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.
The first VW Golf appeared way back in 1974. Since more than 30 million examples have left factories all over the world, growing in size and weight through the generations.
Now the Golf has reached its sixth generation, and never before has a Golf resembled the previous one so closely. That the sixth-gen exists is not only because the fifth-gen had been on sale 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.
Buyers used to perceive the Mk5 as poor value, given its cost and its plasticky cabin, not realising that the money had gone on sophisticated rear suspension and steering. Now the idea is that owners can have their cake and eat it.
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 VW Golf Mk6 also marks the return of the soft-top Golf cabriolet, a roof structure we’re particularly pleased to see given our recent experiences in retractable hard-tops; the latter’s complexity, weight, cost and adverse effect on styling and handling has, with a few exceptions, not been worth the trouble.
The trusty VW Golf estate continues, too.
