The Volkswagen Polo is, by any measure, a successful little thing. It’s sold in healthy numbers worldwide, and provided young families safe, dependable mobility for generations, and continues to serve its original purpose which was to supplant the Golf as the entry-point into a Volkswagen family hatch (much the way the Golf was designed to succeed the Beetle at the time). There are only a handful of cities in the world where you won’t find Polo hatchbacks roaming around in decent numbers, and even when you don’t, you find some VW product that’s based on the Polo in its place.

In its various iterations and transmutations, the Polo has never failed to capture the attention of its target audience, and it’s much the same case today. Except here.

In the Malaysian market, the Polo is a relative outlier. Previously, it was offered with a 1.2-litre turbocharged engine (an older version of the unit now employed in the Vento saloon), and it came with a ridiculously-high pricetag that was purportedly justified by its German badge and “superior engineering” (or so I was told by a VW exec at the time). Of course that hampered sales, and so the management at the time thought it would be a good idea to assemble it locally, and knock the price down. Makes sense, right?

Problem was that in doing so, they thought we wouldn’t mind losing out on every possible nicety they could pry off the damned thing. We were amazed that they didn’t charge extra for the doors. It had cloth seats, a dismal radio with a monochrome screen, and they had gotten rid of the turbocharged powerplant and put in its place a 1.6-litre atmo engine that was designed to appease accountants in Wolfsburg who watch the profit margins.

To be fair, the engine got swapped out to make it more reliable, but the relatively-premium pricetag and Turkish-prison kit count meant that when I encountered it for the first time a couple of years ago, it left a bad taste in my mouth. It’s one thing to be unremarkable, but the Polo MPI was tragic. I was so upset by it that I didn’t want to write about it, or talk about it, or recognise its existence.

However, it seems that things have changed. For one, Volkswagen has changed: It’s now Volkswagen Passenger Cars Malaysia, under the stewardship of Porsche Holdings Salzburg (and already under the control of its second managing director). VPCM realised the issues that had arisen from the strategy employed by earlier management, and sought to fix it as quickly as possible. So now, aftersales service has been improved, there are fewer mechanical issues that require recalls, warranties have been extended, and the cars themselves have been rejigged to provide better value all-round.

That commitment to value is best exemplified by the Allstar range of cars, and the Polo Allstar is the very first of the breed to wear the badge. And on the surface, it appears to address the very issues I took with it the first time I met the Polo. For starters, it has leather seats, a touchscreen infotainment screen, and even some fancy scuff plates and badged carpets to remind you that this isn’t your average Polo. The steering wheel gets leather too, as does the gear lever. The exterior gains only ‘Allstar’ badging on the B-pillar and a discreet decal down the side, as well as a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it rear spoiler.

There’s no change under the bonnet either, with the 1.6-litre multipoint-injection petrol engine producing an unremarkable 105hp and 153Nm (at a heady 3500rpm). Mated to that is a six-speed automatic gearbox, a conventional torque-converter unit, and not a complicated double-clutch jobbie. The good thing about this powertrain is that it’s time-tested, so you know that there aren’t going to be any reliability issues here.

The engine and gearbox combo suits the Polo well, as it is after all a city car first and foremost. The light steering wheel makes for quick progress in town, though it does weight up nicely as the speed piles on. In town, you’ll appreciate the well-judged suspension and muted ride, which does a lot to make up for our interesting road surfaces.

What surprises is when you venture out of town, and onto the motorway. Most urban runabouts tend to falter at motorway speeds, the Polo remains composed. Thanks to the typically-European suspension tuning, the Polo’s stability doesn’t deteriorate at speed, and there’s little road roar or wind noise to ruin the cruise. Additionally, there’s cruise control in this small car, controlled by a rather-awkward set of switches on the left-hand stalk, further emphasising its motorway ability.

The seats, once you’ve been going a while, reveal themselves to be rather good at their job too. There’s plenty of lateral support (not that you’ll be cornering like a hoon), and enough bolstering to always be comfortable. It’s almost as if Volkswagen thought of everything when they designed the Polo… except for automatic door locking.

That sort of summarises the Polo Allstar, really. It’s competent in all areas, but glowing in none. It’s a quiet, comfortable city runabout and a capable motorway cruiser, with the sort of thoughtful practicality that means you’ll never be left wanting. The engine, while hardly zingy, is adequate but not exemplary, though it does excel in saving fuel (with a healthy mix of urban and motorway driving, we never saw a consumption figure north of 7L/100km).

And at less than RM80,000 (before you try and wring a better deal from a showroom), you begin to wonder why they don’t sell more of these things.