Browse over 9,000 car reviews

Volkswagen Golf GT 2007 review

EXPERT RATING
7.5

Oh, God...another variant of the Golf. So how many is that, now...23? Just what the world needs, right? Actually, it's pretty much precisely what it needs.

This otherwise standard version of the world's favourite premium hatch is host to a wholly remarkable engine.

The Golf GT comes with a petrol unit of only 1.4 litres, but pay no heed to its capacity. Ingeniously augmented with twin chargers, this device is a marriage of innovation and performance to thrill the technophile and the petrolhead.

More important, it will also provide unchallenging and bother-free everyday driving to those who buy Golfs simply because they're shopping trolleys with just a bit more cachet than a Corolla.

The new model will do all that it does faster, cleaner and more frugally than cars packing petrol engines of more than a litre greater capacity. Insome respects, it's closer to VW's own diesels.

The GT is a whole lot more than a vowel-less version of its near-namesake sibling.

Last week, the Volkswagen Group's two-litre, direct-injection turbo four (2.0 TFSI) won a world Engine of the Year award. It's a marvellous thing that powers, among many others, the Golf GTI.

The unit the drives the GT is designated 1.4 TSI. It is, in its way, equally splendid, having also won an international donk gong in its ostensibly lesser category.

Although it's a term almost as traduced as “sport”, GT is still generally taken to mean Grand Touring. In this Golf's case, however, it could be seen to have three other, equally applicable, meanings.

Greener than trees
With car-makers cursing the European Union's ever more draconian emission and fuel regulations, the engine that will become the VW Group's standard petrol four needed to run leaner and greener.

With a six-speed manual gearbox, the TSI uses a claimed 7.7 litres per 100km in combined conditions and emits 183 grams of CO2 per kilometre -- marginally less of both in the manual-matic Direct Shift Gearbox.

VW's naturally aspirated 2.0 FSI drinks eight litres per 100km and puts out 192 grams.

Geek Tech
Anyone can reduce consumption by reducing capacity, but this car needs to be moved at a rate that won't disgrace its initials.

Having given the 1.4 four-cylinder an enhanced form of fuel injection, VW revived an ancient Lancia idea of combining supercharging and turbocharging.

Under hard throttle, a belt-driven supercharger ramps power and torque up from just above idle to over 3000rpm. Its clutch then disconnects in favour of the exhaust-driven turbo, which takes proceedings to the 7000rpm redline.

At that point, the DSG automatically goes up a gear, whereas the manual will hold on towards the 7500rpm cut-out.

Go Tee: the driving experience
|Aside from getting it to within a second of the GTI in a straight sprint, the twincharger has the performance tooverwhelm atmo engines of up to 2.5litres. It delivers its full 125kW at 6000rpm, with the full 240Nm present from 1750rpm to 4500rpm.

That equates to a 0-100km/h sprint time of about 7.7seconds in the DSG and just under eight in the six-speed manual version.

That ever-diminishing object in your rear-view mirror would be an Australian-made six-cylinder sedan.

In daily driving, all that needs be said about this unique and highly effective combination is that you simply won't know it's there -- except that you'll be re-filling with 98 RON almost as infrequently as a Golf TDI owner makes for the diesel bowser.

Convential appearance disguises the tech
If the twincharger is mechanically unorthodox, an equal part of the car's appeal lies in its thoroughly conventional appearance. No fancy face a la the GTI's honeycomb grille or the R32's quasi-chrome.

Indeed, unlike the other two, it has a Golf badge aside from its unique, but discreet, GT badge fore and aft.

Aside from these, you need to look hard for design distinctions. The grille is slightly V-shaped with air-inlet openings integrated in the front bumper.

Twin tailpipes and 17-inch, 12-spoke alloys subtly allude to something of a different nature.

Within; again, aside from the GT-badged, leather-rimmed steering wheel and the boost pressure gauge on the dashboard, you're in Golf territory.

Sports-style front seats provide ample support when pressing on and comfort aplently when the going is milder.

The manually adjusted cloth thrones can be lowered slightly further than the cowhide, but lack the latter's electric lumbar adjustment.

Cabin experience a pleasure
The inside story is pretty much per VW standard, with decent fit and finish emphasised by doors that close with what we're pleased to think of as a Germanic thunk.

The quality of materials in the Mark V series may have declined since the previous generation, but there's been some minor tarting up with silver faux-aluminium facing and buttons around the stereo's info screen.

The cabin is a pleasant place to spend time, with rear accommodation ample for those of us built along taller and wider lines than average. Rear-seaters are also amply aerated via their own adjustable vents.

With an already more than useful 350 litres luggage space -- which can be tripled with the rear seats folded down -- the Golf is massively more commodious than it appears from the outside.

Confirmation of the car's identity comes at night when the automatic headlights illuminate, in turn casting the trademark Golf blue glow over the instruments.

Safety scores highly
The Mark V is the safest car for anything like the money, having achieved a record 12-star rating in the Euro NCAP crash tests (five for crash rating, four for child protection and three for pedestrian impact). Six airbags as standard put the Golf at the top of its segment.

