FSO Polonez Kombi Photos, engines & full specs

More than a decade after Polonez’s introduction to the market, the Polish company FSO started production of a station wagon based on the same vehicle, with some help from its new owner, Daewoo.

When Daewoo tried to expand its business in Europe, it found it easier to produce its vehicles in Eastern Europe than to import them from Korea. As a result, it formed a partnership with the Polish government, and in 1995, it bought the FSO car company. The new owner didn’t scrap production of the beloved Polonez model on its home market but improved it. One way to do that was to create a station wagon based on the existing platform and add some modern touches. As a result, in 1999, FSO introduced the Polonez Kombi, a car that could carry more and still have a low manufacturing cost since it shared many components with the Polonez Caro hatchback version.

The Polonez Kombi carried over the headlights from its Caro hatchback sibling. Their horizontal layout with rounded corners and corner-mounted blinkers was not something to write home about, but they were not ugly either. Between them, the automaker placed the flat black grille where the round badge of the car manufacturer took center stage. Below, the body-colored wrapped-around plastic bumper was new, and it sported rectangular fog lamps.

From its profile, the Kombi couldn’t hide its age behind the rounded corners of the wedged-shape bodywork. The car was initially designed in an era when heavily curved windshields were expensive to make, and the automaker couldn’t afford that. In addition, the flat side panels of the vehicle were slightly curved and adorned by rubber stripes to mask the decades-old vehicle design. But the Polonez Kombi was meant to be a practical car. Its roof was raised above the rear seats and extended towards the back, over the luggage area. Finally, at the back, the vertical tailgate flanked by tiny, lower-mounted taillights tried to create a more pleasant look for the vehicle.

Inside, the automaker used the same dashboard as in the FSO Polonez Caro that was available in the UK and other European countries. The instrument panel had the speedometer on the left, the tachometer on the right, and between them, several gauges for the fuel level, oil pressure, coolant temperature, and a small analog clock. A set of vents above the center stack could vent the cabin, but the AC was unavailable. A stereo, instead, was standard for export markets. Also, thanks to Daewoo, the car could be equipped with power mirrors, but the power windows couldn’t be installed since the door panels were too slim. One of the biggest drawbacks of the Polonez hatchback was that its rear bench seat couldn’t fold down. When Daewoo helped FSO develop the Kombi version, it also fixed that issue.

Under the hood, the automaker installed a 1.6-liter gasoline engine that could keep up with Euro 1 emission standards. It was paired with a five-speed manual gearbox that sent the power to the rear wheels via a solid rear axle supported by leaf springs.