Volkswagen recently freshened its small five-door Golf hatch – the Golf 7.5 is a little different visually and you would be hard pressed at first to notice the changes over the outgoing Golf 7 –
without doubt the VW Golf has always been the polished performer in the small car class – yes you’ll pay a little more but you’ve always got more from this small German car. In particular, the outgoing Golf 7 introduced late in 2012 really lifted the small car bar. I’ve been driving the entry 1.4 turbo110TSI Golf 7-speed automatic at $26,490 and the polish on this small hatch was immediately apparent. What do you get for this money – more technology and safety including autonomous emergency brake, multi collision brake function that applies a second time should the car be struck from behind after a collision, a driver fatigue detection system, seven airbags, a rear view camera, cruise control with a speed limiter, LED daytime running lights front and rear and 16-inch alloy wheels. Just so highly equipped. Add an 8-inch colour touch screen, excellent connectivity and great instrumentation and the Golf 7.5 is well packaged – smooth, quiet and very comfortable with superb brakes and handling it feels very polished and refined on road – good economy too although it does require a diet of more expensive premium unleaded fuel – the 1.4-litre
turbo petrol engine very eager with 250Nm of torque and with seven speeds this is a delightful driver around town. Yes you’ll pay more for a Golf over other small cars but you’ll get more – I just wish VW had done more to distinguish it body wise over the outgoing model. I’m David Berthon

 

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