2008 Volkswagen Golf Reviews

Steam is blowing out my ears. I'm stomping around in my house, swearing and cursing. My children are cowering in the corner. My wife is trying in vain to placate me.I hate being a cranky old man. And the older I get the crankier I get.Of course, there is good reason for this fit of pique.We live in a very quiet neighbourhood, it's Sunday afternoon and it's time for my nana nap, but a toy dog two blocks away is having conniptions and keeping me awake.See, I told you it was important.Actually, I lied a little. My children are not cowering, they are telling me to settle down and stop being a cranky old man and my wife has long given up trying to placate me.However, there is steam blowing out my ears.Little things upset me greatly, sparking self-righteous anger.These, of course, are good character traits for car testing.Recently I spent some time in a $131,900 Audi S5.I should have been happy in this expensive, high-powered, luxury sports coupe, but instead I was annoyed by a creak in the door. Annoyed to distraction. Steam blew out my ears.This often happens. One niggling little problem with a car spoils the whole vehicle. And I'm sure I'm not alone.There must be other grumpy old men out there whose whole day is spoilt by a yapping toy dog two blocks away and a niggling squeak in their expensive new car.But after a week driving around in the VW Golf GT Sport TDI, there is no steam coming out my ears.If I was asked what car I would buy — and I often am — the answer would be simple. It would be this beautiful German hatch.There is simply nothing that caused me annoyance.I even got over the slight turbo lag.There is a trick to getting around it. Just don't bury your foot into the firewall; coax the throttle and change up quickly with the world's greatest production car transmission, the Direct Shift Gearbox, also found in expensive Audis.Expense also didn't cause any annoyance. It costs $39,790, which isn't too bad for the world's best small car.And I wasn't even annoyed that with all the extras this car was fitted with (read the options list in the tech specs) that price jumped over $50,000.After all, that's a lot cheaper than an S5 and there is no steam blowing out my ears.The new TDI is an absolute joy to behold, to drive, to sit in, to steer, to thrash and then to fill up.Just look at the figures.The standard TDI has 103kW of power, 320Nm of torque and drinks diesel at a rate of 6.1L/100km with the DSG and 5.7 in the manual.However, the GT Sport TDI has new injectors and a few engine tweaks that make it VW's most powerful four-cylinder TDI engine; with an output of 125kW at 4200rpm and even more excitingly 30Nm more torque at just a few hundred revs over idle.The offset for this performance boost is only slightly worse economy figures of 6.3L/100km (DSG), 6.6 (manual).But notice it is actually more economical with the world's greatest production car gearbox?And right in front of the driver on the instrument panel is a readout for the average mileage (why do we still call it mileage when it should be kilometreage?).This is like a red rag to a bull, or in this case, a red instrument readout to a grumpy old man.It beckons you to play the game of "See how low you can get this figure.”And what a fun game it is. By using some old Hans Tholstrup techniques, such as envisioning an egg under the accelerator, I have been trying all week to drive down the kilometreage. My record was 5.2 in moderate 6.30-7am commuter traffic.Normally the commute would have me blowing steam out my ears because of other drivers' behaviour or because I'd swapped lanes and picked the one held up by a smoke-belching BCC bus.Instead, I was having a hoot driving down the kilometreage.So I parked the car at work, folded in the key on the fob, locked it, stood back and admired the GT once again, before heading inside for the daily grind.It looks very much like its sporty brother the Golf GTI, which costs $1000 more.They share the same sports suspension, tasty 17-inch alloy BBS ClassiXs wheels, wide 225mm tyres, strong 16-inch brakes, the same bumper and radiator grille design, twin tailpipes, sports seats and sports steering wheel.Yep, this is certainly a sporty car that rewards driver input, yet still has great fuel economy if driven judiciously.Then I got to thinking how the State Government was now raking in almost $400 more in stamp duty on each one of these sold this year after it increased the rate from 2 to 3 per cent.Yet it leaves the rate at 2 per cent for cars like the $233,000 V8 Lexus LS 600hL simply because it's a trendy hybrid.The Lexus drinks fuel at 9.8 litres a kilometre, which is pretty good for a V8 and better than a V6 Commodore.However, it's a long way behind the Golf which gets slugged with extra stamp duty from a government that allegedly made the tax changes to encourage people into more economical cars.Better start cowering, children, cause these ears are about to blow.   