Volkswagen Polo

Adrian Wilson, General Manager,

Renault Gloucester

"The Volkswagen Polo is a practical supermini with big-car refinement and quality to match its premium status in the sector. The Polo is available with plenty of cutting-edge safety kit, and lots of it comes as standard on every model. All versions get automatic emergency braking, which will intervene if you fail to act to prevent an impending accident with either cars or pedestrians. It might only work at urban speeds, but that's still very useful as statistics show that that 75% of all collisions occur at under 25mph. The Polo scored a maximum five stars in crash tests by safety organisation Euro NCAP, and offers plenty of optional safety systems, many that aren't normally available at this end of the market.The Polo is a very comfortable car, and it's also extremely refined, which means not only will it be happy doing the everyday stuff, it will also get you to the other end of the country in relaxed fashion. The steering is nicely weighted, supplying sufficient assistance to make light work of city driving and parking while also feeling secure and planted for relaxed motorway cruising. The Polo is also as quiet as many larger cars, producing extremely low levels of road- and wind-noise. While the driving position is spot-on, with a generous amount of adjustment for the steering wheel and driver's seat, the Polo's body is punctuated by plenty of glass, so it's light and airy inside and visibility is excellent in all directions. For a supermini, interior space is simply superb, with generous leg-, head- and elbow-room for two adults in the front, and plenty of room for another two behind, and maybe even a third if they're not too tall. The boot is a good size too and, because the hatchback aperture is wide, you should just about be able to squeeze in a baby buggy."