UK-POLOS.NET - THE VW Polo Forum

Ok. I know I have hill start but this was a very steep hill and I'm new to this modern technology ( had a 2004 Golf before the Polo) so I pulled the handbrake on. I've noticed that even on a slight incline I have to give it an extra yank but the car rolled back even after that. Luckily the hill start could cope with it but surely the handbrake should still hold or am I missing something?
The car is a TSI 95 SE 1.0 manual. We've had it about 4 weeks and done 350 miles

If you have to give the hand brake an extra tug just to hold it on a slight incline it sounds like it requires adjustment. When you pull the hand brake, how many clicks can you hear when pulling it up?
If it's a 95 SE you have drum brakes, at the rear. though you've done only 350 miles, it could have worn off all the high spots and the rears requires adjusting, if you yank up the hand brake while doing about 30 MPH can you feel it really slowing you down?, if on gravel, it should lock up the back wheels.
Take it back and get a mechanic to try it out, if they do MOT testing, they can put it on the rollers that they use to do the MOT's on.

95PS new Polo not having rear discs, that is odd as the previous Polo 90PS did have rear discs at least in some versions so I'd expect in all 90PS and above.

Can confirm, all petrol engines with exception of 110hp and GTI will have rear drums

Oh, progress.

Thankyou for the advice. It pulls up 2 clicks quite high up and a 3rd if I really pull it. Not found any gravel pits to play in on the way home but no doubt if I did I would have a plethora of warning symbols to look up when I got home
I've emailed the salesman and he's told me to book it in for them to look at which I'll do.

2 clicks, 3 if you really pull hard?? should be more than 2 clicks. You should just take it down and get them to test it out there and then, while you wait.

Took car back to dealership and they've just rung to say it needs new handbrake cables! Hope the new ones last longer than 4 weeks!

Thanks "Pololass" for letting us know your outcome, handbrake cables last for years, you were unlucky with yours, to be honest, I think it was more than just cables. Once you have your car back, and you give it a try, let us know how you found your new cables ( )

How can it need new cables? I could imagine it might need a new adjustment but new cables... I'm a bit puzzled.
But other that that, good to hear they'll solve it for you.

Just picked the car up and it seems ok. The handbrake is sitting a lot lower but still needs a good pull to hold on a steep hill - perhaps I'll have to move to somewhere flatter!
Apparently it needed a 'modified' brake cable and the dealers had had a couple back with the same problem. Well at least it's had a health check, wash and vac and my bag of Werthers is still there. Thanks for your advice guys

Hi - I got a new Polo a couple of months ago (65ps) and have suffered with handbrake as well from day 1. Current mileage is ca. 1000 miles.
The new Handbrake is so so stiff I can't be sure if it is on or not. it feels like a design fault and nothing like last Polos I have had. I know of at least two other cars with similar issue. I talked to a sales guy a while back and he said it was a known problem and it could be fixed, but when I talked to Service department they denied all knowledge so didn't do anything. However I nearly lost the car a few weeks ago as it starting rolling down hill so called dealer and have it booked in today as not happy with performance. I will post what they say later, but finding this forum was useful as it confirms we are not alone.

I’ll be on the lookout for this issue as I collect my car a week today. Having the DSG box means I won’t need it for short stops on hills and held with the foot brake as autos creep forward and won’t roll back on a hill.

However, if I drop it into neutral, I’ll need to deploy the hand brake. Also, if I’m parked on a hill, leaving it in park alone will put strain on the parking pin so I’ve heard so the hand brake will be needed.

Interesting...

VW Group don't seem to be having much luck with hand brake cables on Polo/Fabia/Ibiza - all same parts used, the previous Fabia seemed to end up with the adjustment backing off over the first few days of ownership and so causing eventually the lose of the hand brake, some things don't seem to get sorted out properly and so return in the future, I'm not saying that this is an identical issue, but still an issue with the hand brake cable that causes the loss of the hand brake, so essentially the same problem to the owner!

Edit:- going back a quite a few years, the hand brake lever/handle mounting onto the body was so weak that some people ended up ripping the lever/handle off the body work, that was for the sub Polo model, so nothing new here then for VW Group?

You have to remember, 95 BHP and under have brake drums at the rear, over that they have discs all round. Drums do take longer to bed in.