Few cars in the recently revised Polo range cost less than £10,000, so with a list price of £9250 this is one of the cheaper models. For a small hatchback, though, it's still fairly expensive. If your budget is modest, there are better buys to be found elsewhere.
But what you get with the Polo is quality and a sense of refinement which is hard to achieve for less money. That applies in particular to any version - such as this one - with Volkswagen's excellent 1.2-litre three-cylinder engine, available in either 54bhp or, as here, 63bhp states of tune.
Even in this more powerful form, the 1.2 isn't exactly a tarmac burner, though it feels quicker than the figures suggest thanks partly to low gearing which lets the car accelerate usefully hard once it's up and running. Low gearing means high revs, and by rights this Polo should sound highly stressed on the open road. The fact that it doesn't - even when cruising at 4000rpm or so - is down to the fact that the engine operates very smoothly, to the point where it's hardly audible most of the time. In particular, it's so quiet at rest that you can sometimes forget it has been switched on at all.
This big-car feel promoted by this lack of mechanical fuss is enhanced both by the comfortable driving position and by the superb speed-sensitive power-assisted steering, which is light enough to require minimum effort in town but feels suitably meaty in the country. And if you're wanting to make up time on tricky roads, the chassis allows you to do just that; in terms of handling, the Polo is great fun to drive when you want it to be, and only a slight jitteriness over bumps spoils the general effect.
There's a lot of room up front, though the Polo isn't class-leading in terms of space for rear passengers. Luggage volume is modest at 270 litres with the back seat in place, but extends to a more impressive 1030 litres if you're prepared to turn it into a two-seater.
The mid-life update introduced earlier this year has freshened up the exterior shape, but the interior is a cheerless place to be. It's as if the Volkswagen designers prefer to work with larger cars and reckon they can get away with a lack of imagination in smaller ones.
You do get quite a lot of toys to play with, though. The test car, in the second-from-bottom S trim level, had as standard ABS, EBD, Brake Assist, alloy wheels and air-conditioning, among other goodies. It also had £1490 worth of options, including easy-entry sliding front seats with height adjustment and floor-level drawers, front passenger airbag deactivation, a 6-CD autochanger and satellite navigation.
You can decide for yourself which of those items is worth it, but if you ask me only a person with the most tenuous control over his or her senses would specify satnav in a Polo S. It costs £1020, so with that option alone the cost of the car sails over the five-figure mark, making it more expensive than the mechanically identical 1.2 SE which gets satnav as standard, along with a lot of other extra equipment.
Clearly, it's worth checking the brochure carefully before you write that cheque. You may be unlikely to do this in any case if this is going to be your sole means of transport, but as a quality small car - perhaps the second or third in the household - there is still a lot to be said for the Polo.