For The Golf is refined and comfortable, but remains fun to drive. The cabin is classy and practical, the desirable image guarantees strong residual values and every car has lots of safety kit.
Against The most basic engines in the range don’t have a lot of power, and the styling is conservative, inside and out. Prices are high compared with some rivals.
What Car? says
The Golf is better than ever. Desirable, refined and great to drive, it's one of the best all-rounders. A bit dear, though.
Reader review rating
There are 30 Volkswagen Golf editions available
Buyer's notes
Target Price team says:
The latest Golf is all the car most families will ever need. Others have more prestigious badges, larger cabins, punchier engines or lower prices, but if we had to pick just one car to see us through everything a family is likely to ask of it for the next, say, three years, it would be a Golf.
The Mark VI, as Volkswagen calls it, is hardly an all-new car. It is based on the platform of the last model, but has been polished where necessary.
That means more frugal and livelier engines, increased safety, greater long-distance refinement, upmarket options like electronic damping control and self-parking, and a return to form with quality, which had slipped a bit in the Mark V.
The styling has also been brought into line with the 'new' VW look started with the Scirocco. The overall effect is a car that couldn't be more conservative if it wore a blue rosette, but sometimes that's exactly what buyers need.
Reader test team says:
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