GolfGTIforum.co.uk
General => General discussion => Topic started by: Exonian on 15 May 2026, 13:58
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https://www.vwpress.co.uk/releases/5457
I’d been looking forward to the Edition 50 Golf GTI ever since I had my Ed40 but it didn’t really hit the spot for me. I’ll keep my R BE thanks.
But, and as nobody much looks in this section I think I’m safe, this is the model that actually interests me more right now and the one I was actually looking forward to seeing be released on the GTI’s 50th anniversary year.
https://youtu.be/EGVSG1GUqfY?si=xJjA3AKcaEetbsp9
https://youtu.be/qQusLTq6tcc?si=S2rLOS0I8hbY1scr
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I was enjoying that until he said the price.
Mk1 dash mode. Why stop there though? Replicate each model in more than just graphics, match the performance too... and the brakes :laugh:
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With the traffic volumes, cameras everywhere and potholes maybe mk1 GTI performance levels would be adequate in the UK!
If you’ve ever driven an ID.3 you’d soon realise it has mk1 Golf brake performance. Scary stuff!!
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Looks great in red! I'm quite taken by the Cupra version, I think it's called the Raval. Something like these would be ideal for most journeys but I'm still not sure about long runs as I do quite a few trips ooop north a year so around 250 miles each way. Those quoted ranges of around 260 miles is good on paper but I'd guess in the winter and at 70ish mph, that could be more like 180-200 miles. Then when you do top up, it seems up to 80% is the cut off on a fast charger so that then becomes a 150ish mile range. Not impossible to deal with but I like the convenience of my car, not the inconvenience...
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Agree, it looks good and it’s pleasing to see that VW have upped their game with the quality of the interior compared to their efforts on the early EV’s, and the return of more user-friendly controls for often used functions such as HVAC. I’m not sure about the ID.Polo’s rear profile though, particularly the red light strip and the red illuminated VW roundel on the tailgate - a bit tacky IMHO, but then VW aren’t the only car manufacturer doing this.
If I was to choose between the ID.Polo GTI, the Raval VZ (or VZ Extreme) or the Alpine A290, I’d go for the Alpine for the following reasons;
- it qualifies for the Band 1 Govt. grant of £3,750. I think all VW’s EV’s have so far only qualified for the Band 2 grant of £1,500 so I’m assuming (maybe incorrectly) that the ID.Polo will also qualify for the lower Band 2 grant.
- the A290 has independent rear suspension and it gets a heat pump as standard (as does Renault’s R5 EV. The ID.Polo has a beam rear axle and no standard heat pump; very few if any VW EV’s get a heat pump as standard; it’s currently a circa £1,150 extra cost option.
On a practical note, the A290 has a smaller boot than both the ID.Polo & Cupra Raval and it looks as if the A290’s rear seat passenger accommodation is less spacious. However, I rarely carry masses of luggage and even more rarely carry rear seat passengers, so those factors wouldn’t be an issue for me.
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I saw a blue A290 out and about yesterday and it looked very smart. But, 220 mile range. And a youtuber, PetrolPed who has one on a long term loan, was finding initially that 180 miles was more realistic. In cold weather that is going to be more like 150 miles. Perfect for local driving but not a great prospect for long journeys.
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There’s a reasonable possibility I’d already be in an A290 but for the nearest dealer being 100 plus miles away. Would anyone trust a French car with a dealer that far away? Caveat emptor.
The comedy of it is the Alpine dealer would probably push the work onto their local Renault dealer owing to the amount it costs to have a suitably trained high voltage specialist techie on the books.
Anyway, a car of that size would suit my uses very well and as I rarely do dual carriageway driving never mind motorway driving the range wouldn’t be a huge issue for me. One just has to adapt to these things.
The size of the R5, Raval, ID.Polo etc puts them more in the small family class for commuting and more local use rather than the bigger ID range - the ID.3 GTX has a large battery and decent range and more room for suitcases and passengers.
Interestingly the Corsa GSE has 280 PS and will probably be priced similarly to the GTI and VZ (& A290 and Leccy JCW)
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Its now on the configurator
https://www.volkswagen.co.uk/en/configurator.html/__app/30206.app?---=%7B%22configuration-step-navigation-service%22%3A%22%2F%3FconfigStep%3D%257B%2522context%2522%253A%2522mofa-standalone%2522%252C%2522selectedStep%2522%253A%2522trim%2522%257D%22%7D
£31,500 ish for 52kW·h Style Launch inc £1500 grant
Finance is 2.9% I think this is good compared to other VW models?
I like the Polo-ish size but with more interior room and boot space
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With the traffic volumes, cameras everywhere and potholes maybe mk1 GTI performance levels would be adequate in the UK!
If you’ve ever driven an ID.3 you’d soon realise it has mk1 Golf brake performance. Scary stuff!!
