NEW VW Golf review - better than ever? | What Car?

[@belizarius_997]

In 2019, the cost of a brand-new VW Golf was 19,000 EUR; in 2024, it is 28,000 EUR. Why?

[@bubandit06]

Corporate greed. Just like everything else.

[@adriancarey7848]

Plus 50% same as food and everything else, except wages!

[@Gochsener]

Emission Standards, more Standard Equipment and Power with Base Engine, more Sensors and Assistants legally required, more Tech, general inflation increases Salaries and part costs, BUT also bad margins at VW, so they need to make more money.

[@Robin-ve7ck]

Inflation and safety feature requirements

[@bubandit06]

@Robin-ve7ck inflation is orchestrated

[@sIightIybored]

Someone should do a comparison test between one of the later Mk7.5 Golfs and see what has improved and how much it lost in the process.

[@timjenkins8538]

The golf used to be popular when it was good value. Now you can get an Octavia or Hyundai Tuscon with more space for the same price. Probably cheaper to maintain too.

[@peterhollings309]

It must be great being a Golf designer, 350 days off a year. No effort required.

[@HIOP0]

Ok, so that's your opinion. Now submit images for your thoughts on how a MK9 Golf should look. Hmmm...not so easy to bring answers than it is empty negative comments.

[@HIOP0]

@jeff-m8o little petey is never anything other than a great disappointment, though the passage of time has normalised this for him. Ah, shame for little petey.

[@davebridge5580]

@@jeff-m8o The outside I like but I think the 7.5 dash is better. The infotainment system needs to be integrated into the dash instead of a laptop sat on the dash but I don't suppose the bean counters couldn't stretch to that with a refresh

[@ISuperTed]

Golf GTE Hybrid is £42,000. Don’t think I need to add to that.

[@globalcitizen7811]

I don’t think VW are listening to consumers, the cars are too expensive with lots of standard things taken away

[@androo4519]

Rear air vents, incredibly important to those with dogs and kids, are invisible to car reviewers and never get mentioned... At least the Golf has them, unlike the ID.3.

[@colonelccccc]

Buying a car that expensive (and frenkly not that good for what it cost) from a dying brand is a hard bet nowadays, VAG has announced they had 1-2 years to survive 6 months ago.

[@chrislockey7706]

I still think the Golf 7.5 was better

[@Ryan-ro8vf]

The horrible iPad on the dash would put me off buying any VW now, they look so dated already!

[@lornerydenolsen2425]

I think it is fair to say that Skoda is now more premium than Volkswagen. The Volkswagen brand cars are just very expensive, mediocre cars. You would be a fool to buy a VW, especially now the Koreans, Japanese and even the French offer much better premium feeling products.

[@turn211]

I have one picked it up a week ago .I have the 1.5 etsfi and I find it comfortable and easy to drive.Some of interior is not top notch but it’s not something to worry about.I would have like knobs for the air con and the sound buts it not deal breaker either. It’s my fourth Golf and perhaps I’m biased but I have never had any problems with any I’ve owned.

[@petewatson9866]

The way VW has dropped the ball is it’s still paying off the diesel gate fines

[@alanwayte432]

The build quality of the 7.5 is still far superior 😢

[@jamesecroucher]

iPad glued to dashboard…groundbreaking 😂

[@betterbeavailable]

And what does Toyota have? Even thicker iPad glued 😂

[@Silver-st2zq]

​@@betterbeavailableWell yes but your getting a Toyota that was last year's and years and years as for VW 😆

[@shakedlevi5686]

Octavia,every day!!

[@ardnagreevagh]

Infotainment screen looks like something a 5 year old would get for Christmas

[@josephberrie9550]

its a car not a cinema...do you know the difference

[@tneu3314]

@@josephberrie9550just stick to your 15 year old VW Polo TDI, Mr.

[@spinnetti]

lol. good one. I liked the pop out screen in my 15' Audi so I didn't have to look at it when I didn't need it.

