01 Feb 05
Volkswagen appears to be taking niche marketing to new extremes: in a bid to offer a Golf for everyone, besides the three-door hatchback, the five-door hatchback, the Golf-based Touran MPV and upcoming convertible, Variant estate, 4x4 and Bora saloon models (got all that?) there's now the Golf Plus. A kind of supersize-me version of the five-door hatchback, its main advantages are a taller, higher roof (plus 95mm), more headroom (plus 20mm) a higher seating position (plus 75mm), more rear legroom (plus 85mm), easier access for entry and exit and a bit more luggage space. You can carry 395 litres with the rear seat in the rearmost position and 1450 litres with rear seats folded away, compared to 350/1305 litres in the standard Golf, and an extra touch of versatility allows the rear seat to slide forwards on its base to provide a 505-litre boot but less rear legroom; the front passenger seat also folds flat.
Any other developments? Volkswagen claims that most of the panels - from the A-pillars backwards - are altered, that the Plus is a whole different concept and proposition, that it has all sorts of extra stowage and storage possibilities, but you have to squint pretty closely at it to discern the differences from the normal Golf five-door, at least from the outside. Apart from that raised roofline - not really noticeable until you see the two cars parked alongside each other - only the Phaeton-alike silvered LED rear taillights give it away, as the Plus doesn't even wear an extra badge, labelled only as "Golf". The designers were also proud of the projector-style headlights, which project a VW symbol ahead when shone onto, for example, a garage door. That's getting rather desperate for distinctions to point out.
Volkswagen could have incorporated all these features into the standard five-door Golf, of course. After all, the Plus does not have a stretched wheelbase or longer body, and the two cars have the same floorpan. The extra interior space is created solely by reworking the seating, making it more upright, and raising the roof. Apart from that... even the suspension is virtually identical, bar minor adjustments to allow for the increased weight (up around 100 kilos) and slightly raised centre of gravity. But there is a point to this car: the company is curious to discover whether buyers in this mainstream "C" (small family-sized) sector are moving away from traditional hatchbacks into more MPV-like cars, but it is not willing to risk alienating and losing the long-standing fans of the mainstream Golf. If the Plus starts to outstrip the normal five-door in terms of sales (VW expects it to account for around 25 percent of Golf sales, rising to about 30 percent in the UK), the next-generation Mk 6 Golf five-door will follow the Plus-size format; if it fails to take off then the company will stick with the tried and tested format, though the Plus body is likely to be used for the upcoming Golf 4x4 anyway. It's basically an experiment though, one made feasible and affordable thanks to the latest CAD design technology, which enables the relatively cheap development of different variants off a shared platform.
