Volkswagen Polo GT TDi vs Ford Figo TDCi comparison Review

Words: Dipayan Dutta

Photography: Gaurav S Thombre

Fuel prices are obnoxious these days. To satiate my aching heart (and wallet), every time I pull in to a  fuel station, I tell myself that I’m really paying for liquid pressurized explosive dinosaurs. That works. Well. Mostly. However with things the way they are and no hopes of looking back thence, it seems hot diesels are the way to go. Put down your pitchforks fellow petrol heads and lend me your ears – erm – eyes.

Today we have diesel cars that make more power than their petrol siblings and I can’t see the downside in that. Diesel turbo lag is a thing of the past, 1.2-litre naturally aspirated petrol engines are lackluster and the only thing that manufacturers like to talk about when it comes to petrol cars are boring, hideous things like kilometres per litre and cost of maintenance. Ugh.

On the brighter (or dirtier?) side of the universe are these two. One has a shiny GT badge, the other looks like a long lost cousin of the Aston Martin family. They both drink the rough stuff, and they both make 100bhp. Fairly, that is not a lot. But it’s still helluva lot more than what their petrol siblings make. They both also make that wonderful whistly sound when poked. Now I’m not trying to be the Jehovah’s Witness of turbo diesel, but I think, at the very least, they deserve a shot.

We’ll start with the Volkswagen GT TDI, ze German. Admittedly it is a shadow of its 1.6-litre predecessor but that by no means indicates it is boring. It still has 103 horses on tap and makes a solid 250Nm of torque – exactly the same as the GT that came before it. However one does feel like the newer engine is slightly more strained. The numbers look good on paper and what we really love about the Polo GT is the way those numbers taste on tarmac. That’s where the Polo’s stiff chassis comes in. There is – after all – a reason why this chassis can trace its lineage to that used in Ogier’s WRC machine (albeit in a very round about fashion). Point, shoot and the Polo goes. Although, truth be told, if you’re going to put a GT badge on ng forth in the most it and target it at enthusiasts, we’d like to see some actual tweaks to the suspension rather than just brushed-aluminum-everywhere interiors. The Polo GT is almost 60 large dearer than the top-end Highline and makes just fourteen more horses. For that price you don’t get a lot in the form of kit either. Aluminum a la everything aside, that is. And that’s where our challenger comes in. Meet the new Ford Figo diesel.

It doesn’t come with a GT badge, but it still makes a very respectable 99bhp. The interiors don’t have aluminum everything but the all black interiors are pretty neat. It’s also a little more than a hundred kilos lighter than the Volkswagen. You realise where those hundred kilos went every time you close a door, and the usual thud is replaced by a clank. Not an upsetting clank, but a mildly irritating one. Especially if you are fresh off the VW boat. I’m being pedantic, you point out, but, really, after a while you wouldn’t even remember it was there to begin with.

On to the juicy bits then, the baby ford gets the Ecosport’s B2E platform minus the boron-steel alloy, to save cost. Which is fine, especially considering that despite everything the Figo’s specific output is an impressive 93bhp to a litre (the Polo’s 89). This also means that the Figo gets from 0-100 in a pretty impressive 10.5 seconds. Which makes the Figo the fastest entrylevel diesel hatchback to hit the ton, almost a second quicker than the GT. It then boils down to handling and before I go ahead, I confess that I have always been a bit soft on the way the VW handles. With that done, going forth in the most  objective manner possible, the Figo is by no means a sluggish handler. The steering feels well-weighted, the dynamics feel just about right and in my personal opinion swap the tiny 14’s for a size higher and the Figo will be untouchable. Also the Figo’s interiors may be more spartan than the German’s brushed aluminum fantasy mobile, but you do get a lot of electronic doodad-ery. Even some things that you may not have entirely thought through, for example if you happen to have/ cause an accident and plan to slip away in to the night like some bulky celebrities do, your Ford would have already called emergency services. Ford’s MYKEY system will allow you to regulate the top speed the car can go to, and can only be unlocked with the admin key. Thank heavens I grew up when the most electronically sophisticated thing on the car was the horn.

Which is probably why, when the chips are down, we’d say the Figo is the better buy. Even the top spec Figo is about a lakh of rupees cheaper than the VW and thus great value for your money, not to forget it is a damn fine steer. However there would be no judgment if you still wanted to buy the GT TDI for the cool grill badge. I know I would.