The Polo has discs all round, so I hope its better!
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I think this will be a popular question, how to turn off lane assist
Watch from 17:00 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8M4ZxwgI_c
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UK reviews are out
https://www.autoexpress.co.uk/volkswagen/polo/368526/new-volkswagen-id-polo-2026-review-seriously-impressive-small-ev
https://www.topgear.com/car-reviews/volkswagen/id-polo
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/content/car-reviews/volkswagen-id-polo-review-2026-?refresh=true
ID. Polo First Drive: A true Volkswagen?
Electrifying
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCHhJ7vl_CM
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It looks good in a conservative (with a small ‘c’) kind of way; quite a ‘safe’ design and very ‘German’ IMHO.
I’m not a fan of the illuminated light strips and badges on the front and back of the car; a current trend adopted by quite a few car manufacturers; hopefully a short lived fad. The VW badge illuminated in red on the rear of the car just looks wrong to me - that’s just my opinion though and no doubt many people will like it. Good to see the return of real switchgear in the interior. Not so good IMHO is the very light interior upholstery option (picture 8 of 20 in the Top Gear review); I can’t see that retaining its new car, factory fresh look for very long and it would get grubby quite early on in the car’s life and would be a definite no-no for me. Interesting that in one of the reviews the rear seat accommodation is said to be less spacious than in Renault’s R5 (the R5’s rear seat accommodation is meant to be quite ‘snug’). I’ve sat in the back of an R5 behind the driver’s seat in the position I would have it and it was fine for me, but then I’d probably describe myself as bordering on being ‘vertically challenged’ :grin:. Presumably limited rear cabin space is one of sacrifices for having a large (best in class?) boot for a B segment car.
I see that VW ran out of ideas for the exterior door handles on the rear doors, so they raided Renault’s R5 parts bin! :grin:
Would I buy a ID.Polo? If I was considering a B segment EV right now, then no, it wouldn’t be on my list. I wouldn’t be an early adopter of an all new model from VW or any other manufacturer for that matter. VW haven’t crowned themselves in glory with some of their new models in recent years, especially as far as software-related issues are concerned, and I’m not prepared to be a beta tester for VW. Hopefully, VW have learned from those recent experiences and the ID.Polo will be a well sorted car. I might consider one when the (inevitable?) bugs and teething troubles have been sorted.
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It looks good in a conservative (with a small ‘c’) kind of way; quite a ‘safe’ design and very ‘German’ IMHO.
I’m not a fan of the illuminated light strips and badges on the front and back of the car; a current trend adopted by quite a few car manufacturers; hopefully a short lived fad. The VW badge illuminated in red on the rear of the car just looks wrong to me - that’s just my opinion though and no doubt many people will like it. Good to see the return of real switchgear in the interior. Not so good IMHO is the very light interior upholstery option (picture 8 of 20 in the Top Gear review); I can’t see that retaining its new car, factory fresh look for very long and it would get grubby quite early on in the car’s life and would be a definite no-no for me. Interesting that in one of the reviews the rear seat accommodation is said to be less spacious than in Renault’s R5 (the R5’s rear seat accommodation is meant to be quite ‘snug’). I’ve sat in the back of an R5 behind the driver’s seat in the position I would have it and it was fine for me, but then I’d probably describe myself as bordering on being ‘vertically challenged’ :grin:. Presumably limited rear cabin space is one of sacrifices for having a large (best in class?) boot for a B segment car.
I see that VW ran out of ideas for the exterior door handles on the rear doors, so they raided Renault’s R5 parts bin! :grin:
Would I buy a ID.Polo? If I was considering a B segment EV right now, then no, it wouldn’t be on my list. I wouldn’t be an early adopter of an all new model from VW or any other manufacturer for that matter. VW haven’t crowned themselves in glory with some of their new models in recent years, especially as far as software-related issues are concerned, and I’m not prepared to be a beta tester for VW. Hopefully, VW have learned from those recent experiences and the ID.Polo will be a well sorted car. I might consider one when the (inevitable?) bugs and teething troubles have been sorted.
- Maybe there will be DIY methods to disable the lightbar and don't forgot about the illuminated steering wheel
- Check out the volkswizard for a back seat review of someone around six foot, he says its much bigger in the back, plus some on the limit handling https://www.youtube.com/volkswizard
- The UK configurator allows you to choose from white/black interiors
I'm looking at getting one next year, I think that will give enough time for feedback from European users of the Ravel, Epiq and Polo, my main concern being the software.
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I saw something the other day stating the order books were full for the ID.Polo currently in Europe with long lead times quoted.
The Volkswizard vid was the best one I’ve seen so far out of a choice of many as he reviews the car from a perspective most of us one here would relate to. Things like comparing driving position to current Golfs and switchgear and trim details as reference points.
