Volkswagen Polo GT TSI vs Ford Aspire in a drag race: Who Wins? [Video]

Drag races are a way to measure a car’s acceleration prowess, as well as a practical method to increase the reputation of a car. The quarter mile, half mile or just timed drag races have been going on since quite a long time. Drag times and related things are often the topics of discussions among petrolheads, sometimes which turns into comical fights too. To fuel the inner petrolhead within you, here’s a drag race between a Volkswagen Polo GT TSI and a Ford Aspire diesel. Now we know they are vehicles of different segments and the Polo GT has a clear power advantage here, but let’s watch the video just to see how Aspire performs.

The video above by Acceleration India brings two unlikely and interesting opponents together in this drag race video. The Ford Aspire has a diesel mill and is a sub-4 meter sedan while the Polo GT TSI is a proper hot hatch with a stonker of an engine. Moreover, the Polo GT here has had an engine remap and the power output has bumped up by another 10 Bhp. No doubts about the winner here then.

As it was evident beforehand, the Polo GT TSI took the drag race crown home. However, what was interesting to see was the Ford Aspire put one hell of a fight, despite not having any ‘hot’ or ‘performance’ tag over its head like the Polo GT TSI. In all the four rounds conducted during the course of the video, the Polo GT TSI won the race. However, the Ford Aspire had the lead in every single round and it was only later that the Polo overtook the car, making a show of its raw power while at it.

There are several reasons as for why the Aspire always took the lead in these drag races, but first, let’s take a look at their engines. The Ford Figo Aspire is powered by a 1498 cc diesel engine that puts out 99 Bhp of power at 3750 RPM along with 215 Nm of torque at 1750 RPM and comes mated to a 5-speed manual gearbox. The Volkswagen Polo GT TSI, in stock condition, is powered by an 1198 cc petrol engine that churns out 103 Bhp of power at 5000 RPM along with 175 Nm of torque at 1500 RPM. It comes with a 7-speed automatic (DCT) transmission. With all the modifications and engine remap done on this Polo GT, the power outcome has been bumped up to around 115 Bhp.

As the above data tells us, the Aspire gets access to its full power at lower RPM (3750) than Polo (5000). Also, the Aspire is lighter in weight (1053 kg) than the Volkswagen Polo (1109 kg), which is another important factor in drag races. Being a diesel, the Aspire also has more torque which means some acceleration advantage over the Polo. And lastly, a point that may be easily overlooked is that the Polo comes with an automatic transmission but does not have any launch control software built in. Now it takes a really good driver to launch an automatic car properly without launch control and that could also be a contributing reason in why the Polo lagged behind during the first half of the race. In the end, though, the Volkswagen Polo GT wins every time but the Ford Aspire puts a good show and challenges the hot hatch brilliantly.