Agree with wheels mate :) and I didn't see no club polo sticker on club g40 tut tut

Well spotted! I'm not a member any more - but it used to have a Club Polo sticker where the Club G40 one is now.

O ok

Good to catch up with you on multiple encounters today Alex car looks epic as always :-D

Good to catch up with you on multiple encounters today Alex car looks epic as always :-D

I think we must've been lapping the halls in opposite directions!

But yeah good to see you fella, hope the drive home in the porridge Rocco wasn't too unpleasant. It sounded, and smelled, awesome!

Minor update - the charger's run in.

I had an invite to a Friday night VW launch in Marlow, which is a 170 mile round trip from my place in Kettering. Would've been rude not to take the Polo, really, and it seemed a pretty appropriate way to put the remaining 140 miles on the rebuild. :)

We were there to drive this, in its many guises. Cute car, still LOVE those wheels. My Mum's now definitely buying one, so will get comparison shots when she picks hers up. Didn't get a chance yesterday.

Looks REALLY high in this picture, it is quite a tall car though.

Took this out too. Drove it at the launch in 2.0 turbo Sport spec, wanted to try it with the little 1.2 TSI and 1.4 twin-charged engines. I think it suits the 1.2 with 105PS. Beetle shouldn't be a sporty car, it should be basic. Goes well though, and love the way they've made the wheels look like the old steelies!

Highlight for me though (sorry VW) was getting 25 minutes buzzing around Marlow in this:

A pretty famous car, only ever owned by Volkswagen, and with just 2,600 miles on the clock. Slow but solid and the brakes were an experience! Such a cool car to drive around in.

After a few G smiles for the last 30 miles or so, the G40 is all tucked up in the garage for a few days, as I'm off travelling about with Renault. Got a Volvo V60 T6 AWD to play with this week, arriving Wednesday. I like fast Volvos.

Edited 18 March, 201214 yr by Alex

Looks like you had a good time , and volvo engine noises hmmmmm :dribble:

I'm going to read all 15 pages now as I'm 99% sure il be buying safs G soon

Looks like you had a good time , and volvo engine noises hmmmmm :dribble:

I'm going to read all 15 pages now as I'm 99% sure il be buying safs G soon

I though the speedlines looked good until I saw the revo's

<3!

I though the speedlines looked good until I saw the revo's

<3!

Revos are my favourite wheels. Keeping them forever. :-)

what is your job if u dont mind me asking ? i want your job

what is your job if u dont mind me asking ? i want your job

I'm the Motoring Editor at the Fleet World Group - I write the majority of road tests for the mags there and edit a website about electric, hybrid and fuel cell cars (evfleetworld.co.uk). But also freelance for a few of the modified mags, PVW included. There are worse ways to earn a living.

How did you go about getting the G on the outdoor display at UD Alex?

Would be an awesome job, if only i was as good with words as you are.

Liking the Up! more and more tbf, sick little cars. Sat inside the one at UD, even tho it was the base spec model (i assume) it was nice inside. Smart looking dash.

How did you go about getting the G on the outdoor display at UD Alex?

Months of nagging emails, and then I was offered the space when I was turned down for an indoor spot.

I'm not sure many people knew there was an outdoor bit though. It was very small and not that we'll signposted. Looked like a fenced off bit of the car park. Not that I'm moaning, I was glad to get anywhere near the halls and people were walking through. Just haven't seen many pics of the cars outside, but lots of the car park.

was hidden away tbh. bit of a silly place for it IMO. But still.. was a cool little addition to the show, as was the new hall.

Quick update...

Couldn't believe my luck yesterday. Got the car out of the garage for its spring clean (it got a quick once over at UD as it had just come out of the bodyshop) and despite hovering black clouds the whole time the weather didn't turn on me. Gave me a chance to wash, dry, quick detail and wax (with Dodo Juice Pro - which I've never used before - it goes on so well!) then pop it back under cover for lunch before it rained.

That's this week's press car reflected in the boot. :)

Quick once over with the Dyson inside, dust off the dash, back indoors overnight ready for an early ish start.

