Anyone have experience of driving a 1.2L VW Polo (60hp)?

NeilF

NeilF

NeilF

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Looking for a first car for my daughter and this seems to tick the boxes. Only concern is will it be OK going up hills, given we live on top of one :)

Is it OK poodling up a reasonable hill at 30mph in 2nd etc? Just as long as you're not having to drop down into a screaming 1st gear all the way up hills that's fine...

Any experience?

ps: Trying to find a test drive at a local one for sale, but thought I'd ask in the meantime...
 
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And you weren't driving in the flats of Holland with it I assume :) So hills weren't a noticable engine scream fest?

What's interesting about the Polo 1.2L 60HP engine is it actually seems to produce a reasonable amount of torque (compared to other similar small car engines with more HP), so maybe that helps.
 
Quartz said:
My mother had a Polo of about that power - maybe less - 40 years ago and I learned in it just fine.
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It was probably a lot lighter.

Personally I'd go for something with more oomph if she's going to be on the motorway and up hills. Especially if she's carrying passengers.

If it's just a stop gap car for a year then it will be fine but if she wants to keep it for a while then that little bit extra will be welcome (and safer when joining motorways etc or overtaking).

Having said that if it has torque it might be a 3cyl turbo? If so it might be ok if driven accordingly, as you do get a little punch of acceleration.

I'll have to check what the i10 I drove recently was as I did think it was a good first car.

Edit - checked, was a 1.2 with 84bhp.
 
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A 1.2L polo around 2000 had 55HP, 106Nm of torque and weighed just over 1000KG. Older and we're talking <100Nm of torque.

We're looking at a 2011ish one which has 60HP, 108Nm of torque and weighs about 1070KG.


Now I have driven my son's 2011 1.2L Corsa D locally (around hills etc) and it's fine. 85HP/110Nm, 1160KG.

I would assume torque and weight is more important with hills than HP? So the 2011 Polo has basically the same torque as my son's Corsa and is ~100KG lighter. So this suggests if my son's Corsa D is OK up our hills, the 1.2L Polo will be too?
 
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NeilF said:
A 1.2L polo around 2000 had 55HP, 106Nm of torque and weighed just over 1000KG. Older and we're talking <100Nm of torque.

We're looking at a 2011ish one which has 60HP, 108Nm of torque and weighs about 1070KG.


Now I have driven my son's 2011 1.2L Corsa D locally (around hills etc) and it's fine. 85HP/110Nm, 1160KG.

I would assume torque and weight is more important with hills than HP? So the 2011 Polo has basically the same torque as my son's Corsa and is ~100KG lighter. So this suggests if my son's Corsa D is OK up our hills, the 1.2L Polo will be too?
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Just take one for a drive.
 
It will be fine so long as she understands the use of a gearbox. I live in the Chilterns and there are loads of people that drive up hills and dont know what a gearbox is. They drive up hills in an inappropriate gear and get progressively slower and slower till they are near crawling up the top of the hill
 
Bear said:
It will be fine so long as she understands the use of a gearbox. I live in the Chilterns and there are loads of people that drive up hills and dont know what a gearbox is. They drive up hills in an inappropriate gear and get progressively slower and slower till they are near crawling up the top of the hill
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Nowt like the noise of a 4th gear up hill struggle!
 
Will be fine, I alternate between a 70bhp 1.2 Ford Fiesta and a 370bhp BMW on a day-to-day basis, I feel short changed but keeping up with traffic is generally no issue at all in the fiesta :P
 
It will be fine, probably wear out the clutch a lot quicker than usual but 1st gear engage/holding the biting point + handbrake are your best friend for any manual car regardless of power.
 
Yeah, its not like its a 1991 1l Nova with only 44hp and 68nm of torque. That was a fun little thing that I think made 30 once. One of my friends lived on a hill and he did get dropped off at the bottom as this thing just didn't want to know.
 
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Son had a 1997 polo for his first car, cheap insurancem it was a nice little car, had no problems with it except for the clutch but that was down him learning to drive, plenty of power for a learner driver.
 
Bear said:
It will be fine so long as she understands the use of a gearbox. I live in the Chilterns and there are loads of people that drive up hills and dont know what a gearbox is. They drive up hills in an inappropriate gear and get progressively slower and slower till they are near crawling up the top of the hill
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I was in an Uber last month that struggled to get up a hill in 1st as he wasn't giving it enough gas. He decided the appropriate course of action was to change into 2nd at the steepest part.
 
My first car was a rover 211 with 59hp i think, i live in north Wales with lots of hills and it was fine, you had to row it along with the gearstick a bit but it pulled very nicely in 2nd gear up hills.

I also had a Yaris with 74hp but that was a diesel and i never found that lacking in power at all tbf, it was perfect for what it was.
 
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