Car: Volkswagen Golf range
Prices: £14,075-£23,600 – on the road INSURANCE GROUPS: 4E-17
Emissions: 99-173g/km
Performance: [1.6 102PS] Max Speed 117mph / 0-60mph 11.3s
Fuel Consumption: [TDI 105] (urban) 49.6mpg / (extra urban) 72.4mpg / (combined) 62.8mpg
Safety: Seven airbags, ABS, ESP
Dimensions: [3dr] Length/Width/Heightmm 4213/1786/1501
SIXTH SENSE
Our Rating: 8.0 / 10
Volkswagen has addressed the points that needed addressing with its sixth generation Golf, improving a product that was pretty good to start with. Steve Walker reports
An upmarket interior, some advanced engine technology and a host of technological innovations make the sixth generation Volkswagen Golf a formidable presence in the family hatch sector. Retaining the best bits of the outgoing model, it moves the Golf game on yet again.
Most people who’ve driven it are of the opinion that the fifth generation version of the Volkswagen Golf is a very good car. Very good, however, is not quite good enough for Volkswagen and the marque is seeking to up its game another few notches with the sixth generation of its legendary hatchback. The Golf traditionally sells at a premium over its family hatchback rivals and the focus of this latest Golf is fixed on making the paying of that premium seem a no-brainer to buyers in this sector.
It has been said that the fully-independent suspension system on the MKV Golf was the cause of its problems. The advanced system worked like a charm but the costs of developing and manufacturing it necessitated the cutting of corners in other areas, notably the cabin quality. The MkVI Golf retains the clever underpinnings of the MkV but increases levels of perceived quality to reassert its position at the plusher end of the family hatch class.
Under the bonnet, customers have a choice of five petrol and four diesel engines. Petrol units are a 1.4-litre with 80 PS or a 1.6-litre with 102 PS, plus 1.4-litre TSI powerplants with 122 or 160 PS and the 2.0-litre TSI from the GTI. The TSI units utilise a turbocharger, and in some cases a supercharger as well, to produce a smooth flow of power across a wide section of the rev-range. Want a diesel? There are a couple of 2.0-litre common rail diesels offering power outputs of 140 or 170 PS. Further down the range, the 1.6-litre oil-burner is available with 90 or 105PS. A number of options are available on the Golf for the first time, including Volkswagen's Adaptive Chassis Control (ACC) which allows the driver to select from normal, comfort or sport modes to define the desired suspension, steering and accelerator response settings for any particular journey. ParkAssist, which takes over steering inputs to facilitate parallel parking manoeuvres, is also available as an option.
Riding on the same underpinnings as the MkV Golf, you won’t be expecting the MkVI model’s road-going performance to be anything other than highly polished. It uses a combination of MacPherson struts at the front wheels and four-link suspension at the rear promising to replicate the supple ride and adroit handling of its predecessor. The electro/mechanical steering system is also carried over, enabling an 11m turning circle. Power is fed to the wheels through a standard six-speed manual gearbox, but the fast-shifting seven-speed DSG twin clutch gearbox is also available.
Volkswagen was never about to break with tradition where the Golf’s styling was concerned. A clear design lineage can be traced back to the original Golf circa 1974 and breaking that in favour of some bold new styling direction would have been completely out of character for the German marque. Conservative but classy has long been the Golf staple and the MkVI model diligently tows that line with the wide grille first seen on the Scirocco coupe which merges with the headlamps to form a single band across the nose. At the back, the huge tail light clusters are similar in shape to the headlamps and curve round into the rear wings to visually widen the car.
It’s the interior, though, where the most obvious alterations have been made. Quality soft-touch plastics are everywhere and virtually every available button or dial gets its own chrome border. The instruments that used to illuminate in blue are now bright white but the overall shape of the dash is similar to that in the MkV Golf. There’s a big step forward in terms of refinement however, thanks to a completely new design of door and window seals, a new damping film that supports the windscreen and a new engine mounting system.
This Golf is available in five trim levels - S, SE, GT, GTD and GTI – but there are also fuel efficient BlueMotion models to consider based on the 1.6 TDI engine. There are three or five-door bodystyles with the standard h
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