Category: Small Family 
Price Range: £11,945 to £20,460
Image, strong residual values, all-round competence, the hatch to aspire to.
Engines a bit noisy, slightly uninvolving and remote-feeling, conservative styling and character, minor cabin quality short-cuts.
The Mk 5 Golf sets the benchmark again in this class for sheer all-round desirability, though the Focus is the sharper drive.
The previous Golfs haven't been problem-free, and the range has slipped well down the rankings in customer satisfaction and reliability surveys in recent years. However, engineers claim that they've overhauled the testing procedures for this model and that they've learned a lot from the initial glitches in the Phaeton and Touareg ranges; they say that this will be the most comprehensively de-bugged VW yet.
On the quality front, the models we've tested seem structurally well-screwed together and feel very solid, though some of the cabin's plastics and fabrics aren't quite as tactile and plush as expected - out of immediate eye-range, there's some rather cheapo bits and the nylon seats aren't that nice. We suspect that there's been some cost-cutting here to fund the more comprehensive chassis overhaul, and to ensure greater differentiation between the Golf and the supposedly more upmarket A3.
Latest Readers' Drives About the Volkswagen Golf
wrote on 20 06 2007
wrote on 14 10 2006
wrote on 06 06 2006