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New Golf gets lower prices and 110g/km petrol option

More kit for less money with the 7th generation Golf.
Entry level is just over £16k for a 1.2 petrol version, and business drivers will like the colour touchscreens, Bluetooth and aircon fitted to all UK Golfs.
Story: DAVID WILKINS
NewGolf_2012

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5 October 2012

7th generation VW golf
Entry level price for a new Golf will be £16,330, less than its predecessor

Story: DAVID WILKINS

Volkswagen says the next Golf will be lighter, safer, roomier and more efficient than before. The big news is that it will cost less too, with on-the-road prices starting at £16,330 for a 1.2 litre petrol TSI.

One petrol model achieves a diesel-like 110g/km thanks to cylinder deactivation technology, but you have to pay £24,120 to get one. Diesels start from £18,995.

  • As well as costing less, the new Golf will be better equipped

The seventh-generation Golf will come in three familiar trim levels – S, SE and GT. A sporty GTI version – already seen in concept form at the Paris Motor Show – will turn up next year, and there’ll be a fuel-saving BlueMotion model as well.

Equipment levels will be high, with all Golfs getting a 5.8-inch colour touchscreen, a DAB radio with CD player, connections for iPods and MP3 players, and Bluetooth. Semi-automatic air-conditioning will also be standard on all UK Golfs.

  • Dealers will start taking orders for the new Golf from October 18 for January delivery

SE models add City Emergency Braking, which can stop the car automatically to prevent an accident if the driver fails to spot a hazard, and a Driver Alert System, as well as rain-sensitive wipers. Outside, there’s a black grille and 16-inch alloys.

The GT has 17-inch wheels, front fog lights, heat-insulating tinted glass and sportier seats and trim. This model also gets Volkswagen’s Discover sat-nav system which has European mapping and a twin SD card reader.

The engine range has a familiar look. There are two common-rail diesels – a 1.6-litre TDI with 105 PS and a new 2.0-litre TDI 150 PS unit. There’s no news yet on official emissions and fuel consumption figures, but all Golfs – petrol and diesel – get fuel-saving stop/start technology as standard.

Petrols include a pair of 1.2-litre TSI engines with producing 85 PS and 105 PS and a 122 PS 1.4 TSI. The low-CO2 option is a 140 PS 1.4 with Volkswagen’s Active Cylinder Technology which deactivates two of the engine’s cylinders under light loads.

Like the last Golf, the new one is big on part sharing with other Volkswagen group models, although the latest MQB architecture is more flexible than the old “platform” concept, so the cars should be less samey than in the past. MQB can also be found under the skin of the new Audi A3 and Seat Leon.

Competition will be tough in this company car sector. Rising Korean brands Kia and Hyundai have just launched new versions of the cee’d and the i30, while Mercedes has just introduced a much more Golf-like A-Class.

And also in the company car comparison, everyone’s still talking about the powerful and economical 1.0-litre EcoBoost engine that turned up in the Focus earlier this year.

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Ralph Morton

Ralph Morton

Ralph Morton is an award-winning journalist and the founder of Business Car Manager (now renamed Business Motoring). Ralph writes extensively about the car and van leasing industry as well as wider fleet and company car issues. A former editor of What Car?, Ralph is a vastly experienced writer and editor and has been writing about the automotive sector for over 35 years.

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