Volkswagen have (quite literally) turned up the bass and the base on their Polo with the Beats model, fashioning their popular, and now all-new compact car, into a four-wheel Dr Dre beatbox, and yes I did say beatbox.
For those of you unaware of the global phenomenon that is Dr Dre, let me bring you up to speed. Born Andre Romelle Young, (Dr Dre stage name) is an American rapper, record producer, entrepreneur and gazillionaire – well not quite but he’s very well sorted financially.
Anyway, this music maestro was evidently unhappy with the state of headphones back in 2006, reportedly saying ‘Man, it’s one thing that people steal my music (pirate downloads), it’s another thing to destroy the feeling of what I’ve worked on’. So Beats by Dr Dre studio headphones were debuted in 2008, with the brand subsequently sold to Apple (6 years later) for US$3 Billion – and that was when three billion was a lot of money.
(Aside from being a great product) Much of Beats success was/is down to positioning. Beats headphones were seen on the ears of all the high profile celebs, from movie and rock stars to footballers and socialites – it would appear that the formula of a strong product combined with good brand alliances turned out to be a winning one, which leads me on to the All-new Polo Beats.
The all-new Volkswagen Polo may be bigger than those that have come before it (with a longer wheelbase too) but it’s still small enough to navigate the urban jungle, its natural environment. The greater overall footprint transfers into increased leg and headroom on the inside, giving you space to relax and breathe in heavy traffic, plus its large 351L of boot space allows for extended shopping trips or weekend adventures. The Polo boasts a clean and refreshing new look while keeping its signature ‘Tornado line’ that contours the small car’s profile. Halogen headlamps light your way forward with LED’s there for Daytime Running Lamps and illuminating the tail.
Under its cute (and decal’d) bonnet is a 1L, 3 cylinder turbo engine which may not sound that much but it produces 70kW and 175Nm and gets from 0-100kph in a little over 10s all while delivering a reported fuel efficiency of 4.7L/100k’s combined – that’s pretty frugal.
For the Beats edition, the door mirrors come in contrasting colour, it has Beats decals on side skirts, beats badging on the side pillars and interior speakers, a high-gloss black grille, sports comfort front seats with beats logo and then there’s the stereo – delivering a heavy low base sound (thanks to a 300w subwoofer) and a powerful 8-channel amplifier – both of which I shocked with my 80’s music choice.
The rest of the interior is modern and upbeat with colour coded dash panel and contrasting shell white panels. Infotainment is displayed on an 8” colour touchscreen and includes Apple (of course) Carplay, Android Auto and Mirrorlink – it’s all very funky.
On the road, the new Polo is spritely and nimble, push down hard on the accelerator and the engine purrs louder than a Tom Cat on heat (and in a note much deeper than its size would suggest). It’s a fun car to drive and feels secure in the turns.
On the topic of safety, the new Volkswagen Polo comes equipped with a whole host of alerts and assists, from ABS to EDTC (braking to traction), although the cruise control is non-adaptive.
We all know that traffic congestion is the bane of many of our lives, but on the flipside, don’t forget that music fuels the soul, so, don’t sit and stew in city traffic, simply turn up the beats and enjoy the trip.
If you have any questions or would like to find out more about the Volkswagen Polo, call us on 0800 275 374 or fill in the quote request form below.
This review was originally published on Tarmc and has been republished with permission from the owner.
