Volkswagen Golf reviews

The Golf GT has to be one of the ultimate family hatchbacks whilst offering both fun and affordable motoring. The quiet refined engine combined with start/stop bluemotion technology offering 60+ mpg gives you the best of both worlds.  5 doors for practicability, comfy firm sports seating, sat nav, parking sensors and active cruise control complete this overall package. Very happy with my purchase which in tornado red looks the part too. Purchased from Lister Evesham the Vw main dealer who offered great service and support. I’d not hesitate in recommending them.

I've owned my Golf GTE for 6 months and covered 10,000 miles in my opinion its near perfect. Performance and handling are good, the extra weight of the batteries does show in the corners if you push it hard, and although the figures suggest otherwise it accelerates hard and will outpace the GTD version. The golf does'nt have quite the engagement on the road or the character of the Focus ST TDCI steering feedback is faultless but the whole car just feels a little bit too grown up to live up to its GT badge. The car rides with comfort but with just a touch of firmness. Economy is where this car comes into its own, over the last 2500 miles I have averaged 72mpg you can expect motorway miles to dip to 45mpg. the suggested electric range is overestimated the car usually will do no more than 20 miles on pure electric mode. Build quality is perfect and everything is laid out as it should be in the cabin and the exterior is subtle but well thought out. you get very little boot space because the floor is raised to accommodate the batteries that lie beneath. space in the rear is good. Overall its excellent, if you still want the touch of sportiness, and don't want to look like a real eco warrior or drive many of the woeful offerings on the market this is the one for you. possibly also consider the Audi Etron

In March I bought a new Golf SE Navigation 1.5 litre EVO TSI 130ps 5 door Manual. Motor way performance and fuel economy are very important to me, so I compared a lot of cars and their published figures. I also talked to at least five V W dealerships: telling them what I needed from a car and what we used it for. That being regular trips to ski areas and long drives on French and German roads. I was assured that this model gave both excellent fuel economy and good performance. The brochure promised 'Maximum speed 131mph'. On a German motorway it just about got to 98mph. No power in 4th or 5th gears. Nothing extra to get you out of trouble. When overtaking a Truck, in Germany and in France, it is quite common to find another car approaching from behind at speed. This golf has nothing there to get you out of the way!! The brochure promised ' Fuel economy Urban 44.8 mpg* Extra urban 68.9 mpg* Combined 58.9 mpg' The best urban is 30 mpg, the best on Motorways is 42 mpg. There is a vast gap between claimed fuel economy and actual economy. The seats are very uncomfortable and the side mirrors badly designed (they constantly pick up an internal reflection from the air vent edging). I have owned five V W's over many years. This golf is hopeless and very disappointing. I think they have over-engineered the 1.5 engine to get better eco-ratings, but not achieved any reasonable performance or ever fuel economy! If you do long motorway drives - avoid this car.

My Vw golf has been absolotely apauling!!!!!!!!! I dont do that much driving ive only done 30 thosuand miles. But this one is only 6 years old and its already falling apart at the scenes The wing mirror switch has snapped off but im very gentle! The whole car is soooooooooo flimsy The armrest moves just as much as in the seats! The indicators are really cheap the the whole interior is covered in cheap, nasty plastics virtually the whole interior creaks and is poorly put together the instroment dials are flimsy the plastics on the door trims are hideous quality! They bend theyve got cheap flimsy slabs of shiny plastic! The sound system is rubish! The petrol cover snaped off the plastic on the transmission tunnel is poorly put togeter it bends!!!!!!! Its got fake chrome everywhere which i dont usauly mind but there are too many other suspect areas! It is beginig to squeal, the sensors have droped out of place! The handling is dreadfull too there is no body control so you go into a corner and it rolls badly it dosent make you feel safe in the slightest! The pedals are springy, notchy inprecise gearbox thats awkward to change cerirtan gears and it feels slugish on the motorway at all speeds the plastis are all awful and hollow! The exterior build isnt too good either i reversed and vey lightly hit omething and the whole bumper dropped off! I do not recomend it the only ok thing is the practically. Theres absolotely no design gone into any of it its all just dated, boxy, frumpy and VERY DULL There are much better rivals such as the astra,focus mazda 3, Hyundai i30.

Despite being 17 years old my mk4 golf has served me very well.  I bought it 3 years ago with 26k on the click, it’s up to 60 now but still going strong.  Mechanically sound with very little major work required.  Seats not terribly supportive compared to newer cars.  Only niggle has been persistent leak in footwell but have now resolved this: it was the inner door seals and sunroof drains, both fixed myself relatively quickly and easily.