[@gabutman6144]

That sadly most new cars these days

[@betterbeavailable]

Looks a lot better than the pre facelift version. Just bring back climate knobs and hydraulic bonnet struts and it would be a great car.

[@shaywhelan1]

We had a white 1.6 diesel Match mark 7 as our second family car for sons to learn to drive on. I loved it and it did feel of a very good quality. Everything just seemed to be where you expected it in the cabin. But, given all the negative feedback about those sliders for the temps, I dont know why VW just didnt go back to buttons or dials in the midlife facelift. Personally, I'd give it a miss.

[@vp272]

Facelift looks much better in real life. Percieved interior quality is so much better than the ID3

[@haydensmith888]

Yeah we need another EGolf with 300+ mile real world range, would take that over the I.D3 every day

[@elias6918]

Im not saying that the golf is bad, but I feel like that goes to show how bad the id3 is.

[@TheoFennel]

Got a 2015 GTE, and I love driving it, quick enough when I need it to be. I might change to the later one in a few years due to the battery range. If it can get 73 miles, that's great as I do 32 miles to and from daily. I spend £100 on fuel now and charge every night on a cheaper tariff.

[@jea1034]

Stop it with the AI integration (ChatGPT). Focus on quality buttons (HVAC), materials and driving experience. VW you’ll never beat my iPhone for the AI assistance features. I’d like a car with some tech, not an iPad with wheels.

[@AsimSheikh]

why is this car being compared to to skoda octavia when it comes to space? isnt octavia an estate and a saloon more comparable to vw passat?

[@DimA-rx7nb]

Skoda Octavia has to be a brillant example for all manufacturers. Way too much spacious for the same dimensions

[@ionutgeanta8741]

i had the pre-facelift version rented a couple of months ago, diesel, automatic, full options. brilliant car to drive, short or long distance. however, the infotainment was atrocious! i was grateful i had physical buttons on the steering wheel, as i was dreading using the anything on that 13' screen. this one to be better, i reckon massive changes would have to be made to make it decent, and i don't think that's the case. i hope i'm wrong, but the layout doesn't look to be that different than the previous version.

[@wltdo6930]

Would be helpful for you to mention road and wind noise at high speeds

[@Backpfeifengesicht45]

Test drove one to see if it'd be a bit more interesting than my Corolla 2.0l hybrid. It's as dull as watching white paint dry.

[@rudyardharrison4177]

I cannot praise my Golf Mk.7 enough. I bought one of the last manual models. It also has DCC. It has everything, and more, that I need in a car. I live in South Africa. Some years ago VW SA stopped selling manual Golfs. I tried a DSG model but just couldn't experience any driving satisfaction. What really annoys me is the way manufacturers make executive decisions on behalf of the buying public. The entry level Polo Hatch (down here) is a manual. Everything above that is DSG. And, of course, probably half the cars on sale here have sewing machine engines...you know what I mean! Thanks for your honest review.

[@mamadjun]

Me, no physical knobs, no buy.

[@AntJoseph_]

The one shown in 2012 is also a MK6, not a MK7 :)

[@spinnetti]

So, what is the all rounder class leader then?

[@oldhamer111]

I think people's memories of past Golf interiors are viewed through rose-tinted glasses. I was in a Mk5 recently and all the plastics were hard and no better than a Focus or Astra.

[@SimonB6706]

VW exclude wiring from their 3yr warranty.

[@HIOP0]

Which other OEM's include this?

[@dogsbodyish8403]

Is the 1.5 engine the one with the wet cam-belt? Pity if is, as the DCC option sounds like a major attraction for what is otherwise a very good car.

[@bordersw1239]

I don’t think any VW engines have wet cam belts.

[@dogsbodyish8403]

@@bordersw1239 A simple internet search seems to imply that some VW TSi engines do have wet belts. Whether this is a good or bad thing is moot.

