2019 Polo - 3cyl

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Hi all,

Thoughts on the new 3 cylinder (+ turbocharged) polo motor? A family member bought one, I've never been a fan personally!

Planning on doing an OC at 2000-2500 miles with a solid 0w30. Dealership services from then on.
 
Despite the U.S. and Canada having a combined population over 10X of Australia, that car and engine isn't offered here.
 
Originally Posted by skyactiv
Despite the U.S. and Canada having a combined population over 10X of Australia, that car and engine isn't offered here.


Explains why theres nothing out there to read up on!
 
While not directly comparable to cars elsewhere, I've driven the Ford Focus 1.0L 3 cylinder powered rental cars. They are slow, at about 10 seconds 0-60, despite 125 claimed HP, which honestly feels like about 80HP. Although top speed seems good, the 1.0 3 cylinder turbo is working hard at fast highway speeds found here in the states.

The 3 cylinder sounds really nice, and is smooth enough. But in my opinion, it's too small for American highways. And a full throttle request at 80MPH results in no perceptible acceleration and seems to take an eternity to gain another 5MPH. The reason I bring this up is that passing power is very lacking. Although the turbo does a good job at producing enough power for "cruise flight" in most conditions, including up mild hills.

I'd only consider a well tuned 3 cylinder engine in a light weight car.
 
seems to be around 100hp and 2200lb but dont quote me on that esp the curb weight.
 
Originally Posted by Cujet
While not directly comparable to cars elsewhere, I've driven the Ford Focus 1.0L 3 cylinder powered rental cars. They are slow, at about 10 seconds 0-60, despite 125 claimed HP, which honestly feels like about 80HP. Although top speed seems good, the 1.0 3 cylinder turbo is working hard at fast highway speeds found here in the states.

The 3 cylinder sounds really nice, and is smooth enough. But in my opinion, it's too small for American highways. And a full throttle request at 80MPH results in no perceptible acceleration and seems to take an eternity to gain another 5MPH. The reason I bring this up is that passing power is very lacking. Although the turbo does a good job at producing enough power for "cruise flight" in most conditions, including up mild hills.

I'd only consider a well tuned 3 cylinder engine in a light weight car.
80hp in 2000 lbs is enough power for 400 series highways around here.
 
fwiw, i sat in a vw polo at last year's jakarta car show. im 6'2" and 230, i fit, and the polo seemed nice. 30 min suburban test drove in u.s. a ford ecosport 3cyl, wasnt shabby at all scooting up to 55mph.
 
Well I remember my '88 Daihatsu Charade 3 cyl, 1L, 60horse, 60 torques.

I tried to buy a turbo for it, but CA emissions regulations stopped that.

You had to carry a lot of speed through a corner, because you couldn't build it rapidly afterwards. American drivers are the opposite, they corner like a bucket of paint is above their head about to tip over; they don't mash the go-pedal until the road is straight. Every onramp is a challenge.
Several times I had people come to a dead stop at the top of a ramp. It's game over to merge when that happens.

For all that work I found the MPG wasn't much worse, and the amount of people willing to cut in front of me, nail brakes, and turn into driveways, was much lower when I moved from that car into a 1.6L, 4cyl '90 Integra. Also, I took a serious bath selling it.
 
Originally Posted by spackard
Well I remember my '88 Daihatsu Charade 3 cyl, 1L, 60horse, 60 torques.


I had a 1990 GTti, that was the dohc turbo....100hp and went really, really well. Suspension, brakes and wheels factory upgraded to cope of course.
 
Originally Posted by spackard
Well I remember my '88 Daihatsu Charade 3 cyl, 1L, 60horse, 60 torques.


I remember seeing those as a kid. They seemed very Toyota-like.

And while the Charade and Subaru Justy introduced the US to 3-cylinder engines, Honda and Smart brought them back some 10-15 years later. The 1st gen Insight had a I3 that is similar to the engine used in the Fit and Civic Hybrid(but with one less cylinder). The SmartForTwo had a Mitsu I3.

The Mini Cooper and Mitsu Mirage G4 are the two cars you can buy today with standard I3 power. The Fiesta and Focus is no more. I think the Ford EcoSport uses the Ecoboost I3.
 
Originally Posted by nthach
Originally Posted by spackard
Well I remember my '88 Daihatsu Charade 3 cyl, 1L, 60horse, 60 torques.


I remember seeing those as a kid. They seemed very Toyota-like.

And while the Charade and Subaru Justy introduced the US to 3-cylinder engines, Honda and Smart brought them back some 10-15 years later. The 1st gen Insight had a I3 that is similar to the engine used in the Fit and Civic Hybrid(but with one less cylinder). The SmartForTwo had a Mitsu I3.

The Mini Cooper and Mitsu Mirage G4 are the two cars you can buy today with standard I3 power. The Fiesta and Focus is no more. I think the Ford EcoSport uses the Ecoboost I3.


