It is perhaps one of the single greatest concerns faced by both customers and carmakers alike; will the locally-assembled (CKD) version of a car they sell be as good, or better, than the one they have sold fully-imported (CBU) in the past. It has always been a long held belief that fully-imported models are ‘better’ than a locally-assembled one of the same.
Well, if you’re the mighty VW Group, it’s a given that you’re going to make damn sure that anything emerging from the Pekan plant in Pahang bearing a VW badge is going to be good enough to be exported back to Germany and sold there as a CBU. Yeah, that makes absolutely no sense at all, but you get what I mean.
It’s also not often that a carmaker begins a media drive opening speech with an apology, but that’s exactly what happened as well. It was only because the VW Polo 1.6 hatch has actually been in the market for quite some time, and has garnered about 500 bookings already. The apology was for the delay in getting the media behind the wheel of this car for our reviews, due to the CNY break. I have to say, that was very cool of them.
Further adding to the coolness of this drive were the activities that VW had planned for the media, other than the usual drive-all-day type event. First-off there was the fuel-challenge. VW claims 6.3L/100km and we were given the task to beat that consumption figure on the drive from PJ to Sepang, where the rest of the driving activities would take place.
Using normal driving techniques – no cheating ‘cos VW placed a marshal in each of the 18 media test cars – which meant driving at the speed limit and not below, aircon on and no coasting or killing the engine at traffic lights allowed. Well, it’s safe to say that the claimed VW fuel-consumption figure of 6.3L/100km is incorrect. I managed to average 5.5L/100km in normal driving conditions, which is very decent for a 1.6L engine pumping out 105Ps and 153Nm of torque, mated to a 6-speed ‘tip-tronic’ automatic transmission (no dual-clutch).
In terms of equipment level, one other aspect of introducing a locally-assembled model of one previously available as a CBU, is the dreaded ‘dumbing-down’ process. This happens when carmakers begin omitting standard items in an attempt to further bring down the eventual on-the-road cost of the car. Now if it’s things like heated-seats that get axed off the list, I don’t really care, but when basic necessities and to an extent ‘nice to haves’ start getting cut, that’s a problem.
Well, no such issues with that in the Polo 1.6 hatch, it comes standard with a nice WMA/MP3 compatible head unit, with USB and Bluetooth connectivity, iPod interface, as well as mobile and audio streaming. It also has climate-control, cruise control, dual front airbags, ISOFIX, ABS, Brake Assist and Park Distance Control. This is pretty excellent considering that the eventual target for VW is to have 40% local content in the Polo 1.6 CKD.
Having driven the CBU Polo some time back, I’d be remiss to not say that there’s absolutely no discernible difference between it, and this new CKD version. VW has done a truly remarkable job in producing this car locally, and at a very decent price to boot. There’s a bit of noticeable struggle from the naturally-aspirated 1.6L, especially during roll-on acceleration, but that doesn’t hinder the fact that flat-out, it’ll hit 170kmh easily.
More impressive though are the NVH levels at legal highway speeds. At 110kmh, there’s nary a hint of noise, vibration and harshness permeating the cabin, as the car climbs to a comfortable cruising speed. Driver ergonomics are top notch of course, borne from 4 decades of building the Polo, which has been sold in 140 countries worldwide, to 14 million buyers. Incidentally there are only six production hubs around with world for the Polo, and Malaysia is now proudly one of them.
Could this be your first VW? Well, at RM87,888 on the road, it’s a lot of bang for your buck, and well worth your consideration.
VW Group Malaysia has a very ambitious target to sell a combined total of 20,000 units of cars this year, approximately double what they sold last year, and judging from the response to the Polo 1.6 CKD, and with plans to locally-assemble yet another VW model (Jetta, likely), I’m quite sure they’re going to hit this target for 2014.
Classic roadworthy VW Kombi converted to a mobile cafe 
