A car for getting out of the rat race

Did you notice recently when you hear people speaking about changing their car many say ‘if I don’t change now, I’ll get nothing for it next year’.

People who say the likes are usually the self-forcing type. They wish to convince themselves that they should change on economic grounds when in fact it’s fashion themes that has them wanting.

The latest model of their product now has a CD player so they wish to trade-in their car in order to get the latest piece of fashion. The latest model may have slightly different headlights maybe colour co-ordinated bumpers and white dials on the Speedo so they want to change.

Better still, their friend, colleague or neighbour has a sparkling new car, so the thought crosses the old mind – better change.

I am from a second-hand car background and I have to admit there is times I just stop and laugh when I see what is happening around me. People are willing to pay £3,000 for a different digit on a number plate and received a CD player, what an expensive CD is all I can say.

Manufacturers now build cars that are capable of going around the clock a couple of times and yet many people feel they should change their car before the 20,000-mile service is due.

Manufacturers build bodies on cars that more times than not carry a twelve-year paint warranty and yet many change a car without ever having the pleasure of polishing or maybe even washing the product.

Mention car test to some and a dreadful powerless feeble feeling ascends on them as if the N.C.T. people were a form of Gestapo, who were going to take the car away and send you underground to extract lead and zinc with your bare hands. The same people are only there to save you or someone else’s life by detecting faults that more times than not can be fixed for a fraction of the cost of changing a car.

For those who wish to get out of the rat race or wish to forget what the Jones’s do. I think I have the answer.

The VW Polo TDi is for people who would like to have a long relationship with a product. I say this in order that you would get the value out of the high retail price

The Polo TDi is for those who wish to run a car yet take a holiday or two a year. It’s also the car for those who wish to build on that much desired house extension or conservatory.

The VW Polo TDi can be such a miser on fuel that its very possible you could save a fortune running one.

To quality for the saving and the fun element which I will get around to – you have to make an investment of approximately £10 per CC in other words the 1422cc Polo costs from £14,025. Now if Hello and Vogue magazines are part of your weekly subscriptions to print matter then the Polo TDi may not be for you.

Although the new Polo is not light years away and the present shape has been with us now for twice the style span of a Japanese product, the little German still has style. More importantly it has strength and build quality which marries perfectly to the small three cylinder engine.

The 1.4 TDi produces 75 bhp, it may not sound a lot or indeed the idea of a three-cylinder under the bonnet could be off-putting, but please wait. I’m pleading here for readership because the Polo TDi is so brilliant I want to spread the word. It will return 60 mpg, yet deliver power in amazing fashion.

There are GTi sports and super sports cars that fail to give such enjoyment.

Because each cylinder is fed by the combined fuel pump and injector unit the system can run fuel pressures of up to 30,000 psi, that is about 10,000 psi more than some common rail systems. The diesel technology on the Polo 1.4 TDi is what is known as ‘Pumpe-Duse’ and the way the fuel is delivered is what makes it an amazing engine.

The fact that this engine blends performance fuel economy and noise emissions in such beautiful harmony, has me believing the TDi is worth the money.

Now if you are the type that’s going to blow bubbles at the Polo instead of driving it or are the type who leans towards cosmetic fashion instead of technology, power and economy then buy something else.

The Tdi Polo relays a feeling of sodality this is the type of car that has the ability to give years and years of satisfaction and even at the end of it, it will be worth something.

I had reason to put big mileage on my test car and at times I would have to glance twice at the Speedo to take in what it was capable of doing.

The small engine leaves the front end weighting perfectly. It has non of that small car heavy engine frontal feel. The balance is fine, the feedback is good and the magic is its torque, it pushes up 144 lb/ft at 2,200 rpm, will cover 0-62 mph in 12.9 seconds and it has a top speed of 106 mph.

The TDi is not a restricted vehicle manufactured solely to return good mpg’s at the sacrifice of performance. It has a special formable turbo power, great torque, hence flexibility and good gear ratios.

There is no doubt in my mind VW know this is a good thing and charge accordingly the one thing I wonder is are we going to see this engine in any of the other family models. The UK offers the Seat Arosa with this engine.

With tax and insurance ratings so exorbitant in this country, surely it would make sense for this engine to be fitted to the Lupo, Arosa, Ibiza and Fabia.

The Polo 1.4 TDi is simply an amazing car, giving it a little company would only add to its great importance.