We recently had the opportunity to go to Seattle and check out the latest iteration of the Volkswagen Golf TDI, a car with a rich history and doing it’s part to stay relevant to modern consumers.
The Golf first appeared in 1974 and very quickly became a car that found roots as both an economical city car and as a vehicle which removes a lot of the frivolities in lieu of simplistic elegance. It quickly found it’s way into drivers hearts, drivers who appreciated a connection with their vehicles and also enjoyed the ability to personalize and tweak. This point made it especially popular to the weekend racer, the person who would take their daily driver to the track on the weekends for some friendly competition.
Read more after the jump.
Over the years the Golf has naturally grown slightly overweight and cumbersome, trading simplicity for utility, as it’s European market was introducing even smaller compacts, it’s American consumers wanted bigger cars, with all the modern conveniences.
With this 2010 Mark 6 introduction, Volkswagen chose to revisit what had set it apart in the past, luckily they found a resurgence for it’s demand in the market and so became what we see here.
Driving this car is a real pleasure, while it feels tight and responsive in every way, it handles the rough stuff with particular ease and this is something I especially noticed as my past generation Golf currently communicates every single road feature quite efficiently through to my body, which is something I can definitely go without. The diesel engine is something you don’t think about, it sounds great and feels much more like a GTI, with it’s low end power and 6 speed, DSG gearbox, you only find yourself shifting sooner than you would in the petrol alternative. The DSG (Direct Shift Gearbox) actually has dual clutches and allows the gears to change in a fraction of a second when you hit the paddle shifters and while I’ve driven with a manual clutch and gears forever, this alternative is actually starting to make more sense, ease and performance wise.
We congratulate Volkswagen on the work they have done here, the small refinements are all superb and the golf lineage is starting to resemble that which has made its relative, the 911 Porsche so famous.
