Volkswagen offers the car in three or five-door forms, with a vast array of petrol or diesel engines, which include an ultra-efficient 80mpg-plus BlueMotion model and a be-spoilered 178bhp GTI.
Between those two extremes lie normally aspirated 1.2 and 1.4-litre petrols, turbocharged 1.2 and 1.4-litre TSI petrols, and two further turbodiesels offering between 74 and 89bhp.
Trim levels run from S, through Match, SE and SEL, to R-line and R-line Style. S models can be (and usually are) specified with air conditioning, when they gain the A/C tag, while the GTI with its standard DSG dual-clutch automatic gearbox is a standalone model.
A fairly recent addition, meanwhile, is the Polo BlueGT, which is a halfway-house warm hatchback combining spritely performance with some of the most competitive fuel economy and emissions in the range.