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VOLKSWAGEN Golf VI Review

OUR TEST CAR: Volkswagen Golf VI 2.0 TDI

 
VOLKSWAGEN Golf VI  - Page - 1
In 1973, the "people's car" manufacturer in Wolfsburg, Germany, was getting ready to carefully launch its second best ever hit, after the legendary Beetle. The first generation of the Golf appeared in 1974 and practically introduced what later became known as the "Golf class", or "compact class". Volkswagen was then on the verge of almost slipping out of the car business since their only truly successful model, the Beetle, had began to lose its novelty and sales dipped. By chance, Volkswagen's portfolio was already including the Audi NSU brand at the time, after acquiring it in 1964 from Daimler-Benz.

This meant that VW also had access to Audi's front-wheel drive technology, which it used for its soon-to-become best-seller. The Golf project began in 1969 and after five hard years of development it was finally released on the European market in May 1974. People soon realized this was another breed of vehicle, as opposed to the old air-cooled/rear-wheel drive Beetle. As funky as the Beetle was at the start of the 1970s, it wasn't enough to keep Volkswagen alive and if it hadn't been for the Mark I Golf, the Wolfsburg people may have even ended up bankrupt.

The design of the car was carried out by none other than Giorgetto Giugiaro, while the engine line-up consisted of economical but also highly reliable four cylinder water-cooled engines. The Golf was technically also a bridge gap between the old air-cooled rear-engine and rear-wheel drive cars like the Beetle, the 1500/1600 and the 411/412 and modern cars like the Passat. Although the ill-fated K70 was the first ever front-engined and water-cooled Volkswagen, it was actually the Golf which became the best selling one.

Thirty five years and five generations later, it has become a true Volkswagen icon, but other car makers have caught up or even surpassed the now legendary Vee Dub. We tested its sixth, or should we say 5.5, generation with the Highline trim level. Equipped with the two-liter common rail 140 hp diesel and the highly acclaimed DSG transmission, our test car gave us more than one reason to cheer it, but it also made us wonder about the actual brain power level in a Wolfsburg brainstorming session of the marketing department.

Whether if you're a fan or not, you can't help but agree with the fact that Walter da Silva is one  clever individual. We don't know if it's a new automotive urban myth or not, but more than one voice has said that he sent the first final sketches of the new Golf back to the drawing board to be completely redesigned.

Whatever the look he managed to keep away from the final product was, the new Volkswagen Golf is probably the best looking one since the first Giugiaro-penned generation. With styling cues from the Mark I cleverly combined with others from the Mark IV, this "five-and-a-half" Golf looks great. Sure, there are no "Ninja-cuts" a la Honda Civic, no coupe-look a la Renault Megane, but its pure teutonic design manages to both bring back memories and create others.

The front is much more aggressive than on the Golf V, on which it is based, with angrier headlights and a retro-looking grill. The side profile on the other hand is almost identical, and we could even swear that the doors of a Mark V would fit perfectly on this "latest" generation. The "S-shaped" line between the rear door and the wide C-Pillar was also carried on but it somehow looks more retro now. The design of the rear looks very different than on the "previous" generation though, the slimmer tail lights making the car appear lower and wider. On the whole, the chunkiness of the Mark V is all gone and replaced by a more retro, more "German" and also sportier look.

Our test car isn't exactly the best example of how a good-looking Golf VI should appear in photos, since it was equipped with steel/iron rims covered in black paint and a girly, non metallic red color. On the good side, since the TDI badge on the rear was shaved and the exhaust had two straight exit points, some over-enthusiastic fan might have even mistaken our car for a "sleeper" Golf, a thought at which we were kind of amused. The only pretty bit about the wheels were the Giugiaro-designed tires, whose designated purpose we still fail to comprehend. Another element on the "fail" list would also be the door handles, which lack entries for the keys. What would happen if you're somewhere away from your back-up key and you run out of batteries for your transponder key?

Although still based on the same platform as the previous generation, the newest Golf exhibits a much better quality interior. The overall design wasn't drastically changed, but enough to make the inexperienced think they're sitting in an entirely different car. Our test car had the Highline trim level and was equipped with the DSG gearbox, making the interior feel like that of a slightly more expensive car. The Sport seats were partially covered in a velour-like (if not even actual velour, we're not that good with tailoring) material so that our derrieres felt more than welcomed. Volkswagen calls it Alcantara, by the way, but we didn't believe them. The lateral support was also something that you'd expect to find in a sports coupe, not a compact grocery getter like the Golf.

