The writing has been on the wall for some time now, but it surely’s lastly official – the Volkswagen Golf Wagon is getting the axe in Australia.
Volkswagen Australia confirmed round a month in the past which you can not order a brand new Golf Wagon, together with the warmer R variant. It additionally axed your complete Arteon and Passat ranges in the identical fell swoop.
If you happen to’ve nonetheless obtained your cash down for a Golf Wagon you’ll get it, however potential prospects will in any other case need to discover a automobile in seller inventory.
Consider this evaluate because the farewell tour for the Golf Wagon. On check right here we’ve got the mid-spec Life variant that slots between the entry-level mannequin and the high-performance R flagship.
The Golf Life Wagon may be distinguished externally by its 17-inch alloy wheels, in addition to its chrome roof rails. It’s additionally longer and taller than the Golf Hatch.
Given the Golf Wagon is now useless in Australia that doesn’t go away many different smaller wagons to select from. Are you unhappy to see the it go?
How a lot does the Volkswagen Golf price?
The 2023 Volkswagen Golf Life Wagon is priced from $40,590 earlier than on-road prices. This makes it $2600 greater than the entry-level Golf Wagon, and $31,400 cheaper than the recent Golf R Wagon.
Our tester was completed in Reflex Silver Metallic exterior paint which prices an extra $700, bringing the whole to $41,290 earlier than on-roads, or $43,715 drive-away for Victorian patrons (every State has barely completely different taxes).
The Golf Life Wagon is offered with two optionally available packages, although neither of them had been fitted to our tester. These embody the $2000 Consolation & Type Package deal, in addition to the $1650 Sound & Imaginative and prescient Package deal.
When it comes to rivals to the Volkswagen Golf Life Wagon there are fewer and fewer by the month. The one different comparable rival comes from throughout the Volkswagen Group within the Skoda Octavia 110TSI Type wagon ($42,490 D/A).
Different pricier small wagon alternate options embody the Peugeot 308 GT Premium Wagon ($50,490), and the Subaru WRX Sportswagon ($50,990).
What’s the Volkswagen Golf like on the within?
Strolling as much as and unlocking the Volkswagen Golf Life Wagon, you’ll be greeted by some small ambient lighting within the door handles and the facet mirrors whirring into place. As soon as the mirrors are in place, a nondescript graphic is projected onto the bottom.
Hopping in you’re offered with some trusty cloth seats which are manually adjustable. The seats themselves aren’t something to telephone residence about, however design is subjective they usually do the job.
The motive force’s seat is completely manually adjustable and provides handbook lumbar adjustment, which is sweet to have. There’s a dial to regulate the seat recline but it surely’s tucked beside the B-pillar which makes it a ache to make use of.
The seat itself is actually snug with loads of facet bolstering that makes you’re feeling such as you’re cocooned and never going wherever. The headrest can be deliciously squishy.
The one factor I used to be in search of from a driver’s seating place perspective was a bit of bit extra thigh assist. What’s supplied as commonplace is totally tremendous, however a contact extra wouldn’t go astray.
Trying across the cabin, the armrests are coated in cloth just like the seats and are mushy sufficient that your elbows received’t get sore. I like that the extendable and ratcheting centre armrest, in addition to the actual fact the felt-lined door pockets proceed to reside on as a result of it’s one in all my (and my associate’s) favorite Golf options.
Past the armrests although, you don’t need to look far to search out tougher plastics. There’s a mass of matte plastic, which admittedly seems to be quite a bit higher than piano black, across the centre tunnel that’s onerous to the contact.
Forward of the motive force is a steering wheel that’s claimed to be leather-covered however doesn’t actually really feel like actual leather-based. It’s a little cheap-feeling in hand and sadly it attracts scratches simply.
I’m grateful the Golf Life Wagon has the bodily push buttons on the steering wheel, not like the higher trims that presently get the awkward touch-sensitive selection.
The steering wheel buttons on our tester labored completely each single time and had been very simple to know.
Behind the steering wheel is the ten.25-inch Digital Cockpit Professional show(Volkswagen’s time period for this particular digital instrument cluster), that appears very high-resolution and has loads of configurability. You may cycle by way of numerous completely different infographic menus, in addition to completely different views that permit for a full-size map to be displayed, for instance.
