Golf CAR MAGAZINE - First Drives: VW Golf 1.4 TSI

[Merc1]

CAR's rating:

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.


Full Article:


VW Golf 1.4 TSI (2009) CAR review | Road Testing Reviews | Car Magazine Online


M

 

[Yperion]

Everything in the revised Golf is improved ... looks , interior quality , equipment ect.

Are the changes enough to keep it ahead of the competition? I would say yes , apart from the conservetive design that is , but of course we can't have it all..can we?

 

[martinbo]

What precious few seem to appreciate here is that Golf's conservative styling is a key and vital component of its market appeal. I've said it ad nauseaum in the Official Golf VI thread but it's true; a Golf lover stays a Golf lover long after they have moved on to other cars.