Golf VI

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VW Golf 2.0 TDI 140 DSG (2009) CAR review

By Anthony ffrench-Constant
First drive


Despite the residue of hundreds of kilted Scottish football supporters who were far too sloshed to find the airport after the World Cup qualifying match – and, for that matter, probably still are – Reykjavik is an outstanding city from which to launch a car.
Compared to anything else on offer on the planet, the surrounding scenery is absolutely brand spanking new and largely still hot to the touch, the air’s so good that no amount of vigorous fag smoking will put a dent in its quality, it’s hilariously, wallet-meltingly expensive and the women are so pretty it makes you want to burst out cheering. Actually that last bit’s a fib; most of the girls are up there with Bjork on the Troll scale and, after a week of relentless Glaswegian chat-up line pummelling, are none too friendly to boot.
You’ll never, ever learn the language, which sounds like Scandinavian played backwards and bubbled through bath water, and your taste buds will find it equally hard to come to terms with the food. Puffin looks and cuts like duck, but tastes of anchovies, whale (bought ages ago off a Japanese ship refused a berth anywhere else) looks and cuts like liver, but tastes like a cow that’s recently been scuba diving in the Red Sea, and black guillemot tastes, um, quite unlike anything I’ve ever eaten before. And as for the Stinky Food Festival chunks of shark they bury for months in the sand until the seeping ammonia will weep the eye-balls clean out of your skull; don’t even think about it.
Into this absorbing environment, Volkswagen introduced a fleet of Phaetons, complete with more chauffeurs than Iceland has policemen (honest), in which I spent marginally more time than the car I’d turned up to drive. Seriously, in order to ensure we stayed on message and weren’t distracted by the delights of Reykjavik, VW built a main dealer sized, erm, indoctrination centre in the middle of nowhere and spent so much time ferrying us to and fro in rear seat luxury that it was a constant struggle not to review the wrong car.
Oh do get on with it!

Sorry. And then it struck me… They did all this on purpose. So little of import has changed between Golfs MkV and VI that the latest iteration was in desperate need of a USP. In that context, Volkswagen have opted for the Sound of Silence, and the reason why we spent so long in the back of a Phaeton is precisely because we were being covertly nudged into making cabin hush comparisons between the two.
Allied to a huge hike in interior quality, the MkVI has indeed been soundproofed senseless to seriously good effect. Ironically, the only gripe remaining is that they’ve thrown out the blue back-lighting to the instrumentation in favour of white. Surely that was something of a Golf USP in its own right.


So what’s the diesel like, then?

They say this is a new 138bhp version of VW’s 2.0 litre common-rail turbodiesel, yet it instantly feels as familiar as your favourite pants. From just 1750rpm a slug of 236lb ft of torque elicits predictable urge, particularly when mated here to the group’s admirable six-speed, twin-clutch DSG gearbox, which slurs both up and down changes with greased eel alacrity.
Thing is, however, faced with stiff competition from VW’s delicious 1.4 litre twincharger unit, I’m increasingly less inclined to favour the diesel option. It’s heavier, which makes the Golf a little less inclined to respond to the helm at turn in than its sibling, and, despite the soundproofing Tefal heads’ best efforts, it’s noisier, which somewhat goes against the grain of the whole quiet and refined pitch.
Anything else?

Not really. This is a respectable looking hatchback, but certainly no prettier than its predecessor. It now benefits from Adaptive Chassis Control, of which previous squirts in both the Passat CC and Scirocco have lead me to decide the ‘Normal’ setting need never be abandoned, standard equipment levels are perfectly acceptable, refinement – a genuine bonus for long-haul users – is first class and, speaking as an ex-Mk II owner, £20,550 (including £1300 for the DGS box) seems an awful lot of dosh to fork out for a Golf.
Verdict

There’s a whole raft of people out there who are never going to settle for anything other than a Golf, and they won’t be disappointed with the MKVI. In striving for interior refinement and hush levels matching higher segment cars, VW have been admirably successful. And the fact that just a whiff of verve seems lacking on the dynamic front isn’t going to perturb the Golf customer heartland in the slightest. Good, but the 158bhp 1.4 TSI version is better.


