Friday 3 October 2008

What’s outside today? VW Polo Bluemotion

I’ve been lucky enough to get the Polo on extended loan for a few months. As far as I can tell it is an arrangement with few downsides. I get a smart new car to use, one that should be pretty cheap to run as well and I have to compile regular reports for my editor.

So far I’ve been pretty impressed with the Bluemotion, I’ve had it for a week now and living with it seems pretty painless. The first journey I undertook was a drive from Newbury back to Warwickshire. This included the usual stop-start motorway traffic you get on a Friday evening but I got home in decent time and feeling quite fresh. As time passes, however, some of the novelty is wearing off and I’m finding one or two irritating quirks. The brake pedal has a lot of travel – you push down and down, and down before something happens. Similarly, there are times when acceleration is not as readily available as you might want it. When the turbo kicks in you can feel the swell of torque carrying you along but if you’re rolling up to a junction in second gear and decide there is time to nip out the immediacy of response just isn’t there. Obviously the solution is to change into first as you approach junctions but it would be nice if the engine did something usefull between its 900rpm tickover and 2,000rpm when the turbo cuts in.

The whole point of the Bluemotion is economy and on that score it appears to be doing well. A week at the wheel has used barely half a tank of diesel. At this rate it could be a while before I discover how much it costs to fill the tank. Then again, diesel is such disgusting stuff the less often I have to come in touch with it the better.

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