New Volkswagen Polo Edition 50 2025 review: an underwhelming celebration
This special Polo marks a half-century celebration, but VW doesn’t seem too bothered
Verdict
As far as anniversary celebrations go, the Polo Edition 50 feels on the same level as buying your partner petrol station flowers and a cheap bottle of plonk. It’s a shame that Volkswagen couldn’t include even one throwback to the past half century of its faithful supermini. Only offering a basic engine and gearbox combo at this price also seems a little unusual. That aside, there is plenty of kit on board, plus the Polo still feels mature, capable and high-quality for a small car.
2026 is going to be a very big year for the Volkswagen Polo. We recently learned that the humble supermini is set to receive several major upgrades, including its first-ever hybrid powertrain, plus the hugely important ID. Polo EV will arrive to finally fulfil the brand’s long-held promise of an affordable electric car.
However, 2025 also marked an important moment in the history of the Polo, as it celebrated its 50th birthday this year. So, as brands often do when their cars reach such a milestone, VW created the limited-run Edition 50 for anyone “keen to own a piece of Volkswagen and automotive history”.
You might have hoped that the designers and product team took this opportunity to honour the life and times of the Polo by giving the Edition 50 a wood-effect dashboard like the original from 1975, or a bonkers multi-coloured paint scheme just as we saw on the Harlequin Edition from the nineties.
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But as you can tell from the pictures, they did nothing of the sort. In fact, the Polo Edition 50’s significance isn’t just unclear from a distance, it’s difficult to work out even when you’re inside the car.
To save readers from straining their eyes or having to fish out a magnifying glass, the special touches here are some ‘50’ badges on the B-pillar, steering wheel, dashboard and front door sills. It also comes in an exclusive Crystal Blue hue with chrome bumper trim, while the interior features a piano black dashboard, more black trim and has unique, but rather dull, seat upholstery. In the immortal words of Porky Pig: “Th… th… that’s all, folks.”
So the Edition 50 fails to pay homage to all the Polos that have come before. But it does at least come with lots of luxuries, usually reserved for the top-tier trims, including a tilting sunroof which can be opened, 17-inch alloy wheels, a 10.25-inch ‘Virtual Cockpit’ driver’s display, matrix LED headlights, keyless access and start, and a reversing camera.
That goes some way to explaining the £26,850 price tag, but the unusual choice to only offer the Edition 50 with a 94bhp three-cylinder 1.0-litre petrol engine and five-speed manual gearbox doesn’t. We’re not complaining, though, as it’s the combo we recommend most people go for if buying a Polo.
The engine provides plenty of torque low down in the rev range and enough oomph that you can overtake at motorway speeds with relative ease. More impressive is that the little engine doesn’t sound harsh or strained, even when you’re accelerating hard. In fact, it produces a satisfying thrumming note. The five-speed ’box isn’t the slickest in the supermini class, but it gets the job done and there’s a relatively short throw between gear changes.
Even so, the Skoda Fabia Monte Carlo Edition is not only available for around £2,500 less than the Polo Edition 50, as standard it comes with a 114bhp 1.0-litre three-pot under the bonnet and a six-speed gearbox. You can even have it with a 148bhp four-cylinder and a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic for roughly the same money as this limited-edition VW.
Otherwise, the Edition 50 is like any other Polo. The interior isn’t a particularly exciting place to be, but build quality is solid and it still feels more premium than some might expect from a small car. Be warned, though, that the slab of piano black plastic on the dashboard quickly attracts a huge amount of fingerprints.
The infotainment system is simpler than in other VW products, which isn’t necessarily a bag thing as it’s easy to use. But menus often load slowly and we had issues connecting to Apple CarPlay on multiple occasions.
This being a modern VW, the climate controls are all touch-sensitive panels, rather than proper physical buttons and dials. At least they’re on a dedicated panel, not just below the touchscreen, and there are buttons for the fan speed and direction, which makes life easier compared to the Golf or ID.3, where the driver has to do everything via the touchscreen.
The Polo doesn’t mind being chucked around a B-road, but we wouldn’t say it’s much fun. Its speciality is comfort and refinement, making it especially good on the motorway. Once you’re up to speed and in top gear, the thrumming engine fades into the background, there’s not too much noise making its way into the cabin and the car doesn’t fidget or bob about. Its size, good visibility and smooth ride are great for town driving, too.
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| Model: | Volkswagen Polo Edition 50 |
| Price: | £26,850 |
| On sale: | Now |
| Powertrain: | 1.0-litre 3cyl turbo petrol |
| Power/torque: | 94bhp/175Nm |
| Transmission: | Five-speed manual, front-wheel drive |
| 0-62mph/top speed: | 10.8 seconds/117mph |
| Economy/CO2: | 51.7mpg/124g/km |
| Size (L/W/H): | 4,074/1,751/1,451mm |
