The Grover Wheel

If you read any kind of reputable automotive publication, you will soon find a decades-long line of articles written by journalists bowing down to the Volkswagen Golf. However, I’ve never really understood the appeal of the little car. To me it was a plain-looking hatchback with a dull interior and a steep price tag. However, in the interests of journalistic integrity (and because my wife wants a German car someday) I decided to test-drive the 2016 Golf and see if there really was anything to the mountains of praise being heaped by the multitudes upon this car.

For my test drive I selected the basic Golf 1.8T S four-door model. Starting at $20,995 ($22,095 for the automatic I drove) it represents the best value of the non-GTI Golfs. It comes with a decent equipment package including a new touchscreen infotainment system and excellent backup camera, but does away with the pricier Golf models’ bigger wheels and upgraded stereo. Frankly, I have a hard time justifying the higher-trim Golf models as they just add things like heated seats and bigger wheels to the mix and don’t do a lot to change the character or premium feel of the car. So, based on this frankly subjective opinion, I stuck with the base trim for this review.

First impressions of the Golf were disappointingly mixed. While much of what you touch and look at in the car feels premium, the interior is sprinkled here and there with extremely cheap and flimsy plastics. They are not on primary controls, and are clearly designed to be in places you wouldn’t touch very often like the seat back adjustment lever, but they stand in stark contrast to the solid feel of much of the car. It gives an underlying impression of cheaping out on parts of the vehicle. I prefer a consistent feel to a car rather than a mix of high and low quality parts.

My first few miles in the car were similarly mixed. The direct-injected 1.8L turbo four-cylinder engine pulls well in the midrange but shows a tiny bit of turbo lag right off the line. However, the turbo doesn’t make itself felt too much and doesn’t feel jarring to those used to normally-aspirated drivetrains. More annoying was the sound of the engine itself. I had been told that direct-injection gasoline engines made odd ticking sounds, but the actual level of noise surprised me. Research into the issue has informed me that the ticking and clicking of the engine is due to the extremely high fuel pressures and beefed-up fuel pumps that direct-injection engines demand, but the sound is still disconcerting to someone like me for whom a ticking engine is usually a problematic engine.

Summing things up in my head, I wasn’t feeling good about the Golf. I was several miles into my road test and I didn’t like the sound of the engine or the mixed quality of the interior. Frankly, things weren’t stacking up in favor of the People’s Car. Turning onto a twisting side road, I put my foot down and waited for more mediocre behavior.

It didn’t arrive. Instead, I was treated to a wall of torque from the turbocharger. The 1.8L engine might not have the unique exhaust note of the five cylinder mill it replaces, but it does have a dazzlingly wide torque band. A deeply-satisfying 200 lb-ft of juicy, meaty torque from a staggeringly low 1,600RPM. You know what? Torque feels good. Horsepower, which this car packs 170 of, steals the show and feels great when you’re ringing an engine’s neck; but mid-range torque satisfies more of the time. This Golf’s turbo puffs an unexpected beefy feel into the drive. I found myself shifting less in corners, letting the midrange grunt pull me out of exits rather than trying to scream up to the redline.

And it was in those corners that the steering showed its breeding. The Golf has been around since 1974, and you can feel that Volkswagen has spent that time slowly tweaking things in the way only Germans can. The steering feels balanced and smooth; never over-eager. This is not the sort of car that begs to feel on the limit all the time, but it definitely urges you to drive at speeds that will lose you your license quickly if you aren’t on an interstate highway. Though I of course have no personal experience with this, my friend tells me that it will easily devour back roads at twice the legal limit.

The suspension, too, acts with surprising grace. Most cars in this class thud and shutter a bit when they run over railroad crossings at speed. My Honda, for instance, has bred in me a reflexive tensing when I go over hard bumps. But, as I braced to go over a railroad track that had come up quicker than I expected, the Golf simply glided over. What witchcraft Volkswagen’s Teutonic engineers have cooked up, I don’t know. But I do know that the Golf’s suspension manages the rare trick of being communicative while still insulating its occupants from road imperfections.

So returned the car to the dealer with a massive grin on my face. I was a completely changed man. The interior imperfections melted to the background as I realized that every surface or control I actually used while driving was solid and tactile. The clicking engine had won me over with its brawn and flexibility. Likewise, the Golf’s supple shoes and unexpected grace excused its overly-unassuming styling. In the end, I am left feeling sheepish that I had overlooked this gem for so long. I felt, embarrassingly enough, like the arrogant high schooler noticing the plain girl in the corner for the first time. Now I know what I have been missing!
Note:
I also got to slip behind the wheel of this Golf’s wild sister, the GTI. Stay tuned for that review coming soon!