When the first Golf was presented 38 years ago, nobody could have imagined that this Beetle successor would become the most successful vehicle of all time. A few days ago the "New Golf - the seventh generation" presented. After my first car was a VW Golf, my second too and I also have some memories of “the brand” within the Volkswagen brand, it was a great pleasure to be able to experience the “new one” at the international presentation:
Deja Vu in Sardinia
Perfect. Probably the best golf ever. Best in class. Nerd. Automotive stroke of luck. Whole foods for every requirement. The biggest hurdle in the compact car segment for all competitors.
Quotes from the press event
The Golf 7. The car. The first driving report.
Even if it sounds tempting, I often get “hit” for my grammar and spelling, so I won't submit to the temptation and write a driving report like this is currently being penetrated in Volkswagen advertising: “The golf. The car. The Car.“I want to try to form simple but not too short sentences for my first impression of this new generation.
What does he want to be?
No more or less than the continuation of a success story. With the front-engine, front-wheel drive concept, everything was put on the “risk card” in Wolfsburg. The farewell to the rear-engined Beetle and the presentation of the first really compact Volkswagen was a courageous, but even more, a necessary step.
Today - 38 years later - one can speak of the most successful vehicle in the entire VW history. The VW Golf has become a “brand” within the Volkswagen brand. An icon for the democratization of automobility and a classless leader in the automotive sector. But also a beacon of boredom. No more experiments are dared at the top. Anyone who does not want to change anything at the top position in the production and registration figures with the successful model and namesake of an entire vehicle category must not reinvent the vehicle with each generation.
And so the seventh generation wants to be seen as the “evolution of the golf idea” and one can only remotely estimate how difficult it must be for a designer to lay hands on this “holy grail of the Wolfsburg family”.
Critics judge: "Boring!" - Fans appreciate the “design loyalty”.
What can he do?
Probably the largest competitor for the new Golf comes from within the group. Audi's sister model was allowed to drive the new “Group platform MQB”, which is no longer a platform - but a construction kit, before the “model student” from Lower Saxony.
So it is not surprising that the VW Golf is one thing above all in the first impression: “Darn similar to the Audi A3” 😉 - Longer wheelbase. Shortened overhangs. Spacious interior and balanced driving dynamics.
Contrary to the trend towards ever more sporty compact cars, Volkswagen consciously takes the route of the comfortable “daily driver” without claiming the last groove in terms of driving dynamics. Especially for the sporty GTI (then probably without subsequent spring tensioners) and an R-model must remain in place.
It impresses with a full feeling on the street, a full door noise when closing and a workmanship that is carried to the point of ecstasy to the point of perfection.
A perfect entertainment and navigation system accompanies the drivers of the future top models and in addition to ergonomic seat-themed bags, in the compact car class you can look forward to the full range of driver assistance systems.
What can not he do?
Transferring the democratized luxury of the first row of seats to the rear. Sobering hard plastic not only in the direct field of vision of the rear passengers, no also on the important door panel and not just from shin height, but where you put your arm on. That is a bitter disappointment and definitely does not belong there! Here someone slept in the haptic control center - or was caught off guard by the overzealous controller.
Conclusion on the Volkswagen Golf 7:
It's a golf. Luckily. I like him. I like golf. I'm from the Golf generation.
🙂 Okay, instead of the “shorthand advertising style”, I want to respond to a question from Thomas:
If there is anything that interests me in the test reports of my dear colleagues, then it is exactly the differences (most of the golf competitors from Mercedes and Audi have all driven them) and the very objective reason why they decided in favor of the Golf (or not).
Come on, I'm curious! 🙂 / Thomas Gigold
I think it's pretty simple - even if a little painful for the advertising professionals in the group, but a Golf and also this seventh generation, you drive - because you are basically not interested in the car - but high demands on functionality, safety, comfort , Reliability and quality workmanship.
The Golf is once again the nerd in its class. And as I learned from my school days, nerds were seldom loved by everyone, but at the end of your school career you were often envied!
To the VW Golf Generation 7 gallery
<
