Credit Hire Vehicle

The road-test guide to credit hire cars

Menu

Volkswagen Polo credit hire review

Published · Last updated

Public-source review, structured to the Fleet Duty Rating methodology → · no fleet score published

The Polo is about the best car a hire fleet can hand you in the small-hatchback class: a supermini with the space, refinement and build of the class above, and one of the strongest reliability records in the sector — owner responses to the What Car? Reliability Survey score the 2018-on car 98.5%, near the top of the small-car class. Fleets buy it because it stands up to constant, repeated hire use; hirers keep it without complaint because nothing about it feels like a downgrade from the car it replaces.

Blue Volkswagen Polo driving past a modern buildingVolkswagen PoloSmall hatchback · exact model reviewed

At a glance

Class Small hatchback — GTA group S2 band (Corsa/Polo/Fiesta territory, per the GTA Technical rate tables)
Body 5-door hatchback
Engines in hire supply 1.0 MPI 80 PS; 1.0 TSI 95/110 PS, manual or DSG automatic
Typical hire spec Life/Match trim: 8-inch touchscreen with smartphone mirroring, air-con, digital instruments on many cars
Boot 351 litres — the biggest in the class, within a few litres of a Mk5 Golf

Is the Volkswagen Polo a good credit hire car?

Yes — for most drivers it is the pick of the class. The current (Mk6, 2017-on) Polo carries rear passengers and luggage better than a Corsa, rides with a maturity superminis rarely manage, and is quiet enough at motorway speeds that a week of commuting in one feels no hardship. It is not an exciting car — the steering is light and the 1.0-litre engines are tuned for economy, not entertainment — but as a replacement you did not choose, it asks nothing and gives up very little.

What spec of Polo will I be given?

Hire fleets buy the volume trims — Life or Match — which bring the 8-inch touchscreen with Apple CarPlay/Android Auto, air conditioning and cruise control; the 95 PS 1.0 TSI petrol is the most common hire engine. Where an automatic like-for-like is required, DSG-equipped cars are common in supply, and base 1.0 MPI cars appear at the cheaper end of fleets.

What is the Polo like at high mileage?

The public record is strong. What Car?'s used-car reliability data scores the 2018-on Polo 98.5% and places it fifth out of 26 cars in the small-car class — ahead of the Audi A1 — with owner-reported faults concentrated in electronics rather than mechanicals: over-sensitive emergency-braking activations, infotainment glitches and window mechanisms, most fixed quickly and 83% of repairs done under warranty. Mechanically the 1.0 TSI is a known quantity across the Volkswagen Group, and it uses a conventional dry timing belt — none of the oil-immersed "wet belt" exposure that dogs its Stellantis and Ford rivals at age. Two footnotes from the recall record: DVSA-listed campaigns for the Mk6 include the widely reported 2018 rear-centre-seatbelt recall shared with the Seat Ibiza and Arona (around 75,000 UK cars, reported by Auto Express), and on older DSG cars the dry-clutch DQ200 gearbox is the component with a documented history worth knowing.

What does the Polo cost to run?

For the hirer, running cost means fuel and nothing else: the 1.0 TSI officially returns around 50mpg on the WLTP combined cycle (manufacturer figures), and real-world economy in the mid-to-high 40s is routine on a mixed commute. It is one of the cheapest cars in hire supply to keep fuelled.

Verdict

Runs for it

  • class-leading rear space and boot.
  • near the top of the small-car class in owner reliability surveys.
  • refinement of a car from the class above.
  • dry-belt engine — no wet-belt ageing risk.

Counts against it

  • dull to drive; light, remote steering.
  • owner-reported electronic niggles: touchy safety systems, infotainment glitches.
  • older DSG automatics carry the DQ200's documented history.

Sources

  1. What Car? — Used Volkswagen Polo (2018–present) reliability & common problems (whatcar.com).
  2. What Car? — Reliability Survey: most and least reliable small cars (whatcar.com).
  3. Auto Express — Volkswagen to recall 75,000 cars over seatbelt fault, 2018 (autoexpress.co.uk).
  4. DVSA vehicle recall database — Polo Mk6 entries (check-vehicle-recalls.service.gov.uk).
  5. GTA Technical — GTA car hire rate tables, vehicle group examples (gtacredithire.com).
  6. Volkswagen published WLTP figures, Polo range (volkswagen.co.uk).

Next: small hatchback — what you will get · Vauxhall Corsa review · all reviews