Curious list, this: "Cars I've particularly enjoyed in the last month". The AC Cobra Mark IV CRS is there, of course. So is the Maserati 3200 GT. But they're joined by a car from a completely different part of the market - the three-cylinder Polo turbo diesel.I thought this little five-door hatchback was a stunningly good car for its class, especially at the lowered price quoted in Volkswagen's till-the-end-of-September brochure. It's very well built, it's unexpectedly sporting to drive, and the three-cylinder 1.4-litre PD75 version of the four-cylinder PD115 common-rail turbo diesel is a glorious little engine.Okay, there isn't much room in the back seats, as one brief four-up CARkeys trip made clear, but the space-saver spare wheel allows for pretty good luggage space.Volkswagen's re-equipped Polo factories - in Spain, Slovakia or wherever - turn out bodyshells with an excellent finish and almost Golf-style panel fit. The SE interior (that's the only model available with the PD75 engine) is neat and well laid-out, and the blue/grey finish in the test car seemed pretty cool, in various senses of the word.SE Polos come with an electric sunroof (or air conditioning in place of it, for a small extra charge), front foglights, heated windscreen washer jets, an eight-speaker sound system on the five-door model, height adjustment for both front seats, and the absolute essential for one of these cars to look right - six-spoke Kyalami alloy wheels.I've a theory that Volkswagen deliberately fits some dreary-looking wheels to its lower-spec cars so that customers stand in the showroom, with tears in their eyes, pleading with the sales staff to be allowed to spend extra money on something more attractive from the accessory catalogue. "Oh, all right," the salespersons say.Saloon and estate Polos, it's worth keeping in mind, are one generation back from the hatchback, and the TDI engines they offer aren't the unit-injector PD design. Externally, the clue is that Volkswagens with the PD engine have a TDI badge with the last two letters in red.This is the phenomenally high-pressure fuel injection engine which out-muscles its HDi rivals from Peugeot/Citroen, but because it has metal cams in the system instead of being all computer-controlled is noticeably noisier than them in four-pot form.The odd thing is that the balancer-shaft three-cylinder runs more quietly than the four. It's a simply gorgeous little engine, with smart responses, terrific mid-range punch and spectacular economy figures.With revised suspension similar to the set-up on the Golf, and a wider track, the latest Polo feels better poised and more responsive. That's partly what helps the TDI to make such quick and smooth cross-country journeys. The other thing is the instant reaction, if you keep in the right part of the revcounter, from a very torquey engine.Taking into account its small size, good handling and strong on-the-move acceleration, the Polo TDI will outpace many larger and more powerful cars on a typical B-class road, if that's your game. But it's also more relaxed than many small diesels when you hit the motorway.Cars in this class don't often feel as if they have much in reserve, which is one of the reasons why they can be a bit wearing on a long city-to-city journey, but the Polo doesn't have to strain. In fact, if you don't look round and see how compact the body is in real life, you'd think you were driving a much larger saloon.The five-door costs £465 more than the three-door in Volkswagen's latest on-the-road "value price" list, which shows both cars with a £600 saving compared with whatever "retail price" means these days. You can get a Polo for under £9000 just now, but that's in the S specification and without the PD75 engine. Did I mention the engine before . . . ?Second opinion: In the right circumstances, and as long as you keep the turbo spinning, this is an unexpectedly sporty little car as well as a practical hatchback. The mid-range urge is so good that you sometimes wonder if 75bhp is a typing error. By no means the cheapest option, the Polo is nevertheless one of the best combinations of economy, fun and build quality I've driven for a long time. David Finlay. Engine 1422cc, 3 cylinders Power 75bhp Transmission 5-speed manual Fuel 62.8mpg Acceleration 0-62mph: 12.9 seconds Top speed 106mph Price £12,485 Details correct at publication date
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