[@bordersw1239]

@ . Think it’s some of the 2.0 tdi engines use a wet belt for the oil pump. The 1.0, 1.2, 1.5 Tsi engines are all either normal cambelt or chain driven wet belt. The 1.2 is notorious for the chain in oil to rattle and costs much more to replace than all their other normal belts. Father in law owned a 1.5tsi, son in law had his 1.0tsi belt changed last year, daughter had her 1.4 belt replaced last year.

[@graemetaylor629]

way too much money 4 years ago I bought a brand new pre registered mk 4 octavia 1.5 tsi for £17995.00 and now a entry level golf costs £10000.00 more!

[@KeepCalmAndTravelOn]

Damn, this interior looks plasticky and rough - especially striking when watching this in the plushy Mazda 3.

[@glennwilliams4441]

Quite happy with ‘22 Golf including Haptic Touch once you drive it everyday. Infotainment system has also been fine.

[@NorfolkRachel]

Having just signed up for a GTE via work, I’m somewhat relieved you didn’t scare me 😂

[@ardnagreevagh]

I had look twice to see if this video was pre COVID

[@krmr]

Tell your sound engineer to use a de-esser.

[@statarofortress]

Too much money for nothing

[@adamsaint2890]

What's not mentioned here is that the base 1.5 115hp gets torsion beam rear suspension while the 150 has a proper independent setup. I've got the 150, I love the tech inside and the overall drive. The interior build quality is not going to worry Bentleys but it's not at all bad. I don't like the road noise the optional 18s I got make (which are on this test car), and I wish I had stuck with the standard 17s. You are also not correct in saying the PHEV is only available in Style and higher, you can definitely get it in Match trim. Also, the entry level Life trim makes NO sense at all, to anyone. The price difference with the Match trim is less than £200, and you miss out on maybe 2k worth of kit!

[@TheJoaolyraaraujo]

The materials look awful.

[@arselihp]

[engineer, with panic sweat] we care very much about what you think, and have tried super hard to give you what you want, but for a sinister, dark reason we can't talk about, WE CAN'T GIVE YOU BUTTONS

[@sargfowler9603]

The PHEV model will be the one to go for, but the price needs to drop. You could always get the Seat/Cupra equivalent for £10K less.

[@dr.markusraindl1745]

Thanks for the review and verdict of the face lifted 8th generation Golf. I wouldn't buy a 2nd time a VW product, too much of struggle with EGR, injectors, MAF sensor harness, almost 2 year-iteration of brake discs replacement at the rear, clutch begins to get noisy in cold conditions at just 170,000 km, struggles with the calibration and all of that with no goodwill of VW, not for the 3 injectors which came before 20,000 km, nor anything else, but instead 224 Euro/h labor and pharmacy like part prices. What I really enjoyed on that video was the presenter work: smooth, clear, with the right size of seriousity and for me as a non-native speaker very easy to understand.

[@colonelccccc]

Had a Golf 7 1.0TSI DSG shifting way to soon the gears always used in Sports mode which is a little bit better, always took care of the car, 80K km on it mechatronic died ! Even my old Peugeot 406 never failed and left my house at 460K km! Lucky I still had a warranty on the thing otherwise I'd had to pay 5K to repair it, sold it and got a Toyota.

[@naferemix]

Is that Darth Vader in the under boot storage?

[@권용대-b5v]

My wife bought a Polo Mk 5 as her first car 10 years ago (great choice!!), which eventually became our practical family car. Golf Mk 8.5 seems to be a natural upgrade, but it’s a shame that diesel version is the only available option in my country. VW, why??

[@anthonybrown4874]

A car for the VW loyalists and the match 1.5 tsi would be my choice, however the Skoda pair would be more likely to get my cash after the depreciation monster has had its slice of the value.

[@modelrailwaynoob]

I had a new rental for a few weeks waiting for my new car delivery. I liked driving it but my ex-nurse back hated it. Only taller cars for me.

[@siblej1]

Not sure why manufacturers don’t orient cup holders the other way at the end of armrest. Your elbow does fall into them then.

[@davidhayes4814]

Quite a decent review. Can’t sit three six footers in the back in relative comfort for long journeys…? Can ANY small family car do this? MPV style small vans maybe ….. ?

