I remember testing driving both of these cars on the same day. The Ford felt nice to drive but I did not like the dashboard layout (too "sci-fi" for my taste) and the seats were not as nice as those of the Polo. Although the performance of the Ford was very nice compared to my old Mazda 2, when I stepped into the Polo from the Ford, the Polo in performance terms was a step up yet again - it had an effortless "big car" feel about it that the Ford lacked. The Polo salesman was complaining that I was too light-footed during the test drive so directed me to turn into a side road with a very steep hill. After seeing how effortless it got up a hill compared to everything else I had test driven that week, it was the final thing to clinch the sale. I also did not agree with all the comments I had read about the Ford's steering being better - I thought the Polo steering was better.Quote:
Originally Posted by yokom46
But after driving the Yaris, Corolla, Fiesta, i30 Petrol, i30 Diesel, Accent Petrol and Polo TSI in the space of a week, I ranked the Polo at the top, followed by the Fiesta, Yaris, Accent, i30 Petrol, Corolla with i30 Diesel last (poor performance and as refined as a Government Bus). Had the petrol Hyundai Accent not suffered from a throttle stutter in first gear between the closed position and just-open position (making it very jerky at very slow speeds in traffic), I would have actually rated it between the Polo and Fiesta - it was surprisingly good and with the 14 inch wheels was very comfortable on our crappy roads).
Incidentally, I see you had the Mazda 2 on the list. After putting up with an incredibly noisy Mazda 2 for 6 years and reading that Mazda cars were still noisy even in 2012, I gave the brand a miss. Even the current Mazda 3 was measured as considerably noisier than competing cars in a recent tets and it is a class up in size and refinement from the Mazda 2. I only recommend Mazdas to people who are either deaf or are not offended by Heavy Metal music played at Heavy Metal volumes. Apart from that, I also wanted to get rid of my old Mazda because of the completely gutless performance - I had to wring the heck out of it to do anything at all. Given the new Mazda 2 has even less power and torque than my old one, I would be surprised if you could put up with a Mazda 2 after driving the Polo TSI.
