By Sala Masindane

In a world where SUVs and hot hatches take much of the lion’s share of sales in terms of cars sold in SA. It is always great to see some manufacturers bringing in sedans to the market and notwithstanding that most of these are mostly going to be used for e-hailing services. Some families might be in play for a sedan and the recently launched Volkswagen derivative should be in with a shout. We spent some time with Volkswagen Polo Sedan Life to see if it’s worthy of a shout.

Exterior design highlights

The range topping Volkswagen Polo Sedan Life’s stand-out exterior features include front LED headlights and taillights, a chrome grille as well as a chrome finish that is seen on the window strips and door handles. The exterior design enhances what is already a good offering.

Interior design, practicality and tech

Inside, you are met by the two-tone theme that is the centre of attraction. In addition to this, it also comes standard with keyless entry and start, a rear view camera, a 10-inch touchscreen infotainment system that features wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, and a wireless mobile charging pad.

The cabin is a good space to be in with some soft-touch and plastic materials used across the dashboard. The infotainment is easy to use and the standard sound system is decent. It offers good legroom and head-space for all the passengers. The boot space of 521 is sufficient for small families. We would opt for a different seat colour palette as these proved not to be the easiest to maintain during our time in the sedan.

Performance and driving impressions

The Life is powered by a 1.6-litre four-cylinder MPI petrol engine producing 81kW/152Nm and it’s paired to a 6-speed Tiptronic transmission. We found the Polo Sedan Life is composed and responsive when in the city traffic or out in the open road. Fuel consumption is decent at a combined 7.1l/100km against a claimed 6.5 l/100km. Price start from R360,900.

Final word

If you are into such vehicles like some of us ‘old school cats’ we would take this without thinking about it twice but obviously with different coloured seats.