Volkswagen Polo R WRC road legal car details emerge

Homologation is probably FIA’s way of thanking the racing fraternity for our support towards motorsport. It is the very same rule that created the barely legal Lancia Stratos and has now forced VW to build 2,500 road-going models for the Polo WRC. The car was first announced last year and now detailed images of the model have emerged with deliveries expected to commence by September.

But if you are expecting a rally like road car, than you will be disappointed. Apart from the name and the decals the Polo R has very little in common with the race car. To begin with, the Polo R is a front-wheel drive powered by a turbocharged 2.0-litre instead of the 1.6-litre turbo unit with all-wheel drive set up found on the WRC Polo.  The Polo R will make 200PS of power, 100 less than the WRC variant but a Golf GTI engine liked to a six-speed manual gearbox is still more than sufficient for a road legal hatch.

The car sprints from 0 to 100kmph in 6.4 seconds thanks to the electronic curing to the differential and the sports suspensions.  The car also comes equipped with 18-inch Cagliari alloy-wheels, standard bi-xenon headlights, sport seats with WRC logos, cruise control, light and rain sensor, winter package, climate control and radio navigation unit, among others.

Priced at 33,900 euros (Rs 26.43 lakh) in Germany, and only 2,500 units will be rolled out. As for us in India, we will have to be content with the VW Polo GT TSI that is until we get the Audi A3, as it will probably be the first car form the VW family to get the Golf sourced engine.