When you say small cars, you think hatchbacks, but India isn’t that simple – the law forgot to mention the word ‘hatchback’ anywhere in there. And why would it really? It’s crazy to fit anything but a hatchback in as little a space as 4000mm, right? Wrong.
It would have taken quite some courage as an engineer to raise your hand up in a product meeting and say, “Why don’t we fit a sedan in under 4 metres?”
Despite the rumours from many years ago, we wouldn’t have thought the Germans would take a chance with this formula but in the end, we now have the Volkswagen Ameo.
The Car
The Ameo is the real Polo-sedan down to the engine options! In that sense then, the Ameo is more a Polo with a boot than a Vento with a chopped boot and that really makes things interesting.
With only 4 metres to play around with, the engineers must have had to look at every centimetre on the Polo to figure out where they could free up enough space to fit in a boot. The answer came from the front bumper which loses about 35mm for better packaging on the Ameo.
The Looks
There isn’t really much difference between the Polo and the Ameo in terms of the way the car behaves – still got that slightly stiff suspension setup which makes it fun to drive but not so much fun for your backside if you’re a passenger. A small price to pay for handling bliss.
At launch, there’s just the 1.2-litre, 75PS, 110Nm petrol three-pot in the engine bay which may seem a tad underpowered at first, but it really isn’t. There’s enough in there to keep the Ameo exciting though it may come at the cost of fuel efficiency (17.83 kmpl according to ARAI).
The tail lamps are a detail that could have really changed the rear for the better and that is a missed opportunity in my book. Move in and the cabin is again, familiar. Switch to the Ameo from a Polo and you will be hard pressed to find any sort of difference.
The Polo-family dashboard has evolved over the years though and the Ameo gets the full benefit of all the progress – including the slightly rounded-off fonts in white on the digital Multi-Function Display instrument console. There is also a touchscreen entertainment system and rain-sensing wipers which is a segment first.
The rear bench is comfortable for the sort of conditions that the Ameo will be used in most of the times and the backrest folds down to create even more luggage area on the 330-litre boot.
Before you go scoffing at that figure, especially compared to the Ameo’s sub-4 metre sedan competition, it’s a good point to note that the space in there is quite useable and with the foldable backrest on the rear bench, there should never be a problem with loading all your luggage.
The Drive
In real life terms though, it’s the drivability that really counts in city traffic conditions (which is where the Ameo will be used the most) and the gear ratios do an excellent job in keeping things effortless. The Ameo picks up strongly with a full load of passengers all the way down from 20 km/h in 3rd gear and that’s really one of the strongest points of the car.
Visually, you’ve got to be Hawk-Eye to spot any real difference between the Polo and the Ameo – there are differences, mind you but they’re insignificant enough to not bother about them, except for the boot of course.
It’s still a handsome looking car from the front but there are no LED Daytime Running Lights (DRLs) on the Ameo which quite frankly isn’t exactly a deal-breaker to me.
When it came to the Ameo, there were restrictions – the 4000mm length being the biggest of them and coupled with the fact that the Polo had to be retrofitted with a boot, it must have been a nightmare for the designers.
There are even very Skoda-esque diamond cuts on the boot lid to break the monotony of the metallic expanse. It may not be the best boot-job on the planet, but it’s way off from being the worst one either.
Verdict
That pretty much sums up all the quantifiable stuff about the Volkswagen Ameo – the true Polo sedan in our books. Could VW have done more with the Ameo? Considering the very India-specific small car limitations in play, we don’t think so.
And then you’ve got to consider the price that the Ameo is coming in at – Rs 5.24-7.06 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi) – pretty much puts it in the mix of things with the competition.
While the Ford Aspire and the Honda Amaze (for whatever reason) are more expensive, the DZire and Xcent are right alongside the Ameo and the Zest is about half a lakh cheaper.
What the Ameo does bring in is the same build quality and built-like-a-tank feel that you expect from every Volkswagen out there. This segment is heating up and the Ameo seems ready to take the fight head on.
(Muntaser Mirkar is one of India’s renowned automotive journalists and the Co-Founder of MotorScribes. He can be reached on Twitter: @BullSpeech)
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