Skip to content
Volkswagen models, news & reviews
3
Handling
Performance
Usability
5
Feelgood factor
4
Readers' rating
By Phil McNamara
First Drives
18 May 2009 16:29
Europe’s greenest car will be blue. Volkswagen’s Polo Bluemotion, which goes on sale in May 2010, will exhale just 87g of carbon dioxide for every kilometre you drive, and return up to 85.6mpg. That’s cleaner than the Pope’s freshly laundered robes, and makes the saintly Toyota Prius and Honda Insight hybrids – both the wrong side of 100g/km – look comparative sinners. The Polo Bluemotion will cost around £12,000, and CAR Online has taken a prototype for a quick spin.
Take the ultra-refined, immaculately built new Polo, and plumb a new 74bhp 1.2-litre diesel into its nose. Then fuss over the aerodynamics like an FIA appeal hearing. So the engineers lowered the standard five-door by 10mm, filled in the central grille, and fitted slippery new front splitter and side skirts. Low rolling resistance rubber wraps around 15-inch alloys, while the visor from ‘50s robot Gort doubles up as a rear spoiler and trips off air. All this reduces drag and therefore consumption.
Two more techy touches move on the Bluemotion game. A stop/start system nullifies the engine at standstill, and a smart alternator captures disippating engine and brake energy to charge the battery. VW claims these two developments save 0.25 litres per kilometre. The manual gearbox also has longer third, fourth and fifth gear ratios, although you’ll find using overdrive a rare treat if you’re restricted to urban driving.
Volkswagen claims the Bluemotion enables you to go green without making sacrifices. But you make a sacrifice as soon as you fire the turbocharged three-cylinder diesel –the regular Polo’s class-leading refinement. The common rail unit is a guttural engine, which growls under acceleration like Cerberus on a frustrating day at Hades’ gates. And it’s not as if VW has filleted some sound deadening to pin down weight to 1080kg – ear defenders as standard please chaps. The other snag is the lack of low down torque in second and third gear. Follow the instrument panel’s over-eager upshift indicator, and you’ll land in a quagmire at the base of the torque curve. There’s much huffing and puffing as a flatulent shockwave of vibration rumbles through the cabin, before the engine hauls itself and the prototype back up to speed. It feels as if you’ve fumbled from second to fifth gear.>> Click 'Next' to read more of CAR's VW Polo Bluemotion review
Add your comment
Sign in You must be signed in to submit a comment.
VW Polo 1.2 TDI Bluemotion (2010) CAR review
Subject
Your comment
By submitting your comment, you agree to adhere to the CAR Magazine website Terms and Conditions
Cancel
You must be logged in to subscribe to a topic
Login or register now
jujitsupete says
RE: VW Polo 1.2 TDI Bluemotion (2010) CAR review
Lets look at what I drive, a Scirocco GT 2.0TSI, Audi A3 2.0 TDI, and a VW 1.2 Blue motion TDI. First thing you cannot compare this car with the Prius, apart from the £20.000 price tag of the Toyota; size comes into it. The little VW wins hands down on quality. The Prius also does nowhere near the MPG as we have one at work for staff commuting back and too(64 MPG). So let a Bluemotion owner let you know my honest opinion about this car. I have no issue jumping in to this car at any time travelling 60 mile round trips daily. I get around 74 MPG, on the motorway I get around 90.....Yes 90 MPG! The car is a ball to own, nippy enough around town and good enough for a short Motorway blast. I paid £12.400 inc extras and is money well spent as it feels bigger than the usual cars of the class, and as I said before way better quality. Would I swap it for my Scirocco? No but I would have one up my drive any time as it looks good, drives good, and costs next to nothing (road tax£0) a
Lets look at what I drive, a Scirocco GT 2.0TSI, Audi A3 2.0 TDI, and a VW 1.2 Blue motion TDI. First thing you cannot compare this car with the Prius, apart from the £20.000 price tag of the Toyota; size comes into it. The little VW wins hands down on quality. The Prius also does nowhere near the MPG as we have one at work for staff commuting back and too(64 MPG). So let a Bluemotion owner let you know my honest opinion about this car.
