Volkswagen Golf V5
A NEW Golf War is breaking out, this time in Europe. The target is the car that has been Europe's best-seller for more years than many motor makers can remember. The players are most of the world's carmakers including Mercedes-Benz, whose novel new A-class tries to outdrive VW's best-seller by extracting extraordinary space from a car that's extraordinarily small. (On Tuesday, Mercedes said it was suspending for three months shipments of the A-class for re-engineering to stop the cars from tipping over during sharp turns.)
But while rivals line up to try to topple the Golf, the champ hasn't exactly been resting on its laurels. Now there's a new Golf, although at first you might be excused for wondering just how new. It's yet another evolution the fourth of the original Golf style, which goes back more than 20 years. It's handsome, and is more about form than adornment like all great designs. Despite the plaudits, it looks so familiar and reassuring that, on the road, few pick it as the successor to the nearest thing that Europe has to a family cult car.
Better Value
The floor pan and much of the suspension are shared with the Audi A3 and the Skoda Octavia, although, as these are all VW-group cars, moral copyright for the platform belongs to the Golf. Engines are either improved carryovers or, as with our Volkswagen Golf V5 test car, brand new. The latest car is longer, roomier, better made, better equipped, better looking and yet, in most markets, only marginally pricier and therefore discernibly better value than the old Golf.
That Volkswagen Golf V5 engine is an oddity. Not that many years ago, such an arrangement would have offered about as much equilibrium as a set of barbells with three weights on one side and two on the other. Yet, through the wonders of modern electronics and thanks to the Volkswagen Golf V5's unusual engineering layout, it works superbly. It is smooth, pleasingly musical when pressed, and serves up excellent performance for so small a car. Whereas the old VR6 Golf, which the Volkswagen Golf V5 partially replaces the new VR6 is still six months or so from being introduced often felt over-powered, like a Mini with a hot-rod engine rammed under the hood, the Volkswagen Golf V5 is beautifully balanced. It mates superbly with the five-speed transmission. The upshot is silken drive-train refinement.
The handling and grip are good, even if there is still less intimate interaction between driver and steering wheel than on the very best French cars, such as the Peugeot 306. The ride is nicely supple, and the cart feels strong and well made.
A few days spent in the cheaper 110 BHP turbodiesel version also proved that the Volkswagen Golf V5 isn't the only quality engine option. That VW turbodiesel also fitted to the Audi A4, the Passat and the Sharan is probably the world's best diesel. It works superbly in the Golf, offering genuinely eager performance and a pleasingly gruff engine note with the added bonus of superb economy.
The cabin is terrific. Family hatches still usually have a plasticky, built-down-to-a-price feel. Owners are consistently reminded that the styling guys cared much more about the outside which everyone else sees than the inside, where the poor owner spends most of his or her time. Not on the Volkswagen Golf V5. This VW, like its big brother the Passat, enjoys plastics and fabrics of BMW-Mercedes A-class. There are numerous nice touches, such as flip-down front seat armrests options on most Golf models, standard on others. The switches feel and move like quality ware, and there's plenty of back seat and trunk space. There's also an interior handle, to facilitate trunk lid closing, but it was clearly designed by a tall man. My wife, who is of average height, had difficulty reaching it.
THERE'S little that's novel about the latest Volkswagen Golf V5. There are none of the newfangled features found on its latest rival, the Mercedes A-class; nothing that suggests that the conventional car, as a breed, is on the brink of great change, which it almost certainly is. Rather, the latest Volkswagen Golf V5 is a beautifully honed and developed interpretation of a totally familiar concept.
It is proof that cars do not have to be innovative to be great for, in its all-around execution, this is a truly fine car.
Volkswagen Golf V5. About $29,000. V5 engine, 2,324cc, 150 BHP at 6,000 rpm. Five-speed manual transmission. Top speed: 210 kph (131 mph). Acceleration: 0-100 kph in 8.7 seconds. Average fuel economy: 9.2 liters/100 km.
International Herald Tribune November 14, 1997 > Gavin Green
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