Road test review: Volkswagen Golf R-Line

Wednesday, 16 June 2021

VOLKSWAGEN GOLF R-LINE
Base price: $47,990
Powertrain and economy: 1.4-litre turbo-petrol inline four, 110kW/250Nm, 8-speed automatic, FWD, combined economy 5.8L/100km, CO2 133g/km (source: RightCar).

It’s new, but it’s definitely still a Golf.

Vital statistics: 4396mm long, 1789mm wide, 1491mm high, 1549mm wheelbase, luggage capacity 381 litres, 18-inch alloy wheels.
We like: Smart new looks, simple interior, superb platform.
We don't like: New digital systems have a few bugs, no hybrid option for a few years.

Volkswagen’s longstanding hatchback has entered its eighth generation, with updates coming to every area of the car. In a world of SUVs and utes, does the humble Golf stand a chance?

What sort of changes are we talking?

The R-Line model gets special seats, among other extras.

There are the obvious exterior tweaks, like the new headlight design, different nose, slimmer rear lights, and fake exhaust tips. The headlights are connected by a chrome strip, which turns into the LED daytime running lights above the main clusters. It’s still clearly a Golf though, something the designers were eager to impart with the new looks.

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The Golf’s new interior. And, no, that isn’t a blanked out badge in the steering wheel – the VW logo is shades of black there now.

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Inside is an all-new interior, with plenty of digitisation and a very minimal design. There’s a digital instrument cluster with different screens showing different things, a rectangular pad with shortcuts for different menus and a stubby new shift-by-wire gear selector.

There are 30 different ambient colours for the R-Line (10 for Life), wireless phone projection for both Android and Apple camps (wireless charging is standard for Life and R-Line models) and a head-up display (not available on Life).

In terms of safety, all Golf models have been given a five-star ANCAP rating and get autonomous braking, cyclists and pedestrians recognition, blind spot monitoring with rear-cross traffic alert, LED headlights with auto dipping, adaptive cruise and driver fatigue warning. There’s also a rear side airbag for the first time in a Golf.

A 1.4-litre turbocharged four-cylinder is at the heart of the new Golf, and it’s really quite good.

What else does the R-Line get?

Both the Life and the R-Line we have on test here are highly specced from the factory.

The latter gets sports suspension, better steering along with a sportier steering wheel, drive modes, larger wheels, nicer seats, better adaptive cruise control with lane keep (called ‘Travel Assist’ in Volkswagen jargon), carbon accents and a larger infotainment screen (10-inch in the R-Line, eight for the Life).

Sadly, those four ‘exhausts’ are fake. You want the GTI or the upcoming R for the real performance hatches.

R-Line models also get three-zone air-conditioning, a slightly better stereo with the option to upgrade to a Harman/Kardon system which has eight speakers as well a dedicated subwoofer and centre with 480 watts of power, and more paint options than Life models.

That new interior looks nice. Is it?

To look at, yes. The new interior is simple, intuitive and the digital bits are snappy and responsive. I like the new steering wheel too, the touch/haptic combo for the controls works nicely. The controls do actually move, so there are still physical buttons there, but they vibrate a little to increase the feedback through your finger.

Unfortunately, there are a few problems with the new cabin, mainly in the software side of things.

The new operating system looks nice, but it crashed a couple of times while in use. Thankfully the infotainment screen was the only one to go down – the instrument cluster stayed online – and it came back fairly promptly but still. Not ideal.

The reversing camera also didn’t engage once or twice, which shouldn’t be too much of an issue as you’re not supposed to rely solely on the camera for backing up, but it’s still an issue.

Those new touchy-slidey air-con controls work nicely but could use a backlight, as they become invisible at night.

Finally, the audio system needs work. It does the annoying thing of rebalancing the EQ if it thinks there’s too much bass, which can result in the volume adjusting itself as well, and it’s too quiet.

I did discover that you can circumvent the EQ/volume auto-adjusting thing by going into the settings and moving the focal point towards the front of the car. Not an ideal scenario but a quick fix if you like loud music.

What about to drive?

In this regard, the Golf 8 is superb. Under the new sheetmetal is the MQB Evo platform which, as the name suggests, is an evolution of the second-gen MQB platform. It was a great architecture back in 2016 and the Evo version only makes it better.

The R-Line’s adaptive damping and drive modes means the hatchback is rock steady through corners, even in Comfort. Ride doesn’t take a beating in Sports (neither does your spine), and any understeer found in Comfort is negated.

The 1.4-litre engine might sound a bit piddly with its 110kW of power and 250Nm of torque but it does a good job of pulling the Golf around. There’s a healthy mid-range to be explored, helped by the new eight-speed automatic, which is about as quick as the old twin-clutch. You can get the most out of the powertrain by shifting yourself, as the Sports mode calibration has the gearbox reaching for higher ratios sooner than you might want.

Swapping the DCT for a torque-converter automatic means cost savings and a less jerky initial take-off, good for town driving.

VW doesn’t mention performance claims, but I’d say the R-Line will crack 100kmh in around eight seconds, plenty fast for a vanilla hatchback.

For those hankering for an electrified Volkswagen, you’ll be waiting a bit longer. VW NZ reckons 2023 is when we’ll start seeing hybrids trickle into the country, along with the all-electric ID.4.

So, is there still a place for the Golf in this world of SUVs and utes? Absolutely. Software niggles aside, this is still a brilliant hatchback for those who don’t want to ride five metres up or need the road presence of a bigger vehicle.

Any other cars I should consider?

The Golf R-Line’s price of $47,990 means there are some interesting alternatives. Two grand more gets you the BMW 118i Sport Line, five grand less is the Ford Focus ST-Line X, six grand less is the Kia Cerato GT, and a grand more is the Mazda3 Limited. Both Audi and Mercedes-Benz’ hatchbacks break the $50k mark and offer less in the engine department than the Golf.