Volkswagen Golf 2.0 TDI 140 GT review

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Volkswagen Golf 2.0 TDI 140 GT Road Test

Test date 04 February 2009 Price as tested £22,415

For High-quality look and feel, classless image, comfortable ride

Against Jerky DSG 'box, springy brake response, less refined than it should be

The Volkswagen Golf. It’s a classless, snobbery-transcending car, just as the original Beetle was before it. Not that the Golf is immune to influences of style and technology; it has to evolve.

But the vital part is to maintain the ‘Golfness’ – the aura of dependability, the neat and restrained detailing, the confidence in what it is – in the process. Now the Golf has reached its sixth generation, and never before has a new Golf resembled the previous one so closely.

That the new one exists is not only because the previous one has been around for five years – nowadays deemed a long time, although not by Golf standards – but also because the Mk5 cost too much to make, despite itself being cheapened versus the Mk4.

Volkswagen makes great claims for the newcomer’s refinement, its safety equipment and the length of its technology list, and would like us to think the Golf possesses large-car sophistication. The price reflects this, with over £20,000 being asked for the 2.0 TDI 140 tested here in top GT specification, albeit with a six-speed DSG gearbox.

The first Golf appeared way back in 1974. Since then 26 million examples have left factories all over the world, growing in size and weight through the generations.

The crisp, Giugiaro-styled Mk1 spawned the first Golf GTI, the Mk2 version of which remains an all-time hot hatch great. The Mk3 went early-’90s blobby, the bolder Mk4 redefined quality in the class, and the Mk5 used expensive Ford Focus-style rear suspension and made little money for VW.