At 1340 to 1375kg (DSG), it ain't a featherweight. But its planted stance, supported by an excellent active safety measure package -- including ABS, anti-slip regulator, electronic stability and winter driving programs -- provide degrees of protection that belies its compact dimensions.

Pricing a reasonable premium
At first only 420 cars will be brought into Australia, priced from $34,990 for the manual and $37,290 for the DSG, plus a not unreasonable list of options.

This means the GT is priced around the level of the 2.0 TDI. Given that the new model deserves to be seen as a distinct (and, indeed, rather special) variant, it seems a reasonable premium.

Our road test reflections
We left on our 500km run from Surry Hills in morning peak hour, passing through Springwood, Richmond, the Bell Rd to Mt Victoria, Oberon, O'Connell and Kelso. The return leg was a more sedate chug via Lithgow and the Still-Hopelessly-Inadequate Western Highway.

So the route included peak hour drudgery, freeway running and some of the State's better B-roads.

Reservations about the GT's weedy capacity last less than the time it takes to leave the first set of traffic lights. Power delivery is immediate and, to employ an over-used but entirely apt term, seamless.

You might expect some sort of laggardly behaviour when the supercharger hands over to the turbo. There's none.

Instead, there's the simple enjoyment of maximum torque being delivered from 1750rpm. In more constrained surrounds, 200Nm can be had from 1250rpm all the way to 6000rpm.

There'd be little or no need to shuffle through the standard six-speed manual gearbox, though it would remain our choice of transmission. In the absence of a “true” auto, the great majority will opt for the DSG of our test car and leave it in Drive mode.

With slightly more elasticity in the rev range, there are fewer occasions for complaint about this manual-matic's penchant for changing up or blocking your downshifts than in other VWs.

Left-foot braking, though, is out -- touching the stopper pedal cuts power to the electronic throttle.

There's no caviling about the GT's fuel consumption. At 110km/h on the freeway, this brand new car (572km on the clock when we picked it up) was pulling only 2500rpm in sixth gear, using barely more than five litres per 100km.

After the more frenetic, high-boost legs, the average rose no higher than 9.81 litres. The return after 501.6km in combined conditions was 8.4 litres.

Since the Golf Mark V line's launch in 2004, each successive version has exhibited more sporting characteristics.

If the FSI Sportline wasn't a bad start, the lowered and stiffened GTI showed how to do a rapid front-drive hatch. The V6-packing R32, of course, has all-wheel-drive capability via a Haldex coupling.

Dropped by 15mm, the twincharger's suspension sits between the FSI and GTI, sharing the latter's 225/45 R17 Continental SportContacts.

Still, the GT is dynamically akin to the softer model, which makes for a little more pitch and roll than is ideal when going hard, but suits it better to everyday use. That holds true of the steering, which while unafflicted by all that torque, is best suited to the 'burbs.

That's as it should be, given that the GT is intended as a more mainstream model than the GTI. It is forgiving and predictable in the front-driving, bum-dragging mode -- though under hard braking it's also a bit of a bum-waver.

As with the 2.0 FSI model it will supersede, the GT succeeds superbly as an all-rounder, albeit a quicker and cleaner one.

Indeed, VW tacitly suggest that the twincharger's performance has been constrained in order to keep it in its place within the Golf range. There seems little doubt that as the engine is fitted to other models throughout the group, its capability will be enhanced.

For its part, the Golf GT goes a long way towards being what's needed here and now.

Pricing guides

$7,990
Based on 54 cars listed for sale in the last 6 months
Lowest Price
$5,900
Highest Price
$11,995

Range and Specs

VehicleSpecsPrice*
1.9 TDI Trendline 1.9L, Diesel, 6 SP $3,740 – 5,500 2007 Volkswagen Golf 2007 1.9 TDI Trendline Pricing and Specs
1.6 Trendline 1.6L, PULP, 5 SP MAN $2,970 – 4,620 2007 Volkswagen Golf 2007 1.6 Trendline Pricing and Specs
1.6 Comfortline 1.6L, PULP, 6 SP $3,410 – 5,390 2007 Volkswagen Golf 2007 1.6 Comfortline Pricing and Specs
1.9 TDI Comfortline 1.9L, Diesel, 6 SP $3,960 – 5,830 2007 Volkswagen Golf 2007 1.9 TDI Comfortline Pricing and Specs
EXPERT RATING
7.5
Paul Pottinger
Contributing Journalist

Share

Disclaimer: The pricing information shown in the editorial content (Review Prices) is to be used as a guide only and is based on information provided to Carsguide Autotrader Media Solutions Pty Ltd (Carsguide) both by third party sources and the car manufacturer at the time of publication. The Review Prices were correct at the time of publication.  Carsguide does not warrant or represent that the information is accurate, reliable, complete, current or suitable for any particular purpose. You should not use or rely upon this information without conducting an independent assessment and valuation of the vehicle.