Volkswagen Polo 2018 review: 70TSI Trendline

Fairly smoothly. The Polo is a nice, easy drive with plenty of zip factor, it zooms around town like you’re playing wing attack on a netball team, weaving in and out of traffic. So little! So zippy! Sure, it’s not as smooth as a more expensive car would be, but don’t take away from it - it’s definitely smooth enough.

It has a small 1.0-litre engine but it still has enough power to get me up hills. It's not the fastest car up the hill, but it gets there perfectly fine. It has good handling and a responsive steering wheel that is easy to turn, no arm workouts here, and there’s absolutely no heaviness when you drive it. It’s light all the way.

Despite the tiny 1.0-litre engine, the Polo has plenty of zip factor.

Parking is a breeze because of the size and small turning circle - I have been fitting into tiny parks all over town this week, and there’s also a reverse parking camera to help. But I’m not sure I’d be comfortable in this car for a long road trip. I’m a bit of a chicken when it comes to endless roads and big trucks whizzing by, especially when travelling with children, and for road trips I would feel safer in a bigger car. That’s why the Polo would be great as a second family car, rather than the main family transport. 

A small car has its advantages and disadvantages. So, while parking is easy and three-point turns are a breeze, there’s not much storage.

Parking and three-point turns are a breeze.

In the front there’s a glove box, two cupholders and two bottle holders in the front doors. It has a spot in front of the gear stick to throw keys and a phone. The cupholders though, are small and I had to try and wedge my keep cup in there. Takeaway coffee cups, the ones that are bad for the environment and you shouldn’t use because they’re not recycleable, will fit however. 

In the back there are no cupholders, but there's a spot in each door that while not technically a bottle holder, will fit a small bottle.

The boot was easy to open once I discovered the VW badge on the back was a magic key. The height of the boot was actually fine to get groceries in and out for me. And while the car is lower than an SUV and it’s harder to do car seats up for the kids, I didn’t mind it so much. 

My children are getting to an age where they can sometimes do their own belts up, but if you’ve got a baby and you’re constantly in and out, always bending down and especially hoisting up a baby capsule out of the car multiple times a day, it might be worse for you.

Nobody’s arguing the Polo has style. On the outside it’s sporty and cute, with just the right amount of sophistication. You feel good driving it because the car has spunk. 

This car has spunk.

While it doesn’t have anything particularly luxurious on the inside, it still looks good because it’s well designed. There’s a high gloss finish around the multimedia screen which looks ace and nicely blends into a fairly ordinary centre console and gear stick section. 

The dash and doors are quite hard, but VW's cleverly added a leather steering wheel - and because this is the bit you touch, your hands are on it the whole time you drive, you are tricked into thinking you’re in much more luxurious car than you actually are. It worked on me every time.

Leather on the steering wheel feels premium.

The seats are fabric but they are not a cheap fabric, ie. you can still wear shorts and it doesn’t feel scratchy on the legs. They’re also really comfortable seats, I had no complaints.

The Trendline comes with a total of six airbags, with side curtain airbags extending to the back row. There are two ISOFIX points and three top tether points for children’s car seats. It also has more advanced safety features like auto emergency braking and a fatigue warning system. You can then option up to get things like adaptive cruise control, blind spot monitoring, rear traffic alert and park assist - where the car will park itself. This package is an extra $1400. The Polo has a five star ANCAP rating.

Here’s the good bit, the Polo Trendline comes in at $20,490 for the auto version, which is a drive-away price. Fuel consumption is a claimed 5.0 litres for every 100km, which is low, even for a small car. You will need 95 premium unleaded in it though. 

The Polo is covered by Volkswagen’s three year/100,000km warranty and it will need servicing every 12 months or 15,000km.