Volkswagen Polo

The Volkswagen Polo is one of the Volkswagen entries the open record knows by name and by date — in 1975, and by little else. That is not nothing: a name in the catalogue is where a car's story starts to be recoverable.

The background

The Volkswagen Polo is a supermini car (B-segment) produced by the German car manufacturer Volkswagen since 1975. It is sold in Europe and other markets worldwide in hatchback, saloon, and estate variants throughout its production run. As of 2018, six separate generations of the Polo had been produced, usually identified by a "Series" or "Mark" number. Some generations were facelifted midway through production, with the updated versions known unofficially by an addition of the letter F to the mark number, e.g., Mk2F. Some members of the automotive press and some enthusiasts consider the facelifts to be separate models, so have used the unofficial designations Polo Mk1 to Mk7 for previous generations. Each Polo model is also identified by a two- or three-character Volkswagen Group Typ number.

Official VW Polo history describes Mark I to Mark IV using either Roman numerals or Arabic numerals, with facelifted variants known as "Phase II" models. The body style has been varied through the life of the car, originally as a hatchback, which derived from the Audi 50. A saloon version was marketed as the Volkswagen Derby. Volkswagen vehicles built on different platforms have carried the Polo nameplate. For example, the Volkswagen Polo Playa hatchback sold in Southern Africa in the late 1990s was a rebadged SEAT Ibiza, which has a different body shell from the Polo Mk3 sold in Europe at the same time. Starting in 1982, Volkswagen sold the Polo in Japan initially through an agreement with Japanese dealership Yanase that specializes in European and North American vehicles. Of all Volks

Under the skin

The record carries the layout — and the layout: the engine drives the front wheels, the packaging choice that gives a small car a big cabin. The engine, output and weight have not yet reached the open record, and MotorJury does not guess at them.

Where it sits

On a showroom list of its day it stood against the Hyundai Pony, the BMW 3 Series, the Lotus Esprit. Its Volkswagen stablemates include the Volkswagen Apollo and the Volkswagen Routan.

The money

There is no federal ownership record for the Volkswagen Polo — it predates the complaint database or was never sold in the United States — so MotorJury publishes no running-cost figure for it. For a car of this age the price is set by the collector market and the condition of the individual example, not by a formula.