Volkswagen Golf Life 2023 Review

There’s no easy way to say this: the 2023 Volkswagen Golf Life is expensive. Its mid-2021 launch price of $34,250 plus on-road costs represented a substantial hike over its predecessor, offset by greater levels of standard equipment.

But rising production and shipping costs have necessitated further increases.

From July 1, 2023, the mid-spec Golf Life costs $38,590 plus on-road costs, which still comes as a shock to those who remember a similar-level Golf Mk7.5 costing $29,990 drive-away towards the end of its lifecycle.

That said, the Golf certainly isn’t out of line with its competition.

The Hyundai i30 Elite (from $30,800 plus ORCs), Kia Cerato Sport+ (from $31,440) and Toyota Corolla ZR (from $36,600) offer significant savings.

But the Mazda3 G25 GT Vision (from $39,920) is lineball and the Honda Civic VTi-LX ($47,200 drive-away) and Peugeot 308 GT (from $43,990) more expensive again.

Volkswagen offers a five-year/unlimited-kilometre warranty and capped-price servicing covers the first five visits at $1900, with intervals of 12 months or 15,000km.

The 2023 Volkswagen Golf Life wears 17-inch alloy wheels and LED lighting front and rear, but white is your only standard paint colour; silver, blue, black and grey cost an extra $600 and the eye-popping Pomelo Yellow is $900.

The welcome light projection from the door mirrors is also a nice touch.

On the inside there’s keyless entry/start, triple-zone climate control, a leather-wrapped steering wheel with shift paddles, comfort front seats with lumbar adjustment and 10-colour ambient lighting.

But it’s the options packs that add some welcome fruit to the Golf Life.

The $1650 Sound and Vision Package includes an eight-speaker Harman Kardon stereo with subwoofer and a head-up display, while the $2000 Comfort and Style Package features a panoramic sunroof, 30-colour ambient lighting, sports front seats and microfleece/cloth upholstery.

If you can, both packages are worth selecting as it’s all handy gear that helps make the Golf Life feel more premium.

A five-star ANCAP safety rating for the 2023 Volkswagen Golf is welcome but also doesn’t tell the whole story.

While on the one hand the assessment was conducted back in 2019 when the protocols were much less stringent than they are today, the Golf’s test scores of 95 per cent for adult occupant protection and 89 per cent for child occupant protection were outstanding.

What’s more, Volkswagen also includes its whole active safety suite as standard.

VW’s IQ Drive includes adaptive cruise control with stop-and-go, autonomous emergency braking (AEB) with pedestrian and cyclist monitoring, lane assist, driver fatigue monitoring, low-speed emergency braking front and rear, traffic jam assist, blind spot monitoring and auto high beam.

Park assist is also standard to help get into those tight spots, along with a rear-view camera and parking sensors front and rear.

It’s not immediately obvious but the 2023 Volkswagen Golf Life is loaded with tech.

The widescreen digital instrument display is standard and with a bit of practice it’s pretty easily navigated using the buttons on the right-hand side of the steering wheel, with each side customisable to view a large array of information (trip, fuel economy, navigation, audio etc).

Almost every vehicle function has been moved into the central 10.0-inch infotainment touch-screen which supports wireless smartphone mirroring (Apple CarPlay and Android Auto), digital radio, Bluetooth, app connectivity and has voice and gesture control functionality.

Wireless charging is also standard in addition to a pair of USB-C ports in the front and rear for further device charging.

VW’s familiar 1.4-litre turbocharged petrol engine powers the 2023 Volkswagen Golf Life, producing 110kW and 250Nm, though in a significant departure for recent Golfs it’s attached to an eight-speed torque-converter automatic rather than the seven-speed dual-clutch we’ve been accustomed to.

It offers a commendable mix of performance and economy with a claimed 0-100km/h time of 8.5sec and combined fuel consumption of 5.8L/100km.

This is the trump card of the 2023 Volkswagen Golf Life. It’s a wonderful car to drive.

The addition of a traditional automatic has done wonders for its stop-start behaviour, with each take-off now being much smoother than with the previous dual-clutch.

The powertrain is the Golf’s weakest link. There’s not anything particularly wrong with it, as it offers plenty of torque and is relatively frugal, but an electric powertrain would make the Golf quicker, quieter and more responsive.

Where the Mk8 Golf truly shines, though, is its driveability. The steering is perfectly weighted and makes placing the car accurately a breeze in all scenarios, the ride quality is fantastic, soaking up urban bumps and lumps with absolutely no dramas, vision is excellent in all directions, it’s an extremely quiet and comfortable car.

The depth of the Golf’s talents become apparent on a spirited drive. It’s not something many owners will probably ever do, nor is it a key part of the Life’s appeal, but the fact that it is so capable – and enjoyable – when driven with enthusiasm is a testament to the quality of engineering in the car.

The minimalist interior aesthetic of the Mk8 Golf won’t perhaps be to everyone’s tastes but there are no complaints with its ergonomics.

Up front the standard seats in the 2023 Volkswagen Golf Life are reasonably comfortable, though the optional sports seats are worth the outlay.

Shrinking down the gear lever has resulted in plenty of storage space in and around the centre console, and the driving position is excellent.

In the rear there is ample space for adults and separate temperature controls are an exception in this segment. There are also a couple of clever features like extra pockets on the back of the front seats for holding phones and the like, haptic lighting and a ski port to access the boot from the rear seat.

Any criticisms are centred on the infotainment. Volkswagen was one of the first to adopt an ‘all in’ approach to putting features in the touch-screen and, to be honest, with some familiarity it works okay, with the ability to customise the home screen to ensure frequently used functions are within easy reach.

It does need a few more hard keys than just climate, parking and safety, though. Some vehicle functions are difficult to find and buried in layers of sub-menus, but it’s the fact that simple operations like adjusting fan speed or selecting recirculation are now a three-step process instead of a one-push button.

It’s not that this set-up is particularly terrible, it’s just not an improvement on what came before. Happily, Volkswagen has acknowledged this and we’d expect changes to be made for Golf Mk8.5 as well as other future VW models like the forthcoming new Tiguan.

At 374 litres, the Golf’s boot is also one of the largest in the segment and it’s a very useable space rather than relying on nooks and crannies to boost that number.

It would certainly be easier to recommend the 2023 Volkswagen Golf Life if it still wore its launch price tag, but equally there is the argument to be made that if you want the best you have to pay for it.

With premium paint and both options boxes ticked, the drive-away price will come perilously close to $50,000, but the Golf has the talent to pull it off.

It’s spacious, comfortable, refined, enjoyable to drive, economical and loaded with safety and entertainment technology – it does that ‘all things to all people’ trick very well.

The automotive landscape may be rapidly changing, but the Volkswagen Golf remains very much towards the top of the hatchback class.

2023 Volkswagen Golf Life 110TSI at a glance:
Price: $38,590 (plus on-road costs)
Available: Now
Engine: 1.4-litre four-cylinder turbo-petrol
Output: 110kW/250Nm
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
Fuel: 5.8L/100km (ADR Combined)
CO2: 132g/km (ADR Combined)
Safety rating: Five-star (ANCAP 2019)