Photo: Volkswagen
The market for city pocket rockets is defined by price, as young buyers often use up every resource available to finance their hot hatch dreams. The DSG gearbox fitted to all Polo GTI can thugs be considered to be a disadvantage, especially now that Ford has launched an excellent Fiesta ST.
We already know that a manual version is planned for the Polo model, but what we didn't know until know is what kind of impact that will have on the price of the car. Starting in 2015, a facelifted GTI will could be cheaper by about 8%.
Australian magazine CarAdvice spoke to a company official and found out that in that market, the model would drop $2,500 from the current $29,540 sticker. While that number won't make sense if converted into euros due to import taxes, it's reasonable to think that about €1500 could be the saving European buyers should expect.
Besides the six-speed manual, the Polo GTI will also gain more power. All sources point towards a small jump from 180 PS to 192 PS. Volkswagen product communications executive Moritz Silzer also told our source that more torque is probably going to be added, though not how much.
The 2015 Polo GTI is pretty much the worst kept secret VW has. But we still don't know one crucial element of the puzzle: the displacement of the engine. Some has said it's still a 1.4 TSI twin-charger, others that it's a 1.8 TSI.
We've suspected it's the 1.8 for a while now, since Volkswagen has systematically removed the 1.4 twin-charger engine from its models, saying the 1.8 is more efficient. Of course, that's partly because newer technology is used, but dropping the supercharger also makes the mill easier to make and more reliable.
If we're right, the 2015 Polo GTI will come to market with more power from a bigger engine at about the same price as a Ford Fiesta ST. It could thus finally be the driver's car everybody has been saying it's not.
Australian magazine CarAdvice spoke to a company official and found out that in that market, the model would drop $2,500 from the current $29,540 sticker. While that number won't make sense if converted into euros due to import taxes, it's reasonable to think that about €1500 could be the saving European buyers should expect.
Besides the six-speed manual, the Polo GTI will also gain more power. All sources point towards a small jump from 180 PS to 192 PS. Volkswagen product communications executive Moritz Silzer also told our source that more torque is probably going to be added, though not how much.
The 2015 Polo GTI is pretty much the worst kept secret VW has. But we still don't know one crucial element of the puzzle: the displacement of the engine. Some has said it's still a 1.4 TSI twin-charger, others that it's a 1.8 TSI.
We've suspected it's the 1.8 for a while now, since Volkswagen has systematically removed the 1.4 twin-charger engine from its models, saying the 1.8 is more efficient. Of course, that's partly because newer technology is used, but dropping the supercharger also makes the mill easier to make and more reliable.
If we're right, the 2015 Polo GTI will come to market with more power from a bigger engine at about the same price as a Ford Fiesta ST. It could thus finally be the driver's car everybody has been saying it's not.
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