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VW Golf 1.4 TSI (2009) CAR review

By Georg Kacher
First drive


This is the first drive of VW’s new-but-same-again Mk6 Golf, a car brought forward from 2010 to 2008 to counteract slow sales and a costly and lengthy build process. But with only mildly revised looks inside and out, can the new VW Golf match the Ford Focus and Renault’s forthcoming Megane? Read on for our verdict on the Golf, and to find out whether Wolfsburg has dropped the ball with its most important car.

How come the new VW Golf doesn’t look new?


We should have received a facelift in 2008, but the Mk5 car was proving too expensive to make and wasn’t exactly flying out of showrooms to the accountants' expectations. Today’s Mk6 Golf is cheaper to build, apparently spending five fewer hours on the production line than its predecessor.
So just what is new on the new Golf?


All the body panels are new, bar the roof, and 60 percent of the parts are new. But it was a tough job for the design team, being unable to change any hard points, while the engineering team has to carry over the chassis, engines, suspension and electronics. And from that basis they had to create a quieter, more refined, better to drive Golf. Parts pinched from the Passat CC, plus gadgets like the automatic parking aid, the low-cost laser-based cruise-control and the integrated sat-nav/radio/MP3/telephone system offer a level of convenience no Astra or Focus can match.


How does the new VW Golf drive?


On the roads of our Icelandic test route, everything inside was hushed. The ride is more supple than ever and the new Golf barely registers cattle grids. Low-noise foil around the windscreen, insulation around the windows and doors, plus smoother door mirrors means those inside hardly hear a thing. But dynamically not too much is new. The new Golf is more refined, but only a little. But this still makes it the most comfortable and quietest car in its class. It's impressively hushed and comfy.

What about the new Golf's engines?


VW harks on about huge 28 percent mpg improvements, but really this figure only applies when you match the new 158bhp 1.4 TSI Twincharger to the discontinued 148bhp 2.0 FSI. But as ever this Twincharger engine is clever, with lots of low down torque, decent mid-range shove and feels a lot bigger than its 1.4 litres suggest.

It’s even slicker with the seven-speed DSG and while it produces fewer ponies (158bhp compared with 168bhp) than our long-term test Golf, it’s cleaner. With DSG it does 47.1mpg and 139g/km, while our car does 38.7mpg and 174g/km. Big, impressive improvements. For those after cleaner cars, an even smaller 1.2 TSI engine is coming, while the Golf BlueMotion Mk2 will herald stop-start and brake regeneration. A word of warning though – four of the Mk6 Golf's launch engines will be replaced in 2009.

The Golf has always been great on the inside…


And it remains that way. The Golf's soft-touch dashboard is pure quality, the ergonomics are achingly intuitive and the seats adjust so many ways you'd think you were in a bigger car. The touch-screen entertainment system is easy to use, easy to read and the rear-view camera is sharp. Pity the screen picks up greasy fingerprints so easily, though...
Verdict


The new Golf is very good. Better to drive than its predecessor, quieter and more refined too. With new looks Wolfsburg will be onto another winner. But this is not a new car, and only a stop-gap. Underneath the skin the changes may not be enough for the Golf Mk6 to hold its crown once the Megane and Astra appear in the next 12 months...


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Filipe Miguel F. Lopes disse:
Também eu.

OT

Achas que é mesmo opção Echos ??

É que diesel's só vai existir o 2.0TDi 110cv e 140cv ambos CR.

é que passar de um 120d 163cv para 140cv..
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De facto tens alguma razão!

Bem me avisaram quando comprei o 120d que depois seria difícil trocar e está a ser-me muito dificil equacionar outro porque este carro tem um motor fantástico e um comportamento mesmo ao meu gosto!

O ideal seria o Golf tdi 170, embora vai sair o common rail de 143cv no Golf?
 
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