The Fiat Bravo GT has fresh new more higher powered competition now – Volkswagen Group Malaysia has launched the Volkswagen Polo GTI in Malaysia. While the above picture shows the 3-door version, we get the 5-door.
Powered by a 1.8 litre 20 valve (5 valve per cylinder) turbocharged inline-4 engine mated to a 5-speed manual gearbox, the 0 to 100km/h sprint in the 1,164kg Polo GTI takes 8.2 seconds. The turbocharged engine is a familiar one as a variation of it has been used in many Volkswagen and Audi cars including the Mk4 Golf GTI. It produces 150 horsepower at 5,800rpm and a 220Nm of torque peaking at a low 1,950rpm, staying constant all the way up to 4,500rpm.
Safety features include ESP stability control, TCS traction control to reel in the wheelspin, and Electronic Differential Lock (EDL), which brakes an individual driven wheel when the ABS sensors detect the wheel is slipping so that power is transmitted to the wheel with better traction. EDL functions at speeds up to 40km/h. These three systems work together to ensure you do not get into trouble with the Polo GTI. You’ve got 4 airbags – front and side.
Wheels are 16 inch wrapped with 205/45R16 tyres – this means the CrossPolo’s wheels are even bigger, but I’m sure Volkswagen engineers have packaged this particular wheel and tyre size to work well with the rest of the suspension and chassis parameters.
The Volkswagen Polo GTI goes for RM139,960 without insurance. Watch a video and see more photos of the car after the jump.
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After dabbling for years in the IT industry, Paul Tan initially began this site as a general blog covering various topics of personal interest. With an increasing number of readers paying rapt attention to the motoring stories, one thing led to another and the rest, as they say, is history. An avid electronic gadget aficionado as well as big-time coffee lover, he's also the executive producer of the Driven motoring TV programme.
shape like Golf…driving dynamic maybe like golf GTI..
it’s a poor man’s Golf GTi ?
Good to have manual gear shift for this type of car !
Very nice.. very like.. but 140k… tak mampu bro
still using old engine…
the non-FSI engine. however, the price, the power output is almost similar to Fiat Bravo GT.
A little too subtle outlook for a performance mini hot-hatch. At 150hp and 220nm, its not so much to shout about, unless after a little tweak here and there, to churn up the power to 180-190hp at 245nm !
Then, you could use it to “play” around with the likes of Minis, or even the Turbo-ed Mini.
yeah 150 hp for a 1.8 liter turbo is quite low..
drive it first then decide. what you should be looking at is the torque figure. power is onlt for top speed on the highway. but is you want to take the car on corners, most of the time, it’s torque you need to pull out fast. with 220nm at just 1950 rpm, this car will feel very quick. also, don’t just look at 0-100. if possible consider the rolling acceleration because thats where you’d be when another car challenges you. again, torque is what you’re looking for. not power which comes in only at higher speeds. in the city, and constant traffic, it’s mainly guts… unless you take the challenge outstation on lovely roads.
wow… it is lot cheaper than the golf… not bad…
still prefer golf
nice but if you wanted to buy a golf look a like, better buy the golf and not the smaller car in the range even though it has higher engine specs. The GTi is expansive, but then a shorter version of a hatchback has no wow factor in it. Thats IMHO
Hmmm…looks like VW is positioning the Polo GTi as the next hot-hatch…
without the DSG, the Polo DOES look like a poor man’s golf gti…
anyway, he/she must be more wealthy than me.. i can’t even afford the new Saga…
150hp & 220Nm may not be much…but peak torque at 1,950rpm at weight of just 1,164kg and 0-100 in 8.2sec …it got the best stock performance for rm140k. Cant complain
I prefer th Fiat Bravo GT…
I have always liked Polo though…
yup, i’d go for the fiat bravo too. but i have my reservations about torino’s support. so end of day, this little gti cousin may just win over a few buyers.
That’s why they reduce the current Polo price.
me too…bravo all d time..i dun like the dsg…oredi look so uncle in standard version…now make up it to make it younger..haha…
Excellent! except for the small matter of the Suzuki Swift
i agree wit lowprofile..da drive should b pretty fast…i like da DSG feature but i think wit da manual it should b mo fun to drive around
This was a nice engine in the Mk4 Golf… in the lighter Polo it should be a lot of fun!
car with an engine of great potential but not the price. abit on the high side considering polo gti is always about 35-40% cheaper then golf gti.
So r we gonna hv a Polo Cup race??
Well it is way cheaper than the 2.0l Clio Renaultsport at over RM 200K, but it wouldn’t be as sweet. It would be much more reliable than a Clio though. Coz its German. But those 45 profile would hurt.
you are right. the suzuki swift sport. looks better, handles better, 2 extra doors and i think in malaysia alot cheaper. the polo gti should be priced around 110 and ( or maybe 125k for the extra safety trinkets). since the swift is around 100k cbu. if im not wrong
vw must have stolen the dress off one of those scottish pipers to make the seats. when i see one of these polo gti’s i always think poor man’s golf gti. though i dont want to afford it.
Dudes you are dreaming,
For 138K, you get 220Nm which the Swift can only match with a Diesel 1.5l 190Nm), the 1.6 does it at 147Nm at 4800rpm. And some 25HP more from stock pressures. With just a bit heavier.
Plus its that flat 220Nm torque from 2000rpm to 4300rpm which is sweet. We are talking about the 1.8TFSI aren’t we? Not the newer FSI.
the polo in the pic is LHD..
VW body is definately much tougher than Suzuki Swift sport.
Skip the wo wah…
I dont think VW Malaysia will sell this polo in great number…VW needs to consider model like Tiguan or Touran for Malaysian market instead of this budget GTi version(Isn’t the Golf GTi should be enough, and you cant duplicate the success).
I think a Touran with sub 180k pricing will suit lot of families here…IMHO
150K? I think i would rather have it in 2 door.. at least becomes poor man’s GTI plaything rather than have it 4 door to become midlife crisis GTI..
prometheus, i suppose that vw has done it’s market research before deciding on the 4 door. to have both models in the line up for malaysia increases cost as these cars are cbu, and the factory that produces the car will need to keep stock of parts to be assembled. therefore, keeping those parts incurs cost which will be passed onto the end buyer. i guess the 4 door is the choice of the majority.
i also heard that naza is preparing a slightly hotter 206 but it’s manual only from what i hear so far. i’ve been told it is not designed to go head to head with the new hot hatches but should have more poke for those wanting a more torquey 206.
Yep.. Probably the Same reason why we have a 4 door civic type R and not the euro type R Agree fully with the explanation.. but I still have preference for a 2 door.. Dunno why.. perhaps it gives the illusion of “sportiness”
prometheus,
i do agree too that 2 door cars are sportier.
polo GTI is having special promo price at rm119k in conjunction with Merdeka endurance race!! really considering to book 1 now!!
anyone here own/test drove it here?
i heard that this promotion of 99k is over last week. any1 of u know where n how can i get this price since limited units available for sale and the ‘Year End Sale” has just over. it’s super worthwhile if can buy at this attractive price. Below 100k for a turbocharged european car,disregard the size,it’s less than 10% of malaysian driving on the road > 3 person.