My favorite setup was to have the everyday dial view, the acceleration/braking dial on the left, gasoline consumption/journey knowledge within the center, after which the motive force help web page on the correct.
Beside the Digital Cockpit Professional is a 10-inch touchscreen infotainment system that seems to be simply as high-resolution because the digital cluster. It boots up in a short time upon startup and new pages load inside an inexpensive period of time, which implies there’s an ample quantity of processing energy.
Interacting with the touchscreen may be very intuitive as each time you choose one thing there’s an audible click on sound. Scrolling by way of menus and pages is straightforward as effectively.
The infotainment system provides gesture controls however this may solely be used within the native screens. It will possibly’t be used throughout Apple CarPlay although.
Talking of Apple CarPlay, the Golf Life Wagon comes with each wired and wi-fi smartphone mirroring. I didn’t have connectivity points in anyway with wi-fi Apple CarPlay, and the usual wi-fi telephone charger really charged my telephone.
Exterior of smartphone mirroring, the infotainment system’s interface is basically simplistic and simple to know. There are a number of enormous buttons on the homepage that take you to key pages.
The in-built satellite tv for pc navigation system is extraordinarily simple to make use of, with trying to find factors of curiosity or locations solely taking a number of faucets of the display. Cancelling routes is easy as effectively.
One draw back concerning the touchscreen is you just about need to do every little thing by way of it, together with nearly all of the local weather controls.
There’s a slider contact panel nonetheless underneath the touchscreen that can be utilized to manage the quantity or regulate the local weather controls. It doesn’t illuminate at evening although and usually feels awkward to make use of.
I averted utilizing the contact panel in any respect prices, and as a substitute used the steering wheel for quantity controls, and the touchscreen itself to alter the local weather management temperature.
There have been additionally a number of instances after I was driving and by chance knocked the contact bar whereas utilizing the touchscreen which both induced my music to get louder hastily, or the temperature to alter. This wasn’t very enjoyable in any respect.
I hope Volkswagen has a greater technique to combine this sort of know-how within the up to date Golf due subsequent yr, as a result of proper now it’s simply not fairly there. A step in the correct path could be to have the contact panel be illuminated on the very least.
It’s not all doom and gloom contained in the Golf Life although, as there’s inside ambient lighting that may be adjusted between 10 completely different colors. If you happen to go for the $2000 Consolation & Type bundle you’ll get entry to 30-colour inside ambient lighting, amongst different options together with a panoramic glass sunroof.
On the centre console the engine begin/cease button, knobbly gear selector and electrical park brake are all lined up which makes excellent sense. There’s additionally a handy little part to the left which is ideal holder for the important thing.
The one factor that’s lacking is an auto-hold perform, which is tied to the actual fact the core Golf fashions now obtain an eight-speed torque-converter computerized as a substitute of the dual-clutch computerized.
Shifting to the second row there’s completely oodles of house. At a leggy 182cm I had completely loads of head, shoulder and toe room.
The outboard seats have scalloped sections that made you’re feeling like you’re being hugged. All the seats are very snug, with extraordinarily squishy headrests to match.
The door armrests and the flip-down armrest are mushy, with the latter having two-and-a-half cupholders in it. When it comes to second-row facilities, there’s a 3rd zone of local weather management, USB-C ports, and machine pockets on the seat backs.
Now when you thought the second row had loads of house, you’d be completely blown away the quantity of house on provide within the boot. When it comes to outright capability there’s 611 litres with the second row of seats upright, and 1642 litres with them folded.
The Golf Life Wagon comes as commonplace with an influence tailgate which turns out to be useful as a result of it may be managed not solely from the important thing but additionally from the motive force’s seat.
Different boot-related options embody a ski hatch, 12V socket, cargo cowl with two preset positions, retractable cargo barrier, bag hooks, and levers to fold the second-row seats down.
The Golf Life Wagon comes with a space-saver spare tyre, which isn’t wherever close to pretty much as good as a full-size unit however can be at lot extra helpful than a can of goo or nothing in any respect.
