VW Golf 8.5 has come a long way in almost half a century

Can you believe it? We are heading towards 50 years of VW Golf in South Africa.

The Golf Mk1 hit showroom floors back in 1978, and this past week I got to drive the new VW Golf 8.5. In 1978, driving out of the dealership in your brand-new LS four-door would have cost you R4 135. Today you are going to part with R580 900 for the “same” car. Side note: I know I just said it, but if you believe it’s the same car, then you believe that Donald Trump’s tariff war with Xi Jinping and China is going to end well.

Humble beginnings

The 1 100cc four-door produced 37kW of power at 6 000rpm and 79Nm of torque at 3 000rpm. It was fed by a good old-fashioned carburettor down to a four-speed manual gearbox and the front wheels.

Our road test facility, Gerotek, was built as a military-type place between 1976 and 1980. So if I could drive by then, I would have headed out there in my Golf LS and lit up the leaderboard with a 16.8-second, 0-100 km/h run while going on to hit a top speed of 140km/h on the clock.

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In an era of big V8s and V6s, this hatch weighed in at only 750kg and averaged 8.5 litres per 100km at a price of 66c a litre. It was the precursor to the hot hatch era started by the 82kW Mk1 Golf GTI.

Today the VW Golf 8.5 1.4-TSI has an eight-speed tiptronic transmission and produces 110kW of power from 5 000 to 6 000rpm and 250Nm from 1 500 to 4 000rpm. A state-of-the-art direct fuel injection system fuels the engine. A host of computers with more capability than Nasa had back in 1978 controls this system. It now consumes just 6.3 litres of fuel per 100km, but fuel does cost over R21 per litre.

VW Golf 8.5: anything but cheap

The 0-100 km/h claim is 8.5 seconds, so basically twice as fast. But a trip to Gerotek would be equally boring in a time right now where a Golf R makes 245kW of power and 420Nm of torque. Having gained some weight over the years, the new VW Golf 8.5 weighs in at 1 226kg but only stops at 216 km/h. But the progress comes at a price.

According to the info I could find on the internet, the inflation rate in South Africa between 1978 and today has been 3999.33%. It means that R4 135 rand in 1978 would be equivalent to R169 507 today. Yet here we are, paying R580 900 for an entry-level four-door Golf.

This just tells you how much the cost of living has far exceeded inflation over the years, but for what it is worth, the new VW Golf 8.5 is absolutely brilliant and worth every cent.