DateDrive: testing the new VW Polo GTI

24 May 2011, Posted by Cape Town Girl in CTG recommends, cape town, cars, south africa, 0 Comments

So last Thursday night we test drove the new Polo GTI by taking it from the 12 Apostles Hotel to Hout Bay Manor, where we enjoyed a meal and an overnight stay, and then we drove it back to town. Please just forget everything you ever thought about Polos right now, because what’s in your mind is probably further from what this car is like than Maria Shriver is from her groping governator ex-husband right now.

The car we drove was a dual-automatic, which means you can switch between gears and automatic. The gears, when you choose to use them, are operated on two paddles behind the steering wheel, and there are SEVEN OF THEM. Good thing too, since someone with a sense of humour in the VW Polo design dept drank a Red Bull and then decided to put NASA’s new rocket engine inside this car, and not tell anyone. Frightening thing to discover when wearing heels and winding along the coastal road at night. It would also explain why they strapped a heart-rate monitor to me before sending me off in the Polo. No doubt the VW team were sniggering at the intermittent heart attacks I was having while applying light pressure to the accelerator going into the corners, as one does.

By the time we arrived at Pure Restaurant at Hout Bay Manor, I had the post-rollercoaster shakes, and the red wine, prawn risotto, venison shank and malva pudding did much to ‘calm me the f down’. We settled into our suite for a night in the gorgeously rustic Hout Bay Manor. We stayed in one of the Sangoma rooms. The service and staff were just impeccable. Think enormous metal bath tubs with a huge bed and unexpected African touches that made the experience a unique one. Please enjoy the vibe at Pure below:

And then there was the drive home:

If you’d like to test drive the Polo GTI, head over to datedrive.co.za and sign up for one. It’s a great experience. They’ll lube you up, strap a heart rate monitor to you, give you a date kit complete with perfume, gum, breath freshener and a netflorist voucher, just to round it off nicely. Really not a bad way to spend an evening.

Follow @datedrive on twitter to follow others going on their Polo GTI test drives.