What’s underneath the bonnet?
The 2023 Volkswagen Golf Life Wagon is powered by a 1.4-litre turbocharged four-cylinder petrol engine producing 110kW of energy and 250Nm of torque.
That is mated to an eight-speed torque-converter computerized transmission with drive despatched to the entrance wheels solely.
Volkswagen claims the Golf Wagon can do the 0-100km/h dash in 8.8 seconds, which is 0.3 seconds slower than the equal hatchback.
The Golf Wagon has a claimed mixed gasoline consumption determine of 5.9 litres per 100km. Throughout our time with the tester we achieved a mean of 6.3 litres per 100km over 400km of combined city and freeway driving.
All Golf variants include an idle stop-start system. Core fashions fashions require a minimal of 95 RON premium unleaded and have a 50-litre gasoline tank.
How does the Volkswagen Golf drive?
Turning on the Volkswagen Golf Life Wagon feels acquainted in all the very best methods. I’ve grown fairly keen on how refined the 1.4-litre turbocharged four-cylinder petrol engine sounds at idle.
Outputs of 110kW and 250Nm don’t sound that loopy on paper, however in actuality they’re utterly ample.
From the visitors lights the Golf Life Wagon retains up with no issues in anyway. Push it and also you’ll simply pull forward of visitors. The Golf’s torquey engine shouldn’t be underestimated.
What does let the engine down a bit of bit although, is the eight-speed torque-converter computerized transmission. It feels a bit of unrefined and utterly juxtaposes how nice the engine feels.
When taking off the transmission likes to make the engine rev abnormally excessive (~2500-3000rpm), which feels actually awkward given peak torque comes on faucet from 1500rpm. It’s just like the transmission is continually in sport mode.
One other bugbear I’ve with the transmission is at decrease speeds there are noticeable jolts throughout downshifts. I’ve by no means skilled a contemporary computerized automotive that does something like this.
It additionally likes to hunt round for gears which makes the driving expertise really feel a bit of unsettling. I reside close to a street that has a 70km/h pace restrict and turns right into a 60km/h restrict on a slight incline. Throughout this the automotive would shuffle between a minimum of three or 4 gears to maintain it going the pace restrict.
Round city the Golf Life Wagon has a particularly supple journey. It soaks up pimply metropolitan roads with no issues in anyway and even feels surprisingly stable over the harshest of pace bumps.
Regardless of having an ever-so-slightly bigger turning circle than the Golf Hatch (10.9 v 11.05 metres), the Golf Wagon nonetheless feels actually nimble with mild steering. This makes it an absolute dream to navigate and park in tight city carparks.
Your complete Golf vary comes with an engine idle stop-start system that I’m largely an enormous fan of. I perceive individuals utterly despise these sorts of techniques although, because the engine switches off typically simply as you’re about to take off in gridlocked visitors.
On the flip facet, when the engine idle stop-start system is activated and a automotive forward of you pulls away the engine switches again on. This may be extremely irritating in the event that they solely creep ahead a contact.
Because the pace picks up the Golf Life Wagon by no means feels out of puff, in reality it considerably thrives out on the open street. The transmission appears to discover a good groove regardless of dropping down the occasional gear when going up a hill.
On the freeway the automotive feels tremendous stable, predictable and controllable which helps make cruising very easy. You’ll even be getting unbelievable gasoline economic system. Throughout these instances I regularly noticed gasoline consumption grasp across the low-5.0 litres per 100km and infrequently would dip into the excessive 4.0 litres per 100km.
On the protection entrance, the Golf’s lane-keep help system works very well, however it may possibly get confused when offered with sure line markings. It at all times didn’t know what to do after I drove alongside the freeway exit I exploit driving residence from the workplace every day.
The Journey Help system can be unbelievable at what it does, making freeway cruising even simpler. Each time it tugged on the steering wheel it by no means felt jerky or awkward.
The very last thing I’ll point out is the Golf’s adaptive cruise management is among the greatest I’ve ever skilled. The best way it accelerates as much as the set pace and likewise reacts to autos pulling forward of you is extraordinarily pure.
