’Old’ Golf not below par

Ever feel like you might have run out of words to say on a specific subject? In April this year we welcomed a Volkswagen Golf 7.5 into our long-term test garage.

Eight months and over 20,000km later, we feel qualified enough to pen a collective doctoral thesis encompassing every nuance of the German hatchback.

Our time with the popular C-segment star has been largely uneventful — in the most positive way. From a hiccup-free run-in period, to a painless first service at 15,000; the miles continue to accumulate with ease.

But it would be entirely remiss of us to gloss over certain misgivings and maladies. Take, for starters, how alarmingly the base price of this 1.4 TSI DSG Comfortline (R394,600) went up to R448,550 once a few desirable add-ons had been thrown in.

The item showing the most yields must be the R-Line kit, because everyone mistakes our humble steed for the full-fat R version.

Our early consumption figure in excess of 6.9l/100km appears to have tapered down a bit, with the readout having settled around 6.3l/100km in urban settings.

We did have the misfortune of suffering not one, but two flat rear tyres. The right one succumbed to the effects of wayward glass. The left one appeared to be the victim of a long and malevolent nail. It sat dormant in the rubber, before a seam on the M1 North freeway taken at speed pushed it up — splitting through the alloy with a mighty thud.

At this point we were grateful for the fullsize back-up. The wheel has since been repaired, with the spare in its rightful place.

The low of this temporary immobility was quickly replaced with the high of a successful family reunion. With the eighth-generation car imminent, we decided to stage a then-and-now gathering with an original, three-door Golf.

Finding an unmolested example was tougher than you would imagine. But we managed to track down a cheerful, yellow 1.3 L example dubbed “Summer” by its owner.

While the sun might be (gradually) setting on the Golf in terms of its overall importance in the growth strategy of Volkswagen, the nameplate will always remain in the hearts of South African consumers.

Versus the immense digitisation expected from the forthcoming successor, our 7.5 seems a smidgen dated in some areas. But in the aspects that matter, it still ranks high up there: quality, refinement, practicality, relative frugality and all-round comfort.

We suppose that some of these enduring hallmarks are exactly why the car has remained such a cherished mainstay over the past four-and-a-half decades.

We still have plenty of asphalt to cover before handing back the keys in April next year, including the coastal forays that are just so essential over December.