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By Jonathan Crouch

The ID.Polo is a new kind of Volkswagen supermini - in more ways than one, thinks Jonathan Crouch.

Ten Second Reviewword count: 50

Volkswagen reinvents the Polo supermini for the electric era - as it reinvents the way its products meet the needs of long-standing customers. The ID.Polo is practical, frugal - and accessible to people yet to be converted by the idea of an EV. It's a very important small car indeed.

Backgroundword count: 181

'True Volkswagens are back' - or so the brand tells us with this car, the ID.Polo. If you find that difficult to believe, given that this, the Wolfsburg maker's smallest EV yet is built in Spain and shares 80% of its components with two other members of the VW Group's 'Urban Electric Family', the Skoda Epiq and the CUPRA Raval. Despite all of this, the ID.Polo has its own very distinct 'Volkswagen' look. And has been engineered to drive in a manner recognisable to loyalists of 'The Peoples' Car' brand who may have been put off by the abrasively futuristic ID.3. Mentioning that EV reminds us that throughout most of its development, this car was slated to be named 'ID.2' - until that plan was abandoned as part of the 'True Volkswagen' programme's bid to make the marque's models feel friendly and familiar again. In many ways, this is the most important EV the brand has launched yet, paired with the identically-engineered ID.Cross small electric SUV and sitting alongside the old (and continuing) combustion Polo supermini. Let's take a closer look.

Driving Experienceword count: 283

You might think that this could be where the 'true Volkswagen' mantra somewhat falls apart. Design, after all, is relatively easy to brand-personalise. But it's less easy for Wolfsburg to convince potential ID.Polo customers that this is more than just a badge-engineered CUPRA Raval (or indeed the Skoda Epiq small crossover) when all the engineering seems just the same. The drivetrains are, there's no getting away from that. But Volkswagen says it set its own distinct parameters for suspension, chassis tuning and refinement. Which broadly means that you can expect an ID.Polo to be more comfort-orientated and less sporty than a Raval; the differences against an Epiq are less easily defined. As for those drivetrains, well the volume sales are focused around a rather small-sounding 37kWh LFP battery with a choice between two front-mounted motor variants, one with 116PS, the other with 135PS. If you want more than the modest 186 miles of range that package will give you, you'll be directed to the ID.Polo with the larger 52kWh NMC battery, which works with a 211PS motor and offers up to 280 miles of range. The same bigger battery is used by the top ID.Polo GTI, paired with a 226PS motor. 0-62mph with the GTI takes just 6.8s. The motor used across the mainstream ID.Polo line-up is the VW Group's latest-generation APP290 unit, notable because its advanced power electronics make it so light. This contributes to handling agility and is a key reason why the car tips the scales at no more than around 1,500kg, notably light for an EV. All ID.Polos get brake regen steering wheel paddles, with near 'one-pedal' driving possible on the fiercest setting. Towing capacity is up to 1,200kg.

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