[@Simon_V_RDJ]

I had a MK7.5 Golf estate for 5 years and it was perfect for me. When it came time to going for the MK8 Golf I just couldn't justify going for a car that had touch sensitive steering wheel "buttons" along with the heating controls. Stuff that. So I went for a Polo instead....but no reviews told me about the stupid cruise control that insisted on going to the speed limit even after you've set it at a lower speed. Dangerours in my opinion. Nobody reviewing cars these days go into the smaller details like cruise control or other niggling things like it.

[@urbanstrencan]

Is now Golf back to being the king of Golf class ;) I think it is between Golf and Škoda Octavia now.

[@Emaratilfy]

Buy a Mazda 3 hatchback. Better build quality, better warranty and it drives better.

[@alko_xo]

VW will fire over 35,000 of its staff, so it is the best indeed.

[@SteveWebb]

What about the diesel?

[@DIYPanda1]

I can't tell it apart from the last one. Or the one before that.

[@redbull4fly797]

You should compare it more vs corolla, civic, ceed than series 1 or A3. Golf is an average car that you can't go wrong with it, but nothing special in his class anymore. Also way too pricey on more than 10 years ago completely new model, which has only been updated during years. Asians are a better choice now.

[@lise1255]

Don't forget the sister model skoda Octavia too.

[@seowebua]

@@lise1255 Octavia is way too big and not a hatch

[@lise1255]

@seowebua True, but Golf is not just a hatchback, it's also a stationcar and besides that the Octavia is a golf under the body. In my country (Sweden) 90% of all Golf sold are station cars because the price is the same (almost) and more practical.

[@seowebua]

@@lise1255 sure, but in estate form golf still would be smaller. The platform is probably some kind of mqb or whatever all vag group uses nowadays, so yeah it's similar. Does golf and Octavia cost the same in Sweden?

[@lise1255]

@seowebua it's very close, but approximately 1000€ more for the vw and usually with less equipment for lowest specced cars. With the exact same specs, there's around 3500-4000 € difference.

[@ST-ur7oh]

Octavia interior way nicer - disagree with your

[@sevensixtysteve8662]

This looks like a (small) step in the right direction. Car is looking classier and more what you would expect from a VW. Things that would annoy me remain however. If I was in charge of the model, on my to do list would be. 1. Add some knobs/buttons for HVAC and audio control. 2. Reduce the centre screen size and integrate into the design of the car. 3. Build the back half of the car to the same standard as the front and stop taking customers for idiots. Getting there.....slowly.

[@peterthwaites5891]

This latest Golf still looks like an "also ran" to me... Nothing particularly good or bad about it but that`s not good enough today, a Golf was once the No1 choice, not any more..

[@mishumihai223]

🥱 hmm, new Golf. Lovely. Anyway, the Peugeot 308 🤩 what a great looking car.

[@jampam-jf8mt]

Its a luxury fashion item and badge, not just transport. A skoda Fabia does exactly the same job

[@Fastwunz]

The Octavia just makes it pointless

[@camilstoenescu]

More expensive than ever.

[@tungstencarbide7255]

In summary, the VW Golf 7.5 remains the best hatch from Wolfsburg.

[@JurisKankalis]

