Despite being launched with a typically corny pan-European promotional video showing statues coming to life and yuppies rollerblading in and around famous landmarks (it's a German thing, apparently), the Polo is a cut above the usual supermini crowd. For a start it's a big car with dimensions that overshadow the original Mk1 Golf. Compared with the models it used to share a sector with just a few years ago - Peugeot 106, the outgoing Fiesta, etc - it looks like a giant.

In terms of engine choice, buyers are faced with a wide but rather tame range of motors, starting with a new entry-level 1.2-litre three-pot and running up to a 1.4-litre four cylinder that generates 100bhp. Two diesels - a 1.4-litre, 75bhp triple and a thumping 100bhp PD-equipped TDI four - round off the range.

Of course, there was a time when a 100bhp supermini would qualify as a performance car. However, today's tiddlers are light years away from their featherweight predecessors, and with a portly 1100kg to lug around, the petrol- powered 1.4's performance is best described as average. That said, the engine is keen to rev, spinning up to speed without complaint and proving competent at motorway pace. In fact it's the three-cylinder that delivers the most satisfying soundtrack, thrumming its way to the red line with surprising gusto. The downside is that with just 65bhp on tap, you'll be on first-name terms with the throttle-stops after a cross-country jaunt.

Thankfully, the chassis offers an improvement over the limp and uninvolving car it replaces. Although it retains the familiar Volkswagen layout with struts up front and a torsion beam at the rear, the track is 63mm wider and the subframes are laser-welded and braced with aluminium cross members to reduce flex. That traditional torsion beam now has a V-profile, allowing more accurate fine tuning of the Polo's back end, and the whole assembly is also significantly lighter than before, reducing unsprung weight.

In practice, the whole set-up gels together rather well and feels altogether more composed than its predecessor. The steering, which uses a completely new electro-hydraulic pump arrangement that regulates assistance according to road speed, is far more accurate than before, allowing you to turn in quicker and hold a steady line through sweepers.

Body control is also better and, although there's still a fair degree of roll in quicker corners, it doesn't load up the outside front wheel as badly as the current car.

That said, there are elements about the driving experience that don't quite hit the mark. Like so many of the Volkswagen Group's offerings, the Polo has a neutral handling balance that always errs on the side of safety. Sure it's quicker through the twisties than the old version, but tightening its line with a lift of the throttle isn't in the Polo's repertoire. Volkswagen will have to work hard to win enthusiasts' hearts, especially if Ford's magic wand makes the new Fiesta as fun to drive as the outgoing one.

With VW bosses keeping their lips tightly sealed, one can only speculate as to which powerplant will go into the sporty version of the Polo - due at the tail end of next year. The new car's platform - which also underpins the Skoda Fabia and forthcoming SEAT Ibiza - is big enough to take a range of engines including the ubiquitous VAG 1.8-litre turbo. However, internal politics within the VW group could well scupper that little plan, leaving the Polo GTI with the ageing and rather less than wonderful 2-litre normally aspirated unit currently fitted to top-of-the-range Fabias.

Volkswagen has yet to announce UK pricing, although the car has just gone on sale in Germany with an almost identical price tag to the last model. However, with the all-new Ford Fiesta just around the corner, the prospect of a full-scale price war could mean that the best Polo yet might also be something of a bargain.