Wednesday 5th September 2012

New VW Golf

Meet the new Golf, much like the old Golf...

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So here it is, the seventh generation of the Volkswagen Golf. No, really, it is... Longer, wider, lower and lighter than the car it replaces, it is pretty much guaranteed to allow VW's seemingly inexorable rise to the top of global car production continue.

Longer and more spacious, but lighter too

Unveiled in Berlin last night ahead of a full public debut at the Paris Motor Show later this month, even VW concedes that the styling hardly breaks the mould, Walter de Silva quoted as saying "One of the keys to the Golf's success lies in its continuity." Which is corporate speak for 'that was an easy day in the office.'

More significant changes are afoot under the skin. The Mk VII Golf, like almost every new and upcoming mid-size VAG product, is underpinned by the MQB architecture. This contributes to a weight saving for the Mk VII Golf of up to 100kg over the previous model; whilst this predictably delivers efficiency gains, it should also add some agility to all Golf models, especially the GTI and R versions when they arrive.

VW is keen to press the safety features offered on the Golf Mk VII. These include Adaptive Cruise Control, a Driver Alert System to detect tiredness and City Emergency Braking to prevent accidents in traffic. Most notably amongst all this equipment is Front Safe. According to VW, this system can bring the car to a complete halt at speeds of up to 150km/h (93mph). Front Safe is a device most cars already feature of course, most of us referring to it as a 'brake pedal', but for those who struggle with such complex systems it's nice to know this is now an automated process too.

Driver-angled dashboard standard on all models

Two petrol and two diesel engines will be available initially. The smallest of these, a 1.2-litre TSI, delivers 85hp and 57.6mpg. The other petrol option, a 1.4-litre TSI, which has already be seen in the Polo Blue GT, features cylinder deactivation tech, 140hp and achieves 58.9mpg. The 1.6-litre diesel delivers 105hp, 74.3mpg and 99g/km, so expect it to be popular in Britain. The 2.0-litre variant gets 150hp with only small penalties in terms of efficiency (68.9mpg and 106g/km).

Orders will be taken for the Golf Mk VII from October, with the first cars arriving in Britain in January.

[Blown2CV]

[deltashad]

Does look better, slightly.... than the slightly worse looking last replacement from the slightly better looking previous one.

[JuniorJet]

When the managers came back from the private unveiling, they all said they were very confused and they thought they were just displaying the Mk6 first so you could see the differences when they role the Mk7 onto the stage!

The interior looks pretty swanky, but the new A3's still looks better.

[r129sl]

Wider is not better. And the interior is a bit fancy. Boring, I am sure, but a profoundly good car no doubt.

[CAPP0]

The Golf clearly follows the 911 school of progressive external-design improvements.

[StottyZr]

The rear lights look a bit ugly and dreary, a bit like the 1-series headlights.

The design looks quite bland, but safe.

I can see from the 150hp diesels fuel consumption and emission figures they are competative with BMW's small diesel engines finally.

Any news on the prices?

And I'm impressed that the focus has finally changed to dropping weight! This can only be a good thing

[kambites]

I'm sure it'll be a decent enough car, but I see very little to distinguish any of the cars in this sector now (except price).

[British Beef]

Jesus, lets push the boat out with the creative design on this Golf!

VW are playing it safe, which seems to work for them and their target audience with the Golf, meanwhile other manufacturers are pushing designs in more exciting directions. I prefer the later approach!!

[tbc]

becoming something of a yawnfest

For Gods sake get your finger out VW and design something for once

[will261058]

I like it, and I particularly like the fact that it is larger, yet lighter than the mk6! Hope we are going to see this from all makes now.

[il sole]

nice interior. I remember when I bought my first new car - a Mark4 tdi130 and the interior in that was amazing compared to the competition and once again, it looks better than anything else.
Bland exterior though...

[Richard A]

I'm happy to see understated design (as opposed to, e.g. the deconstructionist mess of shapes that is the front of the latest Focus or the tawdry blinginess of modern Mercs), but I'd have liked to have seen something a bit more inspired. More width (even if only a small amount) is a negative, though. The burgeoning width of modern 'small/medium' cars is getting to be a real yawn.

Nevertheless, I'll probably consider one of the more interesting upcoming variants for my daily driver in due course.

[matthias73]

I really like this car.

The driver angled dash makes me happy, it reminds me of my e46 and generally old BMWs. The 1.4 sounds pretty interesting too, for a runabout.

[Cheib]

We've got a Mk V Gti....I was in the VW dealer the other day getting the car serviced. Had a look at the Mk VI and though it looked nice and the interior looked better quality it didn't make me want to go out and buy one....nor does this. Maybe it will be a better drive because it's lighter....now that would interest me.

[Steve vRS]

article said:

Most notably amongst all this equipment is Front Safe. According to VW, this system can bring the car to a complete halt at speeds of up to 150km/h (93mph). Front Safe is a device most cars already feature of course, most of us referring to it as a 'brake pedal'

You do have to worry about todays drivers if this is necessary.

Steve

Edited by Steve vRS on Wednesday 5th September 11:45

[ZesPak]

il sole said:

nice interior. I remember when I bought my first new car - a Mark4 tdi130 and the interior in that was amazing compared to the competition and once again, it looks better than anything else.

In the eye of the beholder.
I know of half a dozen cars in that class that I find better looking on the interior.

I'm not a big fan on the rear lights on this one, too "Audi" for me, doesn't suit the car imho, I like the look of the Polo ones much better.

Does VW actually has a brand that tries and design something? Audi, Porsche, VW, they all seem to build and try and improve (sometimes successfully, most of the time just trying too hard) on the existing concepts (A whatever, 911, Golf/Passat,...).
The A5 is the last that springs to mind that was actually a refreshing design, and a very good looking one at that, and that's also already 5 years ago.

[8vFTW]

I'll stick to my Mk2.

[BlueRSedFly]

Just think of the weight saving if they had made it a smaller too! why do they keep increasing the size, for people that want a fatter car buy a Passat. Keep the Golf smaller please, it does need to fit into a parking space and people need to be able to actually get out of the thing when parked! Why does it need to be wider, the current car is already too wide!

[A Scotsman]

Wow........ This looks just like ... errr... a Golf.

Think my plan to rebuild my Clio 182 when it's done 70,000 miles is still the best one. At least it's got character. This Golf just looks utterly mundane.

[Chrisw666]

doogz said:

Most notably amongst all this equipment is Front Safe. According to VW, this system can bring the car to a complete halt at speeds of up to 150km/h (93mph).

Can someone explain this please?

If it decides you're going to crash, and you're doing less than 94mph, it'll hammer the brakes on, whether you ask it to or not? But if you're doing 95mph, it'll let you hit that wall?

From VW's website:

Front Assist is based on the ordinary cruise control system. If the car in front is moving more slowly, your selected speed is reduced to match. This is achieved by automatic application of the brakes and intervention to control your car's acceleration. By selecting different time gaps, you can adjust the distance maintained. Apart from its function in Front Assist, the radar system also detects situations where the distance to the car in front is critical and helps to reduce your car's stopping distance when needed. The system also warns you of a dangerous situation with visual and sound signals and with a braking jolt.