The Volkswagen ID. Polo brings back a classic name for a new EV... but will it work?

It’s a Polo. Recognisably, even if you peeled all the badges off, a VW Polo. That’s what’s important about the new Volkswagen ID. Polo. This is an all-new electric supermini, but VW hasn’t made it a streamlined future-box like it tried with the ID.3.

The ID. Polo has a bonnet. A face. A normal Polo shape. Yes, there are plastic curtains around the back window to help it cut through the air neatly, but this isn’t an ‘aero’ car. And VW’s engineers tell us that’s thanks to progress in battery and motor efficiency meaning it’s no longer necessary to build eco-blobs like the ID.3.

Bodes well for the new ID. Golf…

Anyway, the ID. Polo. It’s a front-wheel drive five-door that’s a little taller than the Polo you know because it has to sandwich a battery under the floor. But the proportions look good. The car has a friendly face and a slightly Hyundai Ioniq 5-vibe to its backside. There’s an LED light bar on high-end versions. Big balloon tyres and a white plastic smile on the base car. It looks polite and charming, but not as wantonly cool as the Renault 5.

Inside, the ID. Polo carries on with the ‘we’re sorry, please have some buttons’ apology VW started with the ID.3 Neo. The squircle steering wheel is free of haptic nonsense. The main touchscreen is complemented with physical toggles for the heater, hazards and so on. You get the correct number of window switches. The world continues to heal.

And because there’s no exhaust under the rear quarter of the car, the middle-seat rear legroom is impressive and the boot is so deep you half expect to find Australians living in the bottom.

So, to the numbers. Every single ID. Polo has a top speed of 100mph. Oh, sorry. Relevant numbers? Well, the 37kWh battery can be had with either 114bhp or 133bhp. The bigger battery, a 52kWh job, is treated to 208bhp. There will in due course be an ID. Polo GTI with more power – look out Alpine A290 and Mini Cooper S EV…

The bigger battery can charge at up to 105kW and impressively only makes the car a claimed 8kg heavier than the smaller battery, which can charge at up to 90kW. But this isn’t a light car – all versions of the electric Polo are more than 1.5 tonnes.

Final range calculations aren’t yet confirmed, but VW reckons on around 204 miles with the ickle battery and 282 miles for the bigger one. If it’s a second car, and an urban one at that, probably enough?

The main takeaway here is that VW has applied a ‘classic’ name to a very new car, and made it look traditional inside and out. That shows a very different company attitude to when the ID. journey first began, and feels like a company setting course back on the right track.

But against the talented likes of the Renault 5, Hyundai Inster, Fiat Grande Panda and upcoming Hyundai Ioniq 3, the Polo can’t just be safe and traditional. It also needs to be very, very good indeed.