The perfect family VW hatch

This perfect family hatch has not put a wheel wrong the entire time but this week is all about performance, as we took our Golf to Gerotek to see how quick it is against the clock.

So while the car is slightly bigger and offers noticeably more space and comfort, with an increased boot space to 380 litres, is 56mm longer, 13mm wider and has a 59mm increased wheelbase, the body is also 28mm lower along with a frontal area that is 0.03m2 smaller.

This means the aerodynamic drag has been reduced by almost 10% and the car is substantially lighter than the previous generation, making for better performance and, of course, fuel consumption.

Starting with fuel consumption, our long term test car has been averaging a very respectable 7.02 litres per 100km. VW offers BlueMotion technology on this Golf, as they do on almost all of their products nowadays, and this sees start/stop technology and battery regeneration being offered as standard. It must be said, though, that as good as our fuel consumption is with over 700km being achieved on the 50 litre tank, it is nowhere near the claimed 5.0 litres per 100km of Volkswagen South Africa.

The TSI four-cylinder petrol engine powering our Golf is part of the EA211 engine series and produces 90kW at 5 000rpm with a nice 200Nm of torque spread over a substantial rev range from 1 400rpm to 4 000rpm and is coupled with the ever impressive seven-speed DSG double clutch gearbox.

Now this is hardly big numbers on paper, and quite a bit less than the car’s natural rivals, like the Honda Civic 1.8 Exec Auto Hatch that produces 104kW, the KIA Cerato 2.0 SX Auto Hatch with 118kW and the Toyota Auris XR CVT with 97kW. But there are three important factors at play here that see the Golf blitz them on the road.

Firstly, the competition still run naturally aspirated engines that suffer around an 18% loss in power up here on the Reef because the air is thinner than it is at the coast and therefore has less power-producing oxygen in it. So on paper they are stronger but on the road it is a different story.

Secondly, the Golf makes proper use of that already mentioned and more efficient seven-speed DSG double clutch gearbox against the competition’s old school auto or CVT offerings.

And the final piece of the puzzle is that when you put a Golf on the dyno and measure the power that actually gets down to the wheels and ultimately onto the road, the Golf almost always makes more power than what is claimed.

Don’t ask me why this is; I can only guess that VW are deliberately conservative in their power claims – unlike some of the competition that fall well short on the dyno.

This said, our 90kW “only” Golf ran to 100km/h in 10.41 seconds, crossed the quarter mile in 17.65 seconds at 132.98 km/h, did the 1km sprint in 31.88 seconds at 168.47km/h while going on to a true top speed of 211.58km/h at 5 500rpm in 6th with the speedo reading 218km/h.

Figures up on the Reef that see the Golf stay ahead of the competition, but doing drag racing with a 1.4 TSI is not what this car is about.

It is about everyday drivability and here the Golf really leaves the competition for dead, cruising around on the freeway or in traffic in a car that is easy and safe to overtake with.

And with a time of 5.34 seconds to do 60-100km/h and 6.84 seconds to do 80-120km/h in Drive Sport is, in most cases, twice as quick as the competition and sometimes even quicker.

Handling is also the performance benchmark, with specific proven suspension components further advanced to perfect ride and comfort properties. And safety is also right at the top of the pile with a full complement of ABS, EBD, BAS, ESP – you name it – doing duty to keep you and your family safe.

I honestly can’t technically fault our Golf. It does everything so well, it is like German engineering at its precise best and what you have come to expect when driving a Volkswagen.

But if I were to complain a little, it would be that although the car is certainly good looking, it is attractive in a very businesslike way. So, for the next update at the end of July, I am going to ask the team at Yokohama SA and Turn1 Alloy Wheels to supply us with a set of aftermarket wheels that will bring out the sportier and more fun side of our very serious Golf.