All The Car You’ll Ever Need
VW Golf 1.0 TSI
AGolf. Short of needing seven seats or some genuine of-road ability, those two words can answer just about any car requirement you care to throw our way.
Stratospheric mpg from an unashamedly prosaic hatchback? Buy the diesel BlueMotion. Tech-heavy hybrid to coo over and feel environmentally cocksure about? Try the GTE. Serious track-day toy that will genuinely thrill? The GTI Clubsport S (a real 2016 highlight) has got that covered.
And among all of those, there’s a crossovery estate, a high-rise mini-MPV and a 4WD hyper-hatch that quite a lot of us would have over a Ford Focus RS.
The one we’re focusing on here, though, the one car that’s the answer to any sensible question you care to ask, is probably the least glamorous: the 1.0-litre TSI petrol. Its engine possesses just 999cc
and three cylinders, but as is so often the way with these little turbocharged triples, it’s the pick of the range if you don’t cover 20,000 miles a year or frequently buy multi-lap passes for the Nürburgring.
Not that it would entirely shame itself there: the engine makes 113bhp and 148lb ft, ample to move a 1.2-tonne hatchback. A 9.7-second 0–62mph time should suit most people. The uneven cylinder count means it produces a charismatic noise, too, if not one as aurally appealing as a Clubsport S at full pelt. Perhaps more key is that it’s serenely quiet at a cruise and doesn’t groan like a strained, underused bicep when worked hard. Combined 65mpg fuel economy and 99g/km of CO emissions are also uncommonly good for a car powered by petrol. If VW’s recent past has you rolling your eyes, then even our lead feet had the trip meter reading mpg in the 50s. And that CO fgure exempts you from road tax.
Still need convincing a reasonably sized car can survive with such a weeny-sized engine? Trust us, it’s the best of all worlds option. The turbocharger ensures adequate speed, the small cylinder count brings diesel economy without the smelly refuelling or agricultural cold starts, and the threecans-of-Coke size means a nice, light blob of mechanicals up front. Which in turn means the sharpest steering Golf without a GTI or R badge.
If you’ve got your fnest anorak on, you’ll have spotted the Golf here is new. It’s the mid-life facelift of the MkVII, and it brings a whole caboodle of grown-up technology to further strengthen the Golf’s claim of being all things to all people.
You won’t have to be shy with the options box ticking, naturally, but then cheapness is one area the Golf has never shone at. Even a basic 1.0 will set you back £20k. But should you wish, the Golf can have a 9.2in touchscreen media system with gesture control (like a BMW 7-Series), automated Trafc Jam Assist, with the steering, braking and acceleration all taken care of in congestion (like a Tesla Model S) and a self-parking system that will even sort out a trailer hitched on the back (pioneered by VW on the Passat).
While the key parts of the Golf are shared with equivalent Seats and Skodas – cars no less fun or practical, but often more afordable – VW assures its place in the world by making sure it’s a jolly nice place to sit. The addition of Active Info Display, (VW’s inherited version of the Audi Virtual Cockpit that triumphed in our 2014 Awards issue) is a prime example. Beautifully integrated, it’s a feature which helps set this apart from a multitude of other 3cyl hatches.
As well as 1.0-litre versions of the Seat Leon and Skoda Octavia within the VW empire, there are turbo triple versions of the Ford Focus and Vauxhall Astra to compete with. But talented as they all are, none is as efortlessly classy or as eminently likeable as this seven-generation-old alternative. Whatever your reservations about VW, all the car you’ll ever need is still probably a Golf.
“Trust us, it’s the best of all worlds option”