VW Polo SEL 1.4 (Price £15,570) (From Dudley News)

VW Polo SEL 1.4 (Price £15,570)

12:47pm Saturday 6th February 2010

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THERE'S an advert doing the rounds at the moment where a salesman tries to convince would-be buyers that the car he is trying to sell them “sounds just like a Golf”.

It is, in my estimation, a work of genius and nothing less than we have come to expect from VW.

Clearly, the car the bloke is trying to flog sounds nothing like a Golf, nor does the car the boy racer is showing off to his mates look like one, nor does the car the TV host is throwing around a race track handle like one.

In essence, what VW is saying is that, in reality, there is nothing like a Golf, though many people would like there to be.

I, however, have found the exception to that particular rule in the VW Polo.

OK, granted, it's from the same stable so it should have similar traits.

But previously, to me at least, the two cars have seemed completely separate entities.

Now, you have the Golf and, well, the baby Golf.

It is, to all intents and purposes, a shrunken version of its larger brother.

The Polo is everything that the cars in the adverts aren't – it looks like a Golf, sounds like one and handles like one and, therefore, it is just as good as one.

And don't just take my word for it. What Car? has just declared it the winner of its Supermini category in its 2010 Car of the Year awards and they're no mugs.

On the outside the Polo echoes the Golf's curves, the front and rear have the same signature marks.

The similarities continue inside. It's like a motoring version of Alice Through the Looking Glass.

The dials are all there, they're just shrunken. They're neat, they're tidy and they ooze quality. Close the doors and there's that characteristic thud, relax back in the seats and, well, you get the picture.

The Polo has clearly grown up.

Our test car, the 1.4 litre SEL came with smart looking alloys, climatic air conditioning, leather trimmings, DSG gearbox and a very easy to use satellite navigation system as an added extra.

The gearbox is a great little addition. Admittedly, there's a bit of a lag when you first depress the accelerator, but once off and running the changes are practically seamless.

If you need a little more urgency then you can flick through the seven gears semi-automatically, moving the stick up and down. Alternatively, push the button on the lever in and pull it back and you are into sport mode. This allows you to play a little with the red line, the gearbox staying in gear longer while you accelerate, then finding the next one and so on and so on.

It changes down as well it does up, so you can come into a corner, come off the pedal and it will drop down intuitively.

There's obviously less space in the Polo than there is in the Golf, but unless you're a complete galoot you will be aware of this before you part with your money.

That said, there's enough room in the front for driver and passenger and those in the rear won't be complaining either.

Open the boot and, at first glance, you might be a little underwhelmed. However, the Polo has a trick up its sleeve, splitting the load space into two with a false floor hiding a relatively deep second area. Keep them separate and you can hide valuables or perishables or dispense with the floor and pack away to your heart's content.

Yes, the Polo really has come of age and it's not only its rivals that should be worried – its big brother might want to start looking over its shoulder too.

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