You have to feel sorry for manufacturers competing in the compact
hatch segment, except Volkswagen that is. In March this year they
managed to shift 1903 Polo’s which is quite incredible really,
especially when you take a look at the competition sales.
Ford
managed to sell 634 Fiesta’s, Honda 338 Jazz’s, Toyota 255 Yaris’s,
Suzuki 204 Swift’s, Peugeot 99 208’s and Citroen just 1 C3. This
probably isn’t a massively fair comparison as some manufacturers have a
far smaller range in comparison to VW’s Polo. Some are more upmarket too
and thus appeal to a niche. In short though, Volkswagen are killing it.
Renault
sold 326 Clio’s in the same period, which is a crying shame if you ask
me because it really is a very good little car - having driven it last
year, and again recently, this time in GT-Line trim.
Okay, let’s wrap this up!
Would I buy a Clio over a Polo? I
would actually, however there is a huge but, only if Renault offered a
slightly more powerful engine option, besides the Renault Sport Clio of
course. For the similar money (R221 100.00) you can have the new
Volkswagen Polo 1.2TSi Comfortline (66kW 160Nm). While you might argue
that 300cc and 35Nm won’t make much of a difference, having driven the
new Polo the increase in engine capacity and torque is very noticeable
and offers far more comfort in everyday driving conditions.
There
is trade-off though, if you opt for the Polo, and that is style. It just
doesn’t have any and if you can look past the slightly underpowered
engine, the new Clio is brimming with French flair, good dynamics and a
healthy wallop of standard tech, more so than the new Polo, and in that
regard it surely does deserve your money.