We got a new 2014 VW Golf Auto from Lookers Battersea in July 2014, we chose the them as they are close to our home. Within the first year of ownership we noticed the car was over revving a lot between the Automatic Gear Change sometimes reaching 5 to 6000 revs between 1st and 2nd and 2nd and 3rd and so on. We complained to the dealer, the car went for its first service and we were informed this was due to a software fault and it would be rectified. We also later found out there was a manufacturers recall in relation to this fault but VW never contacted us regarding this. The fault was not rectified as claimed in the first service, also Lookers re-located their service department to Wimbledon which made it hard to take the car in to be repaired. We made numerous complaints and kept being informed the fault had been rectified and I was basically accused by the extremely rude and unhelpful staff at Lookers Wimbledon of imagining the problem! I took up my complaint with my vehicle leasing company and when the car went in for its first MOT in March it was then discovered that despite the box being ticked by VW service department to say the recall work was done it had actually not been, leaving us with a faulty car that was doing as little as 8 mpg round town due to this fault for 3 years costing us a considerable amount to run! Despite numerous complaints VW have never apologised to us or compensated us. We have basically been completely ignored! This is our 4th VW Golf in 9 years, after this we will NEVER get another VW. Lookers of Wimbledon are an appalling dealership and VW customer services are so rude that their staff will not even give their surnames when you call to complain.

I really was scared about the car and price but in all the car is far better than my fears

Bought this with 18k on the clock, now at 57k it's roomy. It drives well, and its performance is good. Reliability has not been great, within 9 months the EGR valve packed up, VW stumped up for parts as it was such a low mileage but I was still left with a hefty bill. I have also had a front coil spring break, new glow plugs. The drivers seat has collapsed (unless you have some meat on you you can feel the metal rods under the "padding". All of a sudden it started to suffer from lack of oomph, no lights, no fault found, just live with it. it returns 50+MPG without trying, and with a lighter foot 60+is easy to achieve. Had the emissions done for free by VW, not noticed any difference Cam belt replaced, but nobody could give me a direct simple answer as to when i should have done this. Maybe i got a bad one, but my first experience of a VW as a premium brand has not been good, and I don't expect to be buying another VW any time soon.

Options include sunroof, lane assist, park assist. Very satisfied with all driving aspects of this car, especially the driver assist and safety features. However, manufacturer and design faults and the dealers inability to resolve these promptly has been a major disappointment. The faults - OSR electromechanical brake inadvertently operated and locked on whilst driving, ineffective windscreen wipers, leaking sunroof, fuel filler cap unable to release, NSF suspension problem - resulted in the car being repaired at the dealer's for 69 days of the 3 year warranty period.

I purchased the Golf so that I could indulge in a sports car. The Golf represents the economic, sensible and practical side. It is good on space and I can get all my fishing kit in. It is comfortable for my elderly mother and with five doors easily accessible for the whole family if the need arises.

Very impressed with my golf 8years old and still going strong only problem high road tax

My previous car was a 2 litre petrol Skoda Octavia. I switched to a Golf Estate for more refinement and a more comfortable ride. I was not disappointed. I've found that the newer 1400 cc engine in the Golf performs as well as the 2 litre I had before. Golfs cost more than the Octavia (based on the same platform) but I consider this money well spent for a more refined vehicle. I am particularly keen on the Active Cruise Control which maintains a safe distance from the car in front, significantly reducing tiredness and stress on motorway journeys and helping keep within the speed limit. I chose a petrol engine as I do too low a mileage to justify the extra cost of a diesel. I am satisfied that I made the right decision given the evidence of actual (as distinct from tested) pollution levels from diesel engines and "cheating" by car manufacturers.

Having had the car from new, it has been great and very reliable. Apart from the usual things like brake pads, tyres wind screen wipers it has not had any major repairs . I am just hoping it will last me a bit longer

Golf 2.0 TDI Bluemotion

For a 16 yr old convertible I would say mechanically it's pretty sound, I recently had its annual full year service carried out and got the automatic choke adjusted so it wouldn't stall as much in cold weather - runs like a dream now. Not too expensive to run however; the seal around the hood is wearing so rain water is seeping in at top of doors and affecting the window electrics. Passenger side was repaired last year, now the drivers side has gone will be replaced soon, but can be expensive. Downside to having a convertible I guess. Otherwise cute motor, still looks good drives very well, runs smoothly but I will need to replace with a younger vehicle soon. Such a shame but not eco friendly for the environment it will cost more as time goes on so won't be worth keeping.

The Golf R Estate is a car for all reasons, superb performance coupled with practicality and quality. This is my 6th Golf, all GTI's before and all have been brilliant.

Currently running my second diesel Golf, one 02 reg and now 54 reg. Amazingly good on all counts, despite buying very second-hand. First went to 233k miles without any other than normal replacements of tyres and brakes, and was still on original engine, clutch and gearbox. Second bought with 98k on clock, and looks likely to do the same. Why pay £20k for a new one, when a good ten-year-old costs £2k and does the same job with the same or better reliability? We cover an average 20k miles a year, all private travel, and these two cars, thoughtfully but not slowly driven, have consistently returned about 60mpg solo, 35mpg towing a 13ft caravan at the legal limit. (I'm not biassed against other makes; a previous equally excellent car was a Rover Maestro turbo diesel, six years old on purchase for £1500, which gave nearly seven years of totally reliable motoring and 55mpg, reaching 200k miles with still original mechanicals. 39k miles on purchase, so over 20k miles p.a.)

Great fun alround car

This is my third Volkswagen car and I am very pleased. Very reliable.

A great drivers car and one of the best I've owned. Handling, ride and performance is excellent. It's getting old now but still starts every time and has been completely reliable. Despite the VW emissions problem I'd be happy to buy another Golf, although I might go for a petrol engine next time.