PowerSlot caused quite a stir with their first release, the huge Hummer H1. The Hummer seems to have met an enthusiastic reception, especially now better tyres are supplied. 

Now comes PowerSlot's second model, the VW Polo S1600 rally car. Will it be greeted with the same level of enthusiasm?

The Polo may seem an odd choice at first but rally cars are hugely popular in Spain, PowerSlot's home market, and gaining popularity across the world. Virtually all the major manufacturers produce the Subaru Imprezza, Mitsubishi Evo etc so it's refreshing that PowerSlot chose something a little different. The Polo is modelled on one of the cars competing in the South African Rally championship. 

First impressions are pretty good. The Polo looks neat and tidy, and the body shape is instantly recognisable even with its flared wheel arches. Overall the body looks clean and nicely made, there are no visible mould lines although my example had minor moulding flaws at the front edge of the roof and the top of one of the front wings. The roof was easily fixed by removing the interior and glazing and sanding the offending spot, but I haven't done anything about the wing. To be fair, I'm nit-picking as neither flaw was visible from more than a couple of inches away.

The majority of the car is white and the paintwork is good, smooth and evenly applied. The tampo printing is done to a reasonable standard. The colours are strong, vibrant and well defined, but not as crisp as we would expect from the big companies. The worst offenders are the front and rear bumpers - the colour is solid and bright but doesn't match the lines of the body leaving small but visible gaps at the top of each bumper which make the car look scruffy.

Paint and tampo are sealed with what appears to be a good coat of lacquer giving a nice tough glossy finish but my car had a few specks caught in the lacquer. Not a big issue and not unknown even with the bigger manufacturers, but it could be better.

The interior is a shallow tray with driver and navigator present from the armpits up. The figures appear to be identical and are plain white except for faces and safety harnesses. The rest of the interior is moulded in black so it's a bit dark and gloomy. A red fire extinguisher provides some contrast and there's some detail around the dashboard and a spare wheel moulded in the rear load space. A roll cage is also included.

The chassis is sturdy and appears well-braced although there is some flex at the rear but it's minimal. The motor is a PowerSlot PS1, a Boxer/NC-size motor mounted as an anglewinder, clipped in place and fitted with a single screw for extra security. It drives the rear axle via 12:36 nylon gearing. The pinion on my car was off-centre so I replaced it with a metal Ninco 13z pinion, which fits and meshes perfectly. The axle runs in nylon bushes which are a good tight fit in the chassis but slightly loose on the axle. 

The front axle is solid and runs directly in the chassis, in slots which allow several mm of vertical travel. The guide is a push-in type and fits nice and snug in the chassis. The guide travel is a little limited but this can be improved with a little trimming of the chassis either side of the guide mount. A circular Ninco-style magnet is fitted just ahead of the motor.

The wheels are plastic and appear round and true. They look a little undersize but I measured them and they work out as approximately 16 inches. The tyres are fairly soft and grippy but all four tyres had a noticeable mould line around the centre which needed to be sanded away. Two screws hold the body and chassis together, one at the front and one at the rear, so it's easy to introduce a little body rock if required.

Time to put the little VW on the track and see what it's made of. 

The first runs on my Scalextric track prove that it's pretty quick if a little noisy. The magnet is quite powerful so the car launches itself off the line with minimal wheel spin, but it doesn't really help much in the corners where the Polo is almost permanently sideways (what else would you expect from a rally car?). But it's fun and controllable and with a little practise you'll soon have the Polo drifting neatly through the corners and punching down the straights.

On the larger routed track the VW goes well. The motor seems to have similar performance to a Ninco NC5, lots of torque and good brakes. To test this theory I tried the Polo in drag races against a Ninco 350Z and Supra and the cars were neck and neck down the back straight. 

The VW handles well on the wood track, faster and smoother than I anticipated. There is no sign of the 'hop' that plagues some anglewinder cars, the Polo accelerates smoothly and rapidly. The only de-slots were caused (inevitably!) by me pushing the car too fast into corners. The car slid wide but then the guide reached the end of its travel and caused the car to de-slot or occasionally roll. The minor modification to the chassis mentioned earlier made a noticeable difference. The Polo is lots of fun to blast around the track and any concerns about its appearance are soon forgotten.

I'm quite impressed with this little car. An interesting choice of model and it's always good to see something fresh and different.

I've mentioned Ninco several times and the comparisons are hard to ignore, and I don't just mean the anglewinder connection. A couple of years ago Ninco were producing some good cars, great racers but often less than perfect in appearance and execution. I think PowerSlot are at a similar stage with this car, the Polo is huge fun to drive but let down by minor faults. Ninco have made big improvements and I sincerely hope PowerSlot can do so too.

That said, I think anyone looking for a fast car for a 2WD rally class is going to find the Polo hard to ignore.

	Many thanks to Pendle Slot Racing  for supplying the review model

Bigger pics in the Gallery