Spent the day at Spring Fest, as some of you know. Dumped the car in the show and shine after a quick wipe down.

Walked about, watched a G40 blow up on the strip (fairly serious too) and then came back to drop the bonnet. Always worth getting pics while it's clean.

Weather held until I got home, then it lashed down. It went from sun, to hail, to thunder and lightning, then a downpour, then sun again within ten minutes of parking up. Crazy weather.

Token beadage shot:

Got a week of commuting in the Polo ahead of me. The B goes back to Mercedes tomorrow morning, and I've left it a few days before the next one comes in so I can give the G40 a bit of a run. It's not really doing the miles these days. Lazy git.

i was the one behind you coming into the pod! looked fresh mate!!

i was the one behind you coming into the pod! looked fresh mate!!

Thanks! Yeah I figured it might've been you - though didn't know until this morning that it's you on Guy's avatar, not Guy.

Good work on the Dizzy Rascals course by the way!

hahahah yeah he still hasnt changed it!

cheers buddy!

Instagram from the office. I like it. :)

It's a 136-mile round trip to get to work, so I don't take it often. The A1 was totally clear on the way back though. :)

Got this as a random snapshot yesterday, too.

Retweeted by BBC Newsnight. Go me!

The G is just amazing as always man and I love that last photo!!

I never know where to put these, but hey ho I figured they'd fit in here.

So apologise for the tangent, but I went on the new Ibiza launch on Monday and they'd brought their one and only heritage car out:

It's a one-owner, immaculate Mk1 Ibiza Comfort with 32,000 on the clock, 903cc and 44bhp. I was mainly interested to see how it compared to my brother's old Polo Coupe, which would've been built on the same production line (if we're being nitpicky, my brother's wasn't built in Spain, but later ones were).

While I know the two cars don't share any components, I was amazed at the difference. The Mk1 Ibiza felt a generation or two behind the Polo of the same age. Uncomfortable pedals, naff build, soggy handling and brakes that make a non-servo Polo look good. And this was an immaculate car, not some ropey old banger.

I quite liked the way the switches are tucked behind the steering wheel though:

SEAT has come a long way:

And the new Ibiza is a giggle. There's a 148bhp 1.4 TSI on offer, but as an efficient daily I quite like the little 103bhp 1.2 TSI. It's quick enough to be quite good fun to drive, easily gets up to motorway speeds and I reckon it'd be fairly economical too. A quick remap and it'd be even better, I preferred it to the equivalent diesel.

Speaking of economy, I arrived on Monday clocking a fuel station on the way in, and decided against topping up from the remaining 15 mile range.

Mistake.

Pulled out of the hotel on Tuesday and there was no diesel to be had. Nearest pump was bloody miles away, the most direct route was through flooded lanes and and it was showing this for most of the trip:

Not fun to see when you're bursting for the loo (coffee-filled journo fail!) - but I made it.

Edited 2 May, 201214 yr by Alex

love following your pics on instagram alex.

nice catch up on this thread. Looking good as ever.

PS, you were very lucky to catch the aircraft flying over london. Was a training procedure for olympics i think!

love it mate, looks so fresh! inspiration :)

love following your pics on instagram alex.

nice catch up on this thread. Looking good as ever.

PS, you were very lucky to catch the aircraft flying over london. Was a training procedure for olympics i think!

Thanks!

Yeah Instagram is an unplanned one. I photograph everything, but for years I've just bunged the arty stuff on my laptop snd forgotten about it. So it's literally just a collection of the random pics I wouldn't post elsewhere, plus some from Facebook. Nothing as personal as Facebook, though.

Glad you're enjoying it!

love it mate, looks so fresh! inspiration :)

Thanks! Been a labour of love getting it this way and keeping it there. :-)

Mum just got me PVW and guess whos polo was in there looks real nice alex

Mum just got me PVW and guess whos polo was in there looks real nice alex

Thanks :-)

It's going to be a regular in there :-)