When we think of 600 horsepower Polos, the WRC race car comes into focus. There are also a few rallycross models, but apparently, you can turn the second-smallest Vdub into a drag racer.
This video comes from Santa Pod, the famous UK track where we just showed you a SEAT Ibiza 1.9 TDI blowing smoke all over the place.
This Polo GTI is of the current generation that's a few months away from being replaced. The headlights tell us it's the pre-facelift model that used to come with a 1.4 TSI Twincharger engine. However, this has been swapped out for the 1.8L 20VT.
Not to be confused with modern 1.8-liter turbo engines, this 20-valve unit was used in some hot cars many years ago, including the Audi TT and SEAT Leon.
Currently producing about 600 horsepower, this setup is actually a downgrade for driver Paul Jordan, who's used to an 850 hp Scirocco. However, the little Polo still managed a 9.71s run at 144mph during the Big Bang 2017 event.
The Mk1 Golf on the other side is running an ADE tuning map, just like the Polo. However, it's 2.0-liter 16-valve engine only puts out about 190 hp, so it can't keep up with the all-wheel drive rocket that is this Polo.
We'd like to note that the German supermini never had a production AWD version, unlike its Audi A1 sister car. For a limited time, VW offered the Polo R WRC to celebrate its rallying return, but that had front-wheel drive. Still, powering the rear wheels for racing applications is entirely different to doing the same on a road car. Most of the time, 4Motion only sends power to the front. But here, those sticky drag radials are always in action.
The downside is that without the wheels spinning, you don't get a sense of how much power the Polo GTI is putting down.
Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida. Full profile
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