There are two major errors in this video. FIRST. The question. IS IT BETTER THAN EVER? The question itself is wrong. No. Seems like the Golf will never be "better than ever" - not the 8th, not the 9th, not the Nth generation. Because VW doesn't really want it to be. When it was close to bankruptcy in late nineties after poor sales of Golf 3 and loss of identity (Merc entering the small car market with A Class at the time) - IT MADE THE GOLF 4 (under Piech). THAT could have been argued to be the best Golf. Or previous generation - if you will - Mark 7. It has upmarket feel in the interior, it looked classy but modern, it had ALL MECHANICAL CONTROLS for all the things that needed mechanical controls - while travelling about 60 METRES PER SECOND on the Autobahn at roughly 200 km/h. The Mark 7 looked good on the outside, felt good on the inside - there truly were no letdowns to that car (maybe rust issues on the long run - but those could be prevented with proper treatments). THIS - MARK 8 - is a step BACKWARDS. WHY? Because Volkswagen has lost itself. Piech is long gone - rest in peace, Piech - and Volkswagen doesn't know what it wants to be. Does it want to be a cheap Chinese Tesla (faceless ID lineup with millions in investments and touch control madness, including for the WINDOWS and on the STEERING WHEEL - WHILE travelling those same 60 metres PER SECOND on the autobahn?)? Does it want to be an ugly duckling Platypus with hideous cheap looking plastic surrounds around the screens - THAT NO ONE ASKED FOR? They KIND OF have listened to the customer - and brought some sort of physical controls back in their ID.ALL or whatever it will be called (basically the ground-up electric golf which VW copies from itself in order to "play" on its strengths - ie, the "golfiness") - but the thing is - it never had to do this. It never had to "revert" back to somewhat reasonable or human-like controls or design - IT ALWAYS KNEW WHAT WAS BEST - before even reaching the market. It would never have implemented all the idiotic touch control madness (you must fiddle around with climate controls... for five seconds... just to adjust your air temperature... while you have already travelledel blind - 300 metres in those 5 seconds?? In a Mark 7 golf - in a Mark 8 Passat - or in my 2012 BMW - you never have to take your eyes off the road ONCE - to adjust climate, driving modes, switch gears - OF COURSE!) The second error in the video is - the climate controls on the screen - ARE NOW BACKLIT - WHICH IS GREAT. NO. It's not great, Volkswagen. NO ONE ASKED FOR THIS - just look at your own cars 5 years ago - and you'll get why you weren't closing three factories in Germany at that time. Good luck, Volkswagen - try to survive, please - you knew how - for 70 years now! Thanks to the video from Latvia - hopefully my novel is read by someone in Volkswagen who will start thinking... Yeah but what does our name mean? Volks? Wagen? Hmmmmm.

[@AsimSheikh]

lol no one will read your chat gbt generated paragraph of a comment

[@AdrianNelson1507]

Sad! They had an opportunity to fix it 🤷🏻‍♂️ oh well

[@devanman7920]

Price has gone up 10K in 5 years.

[@johnneesham3465]

Brilliant reviewer 👍

[@m88brc]

My granny is 88 and even she said the 115BHP golf couldn’t pull the skin off a rice pudding. What a load of rubbish saying that’s an adequate engine. Terrible

[@MrNozyk]

Finally a proper review. Great car, too expensive though. However, compared to chinese electrics it's a Bentley class.

[@robertwang7825]

EU28k ? At that price you can buy any EV from China - Xiaomi, XPeng , Zeekr, BYD - that’s faster, bigger, more luxurious, with center screens, all leather Napa seats, 15 spkr systems, 450 - 550hp , self parking , self exit, LiDAR, cameras all around , cordless charging , connectivity with your mobile, etc etc etc. Seriously the legacy automakers are in deep trouble.

[@nigelcb1300]

The screenshot it showed of the blue vehicle had a horrible orange peel paint job 🤢🤮

[@InsEngineered]

All people want is a simple, reliable car with user-friendly controls. Didn’t VW fire those executives in suits who decided to remove dials and useful buttons?

[@theanswer1993]

For this money I can buy a Duster with all equipment.

[@marksinclair383]

Why have they stuck a laptop on top of the dash? It’s so ugly. They should have retained the old smaller integrated screen and improved it. It looks like an LA cop car interior. No thanks.

[@richardrichard9631]

So glad i have my honda civic ehev

[@HS-yz7ui]

There is no reason to buy this instead of Honda Civic. If someone wants a bit luxury then Audi and Mercedes would be the better choice. VW have just lost its way.

[@rotzik]

The reduction of the warranty from 4 years to 3 years is a commitment by the manufacturer to low quality products that do not last "forever". Or at least 4 years. VW has serious problems with reliability. Go to the workshops and ask the engineers before you buy!

