Volkswagen Golf 2020 Review – International

The Volkswagen Golf Mark 8 has finally arrived in European showrooms, reasserting its place as the world’s best hatchback and raising the bar in the small-car class considerably.

The Volkswagen Golf Mk7 (really, the facelifted Golf 7.5) was still almost certainly the world’s best hatchback, but it was hearing footsteps.

The Mazda3, Ford Focus and Hyundai i30 were closing in, fast, as the conservative, classless favourite worked its way through the Dieselgate emissions scandal and out the other side, although the Golf plays second fiddle to the Toyota Corolla, i30, Mazda3 and even the Kia Cerato in terms of sales in Australia.

Volkswagen’s top-selling car was also under threat internally, with the similar-sized ID.3 electric car swallowing billions of euros in VW Group investment, including taking the new Golf’s traditional pride of place at the Frankfurt motor show.

But if Volkswagen walked a fine public line between perceived sustainability and the cars people actually buy, its engineering division didn’t. It threw everything it could at the 2020 Golf 8.

The current Golf’s infotainment technology and interior quality were already class-leading, rivalling premium small cars from Audi, BMW and even Mercedes-Benz, but Volkswagen redesigned it anyway.

The new model’s interior, all touch-screen and sliders and digital surfaces, could easily have outrun the ability of older buyers to operate it, but it mostly doesn’t. It could have looked tacky and flimsy, too, but it enhances the interior’s quality, rather than detracting from it.

It’s easy to use, far more intuitive than it might have been and brilliantly clear to see and understand. Within 10 minutes we’d found everything, at least once, and changed the interior lighting to a colour bound to irk the next driver.

It’s a big step up from the debut Innovision system in the Touareg, and instead of forcing people to give it up to five touches on each tile to find the thing they need, the new Golf now just has more tiles and usually just three clicks, at most.

The 2020 Volkswagen Golf engines are crisp and cleaner than ever, and they’re about to get even cleaner, with the pending arrival of both mild-hybrid and plug-in hybrid versions.

The whole car smacks of a unity and an integrity that is rare to find and harder to engineer, all rooted in a chassis that has taken an almost inconceivable leap forward.

The new Volkswagen Golf isn’t all new, but rides on an updated version of the Modular Transverse Matrix (MQB) architecture that debuted in the Golf Mk7 and now finds more than eight million homes a year.

Updates to that chassis have delivered crisper, more accurate, more nuanced steering and a more secure, confidence-inspiring front-end feel, along with a gentler, calmer ride.

Well, that was the case for the cars we tested, which were all fitted with the multi-link independent rear suspension (the entry cars have a torsion beam rear-end and passive dampers to go with the MacPherson strut front-end).

If anything stands out above the integrated nature of the Mk8, it’s the competence and sheer breadth of ability of its chassis and the way it rides and handles.

The Volkswagen Golf has always been about a solidity and security of handling, rather than any sparkle, and its engineers have never risked that in pursuit of handling finesse.

They still haven’t, but they found it anyway.

The new Golf keeps the usual stability and ride quality and ‘heavy’ on-road feel, but now has sharp turn-in, flatter body control and more enthusiastic effort from the rear on direction changes.

The biggest news, though, is at the front-end. The optional adaptive dampers and direct steering (fitted to all the launch cars, unfortunately) give the Golf Mk8 an agility lacking even in the Mk7 GTI versions, at no cost to the things it’s always done well.

One of the keys is the adoption of the expensive, aluminium sub-frame from the Mk7’s hard-core Clubsport S hot hatch, plus there are new control-arm bushes at both ends.

The direct steering pulls the lock-to-lock turns down from 2.75 to just 2.1, and the transformation is nakedly noticeable through corners and repeated direction changes.

It now responds with tremendous enthusiasm to any suggestions from the steering, which for all their popularity and assurance, older Golfs have never been fond of doing.

A big part of this is the adaptive damping, now controlled by a single computer for faster reactions.

It has another trick up its sleeve, with its Individual setting allowing for even softer damping than the pre-programmed ‘Comfort’ setting and its range slides all the way up to a harder dynamic set-up than the pre-programmed ‘Dynamic’ setting.

It’s a mature piece of engineering, putting the car back ahead of rivals that were closing in on its position atop the hatchback leader board, feeling like it will battle it out dynamically with the Mazda3, Focus and i30 while easily out-comforting them.

It’s unfailingly accurate to the driver’s inputs, and it can be placed wherever you want it to. Its body roll is beautifully controlled and linear and it is legitimately entertaining to throw around.

It’s assured on highway cruising, too, and proves very resistant to crosswinds and undulations and generally behaving like a much larger machine than it is, and its bump absorption has improved at all speeds.

But there’s more to on-road kitbag of the 2020 Volkswagen Golf and that’s because it scores so much electrickery that it feels like a luxury car inside.

Its driver assistance systems are comprehensive, allowing it to use its combination of adaptive cruise control, lane-keeping assistance and autonomous emergency braking to deliver ‘hands-free’ driving at up to 210km/h.

But only briefly, due to legislation, so Volkswagen doesn’t try to convince drivers that it’s anything but a back-up.

It’s also the first Volkswagen model with Car2X, the always-on technology that allows the vehicle to listen in (over WiFi) to fast-arriving emergency vehicles or even road infrastructure at construction sites or trouble zones, then warn the driver.

