Currently on holiday and have the pleasure of buzzing round in a brand new Polo.
Fantastic little car, really smooth to drive and has a great interior.
I imagine the GTI version is a blast😎
It is, received our Polo GTI+ on Wednesday. Makes the standard Golf GTI seem seriously overpriced for what the Polo offers at £5k less.
Have I missed a full review somewhere? 
I'd be really keen to hear how it compares to the R.
My son has the MQB chassis Ibiza and it feels damn near as well made as my Golf with the exception of a few cheap bits of lower door and dash plastic and the actual doors don't quite have that solid feeling the Golf doors have. However, unless you spend your life slamming the doors for tactile pleasure and scratching your fingers down the plastic sections of door trim because you spend too much time reading mainstream motoring magazines who like to nit pick small faults to justify their existence yet ignore the fact a lot of current generation French cars are made of tinfoil...
Anyway, where was I?
Oh yes. The new Polo GTI+ interests me (on the back of experience of the Ibiza) as the next gen Golf R will be an easy £40k and that's way out of my league to justify spending on a humble Golf, plus I'm not convinced with the hybrid technology as yet which is probably not a great deal of use around hilly West Country lanes. Light weight and plenty of torque to pull the car out of bends it the order of the day here, not doing electric propulsion drag races up the city bypass.
Besides, my Clubsport is a garage ornament and I'm currently looking at a massively increased commute, so a relatively cheap Polo GTI+ could be a good car to replace the Ed40 with as it'd be well suited to the mostly 40mph governed commute around the rural lanes.
DSG gearbox to avoid chocolate clutches and an easy 300bhp remapped... 
Well as I find myself with some time on my hands, I thought i'd do a quick comparison for you:-
The Polo GTI+ is well worth the extra £1600 for £2700-wort of equipment that the normal GTI doesn't get, and as that equipment is tied in to the model, it'll depreciate with the car.
Price and spec comparison then, Polo GTI+ vs standard 5 door Golf GTI230 DSG:-
£23020 (about £20100 via Broker) vs £30535 (about £25500)
17" Parker wheels vs 18" Parkers
Standard Aircon vs Dual Zone Climatronic
Both have autodimming rear view mirror, auto wipers, auto lights, same MFSW and Gearstick, rear tinted glass, folding wing mirrors, red brake calipers, steel pedals, ambinet lighting, door sill protectors, ACC, black headlining and the usual exterior GTI trim/embellishments, armrest/console.
Polo has arguably better looking seats (more reminiscent of the MK6 GTI seats), but equally comfy for both.
LED lights (inc headlights) front and back on both (not sure if the Polo's bend)
Polo has ye-olde handbrake, Golf has electronic one.
Polo has newer version of active info display - noticeably better resolution (almost certain to feature on MK8 Golf), better centre console display (same size, higher resolution, better connectivity/app mirroring etc)
Polo has adjustable suspension - not the full monty optional DCC that constantly adjusts, but a hard "Sport" and medium "normal" setting.
Polo has keyless, I don't believe that the Golf does as standard any more.
Golf has Nav, rear armrest (wish it was bigger to separate the girls nipping each other when sat in the back!), Polo does not.
I don't think i've missed anything, but may well have.
As I grabbed a cancelled order in May, from someone sick of waiting, mine has a few options that were already locked in for build. - 18" Brescia wheels (a £350 option, but I would've happily specced it myself, much nicer than theParkers) Nav (a £650 option I could live without and use Waze for the rare occurrence I find myself needing Nav - will connectivity make paid for VW Nav redundant?) and rear camera (a total novelty I would've happily done without).
So if you spec Nav and Brescias on the Polo GTI+, you end up with a £21040 car (broker) that is fully comparable with the standard Golf for equipment (Golf gains dual zone climate and a rear armrest, vents in the front armrest that the Polo doesn't, Polo gains better screens, connectivity, adjustable suspension, keyless - pretty even). It still has chrome switches for everything but the auto light dial - MY19 Golf is losing the chrome switches for plain?
So all in, to be as close to like-for like with the couple of options, you're talking about £4500 less for the Polo, which doen't currently come with a deposit contribution.
How does it drive?Well mine isn't run in yet, so i'm waiting for that step up that comes at 620 miles / 1000km (it already seems quick, even while the ECU restrains it), but handling is very sharp (shorter wheel base than the Golf), and the exhaust note at rest, low to mid load is better than the Golf - doesn't compare to the aggressive whine of the R's turbo when would up past 4500 revs though. Less turbo lag too (that turbo is probably only contributing 50ps to 200ps output vs 150 contribution to 300ps on the R - that would be a 150ps lump naturally aspirated). It feels quicker than it is, again I think that's the slightly smaller form than the Golf. Right now i'm getting 36-40mpg, with a heavy right foot.
When you order Brescias, it seems that they always come on Bridgestone Turanza (all the other Poloforumites that ordered a GTI with the optional wheels got the Turanzas), which i'm happy to report aren't completely sh!te like the Potenzas - I have to give it 80% throttle from standstill for very reined in tramping to occur).
DSG - had no choice on the matter, there is no manual option. I wouldn't have specced it as an option, but I don't hate it - makes you very lazy though. The paddles and up/down manual modes are there, but when you have a choice, you take the easy option and let the car do it all. Stop-start kicks in too often, the feathering of the brake to prevent cut-out when you come to a stop is difficult to do, sometimes the stop-start kicks in just before the car comes to a complete stop. I can always turn stop-start off easily enough.
It is as solidly built as the Golf, it only weighs 60ish kg less, over half of that will be in skinning the Golf's slightly bigger frame to the same thickness, slightly bigger brake discs.
The door cards don't have rubbery plastic on the top bit of trim (but they look as though they would feel rubbery). The dash has all the soft plastics, and I like the metallic red trim (I didn't think I would, being used to staid VW metallic greys and blacks, but the allocation grab car I ordered had the "velvet red" inserts).
It is a slightly smaller car with no clear compromises, but a very noticeable price differential, and a slightly better GFV.
I really do enjoy driving it as much as the R (the R slightly edges it for having the manual box and more high-up grunt).
sh!tty weather dulls the shine, but you can see the glow on the wheel pic:-
