I was in the nerghbourhood and thought I'd enquire about what the best handling car is out of the 1.4 8v/16v mk4 polo, mk3 polo gt or lupo 1.4 16v. Due to living out in the middle of nowhere, tractors frequenctly rewen roads between where I love and other villages/towns so I'm in need of a dub thats good at handling dodgy corners and a bumpy ride.

Does anyone have any advice or comments about handling on either of the cars, or modifcations to make to get either one spot on?

Thanks in advance

none handle particularly well as standard but it's fairly easy to get the mk4 polos handling OK as the suspension setup is similar to mk2 golfs. You can fit stiffer springs and shocks and what not to get a fairly decent handling. MK3 polos are a different kettle of fish as the front suspension setup is 1970s technology. Even though, they are OK with a decent set of springs and shocks but don't be expecting to suprise any Caterham drivers.

How do the lupos weigh up against the mk4 polo? I'm not going to fully strip out the car and track prepare it, but a little fun on the twisties is always good.

Don't know off the top of my head, Parkers website should be able to tell you the weights of the various models. I think the mk4 is around the 950kgs mark, Lupo perhaps 850-900 (although that's just a guess)? mk3 polos are around 800kgs.

Lupos handle awesome. The only bad thing about the handling I find is that under heavy braking the back end does like to see whats happening in front of you which isn't great. But once you know where it starts to do it and what its doing you can control it easily enough.

Going from a mk3 Polo to a Lupo is a completely different world. I haven't evne done much to my Lupo, just coilovers. It even runs skinnier tyres than standard

So taking into consideration the considerable weight difference and the handling differences between the cars, the lupo is the one to go for!

Are the 16v any good on fuel? What are the GTI's like? Worth the badge and extra cc?

Well mines a 100bhp sport. Fairly quick little car for what it is. Fuel consumption is what you let it be. If you drive like an old woman all day long you'll see 260 miles out of a tank (baring in mind the tank will seldom take more than £25/26). If you drive it like a hat, you'll get nearer 200 miles to a tank.

I just did a lot of motorway driving and a bit of town driving and I got 500 miles to £50. Which ain't fucking bad at all if you ask me!! There great on motorways though, give such good MPG if you hold them at a constant speed. I don't mean 50mph either, I was doing decent speeds all the time and it still give me good MPG.

The GTIs are debatable. Some people think its just a badge and a few extra CC but its not really. Comes with ally bonnet, doors and wins, round rear arches, different bumpers, twin centre exit exhaust, terrible red seatbelts and other stuff.

Best bet is to get yourself over to Club Lupo if you want ot know more about them. I've not had mine long so don't really know much about them but theres kids over there who know there Lupos as well as most people on here know there Polos!

I would recommend a Lupo to anyone as long as they aren't bothered about boot space. Just watch out of the chocolate gearboxes