Some cars may have electric heating or a Webasto heater, each of which heats the passenger compartment independently of the engine temperature.
If your car lacks either of these then you must wait for the engine to heat the coolant in order to have the heat transferred to the passenger compartment via the heater matrix (a small rad) situated in the dashboard area.
If you want the engine to heat up faster, turn the heater temperature gauge to off. This means that about a half-litre or so of cold coolant sits in the heater matrix and the remaining coolant heats up faster, improving fuel consumption and reducing engine wear as the oil will heat up faster too.
So what about the poor passengers & driver? If you car has A/C turn the switch to recirculate. This prevents the system taking in new cold air and body-heat will be retained in the cabin. Once the engine warms, turn up the temperature switch.
This is the best technique to get rid of the fog on the insides of windows on cold mornings. You'll have to experiment with the blower direction switch. Some cars need the air directed at the windows (the "defrost" or "demist" position), while others need it somewhere between demist and feet.
There is nothing that I know of wrong with your Polo diesel (1.6?), other than being a typically efficient & effective Teutonic design, and like all diesels, cold weather plays holy-hell with the warm-up time.
You might consider temporarily blocking off part of the radiator to cut down the cold air-flow in winter (not to be attempted if you are likely to be sitting in a traffic-jam). I do this with a neat little DIY cardboard baffle fitted to my diesel Fabia.
A few don'ts, if I may:
- Don't leave you car idling outside the door to warm up
- Don't pour hot water on the windows to defrost them
- Don't pour hot water in the window washer
And
- Do park indoors if at all possible
- Do use a car-cover / window cover
- Do use an ice scraper (carefully) to clear windows
If none of the above proves satisfactory for you, have a look at investing in a Webasto diesel-powered parking-heater or a mains-powered plug-in heater for the coolant and oil .