Volkswagen Golf 2005 review

An auto is a better proposition in laborious stop-start city traffic, but smaller capacity, less powerful engines normally labour under the weight of an automatic.

Most have inadequate and poorly space gear ratios, and are slow to respond to the gas pedal – but small autos are what the market demands.

In the case of the Volkswagen's latest Golf, however, the paring of its 1.6-litre engine and six-speed sequential automatic is about as good as it gets.

In fact, we'd goes as far as saying the entry level Golf with this transmission fitted should become a reference point for other manufac- turers.

Mind you, the auto is optional and adds $2300 to the basic cost of the car.

After driving the superb Golf GTi, we were prepared to be disappointed by the smaller engined model.

However, nothing could have been further from the truth.

Sure, it doesn't offer anything like the same level of performance, but the transmission really brings the car to life.

The 1.6-litre four cylinder engine produces 75kW of power at 5600rpm and 148Nm of torque at 3800rpm.

Once upon time, this would have been regarded as a pretty hot engine, but time has moved on as it has a way of doing and with it so have our expectations.

Suffice to say, the engine delivers zippy performance and excellent fuel economy, especially if you elect to change gears manually.

Our test car was a the upmarket Comfortline with some added extras.

Ignoring the niceties for a minute, the car impresses for its solid, big car feel and superb on-road dynamics.

A much-improved Mac strut/lower A-arm front suspension and a all new four-link rear design contributes to the car's ride and handling.

New electromechanical power steering pro- vides variable power assistance depending on the speed of the car, providing greater feel and enhanced straight-line stability.

Brakes are four-wheel discs with standard ABS, brake assist and electronic brake force distribution.

Traction control is also standard.

If you're after a safe car, then Golf is the one.

It achieved the highest ever rating for a passenger car in European crash testing.

All models come with six airbags (driver and front passenger, driver and front passenger side airbags and curtain airbags front and rear), as well as three-point safety belts and active head restraints for all occupants.

Fuel consumption from the 55-litre tank is rated at 8.2L/100km and that is about what we got, but it takes premium unleaded.

Standard equipment includes aircondition- ing, power windows and mirrors and a high quality six-speaker CD based sound system.

Volkswagen Golf is priced from $25,490 plus on-road costs.