SnapshotVW Golf GT Sport TDIPrice: $39,790Body: 5-doorEngine: 2-litre, 4-cylinder turbo-dieselPower: 125kW @ 4200rpmTorque: 350Nm @ 1750-2500rpmTransmission: 6-speed direct shift gearboxAcceleration: 0-100km/h 8.2secEconomy: 6.3l/100km combinedFuel: diesel, 55-litre tankEmissions: 168g/km, Euro 4Weight: 1410kgOptions: satellite navigation and CD changer $3780, electric sunroof $1890, bi-xenon headlights $1890, leather upholstery $2990, rear parking sensors $790, anti-theft alarm $590 

For example, the elusive hope of having a car with small thirst but big performance.Trust Volkswagen — after all, the name means “people's car” — to come up with something that manages this conjuring trick.It has done it by fitting a Golf hatchback with a small petrol engine which, by itself, would be pretty feeble, but at least wouldn't drink much.Then it added a supercharger to boost its off-the-mark pulling power to a decent level. And on top of that, added a turbocharger for even more muscle in places the supercharger can't reach.This “twincharger” setup is, of course, devilishly complicated. It's twice the price of a regular car with such a small engine, but then it feels twice as good.VW these days seems to love technical challenges, and it has built in enough electronic brainpower to make sure all the gizmos work happily together.Once into its stride, the result is a seamless delivery of power, along with the painless habit of driving past petrol stations. You don't need to fill up very often.According to VW's sums, this 1.4-litre-engined Golf has the torque of a 2.3 litre car, but with 20 per cent less thirst.Trouble is, when you do visit the pumps, its hi-tech powerplant requires premium-priced, high-octane petrol. Here we have a small car approaching $40,000, that demands the most expensive fuel. There goes the budget.The “twincharger” machinery first appeared early last year in the TSi Golf. When it proved popular, VW announced it had been a limited-edition offering, and was being replaced by the GT Sport TSi.It has also added a GT Sport TDi, which uses a more conventional turbo-diesel setup. It's fantastic to drive, but $2500 dearer.Back to the petrol side of the family: the GT Sport TSi (1.4 litre engine with its two 'chargers, adding up to 125kW of power) is not as zesty as the GTi (147kW from a 2.0 litre engine with a single turbocharger), not as sports-focused, not as costly.Rather, the GT is a handy stepping stone between “normal” Golf hatchbacks and the GTi. Think of it as a junior hottie: though not a slowcoach, it doesn't have anything like the athleticism of its bigger-engined GTi brother. Instead, it strikes a balance between sportiness and fuel economy.Whatever lurks beneath the bonnet, a VW Golf is an impressive piece of work, feeling sturdy and surefooted, comfortable and roomy. Even the boot is a good size.One catch with the TSi's power-boosting hardware is that there can be times when you put your foot down and find both the turbocharger and supercharger are asleep for a moment when the engine revs are low. That's when it responds with all the energy you'd expect in a substantial, five-door hatchback powered by a mere 1.4 litres of engine — nothing much happens.The solution is to keep the engine speed up, and then reactions are very sharp.The TSi is a clever technical achievement and is impressive to drive. If it cost less and was less expensive to run, it would be a five-star proposition. KEY POINTSVW GOLF GT SPORT TSiDETAILS: Compact five-door hatchback with 1.4 litre four-cylinder engine, turbocharger and supercharger. Power 125kW. Torque 240Nm.FEATURES: Stability control system, anti-lock brakes, six airbags (front, side and curtain), dual-zone airconditioning, cruise control, sports suspension, alloy wheels, sports seats.COST: $34,990 with six-speed manual, $37,290 with six-speed automatic “dynamic shift” gearbox.FOR: Performance with modest thirst.AGAINST: Needs super-premium fuel.