It isn't the most spacious car in its class but both front and rear leg room are adequate even for long distance traveling, as long as your primary way of earning moolah isn't shooting hoops in the national basketball league. Then again, if it was, you wouldn't be in the market for a Vee Dub anyway. There is a decent amount of storage spaces all over the car and the luggage compartment is enough to carry what 2-3 persons would bring in a few days trip. Especially if you always travel "indian style", light.

There were no leather seats, no wooden dash inserts and no Alcantara ceiling in there, but the quality of the plastic, aluminium "und" chrome inserts all over the interior was top notch. Some might argue that a not-exactly-beastly 140 hp engine shouldn't have a sports steering wheel like that and almost bucket seats in the front, but we didn't mind it one bit.

The only slight quarrel we had with the "facelifted Golf V" interior was the complete lack of the VW trademarked blue for the dashboard lights. We have yet to find the actual reason for their removal on this generation, but we have to admit we kinda missed them. Maybe VW boys realized it was making too many of their drivers sleepy, who knows?

The Mark VI Golf received the newest evolution of the 2.0 TDI oil-burner, which is now upgraded with Common Rail, a technology which helps it achieve both lower sound levels and fuel consumption. The busy city streets with stop and go traffic proved to be just a small impediment for the fuel economy, since the high-tech six-speed sequential transmission managed to extract every bit of power from the engine with an increased efficiency, changing gears better than just about any human could.

We sadly didn't manage to get very close to the official fuel consumption figures, but we suspect it was mainly due to the very heavy traffic in which we had to scooter around. So, instead of the official 7.1 liters per 100 km (US 33.1 mpg), we only got a little over 11 liters per 100 km (about US 22 mpg). That might seem like a high number – and it is – but considering the circumstances involved, 'twas ok.

The low-end grunt of the engine is very helpful in short and angry passes, providing enough oomph to change the mind of any diesel hater. The driving position was almost perfect, though a bit high to what some of us are accustomed from a compact grocery getter. The good part is that you can gradually decrease/increase it to suit almost every taste. This, together with the height-adjustable steering wheel and pretty good overall visibility made city parking a breeze.

Sure, the somewhat large D-pillars don't help with rear visibility much, and the lack of parking sensors – or Volkswagen's touted "Park Assist" – proved to be a pain in the butt sometimes, but really now, how much of a bad driver can you be if you can't parallel park a VW Golf? Alas, the sequential transmission could be a tiny bit less jerky when shifting through the gears in stop and go traffic.

With a decent weight, 140 hp, 320 Nm (236 lb ft) of torque available from 1750 to 2500 rpm and the super fast six-speed double clutch gearbox, we kind of expected our little Golf to fully stretch its legs outside the city. Well, it did and it didn't.

The DSG sequential transmission is a work of art, thinking and acting faster than any driver can. The engine is also no slouch, revving faster than we would have expected and, given that you start accelerating from above 1800-1900 rpm, it can hold its own against other, more powerful cars. The naught to 100 km/h (62 mph) time is a respectable 9.3 seconds, but we found a slight glitch in this whole oil-burner/clever transmission arrangement.

Especially when in "Sport" mode, the six-speed DSG will hold a gear for as much as possible when hard on the throttle, which can be both good and bad for the overall experience. In our oil-burner example, letting the engine boil to an "OMG, it's-gonna-blow!" 4700 rpm didn't do much in the performance department. Neither in the acoustic comfort one either, since the 2.0 TDI sounds like a magnesium rock being put through a coffee grinder at high rpm.

The problem resides in the torque curve of the engine, which abruptly drops after 3000 rpm, just like in almost any modern single-turbocharger diesel. With the DSG switching into the next gear at almost 5000 rpm whenever you step on it, the engine then doesn't have enough "room" to fall into the highest part of the torque curve again so that it can keep accelerate at maximum. All this translates into plenty of revs thrown away because the engine doesn't accelerate at its full capacity all the time.

Of course, we are talking about the "perceived" performance now, since on paper the car sits better than average. The noise insulation was greatly improved on this "extensive facelift" compared to the bubbly Golf V, and we suspect that the overall drag coefficient was also modified for the better.

At higher cruising speeds the acoustic comfort was mostly damaged by the aerodynamic turbulence inherently induced by the hatchback shape and by the all-season tires, not by the engine. On the whole, the Golf 2.0 TDI with DSG is more at home on short trips to the countryside or in the city, since its sporty character or long distance comfort isn't exactly the best money can buy. The fuel consumption on the other hand was almost halved after settling on a decent cruising speed. On the open road we managed around 6.3 liters per 100 km (US 37 mpg).
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autoevolution Feb 2009
66
History
8
Exterior
6
Interior
6
In the city
8
Open road
6
Comfort
5
Tech facts
6
Gadgets
6
Safety
8
Conclusion
7
64user rating 25 votes
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