Clio, Skoda Fabia and Vauxhall Corsa, among a flurry of others.Not that this incarnation appeared to be as new as it really was — at first glance, you may have mistaken it for the Mk5 Volkswagen Polo it replaced, such was the evolutionary nature of its styling.That momentary confusion is one of the hallmarks of an extraordinarily successful model, because the manufacturers of such vehicles know that they alter a successful recipe at their extreme peril.Thus the Mk6 Polo springs few surprises. Its proportions are instantly recognisable and so, too, are its facial features. However, it is in fact something of a quiet revolution. That revolution comes in the form of a redesigned interior.Thanks to the car’s updated underpinnings, the cabin is more spacious and, as the vanguard of the Polo’s charge into the digital era, it’s also more technologically able than anything yet seen in a supermini. Or, at least, it was in 2017 — but how good is it in the late autumn of its production run?

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