2025 Volkswagen Polo review

The so-called ‘light car’ segment in Australia is continuing to be hollowed out, as more and more brands discontinue their vehicles and instead focus on more expensive, more profitable SUVs.

The Volkswagen Group, however, is sticking it out with not just one but three separate options: the Volkswagen Polo, Skoda Fabia and Audi A1.

The Polo will be the most familiar to Australians, with the nameplate having debuted here in 1996 (and much earlier in Europe) and being a consistent fixture in the segment.

The current generation first entered production back in 2017, so it’s no spring chicken. It’s not the oldest in the segment, however, with that title going to the Mazda 2.

It wears crisply tailored lines with sharp, uniform side creases and a handsome if conservative look overall. It’s recognisable as a Volkswagen, but not as the latest generation of Volkswagen.

Judging by some of Volkswagen’s newer products, any Polo successor will inevitably feature more blobby, amorphous styling, so enjoy this crisply starched styling while it lasts.

Our tester was finished in resale white – sorry, Pure White – which was a crying shame as you can get the Polo in funky Vibrant Violet. That makes Volkswagen one of the few mass-market brands to offer a purple colour. I’d happily spend the extra $600 to get it.

For 2025, the Polo no longer starts at under $30,000, though Volkswagen did at least add some extra kit when it raised the base price by $1300.

It now features standard Travel Assist in base Life trim, previously offered in an option package that came with wireless smartphone mirroring, satellite navigation and a better digital instrument cluster – now features no longer available in this trim.

A base price above $30,000 might seem shocking, but everything in this segment has been getting more expensive – the MG 3 is no longer a sub-$20,000 player, while the Mazda 2 recently lost its entry-level trim and the now hybrid-only Toyota Yaris is pricier than before.

Still, this base price is higher than many key rivals. Is the Polo worth the premium?

How much does the Volkswagen Polo cost?

The Polo Life is priced at $30,790 before on-roads and $34,585 drive-away based on a Sydney postcode.

It’s not just that the Polo is more expensive than other entry-level vehicles in its segment, it’s also more expensive than other entry-level Volkswagen Group products.

That makes it cheaper than a base T-Cross Life with the same powertrain (currently priced at $35,990 drive-away), but more expensive than an entry-level Skoda Fabia Select ($31,990 drive-away nationwide) or a larger Scala Select ($32,490 drive-away).

Even a Skoda Kamiq Select is cheaper at $33,990 drive-away.

To see how the Volkswagen Polo lines up against the competition, check out our comparison tool

What is the Volkswagen Polo like on the inside?

The Polo impresses with an interior that wouldn’t look out of place in a more expensive car.

It makes the Toyota Yaris’ cabin look cheap in comparison, and the Mazda 2’s look dated. This is arguably the classiest cabin in this segment.

Across the top and front of the dashboard is surprisingly premium soft-touch trim in a segment where harder, scratchy material is the norm. Volkswagen even applied the stuff to the right of the steering wheel, which would have been a very easy place to cheap out.

Metal-look trim surrounds the centre console and glossy patterned trim runs across the dashboard to provide some welcome contrast in the black interior.

Even the cloth upholstery on the seats avoids looking cheap, while the vanity mirrors are illuminated, the sunglass holder has a rubberised insert, and the doors – though featuring hard plastic trim, apart from the armrest – close with a solid thunk.

We only observed one rattle, which manifested on coarser-chip surfaces and appeared to be coming from the front passenger seatbelt.

You grip a tactile, leather-wrapped steering wheel – Volkswagen knows how to do a good steering wheel – but there’s just a regular centre armrest instead of the clever height-adjustable one found in other vehicles from the brand.

The air-conditioning controls are a collection of knobs – simple, classic and tactile.

Volkswagen’s interior designers still don’t seem to have figured out cupholders, though. Who on the team thought octagonal ones were a good idea? At least there are large, easily accessible bottle holders in the doors.

Ahead of the driver is a digital instrument cluster, though in the base Life this is a simple setup without a map view. However, you still have multiple selectable layouts.

The infotainment system features an 8.0-inch touchscreen, with quick response times and attractive graphics. There’s also a sound effect that plays whenever you touch the screen, though there’s no haptic feedback like you’ll find in a more expensive Audi.

Maintaining a wired Android Auto connection shouldn’t be this hard, though. On a couple of occasions I’d knock the cable and it’d disconnect Android Auto and not allow me to reconnect. Bluetooth dropouts occurred, too.