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I saw something the other day stating the order books were full for the ID.Polo currently in Europe with long lead times quoted.
The Volkswizard vid was the best one I’ve seen so far out of a choice of many as he reviews the car from a perspective most of us one here would relate to. Things like comparing driving position to current Golfs and switchgear and trim details as reference points.
According to discussions over on the Seat / Cupra forum, long lead times are now being indicated to prospective Raval customers too.
The first Raval customer cars have been built and are either in transit from the factory or have arrived at dealerships. One UK forum member on the Seat / Cupra forum posted earlier this week that their car was at the dealership and they were expecting to take delivery, but was told the car needs a software update and it could be another 21 days before their car would be ready. Hopefully not an indication of multiple software issues needing to be fixed. A three week delay seems excessive for a software update, unless the update hasn’t even been produced yet…………
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Blimey, I was offered a physical in stock Raval VZ Extreme from the very first batch to hit the dealers, I came within a whisker of buying it in early August on a 26 plate. Wonder if that car was affected.
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Blimey, I was offered a physical in stock Raval VZ Extreme from the very first batch to hit the dealers, I came within a whisker of buying it in early August on a 26 plate. Wonder if that car was affected.
If it was one of the very first, then there’s a good chance it was affected. Launch software version was 6.0, update version is 6.1
From a personal perspective, I wouldn’t ever buy one of the first of an all new model; I’d always wait for the potential niggles and teething troubles to be identified and (hopefully) rectified and then I might consider it.
I do quite like the Raval, but Cupra’s paint colour choices are the epitome of dullness IMHO. White is the most exciting colour that’s offered.
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I'm interested in the GTI variant and by the time its available to order and delivered, I would hope the software is stable
Long waits all all variants, polo, ravel and epiq, lots of orders and only two factories
https://www.autonext.co/news/vw-id-polo-sold-out-30000-orders-ten-month-wait
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Blimey, I was offered a physical in stock Raval VZ Extreme from the very first batch to hit the dealers, I came within a whisker of buying it in early August on a 26 plate. Wonder if that car was affected.
If it was one of the very first, then there’s a good chance it was affected. Launch software version was 6.0, update version is 6.1
From a personal perspective, I wouldn’t ever buy one of the first of an all new model; I’d always wait for the potential niggles and teething troubles to be identified and (hopefully) rectified and then I might consider it.
I do quite like the Raval, but Cupra’s paint colour choices are the epitome of dullness IMHO. White is the most exciting colour that’s offered.
The shape is good, but I agree and my preference is a silver, red, blue ID GTI
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The Raval I was offered but never viewed (aside from a video clip sent) was in the matte green which was ultimately what frightened me off rather than any software anxiety.
I’ve seen clips and photos of an ID. Polo GTI in Magnetic Grey which contrasts really well with the red highlights.
The ID. Polo styling is more at the mature end where the Raval is aimed at trendier funky folk so I stuck with a boring old Golf.
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The Raval I was offered but never viewed (aside from a video clip sent) was in the matte green which was ultimately what frightened me off rather than any software anxiety.
I’ve seen clips and photos of an ID. Polo GTI in Magnetic Grey which contrasts really well with the red highlights.
The ID. Polo styling is more at the mature end where the Raval is aimed at trendier funky folk so I stuck with a boring old Golf.
If the target market for the Raval is trendy, funky customers, then the omission of some more vibrant paint colours seems a strange move by Cupra. If they didn’t want to go as bold as Renault has with Pop Yellow and Pop Green options for the R5, they could at least have offered the option of a decent red.
I’m with you on matte paint finishes - I’d never buy a car with matte paint; too much hassle to look after. I’d envisage repairing minor damage such as stone chips and scratches might also require panels to be resprayed rather than a simple DIY touching in with a paint pen or getting a SMART repair.
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Seems to be a Cupra thing with the colours, they go right through the range. But the acid house interior light show definitely squarely aimed at the younger crowd. Young people wear darker colours.
If Cupra had aped Renault with the glow up exteriors the Raval would look like an MG4 that had been rear ended. I’m assuming they know their market and certainly their marketing is aimed at a certain demographic. VW will have some brighter colours for the Polo and I can’t see VW’s marketing people having neck and face tattoos and piercings like Cupra’s!!
Maybe it’s older people that like brighter colours and younger people go for something else?
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The Raval I was offered but never viewed (aside from a video clip sent) was in the matte green which was ultimately what frightened me off rather than any software anxiety.
I’ve seen clips and photos of an ID. Polo GTI in Magnetic Grey which contrasts really well with the red highlights.
The ID. Polo styling is more at the mature end where the Raval is aimed at trendier funky folk so I stuck with a boring old Golf.
Yep, the dark grey and sliver go well with the red highlights or I hear the white on offer is the candy white of the MK5