Dependable or exotica?

Two visitors this month. One, the latest iteration of the VW Polo, now in its fifth generation and with ten million Polo ancestors. The other, a 1968 Bristol 410 whose ancestors can probably be numbered in the hundreds and siblings in scores, maybe dozens. The first was for a week, courtesy of VW, the second is for a few months, courtesy of a friend who wants to sell but wants it used while he’s away.

Think Polo and you think smaller Golf, runabout, district nurses, retired primary- school teachers, reliable, sensible choice for modest budgets. That’s still largely true, except that, as Golfs have grown and put on weight, the Polo has kept in step, this five-door model being larger than any of its predecessors and less than nine inches shorter and six narrower than the new Golf. What constitutes budgetary modesty is another variable: with only a fiver’s change from £12,000 for the 1.2 SE version tested this is not one of the cheapest new cars, though it’s comparable with supermini competition from the Fiesta and Corsa. And the range starts at £10,035. Depreciation of the SE over three years would be about £2,000 a year.

But it’s more than a runabout. A 320-mile round trip to the Cheltenham literary festival was perfectly comfortable, not at all the wearying, droning, choppy-sea trip it can be in small cars. Granted, with only 70PS (69bhp) available from three cylinders you use the gearbox more than with the three larger-engine variants, but it revs freely up to the limit. It sounds a bit harsh under throttle but at 70mph and 3,000rpm the main noises are wind and tyres, neither too intrusive. Combined consumption is given as 51.4mpg; I achieved about 45.