While it’s tempting to blame my phone or cable – and I know some of you iPhone evangelists will make a bee line right to the comments to proselytise about the wonders of Apple – the simple fact is I’ve had no issue in every other car I’ve had in recent weeks.

Even when Android Auto was working, there were constant pop-ups saying my phone was disconnected, while on other occasions the audio would skip annoyingly. And while in most cars Android Auto boots up right away, sometimes I’d have to manually select it in the Polo.

A much more pleasant surprise was the sound system, which is quite good for an unbranded unit in an entry-level light car.

The presence of front parking sensors is also a pleasant surprise for a vehicle in this segment, and combined with the rear sensors and reversing camera makes this an easy car to park.

There’s this mistaken apprehension that SUVs always offer much more practicality, but the Polo compares favourably to its T-Cross SUV sibling.

The two cars ride the same wheelbase, have almost the same interior width, and while the T-Cross has more headroom the Polo has plenty for passengers around 180cm tall.

Two adults can comfortably sit in the back if they don’t play basketball professionally, though squeezing someone into the centre seat is best saved for emergencies. There’s also a prominent driveline hump impinging on the centre passenger’s legroom.

The front seatbacks are soft and feature map pockets, while there are two illuminated USB-C outlets back here plus three top-tether and two ISOFIX anchor points for child seats. There are no air vents like you’ll find in an MG 3, though, and no fold-down armrest.

Boot space is a competitive 351 litres with the rear seats up, expanding to 1125L with the rear seats folded. It’s a deep, uniformly sized storage area, and underneath the boot floor you’ll find a 15-inch steel spare wheel.

To see how the Volkswagen Polo lines up against the competition, check out our comparison tool

What’s under the bonnet?

As has been the case for a while, the non-GTI Polo range is powered by a 1.0-litre, three-cylinder turbocharged petrol engine. The base manual has been dropped, meaning a seven-speed DSG dual-clutch auto is now standard.

To see how the Volkswagen Polo lines up against the competition, check out our comparison tool

How does the Volkswagen Polo drive?

The noise of the Polo’s engine is kept from intruding on the peace and quiet of the cabin, with Volkswagen evidently using a decent amount of sound deadening.

Not that it would be too much of a pain to hear the engine more, as it has a spunky note as is often the case with turbocharged three-cylinder mills.

It works well with the dual-clutch automatic, which shifts quickly and crisply, and there’s plenty of grunt throughout the rev range.

The Polo has no trouble overtaking or zipping through gaps in traffic, though as with many dual-clutch-equipped vehicles there’s a slight hesitation off the line.

At the end of the day it likely comes down to what you’re most used to and therefore prefer: a dual-clutch like the Polo, or a CVT like in the Swift or a traditional torque-converter auto like in the Mazda 2. All have a very different feel.

Powertrain refinement isn’t perfect. At 70km/h or so the Polo will be sitting in seventh gear at around 1500rpm and you’ll feel this slight vibration through the car. At low speeds, you’ll also hear the clutches engaging and disengaging.

But generally speaking, noise suppression is superb. On hilly roads when it’s holding a lower gear, you’ll see it revving up to 3000 or 4000rpm but you’ll scarcely hear it. Tyre and wind noise is also well-contained.

The suspension tune is rather firm, and you do feel the torsion-beam rear clomping over some bumps. It takes away somewhat from the otherwise quite polished feel of the Polo.

It’s a good steer, with sharp turn-in and steering that’s light and direct but with a good amount of road feel. You can have some fun with this in the corners.

The automatic stop/start is very eager, activating readily while some rival brands’ systems require a firm press of the brake pedal. I can usually tolerate these systems but this one was too keen.

The good news is you can turn it off with one press of a button, but the bad news is it’ll always default to on. The lane-keep assist isn’t as annoying, but it can be turned off with just two button presses.

For 2025, Volkswagen has made Travel Assist standard in the base Polo. This combines adaptive cruise control with lane centring, making highway driving almost mindless.

It’s worth noting the base Polo doesn’t feature blind-spot monitoring or rear cross-traffic alert. While visibility is good, if these features are must-haves you’ll need to look at a mid-range Style, a base T-Cross Life or a Skoda Fabia Select.

To see how the Volkswagen Polo lines up against the competition, check out our comparison tool

What do you get?

There are three members of the local Polo lineup.