Rarer still was the Charade 1 liter non turbo diesel, tried to source one to restomod a Daihatsu I own but no dice all out in India

Those were the first "100mpg" capable cars
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted by Cujet
While not directly comparable to cars elsewhere, I've driven the Ford Focus 1.0L 3 cylinder powered rental cars. They are slow, at about 10 seconds 0-60, despite 125 claimed HP, which honestly feels like about 80HP. Although top speed seems good, the 1.0 3 cylinder turbo is working hard at fast highway speeds found here in the states.

The 3 cylinder sounds really nice, and is smooth enough. But in my opinion, it's too small for American highways. And a full throttle request at 80MPH results in no perceptible acceleration and seems to take an eternity to gain another 5MPH. The reason I bring this up is that passing power is very lacking. Although the turbo does a good job at producing enough power for "cruise flight" in most conditions, including up mild hills.

I'd only consider a well tuned 3 cylinder engine in a light weight car.


I own one of these 3cyl focus and I can confirm everything. They're great for just setting the cruise control on the highway and leaving it but they lack any serious power if you need to pass on a 2-lane highway or go up a hill. Passing anybody on 2-lane highways require some planning, good visibility, and fast approach speeds. However, I know for a fact they're faster than a 4cyl-5spd fiesta and slower than a rental Hyundai Accent. A hidden gem with this car though is the 'overboost' function; I think it gives around 6PSI more boost if you're flooring it and will stop the extra boost when you start easing your feet off the throttle.

An example, on I-70 going through the rockies will require me to drop down to third or fourth gear and floor the throttle in order to not drop under 60mph.

On the plus side, there's lots of space in the engine bay, it's easy to work with, and the starter is easily accessible at the rear of the engine from underneath - you only have to take off the under tray to get to it. You can drop the trans without the subframe in the way too.

I imagine they're great for Europe considering our neighbors across the pond's smaller roads although overall this engine does not belong in a 3000 pound car. A prius, corolla, civic, Mazda 3 and just about any other compact car gets very similar gas mileage but doesn't feel like you're dragging around a battleship's anchor (although the 1.0L was great when it was introduced in 2012.)
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted by Rmay635703

Rarer still was the Charade 1 liter non turbo diesel, tried to source one to restomod a Daihatsu I own but no dice all out in India

Which is funny - Briggs & Stratton bought engines from Daihatsu. You can buy a 2 or 3 cylinder Yanmar or Kubota engine for a genset/light trailer or air compressor. The 2 cylinder Yanmar is a popular sailboat engine.
 
The engine is the "bread-and-butter" machine for Volkswagen. Power spreads between 95 bhp and 115 of those horses. It is installed in cars much larger than the Polo, the largest one is the "T-Cross", a small SUV. Even an LPG-version is sold in Europe. Used in Seats and Skodas a lot. Even a Skoda Octavia with 4,6 m long may have a 115 bhp-3-pot-milkbottle under the hood.

VW wants You to have it coupled to a 7-speed-DSG to get the best out of it but 6-speed-manuals sell best due to huge step of around 2.000 € to get the DSG.

Seems to be quite reliable, no real issues have popped up here. Consumption is economical, in everyday-use around town and on country roads it may drop down to high 40s mpg and even below that. In an up! (a tiny car of 3,5 m long) even mid 50s can be reached. Despite this driving it hard produces disappointing figures around 30 mpg.

What is typical for all those very small charged engines: They simply have not even a slight hint of grunt below 1500 rpm. Nothing. Seriously. In a Ford Focus (125 bhp) it took more than 15 seconds to get from 55 to 65 in 6th gear with nothing more than two adults of slim size on board. Full throttle. Hardly any power on tap. Should be kept between 2000 and 4000 rpms to always be on the sweet spot of boost and torques. Above 4000 there will be no real gain in power any more - revving higher just saves gear changes and time. Feels as if 110 of 115 are already in the stable. To compensate for this "diesel-like" rev-range the manuals tend to be long-geared. Polo reaches 62 in second gear for example which gives nice "test figures". DSG improves a lot on that with very short 1st to allow for better controlled manouverability and long 7th for economy.

When not interested in lots of spirited driving the engine is suffice otherwise may quickly disappoint.

Seems I am not a big fan of those "overblown" tiny units ...

Markus
 
not in USA but the Polo looks good + with the 1.8T would be great, but prolly not with an under powered triple. reasoning being it would hurt golf-GTI sales for sure, same reason the Scirocco is NOT sold here as it would truely KILL GTI sales being a better looking sportier car IMO
 
just read the WIKI + although i did not know they were discontinued it was stated economics kept it from USA prolly because IT was not made cheaply in Mexico or other USA plants. i like VAG cars having had a great 2001 200 thou mile turbo jetta + now a 2001 TT 225Q roadster with 50 thou on it a real nice driver + fun summer ride, althou quite capable in winter with the Haldex Quattro my 2001 SV Nissan Frontier does winter duty!!
 
We had a 2013 1.2 3 Cylinder Polo for 12 months back in 2016.

It drove very much like a diesel, it had a little bit of grunt up to 3000rpm and then was very flat up to 5500rpm.

It was perfectly suitable for around town, and would cruise at 70mph quite happily. But trying to overtake on country roads usually meant a good run-up and some near-misses with the rev limiter.
 
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