It’s a bit of irritating nonetheless if you go to undertake a automotive and the adaptive cruise slows you right down to match its pace. I perceive that is dangerous street manners in Germany however in Australia typically the quickest lane is the gradual lane as everybody clambers over to the right-hand lane.
What do you get?
Volkswagen Golf Life Wagon highlights
Exterior
- 17-inch alloy wheels
- Area-saver spare wheel
- Chrome roof rails
- Automated LED headlights
- LED tail lights
- Rear fog mild
- Rain-sensing window wipers
- Fingers-free energy tailgate
- Energy-folding facet mirrors
Inside
- 10.25-inch Digital Cockpit Professional (digital devices)
- 10-inch touchscreen infotainment system
- Wired, wi-fi Apple CarPlay, Android Auto
- Satellite tv for pc navigation
- DAB+ digital radio
- 7-speaker sound system
- Wi-fi telephone charger
- 10-colour ambient lighting
- Keyless entry and push-button begin
- Tri-zone local weather management
- Electrochromatic rear-view mirror
- Leather-based-wrapped steering wheel
- Consolation entrance seats with handbook lumbar adjustment
The $2000 Consolation & Type bundle provides:
- Panoramic glass sunroof
- 30-colour inside ambient lighting
- Inside lights with switch-off delay and dimmer
- Entrance and rear studying lights
- LED mild in entrance footwell
- Consolation sport entrance seats
- Microfleece and material upholstery
The $2650 Sound & Imaginative and prescient bundle provides:
- 9-speaker Harman Kardon sound system
- Head-up show
Is the Volkswagen Golf secure?
The Volkswagen Golf wears a five-star ANCAP security ranking based mostly on testing based mostly on carried out by Euro NCAP in 2019.
It scored 95 per cent for grownup occupant safety, 89 per cent for baby occupant safety, 76 per cent for susceptible street person safety, and 80 per cent for security help.
Commonplace security gear consists of:
- 9 airbags incl. front-centre airbag
- Autonomous emergency braking (AEB)
- Pedestrian, Bicycle owner detection
- Junction help
- AEB reverse
- Lane-keep help
- Journey help
- Blind-spot monitoring
- Entrance cross-traffic alert
- Rear cross-traffic alert
- Adaptive cruise management with cease & go
- Visitors Jam Help
- Driver fatigue monitoring
- Park Help
- Reversing digital camera
- Entrance, rear parking sensors
- Tyre strain monitoring
You’ll want to step as much as the Golf Life to get Emergency Help and secure exit warning.
How a lot does the Volkswagen Golf price to run?
The 2023 Volkswagen Golf is backed by a five-year, unlimited-kilometre guarantee.
Servicing is required each 12 months or 15,000km and Volkswagen provides three- and five-year Care Plan, which is its time period for pay as you go service packages.
The three-year pay as you go service bundle on the core Golf vary is $1550, whereas the five-year Care Plan prices $2650.
CarExpert’s Tackle the Volkswagen Golf Life Wagon
That brings us to the tip of the Golf Wagon’s farewell tour. Fortunately it wasn’t practically so long as the likes of Cher’s or Elton John’s.
It’s unhappy to see the Golf Wagon go away the Australian market because the pool of small wagons continues to dry up. Your solely different that’s equally priced and might nonetheless be ordered is now the associated Skoda Octavia Wagon.
There’s no denying how a lot inside house is on provide within the Golf Wagon. It’s significantly higher than any equivalently priced small crossover or SUV. The Mk8 Golf, nonetheless, comes with its personal quirks that embody however should not restricted to the the contact panel that doesn’t illuminate, and the typically clunky eight-speed torque-converter computerized.
I believe the Golf Life Wagon kinds because the candy spot within the longer-bodied vary, although if I used to be ordering a one – which I notably can’t do anymore – I’d go for the optionally available $2650 Sound & Imaginative and prescient Package deal as a result of I actually like Charli XCX to slap by way of the audio system.
Hopefully when you’d wish to buy a brand new Golf Wagon there’s one sitting at a seller so that you can decide up. In any other case, I hope you’re okay with the prospects of shopping for an SUV as a substitute…
Click on the pictures for the total gallery
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