[AlanHo]

Whilst my car is in the body shop having surgery to rectify the recent hit and run car park damage, I have a VW Golf GT TSI Bluemotion 4 cylinder turbo DCT Auto as a courtesy car.

It has a 1395 cc 4 cylinder turbocharged petrol engine which churns out 138 bhp (103kw) @4500/6000 rpm and 184 lb ft max torque (250 Nm) at 1500/3500 rpm. The engine is very responsive and is smooth, quiet and there is hardly any turbo lag. It switches to 2 cylinders seamlessly when cruising and the stop-start feature works without a hitch.

The spec claims acceleration from 0 to 62 mph (100 kph) takes 8.4 seconds and it has a top speed of 132 mph (212 kph) – I am happy to take their word for it. This is a very lively car.

I have yet to check out all the features but it has front and rear parking sensors, adaptive cruise, lane departure warning, a 7” touch screen sat nav and all the other usual bells and whistles. It’s a typical hire car with no driver’s manual, so you have to ferret through the settings and menus to reveal its features. One thing I miss is a reversing camera – I have got used to having one for the past 3 years.

We did a 92 mile (148 km) round trip today – 40 miles (65 km) on the motorway cruising at 65 mph (100 kph) and the remainder 50/50 between busy main roads and town traffic. Before setting out I reset the trip computer and it showed 54.7 mpg ( 5.1 l/100 km) upon arriving home.  Someone had reset the overall trip 5600 miles (9000 km) ago and that was reading 44.8 mpg (6.3 l/100 km).

The car is refined and comfortable with nice controls that are all well placed and of good quality. Cabin noise is about the same as the Niro on smooth roads - and possibly a little quieter on rough roads.

I was very impressed with the steering which is light and direct, yet with good feedback from the road. KIA and Hyundai still have some catching up to do in this regard.

So, what’s not to like.

It is a very low car and I had to help Libby get out of the bucket-like front passenger seat. Even I found getting out a little difficult. 

The accelerator pedal is very sensitive – the slightest pressure and you are off like a greyhound with its arse on fire. I got cramp in my right foot and calf two or three times in traffic when needing to keep the car dawdling along. Whether it is because of the position of the pedal – or the difficulty of holding my foot so lightly on the pedal - I know not.

The brakes are fierce – again the slightest pressure on the pedal applies the brakes more than you intended. Perhaps I will get used to this and then have to re-learn the smoothness of Niro when I get it back.

Throttle and engine response upon moving off is very sharp and the car almost lurches forwards from a standing start. Once on the move you can feel the gears changing which is very pronounced in sports mode. I experienced this with a Golf diesel DCT I hired in Portugal last year. I may be extra sensitive now because the Niro pulls away with the electric motor strongly yet very smoothly and gear changes thereafter are imperceptible

Overall I am happy to use the car for the next few days and can see why the Golf is such a popular and well thought-of car – but I want my Niro back.

[Dazzler]

Cheers Alan, Very interesting and pretty much as I would have imagined from other reviews I've read.

If they had a longer warranty and a better reliability record they might nearly be worth considering... 

[Aussie Keith]

Thanks for the review. This mirrors our experience with the two in the family, albeit both with more powerful engines.

There is a definite technique to launching a Golf, one must take the foot off the brake and wait a moment before touching the accelerator. With practice this becomes normal and a smooth take off with the traffic can be achieved. In the wagon with its supercharged engine, there is so much torque down low that if you get it wrong there is smoke and noise from the front wheels. This has hastened the demise of the P7's originally fitted to the car sadly. Lesson learned.

In the 7.5 Golf there is park assist (no manual handbrake) and so if you stop then the handbrake is automatically active. This makes driving off in any conditions especially seamless. I can appreciate the entry/egress issues but the doors open especially wide compared to many cars which helps a lot. The seats though with their bum hugging contours on the edges are a thing that take some getting used to and don't make exiting the car easy.

Given that the overlords of i30 and Kia design have been part of the Golf/BMW/Audi design teams variously, I think its only a matter of time before we start seeing some real European dynamics in these cars, especially the steering. Wait, did someone say i30N?? The series 4 i30 should be a cracker of a ride I'm thinking.

[Aussie Keith]

Cheers Alan, Very interesting and pretty much as I would have imagined from other reviews I've read.

If they had a longer warranty and a better reliability record they might nearly be worth considering... 

Reliability is one of those things that VW in Oz have failed to put to rest. In 2010 they had an issue with specific models using the Q250 transmission and CAVD engine which was subsequently rectified. With "Dieselgate" there was no defect with the operation of the vehicle, but they did perpetrate a fraud on consumers there is no doubt. And they failed to manage that properly as well. This is what some remember I expect.

Warranty is competitive with others but not as good as Kia lets say. But its not harming sales.

You might be amazed to learn this:

Mazda, Suzuki and Volkswagen were all rated as the most reliable in 2018, scoring five stars in this area for the second year in a row – that’s quite an endorsement right there. In fact, Suzuki makes it three years in a row!

New Car Reliability | 2018 Reviews & Ratings ? Canstar Blue

VW's are flying off the shelf so quickly that investing in marketing to bury what happened previously isn't really a priority. In February this year, they sold nearly as many cars as Holden. It's quite remarkable really.

[Dazzler]

That sales success is surprising @Aussie Keith in view of their pricing. There was a couple of demo VWs in the paper today. The fairly basic Polo was adverised at 18990 and the Golf was in the mid 30's I think!

[Aussie Keith]

That sales success is surprising @Aussie Keith in view of their pricing. There was a couple of demo VWs in the paper today. The fairly basic Polo was adverised at 18990 and the Golf was in the mid 30's I think!

The dealership is packed on a Saturday. And they can't get enough cars. Some kind of Teutonic magic at work I think. Maybe German cars are more aspirational that an equivalently functional Korean one? In the nicest way I mean.

Plus they discount pretty hard. You don't have to twist the dealers arm much to get a good price.

[Dazzler]

That sales success is surprising @Aussie Keith in view of their pricing. There was a couple of demo VWs in the paper today. The fairly basic Polo was adverised at 18990 and the Golf was in the mid 30's I think!

The dealership is packed on a Saturday. And they can't get enough cars. Some kind of Teutonic magic at work I think. Maybe German cars are more aspirational that an equivalently functional Korean one? In the nicest way I mean.

Plus they discount pretty hard. You don't have to twist the dealers arm much to get a good price.

Being negotiable certainly helps with a deal for sure.