Polo Life equipment highlights:

• LED headlights
• LED tail-lights
• 15-inch ‘Essex’ alloy wheels with 185/65 R15 tyres
• 15-inch steel spare wheel
• Park Assist (semi-autonomous parking assist)
• Power-folding exterior mirrors
• Rain-sensing wipers
• Manual air-conditioning
• Digital Cockpit digital instrument cluster
• 8.0-inch touchscreen infotainment system
• Wired Apple CarPlay and Android Auto
• DAB+ digital radio
• Wireless phone charger
• 6-speaker sound system
• 2 x front USB-C outlets
• 2 x rear USB-C outlets
• Leather-wrapped steering wheel
• Height and reach adjustment for steering wheel
• Paddle shifters
• Leather-wrapped shifter
• Black inlays
• 60:40 split/fold rear seats

Polo Style adds:

• Front LED light bar
• Front fog lights with static cornering function
• IQ.Light matrix LED headlights
• ‘Premium’ LED tail-lights with dynamic indicators
• 16-inch ‘Palermo’ alloy wheels with 195/55 R16 tyres
• Proximity entry with push-button start
• Dual-zone climate control
• Touch slider temperature controls
• Digital Cockpit Pro digital instrument cluster with map view
• Wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto
• Satellite navigation
• ‘Comfort sport’ front seats
• ‘Comfort sport cloth’ upholstery
• Chrome interior trim for air vents, door handle surrounds, window switches
• Dark Iron Grey metallic gloss inlays
• Ambient lighting
• LED footwell lighting

Polo GTI adds:

• LED driving lights
• Dual chrome exhaust outlets
• Red exterior accents
• Rear diffuser
• Rear spoiler
• Black side sill extensions
• 18-inch ‘Faro’ alloy wheels with 215/40 R18 tyres
• Space-saver spare
• Selectable drive modes
• Sport Select adaptive suspension
• Sports seats with additional bolstering
• ‘Sports’ steering wheel
• ‘Clark sports cloth’ upholstery
• Black headliner and pillar trim
• Stainless steel pedals
• Kings Red interior inlays (except with Kings Red exterior finish)

A sunroof is optional on the Style and GTI.

To see how the Volkswagen Polo lines up against the competition, check out our comparison tool

Is the Volkswagen Polo safe?

The Volkswagen Polo has a five-star safety rating from ANCAP, based on testing conducted in 2022.

Standard safety equipment across the range includes:

• Autonomous emergency braking
• Travel Assist
• Multi-collision braking
• Driver fatigue monitoring
• Front, front-side, front-centre, and curtain airbags
• Front and rear parking sensors
• Reversing camera

The Style and GTI add:

• Blind-spot monitoring
• Rear cross-traffic alert

How much does the Volkswagen Polo cost to run?

The Polo is covered by a five-year, unlimited-kilometre warranty like the wider Volkswagen lineup in Australia.

Opting for the three-year Care Plan plan costs $1500, while the five-year plan costs $2850. That’s much more palatable, but a Suzuki Swift costs $1955 over five years and a Toyota Yaris just $1250.

To see how the Volkswagen Polo lines up against the competition, check out our comparison tool

CarExpert’s Take on the Volkswagen Polo

The Volkswagen Polo stands out as the most sophisticated in its segment.

Don’t get us wrong, there’s still some refining that could be done. The ride could be more pliant, while we did experience some infotainment issues.

However, for something coming up on eight years old, it has an impressively insulated, well-packaged cabin with plenty of genuinely nice materials, as well as a punchy powertrain.

It feels more upscale than its rivals, and more modern than a Mazda 2. Volkswagen charges a premium for this privilege, but you may well be tempted to play Polo.

The toughest competition could well be from another Volkswagen Group vehicle: the Skoda Fabia, which features the same powertrain but sharper drive-away pricing and standard blind-spot monitoring, rear cross-traffic alert and wireless smartphone mirroring (albeit no Travel Assist).

If you’re considering a Polo you definitely need to consider its Czech cousin.

Interested in buying a Volkswagen Polo? Get in touch with one of CarExpert’s trusted dealers here

MORE: Everything Volkswagen Polo

Pros

• Generally punchy, refined powertrain
• Good fuel economy
• Classy styling inside and out

Cons

• It's not cheap
• Firm ride
• Missing some safety features found in some entry-level rivals

Top Line Specs

• Power: 85kW
• Fuel Type: Premium Unleaded Petrol
• Economy: 5.4L/100km
• CO2 Emissions: 124g/km
• ANCAP Safety Rating: 5