Volkswagen Golf
The moment that I slid the Volkswagen Golf into my one-car garage
for the first time, I wondered why the North American market has so
thoroughly abandoned hatchbacks. Here is a car with carrying capacity
to rival any sedan's, yet, with folding rear seats and a removable
package shelf, is also far more versatile; here is a car that, in my
garage, frees up enough space for three bikes.
The Golf's interior packaging is without a doubt its greatest
achievement. It stuffs an interior that's fractionally larger than
its cousin Jetta into a body that is almost a full half-metre
shorter. It's got more rear headroom, more front legroom, more
shoulder room all around, and greater trunk volume. The efficiency of
its chunky two-box design&emdash;with its almond eyes, also
better-looking than the Jetta, in my opinion&emdash;is astounding.
This box feels solid too; the doors close with an expensive thunk.
If only the car's interior were as well-made as it is spacious.
While it's laid out logically enough, with high-mounted radio
controls and big rotary ventilation knobs, the Wall of Black
dashboard is neither particularly attractive nor well-made. Its many
pieces creaked over pavement ripples, and I counted more than a dozen
slightly different, slightly mismatched, textures and shades of
poorly-molded off-black plastic.
The dash's quality seems especially awful in light of the gorgeous
materials and construction used above the beltline&emdash;the plastic
on the roof pillars, the fabric headliner, the damped grab handles
and the solid sun visors all feel like they belong on a much more
expensive car. The seats, too, are excellent, supportive and
comfortable in all the right places; they make long cruises down the
highway painless.
Equally painless is how the Golf tracks down the highway. Its
stability and solidity at speed makes it feel like a much bigger car.
Unlike most cars of comparable size and weight, it doesn't get upset
by crosswinds, and doesn't readily follow road imperfections. Call it
Autobahn breeding if you wish, but the Golf, despite its compactness,
feels completely at home on the 401.
Around town, it feels equally at home because of its small size.
Its 2.0-litre, 115 horsepower engine, making the proper growly
Golf-type sound, pulls it around speedily, even with the optional
($1100) automatic. The steering, though, feels a little numb, and has
the annoying trait of wanting to stay at full lock once it's there.
In traffic, you also appreciate the car's excellent 8-speaker
sound system and effective climate controls (the heater is especially
powerful). You learn to despise the thick rear roof pillar, which
creates a blind spot big enough to hide a Chevy Blazer&emdash;but the
mirrors, thankfully, are big ones, and adjust far enough outwards to
cover it.
$16,765 is no small chunk of change for such a small car, but it
nets you a lot of standard features, from a remote central-locking
system to an alarm to a full set of instruments to the aforementioned
stereo. Be careful with the options, though; even metallic paint will
cost you $250 extra. (My test car's sticker, with ABS, a moonroof,
and air conditioning, among other things, soared to $22,515.)
If you aren't willing to put up with the dash, a new Golf is on
the way this fall, one whose beautiful interior&emdash;as airy and
well-made as the current model's seems dark and flimsy&emdash;the
European press has been raving over. If you are, the Golf's
confidence on the highway and its marvelous packaging efficiency are
likely to win you over now.