Volkswagen Brazil has unveiled the facelifted Polo for South America. The five-door hatchback made in the country now looks more like the Polo for Europe while taking advantage of an improved interior and revised engine lineup. Pre-orders are already running.
The front bumper now looks much like that of the EU-spec Polo, but the grille has two horizontal bars in it instead of a cellular mesh. Gone is the light strip below the hood, and the headlights have less sophisticated light patterns than before.
The rear bumper and the taillights stay more or less the same, looking markedly different from the European spec. The LED signatures are new, but that would be all.
Inside, the whole trim is new and better than ever before with a wider selection of equipment. The company highlights enhanced seats, steering wheel and drive mode selector. The central touchscreen can now be up to 10 inches large, while the digital dash can span up to 10.25 inches of diagonal size. Modest updates made it into the locally developed infotainment suite called VW Play.
The range-topping 1.0-liter turbo engine with 128 PS (126 hp / 94 kW) is gone from the lineup. Its less powerful modification rated at 116 PS (114 hp / 87 kW) still remains, though, and you can go naturally aspirated and still get 84 PS (83 hp / 62 kW). The available transmissions are five-speed manual and six-speed automatic. The brakes use rotors at the front axle and antiquated drums at the rear axle.
Even in its most basic trim, the VW Polo for South America has LED lighting all around, four airbags, an air conditioner on board, a radio and a safety assist package. Higher trims introduce cruise control, climate control, wheels up to 16 inches in diameter, six-channel audio, a reversing camera and more.
Prices lie within the range of 82,990 – 109,990 Brazilian Real. This is considerably cheaper than the previous version of the car, which cost 7,000 Real more maxed out.