I have no issue jumping in to this car at any time travelling 60 mile round trips daily. I get around 74 MPG, on the motorway I get around 90.....Yes 90 MPG! The car is a ball to own, nippy enough around town and good enough for a short Motorway blast. I paid £12.400 inc extras and is money well spent as it feels bigger than the usual cars of the class, and as I said before way better quality. Would I swap it for my Scirocco? No but I would have one up my drive any time as it looks good, drives good, and costs next to nothing (road tax£0) a
08 December 2010 19:08
ianbp says
By the time this comes out 'the saintly' new Prius will be around knocking out 89g/km, so considering this is a little box and the Prius is much bigger, it's botty gases aint exactly that great. From what pics I've seen on the new Prius (and by the way, no I don't drive one, nor do I want one), looks a damn site nicer place to be. Balance isn't just a driving term...
By the time this comes out 'the saintly' new Prius will be around knocking out 89g/km, so considering this is a little box and the Prius is much bigger, it's botty gases aint exactly that great.
From what pics I've seen on the new Prius (and by the way, no I don't drive one, nor do I want one), looks a damn site nicer place to be.
Balance isn't just a driving term...
29 May 2009 10:12
Steill says
Quote: "VW claims these two developments save 0.25 litres per kilometre. " Errr, Is that possible on a car that's supposed to be able to go around 25km on a litre? 45mpg equates to roughly 16km/l , or about 0.06 l/km. Should the quote be 0.25l/100km? And, as has been said previously in this thread, the 1.6 TDI will be nicer to drive in the real world, probably not that much thirstier, and probably cheaper to buy, so where's the incentive to buy this, other than sanctimony?
Quote: "VW claims these two developments save 0.25 litres per kilometre. " Errr, Is that possible on a car that's supposed to be able to go around 25km on a litre? 45mpg equates to roughly 16km/l , or about 0.06 l/km. Should the quote be 0.25l/100km?
And, as has been said previously in this thread, the 1.6 TDI will be nicer to drive in the real world, probably not that much thirstier, and probably cheaper to buy, so where's the incentive to buy this, other than sanctimony?
27 May 2009 10:30
rickerby says
I have an old copy of Car magazine from the early 80's where LJK Setright raced a train from Stoke On Trent to London in a Golf Formel E - VW's Ecanomoy hero back then. Exactly the same formula as this new Polo, aerodynamic tweaks, low rolling resistance tyres, tall gearing and even a stop start system. Then as now this is nothing more than a marketing gimmick. VW pedalled Formel E models for around 5 years. Ford had similar E Max models and even Austin had E versions of the Maestro. I reckon the current batch of so called Eco models will be gone within a similar timescale.
22 May 2009 16:47
Ulpian says
You wax lyrical about the quality, but did you really clock that dull grey interior? There is not an ounce of flare or excitement in the whole thing. Dull is the word. Anf the exterior is no better. Tedium personified. There is absolutley nothing to dream of about this car. The 1.6 Diesel looks like the better bet for driveability, and as somebody said, Fiat has better engines on the way that will go into charming and interesting cars. VWs are just so, grey.
You wax lyrical about the quality, but did you really clock that dull grey interior? There is not an ounce of flare or excitement in the whole thing. Dull is the word. Anf the exterior is no better. Tedium personified.
There is absolutley nothing to dream of about this car. The 1.6 Diesel looks like the better bet for driveability, and as somebody said, Fiat has better engines on the way that will go into charming and interesting cars.
VWs are just so, grey.
22 May 2009 14:42
Upload stories, photos or videos direct to the site, or email newsdesk@carmagazine.co.uk.
Alternatively, call 01733 468 485 (+ 44 1733 468 485)
Seen a secret new car, fabulous exotic or have news we should publish? Then get in touch now.
