Volkswagen Polo Dune Road Test

Volkswagen Polo Dune

What you get for your money, apart from Volkswagen build quality and engineering is electrically heated and adjustable door mirrors with integrated indicators, semi-automatic 'Climatic' air conditioning, aluminium look pedals, chrome plated instrument surrounds and interior door handles and leather gear knob and handbrake grips to match the leather trimmed steering wheel with colour co-ordinated stitching.

Both front seats are in a sporty style and covered in an unusual 'Space' fabric but only the driver has height adjustment to go with the rake and reach adjustable steering column. Both seats have a useful, elasticated lattice on the inboard side of the seats and the driver has an under-seat tray.

The fascia is plain and uncluttered, while the centre console is quite crowded with buttons and knobs, however it retains the standard Volkswagen air of Teutonic efficiency. The Dune comes fitted with an integrated radio/CD player with eight speakers and MP3 compatibility. The optional navigation and audio system is not available for the Dune.

All of the seats, particularly those in the rear, are firm but comfortable. The outer seats both have ISOFIX child seat fixings but the optional integrated child booster seat isn't available on the Dune either. The seats are in two parts; the bench squab, which lifts from the front and folds behind the front seats and the one-piece seat back folds flat. The problem I had was that because it is a single unit with latches on either side of the car, it really needs two people to fold it down. When it is folded, however, the luggage capacity is increased from 270- to a maximum of 1,030-litres.

As for safety features, the Polo Dune comes with front seat side airbags as well as driver and passenger bags. The passenger airbag can be fitted with a de-activation unit, which costs £35, while curtain airbags are not available as an option on the Dune. All Polo's come with ABS with EBD and Hydraulic Brake Assist (HBA).

As I said at the beginning, The Polo Dune is a bit out of the ordinary in terms of looks and a departure from the norm for VW. However it is limited in terms of extras, some of which are quite important and that could put some customers off.