There’s a wildly styled front-end (for a Golf) with narrow LED headlights pumping out aggression and hints of athleticism in a nose that is much lower than before.

Its suite of driver-assist systems is comprehensive – right up there with the best from Audi or Benz – and astonishing for the price.

The instant you step inside the 2020 Volkswagen Golf, it’s unmistakable that the game has changed at VW and, therefore, it will change for everybody else in the class, too.

That cockpit doesn’t dominate like you’d think it should, even though the instrument cluster is digital and the infotainment screen is now on the same level. It’s not quite an A-Class’s screen, but it’s not far behind it.

It’s also obvious that the Golf is being aimed at a younger buyer than it ever has, because the 10.3-inch instrument cluster screen can be switched between four views (BMW gives you just one...) via a button on the steering wheel.

There is a standard 8.25-inch infotainment touch-screen or an optional 10-inch version and almost all of the buttons in the car are on the steering wheel.

It could have fallen on its face, but it’s very easy to use. It’s faster and simpler to find the driver-assist systems than it was, to change the temperature or volume via the slider beneath the screen or to find any of the digital functions in the car.

There’s also an advanced voice-control system for people who prefer not to be distracted by touch-screens while driving.

It quickly stops being imposing and intimidating and turns into something fun to use, and unerringly intuitive and you stop cursing the lack of physical buttons and start enjoying the interior cleanliness and quality.

There’s a full-time SIM card in it too, and it’s always connected to the internet so it can stream traffic information in real time, as well as music.

Its centre console is larger and a stubby little gear lever in DSG models adds the impression of space as well.

Ambient lighting is fitted throughout the cabin and it switches colour with changes in driving modes, and the car’s head-up display is far clearer and more informative than before.

The new Volkswagen Golf is not a lot bigger inside overall, even though rear-seat legroom was one of the Golf’s shortcomings to some of its rivals.

It retains the old car’s wheelbase, though it’s 29mm longer overall, plus 10mm wider and 4mm taller. Its luggage space is good, but not overwhelming, with 380 litres of capacity with the seats locked into place and 1237 litres with them folded down.

We sampled two engines at the 2020 Volkswagen Golf launch: the 110kW eTSI mild-hybrid version of the 1.5-litre turbo-petrol four-cylinder and the 110kW version of the 2.0-litre TDI turbo-diesel.

Sadly, when the Golf 8 eventually arrives Down Under in late 2020, Volkswagen Australia will stick with a carryover 110kW/240Nm 1.4-litre turbo-petrol engine for mainstream 110TSI models.

But in Europe there will be five hybrid models in all, including a pair of plug-in hybrids, each with more than 70km of pure electric range, and another three mild-hybrids.

For the record, the petrol motors all cut about 10 per cent from their CO2 emissions figures and the 2.0-litre turbo-diesel sees a 17 per cent drop in emissions thanks to a new dual AdBlue injection system for the series catalysts.

And just so you know, the European Golf’s new 110kW/250Nm eTSI petrol motor feels a lot stronger than it sounds. It’s smooth too, and mates with either a six-speed manual or seven-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission.

It is strong down low, with its torque peaking at 1500rpm and staying on until 3500, and spins all the way beyond its power peak at 5000rpm and on to 6400. And it reaches 100km in 8.5 seconds with either transmission and tops out at 224km/h.

The mild-hybrid system ensures that it doesn’t need more torque than the engine delivers, because the integrated starter-generator gives it all the extra boost it needs at low revs.

Its seamless in its operation, cutting in and out and regenerating with total invisibility and most people would never know anything interesting was happening beneath the bonnet.

That extra boost and the free-spinning nature of the small motor lends it a sporty nature when the driver asks for it, along with a relaxed urban flexibility at all other times.

There’s just no need to smash the throttle all the time, because the boost from the 48-volt system helps even when you don’t notice it.

Also for the record, the diesel doesn’t score that technology but it’s cleaner and stronger than it was, with 360Nm of torque at 1750rpm and its power peaking between 3500 and 4000.

It’s quieter and more flexible, too, reaching 100km/h in 8.8 seconds but adding weight to the 1384kg petrol version (though Volkswagen was vague on exactly how much weight).

It is clear, very quickly, that the 2020 Volkswagen Golf Mk8 is a huge step forward from the Mk7, and probably more of a step forward in the handling and ride than it has any objective right to be.

The frightening part for other car-makers is that just as they felt they were closing in, the Golf has eased away from them all over again.

It’s better – significantly better – in so many areas without compromising what its strengths have always been. It’s so new inside, yet it still feels familiar to anybody who sits in the driver’s seat.

The new Volkswagen Golf has taken a huge leap forward in connectivity and digital tech, but it eases the unfamiliar into all of its systems with its intuitiveness.

And, for the first time, it’s even fun to drive.

How much does the 2020 Volkswagen Golf cost?
Price: TBC (currently $24,990 plus ORCs)
Available: Late 2020
Engine: 1.5-litre turbo-petrol four-cylinder
Output: 110kW/250Nm
Transmission: Seven-speed dual-clutch automatic
Fuel: 4.9L/100km (WLTP)
Emissions: 114L/km (WLTP)
Safety: TBC