[@petewatson9866]

Golf should be renamed Polo, with a tiny boot like that

[@brianrocks7277]

Are they still plagued with electrical gremlins that nobody dare mention?

[@mcRast]

It's a standard feature in VAG cars so probably no one even bothers to mention them. 😅

[@connclissmann6514]

VW have to return to building good cars people can afford. For the Volk. This cars sells in our market for crazy money at entry level and if you were thinking of anything extra (like a steering wheel), take out a mortgage. By comparison, a larger Tesla Model 3 with loads of tech here costs just 3k more, with lower running and servicing costs over the life of the car. The strife in Wolfsburg shows that now that the gravy train in China has ended, management and unions in their golden palace alike have lost touch/ forgotten what the rest of us can afford.

[@tag10uk]

Refuse to buy a car without physical heater/aircon buttons.

[@zeljkothegreekserb]

Golf 7.5 was the best Golf in interior at least, the Golf 8 is a disgrace, hide the logo branding and the cheap materials, even design, isn't any different than a Dacia Duster, which also has no knobs for the AC. If they invested into the Golf (maybe with a parallel electric Golf 8 option) instead of spending billions on researching and building the bubbly ID failures that all combined (id3, id4,etc) sold less than the Golf 8, they wouldn't be where they are now. You want to make electric cars for people who hate cars and then you are surprised when 20.000 VW workers strike due to layoffs?

[@thomash2806]

I wonder if it still has a wet cam belt…

[@futtocksend8832]

Don't forget the new road tax rate for this car in 2025 will be £570.....

[@paulanderton9424]

In 2024 we are celebrating the fact a car has physical buttons.......😂

[@mymusic5772]

Sliders ,,and still looks like a cheap tablet stuck on the dash..I’d say they haven’t listened to customers at all.

[@seancrabtree2657]

Had two Golfs, never again sorry VW.

[@haze1123]

I refuse to take out a car loan for something with annoying interior controls. Sorry, VW. Not good enough.

[@LegSpinna]

The Germans are knocking out overpriced tat these days.

[@alexandrem6429]

Nope, untill we have normal, safe, physical buttons I Will continue not buying Golf or VW cars again.

[@fbsofty]

I'm sorry, but this feels like more of a real commercial for the failing VW than an objective review... for this money you can get a Mazda 3 hatchback with more kit and better performance, reliability.. and warranty.. Or Toyota even.. Corola/Yaris X.. there are soooo many alternatives... no wonder VW is in trouble now.

[@ncatalin2941]

Why are we mentioning Skoda Octavia... it's a sedan it cannot be compared with a golf...

[@JLo1960]

The Octavia is a hatchback same as a Golf, just bigger 🤷

[@JLo1960]

@ncatalin2941 The Octavia is not a sedan, its a hatchback, same as a the Golf, it's just bigger. 🙄

[@ncatalin2941]

@@JLo1960 The fact that there is a version of a hatchback does not put it in the same category as a golf.... it's miles away, you can call it however u want a sedan is a sedan

[@andriusbaziuk4331]

Because of super high prices, no one is buying it

[@doordedeur]

Volkswagen doesn't mean anything anymore. The Golf is too big and too expensive. A Toyota Corolla is more sensible. A VW ID3 is an old electric equivalent for a Golf. But noone would buy it. My view is that no new cars are sold anymore, and people prefer older cars with less influesly technologies.

[@darrenbodfish4591]

The golf nice-looking car 👍🏻, unlike the ID3 👎

[@androo4519]

I think the other way around

[@darrenbodfish4591]

The ID3 looks like something Noddy would drive around toytown 😂

[@Roy-pk4xd]

Both ugly

[@philipbellew9645]

Chat gpt, I'm out.........

[@blarkdexture8899]

Manuel gearbox in 2025?! no wonder vw will go broke soon

[@josephberrie9550]

hahahahaha is it made in spain manual moosh thanks for the laugh