Polo lifetime

[Leif]

I have a 1 liter with turbo 95 PS 2018 Polo with 120,000 miles on the clock. Three weeks ago the ignition lock failed, so it was transported to a local VW garage. Three weeks later I got it back.3 working days, 5 real days to diagnose the fault, 16 days for VW to send the part. I wasn’t happy.

Anyway, is there much life left in this car? I do 12,000 miles a year, I’m a calm driver but miles is miles, they take their toll. My view is to replace the car. I could struggle on, but it just needs another big failure for another several weeks with no car. The clutch should have years left, the cam belt has a year or two left.

After my recent experience with VW I’m reluctant to buy another, the ID.Polo is coming up, but there won’t be discounts for a while.

Lastly, is the best time for dealer discounts on new cars still March?

[SRGTD]

If a proactive approach is taken to maintenance, scheduled jobs are carried out on time and genuine parts are used / fluids used are to VW’s spec, then you’re minimising the risk of a car becoming unreliable. You will incur the cost of having to periodically replacing consumable items such as tyres and brakes but any such cost should be significantly less than the depreciation costs of a new car (depreciation on your existing car will be minimal).

Your experience with the ignition lock and the length of time to resolve it could also happen with a new car - i.e. depending on the workload of the dealer, potential delays in being able to book the car in to diagnose issues and delays in getting any parts needed to fix issues. I’ve read on forums of long wait times to get a workshop slot with some (all?) VW, Seat and Cupra dealerships - some customers having to wait many weeks.

As for the best time to get a dealership discount - this is the AI response from doing an internet search;

The absolute best time of year to buy a new car is at the end of a sales quarter (March, June, September, and December), particularly the final weeks of December. Dealerships and sales executives are heavily incentivized to hit aggressive monthly, quarterly, and annual sales targets, leading to massive discounts and manufacturer-backed bonuses.

Other prime windows for new car deals include:

• February and August: These months precede the March and September registration plate updates. Dealerships try to shift older stock, offering sharp discounts to clear forecourts.

• New Model Transitions: Research when your target manufacturer launches updated or new-generation models. Dealers often slash prices on outgoing versions to clear inventory.

• End of the Month/Week: Dealerships face pressures to close deals before monthly quotas expire; shopping late in the week (e.g., Fridays) often gives you more negotiating power.

Additionally, if the car manufacturer is offering a PCP finance deposit contribution, I’d recommend taking the finance even if you don’t want or need it. You can exercise your right to withdraw from the finance contract within the statutory 14 day cooling off period under consumer credit legislation and you get to keep the car manufacturer’s finance deposit contribution.

If buying a brand new car, it’s worth considering options other than a main dealership - e.g. Carwow or buying through a broker such as Drive the Deal as you’ll generally get a better discount off the list price than the main dealer will be prepared to offer. Some brokers will also buy your existing car off you, although it’s also worth considering car buying services such as Motorway. I’d personally avoid We Buy Any Car though who have a reputation for making lowball offers. With any car buying service, always be 100% honest over your car’s condition and be sure to disclose any damage however minor (e.g. scratches, stone chips) so any initial indicative valuation isn’t knocked down when your car is viewed.

I wouldn’t buy one of the first ID.Polo.’s - or the first of any new model for that matter. IMHO it would be better to wait for any teething troubles to be identified and resolved first, otherwise you might be taking multiple trips back to the dealership for any such issues to be investigated, and there might not be a known fix for some of these initial issues. In recent years, VW haven’t had a great reputation in recent years with some of their newly launched models (e.g. mk8 Golf, some of the earlier ID models) as far as initial teething troubles (mainly software issues) are concerned, and many owners have pretty much ended up performing the role of beta testers for VW!

[Leif]

Thank you, I realise you’ve put in quite a bit of effort to reply, but I was really looking for first hand real world experiences. My first two super minis basically fell about at about 10 years and 130,000 miles. One was beyond economic repair. I was shocked that it took a VW dealer three weeks to repair my car, and I paid top whack. I was told that the dealer had taken in a car in March and it is still waiting for parts from VW, three months later. Local indies told me to go to a VW dealer because they can’t get ignition locks. From what I’ve read VW is not in great shape which won’t encourage generosity. A local dealer is no longer an official VW garage as VW wanted too much money from them.

All of my cars have been well maintained with regularly servicing and a boring driving style i.e. I usually beat the official MPG.

I think I’m set on a new Nissan Micra EV, cheap to run (until road mileage tax appears), and a similar purchase price to an ICE car. Renault are on a par with VW in terms of reliability i.e. not great. The advantage of buying while I still have a working car is that I can afford to wait for a good deal, delivery might take a month or two.

I found this:

https://vehiclescore.co.uk/vehicles/volkswagen/polo

The above suggests roughly 130,000 miles as the average lifetime. However, it gives no indication of servicing intervals and car age.

[SRGTD]

I doubt there are many owners of high(er) mileage current shape polos on the forum with first hand real world experience, as many (the majority of?) owners’ cars will be on a three year PCP so they’ll be handed back long before they reach a similar age / mileage to your car’s. The forum is also quite quiet these days, so if there are forum members of 1.0 litre current shape Polo’s of a similar age / mileage to yours, they may not read your post if they only visit the forum infrequently or not at all.

Forum member OomStu_ZA has a 2019 Polo GTI - I seem to remember their car went in for its 120,000 km (circa 72k miles) service early last year. However comparing a 2 litre Polo GTI with a 1 litre Polo Life isn’t comparing like with like as mechanically the two cars will be very different, so the reliability / expected longevity of OomStu_ZA’s GTI won’t necessarily be representative of your car’s reliability / expected longevity. I do remember OomStu_ZA had an issue with the air con in their car; other than that, I think it’s been pretty reliable and their plan was to keep the car long term (they have a 300,000 mile service and maintenance plan on their car). If OomStu_ZA reads this post, no doubt they’ll correct me if my memory hasn’t served me correctly!

The Nissan Micra EV and Renault’s R5 EV are essentially the same car under the skin (they’re both built in the same Factory in Douai, France). I note your comment regarding Renault reliability not being that great. I sold my 2020 Polo GTI+ in September 2024 and replaced in with a hybrid Renault Clio. It’s still relatively early days and I don’t cover as high a mileage as you but reliability of the Clio has been very good and the dealership I use has been excellent. In my experience, the build quality of the Clio is also better than that of my Polo (maybe my Polo was a poor example?). Next car is likely to be either the new next generation Clio 6 hybrid (due to arrive in the UK next year) or R5 EV.

[RUM4MO]

I'd think that 10 years and/or 120K miles is a fair enough point to get another car.

I've kept a 2002 VW Polo 1.4 for 13 years and 105K miles - the body ended up showing signs of proper rusting and so many other brake etc areas were asking for me to replace lots of parts - all possible but absolutely no sense in me doing anything other than replacing it.

Sad to say that its replacement, a 2015 VW Polo 1.2TSI is now starting to show signs of body rusting, the front subframe will need "descaled" again this year and treated to Waxoyl and 3 of the brake callipers should really get their pistons cleaned/polished and new seals fitted (the 4th calliper has already been replaced as I didn't have enough time to sort it out quickly by servicing that calliper). Al road springs have already been replaced to try to avoid suffering a breaking road spring, then it must be exhaust rear box time!

So newer cars don't tend to last any longer than ones from 20 years ago, getting a "matching key" ignition switch would have added some time into your repair time I'd reckon.