Volkswagen Golf Plus test drive since 2008 Hatchback

Half a ton higher

Volkswagen Golf Plus can launch a new class of cars - high hatchbacks
 
The debut of this car (and it has already appeared in the show rooms of Russian dealers) was not furnished with the traditional hype for novelties. Official messages of the company, small notes in the press - that's all. No aggressive advertising. In general, nothing portended such a benefit. However, European statistics, of course, are different from the Russian, therefore, to understand the situation by Moscow readers, it is better to use our Lithuanian: the Lithuanian mentality (in any case, in relation to cars) is more similar to the mentality of Russians than the inhabitants of the Old World. So, after several months of sales, Volkswagen Golf Plus in Lithuania, his share was almost a quarter - 23 percent! - From all golfs. I doubt that even Volkswagen marketers themselves were predicted.
 
It is unlikely that the most folk car manufacturer in Germany would become such if it had not been for its traditional ability to constantly surprise with something new. Not only to develop the next models that are logically obsolete, and construct new engines, because there is nothing to catch with the old in Europe. But - according to tradition - to do it (or so), which no one else had. First, the beetle (CAFER), then Golf, followed by a revived beetle (New Beetle), then Touareg, Phaeton with the last not everything is successful? No problem. In science, there is also this search method - trial and error. In the end, one who does nothing is not mistaken. No one expects the same success from Golf Plus as the beetle had half a century ago or Golf 30 years ago. Here the question is more political: to stake another innovation. It doesn’t matter that there are already cars whose proportions are reminiscent of golfplusk: the new Mitsubishi Colt, Nonda Jazz, Toyota Corolla Verso, Seat Altea, we have completely unknown Daihatsu Yrv, Hyundai Getz, finally. It is important that Volkswagen has come up with another type of body for the already existing model. Which, which is important, has the same name. The traditional sedan, universal, two hatchbacks and even a convertible (as well as micro and compactweons) now you will not surprise anyone. So get another hatchback - with a high ceiling!
 
For basketball players and young mothers
 
Well, who needs him, this Plus? As it turned out, very many. Despite the fact that it differs significantly from ordinary golf only, the feeling of freedom and space does not leave either the driver or passengers. Hence the conclusion: Golf Plus will like large people. And there are more of them in our northern Europe - among the Scandinavians, Baltic states, Russian from here and almost a quarter of golf sales.
 
Although this is not an English taxi, where the gentlemen sit down without taking off the cylinders, you can also go to Golf Plus in the headdress. This is especially convenient in winter (which happens not only in Russia) when traveling around the city, when you often have to get out of the car, removing and putting on a hat again. Due to a higher landing of a coat or a female fur coat - even from artificial fur, natural is not in fashion now! - They will be cleaner. Again, due to such landing, low drivers will have the opportunity not to feel flawed: they will see the same as people of medium height in ordinary cars.
 
Oddly enough, there are many young families among the Plus buyers, and male drivers are unlikely to be more common among them than female drivers. This is explained by the fact that in this machine the rear part is much easier than that of some competitors, and there are more places there than in ordinary Golf. Wouldn't this be decisive when choosing a car of young mother, who will often have to transport a child with a stroller? Not every trunk of modern sophisticated strollers will fit. And in Volkswagen Golf Plus - easy! You can also plant a grandfather with a grandmother on the rear chairs.
 
The high roof of Golf Plus is unlikely to be enough for the basketball players of Zalgiris or at least Uralochka - the growth of leading players of such teams greatly exceeds two meters. However, for beginner tamers of the ball and grid, it will fit well. In the end, Plus is taken by those who simply do not want to ride like everyone else, on the banal Golf.
 
Without competitors
 
An interesting picture is: now Volkswagen Golf Plus has practically no obvious competitors. And the paradox is that he has to compete with his own founding father - ordinary Golf. Therefore, we, as a kind of stove, will be repelled from him, the fifth generation Golf.
 
If you put them nearby, the look will be more attracted to Plus. And not at all because it is more. But because it is already more interesting. Golf Well Golf? He is ordinary. Even, one might say, fresh. It has neither peppercorn, nor zayuminka - in any case, it is very difficult to find them outwardly. Golf Plus managed to grab a piece of the design in whose spirit later his larger brothers were created - Passat and Jetta. Golf has a hood and sides of flat-rounded surfaces, and in Plus the sharpness of character is designed to emphasize sharp, slightly bulging ribs, diverging from the radiator grille along the hood and (the second stream) connecting the front and rear optics line through the sides. The headlights of the newcomer are larger and more quickly, the rear lights are also designed in the same style. But the bumper with fog and radiator grille are very similar to ordinary ones.
 
In the Volkswagen Golf Plus profile, you can take for a small minivan (to which all single -combatants are not always correctly ranked). The resemblance to it is given not only by the profile, but also by triangular non -discharge windows between the front doors and windshield racks. However, now they have them not only in minivans, but also in some sedans (also with ceilings above ordinary ones, by the way): Suzuki Liana and at all known in our modern form Honda City.
 
The side doors are not only higher, but also wider than the golf. Although, maybe it just seems. But sitting in Golf Plus is easier and more pleasant than in Golf. But, being inside, you begin to experience Deja-vu. So it looks like Golf, only not Golf. First of all, they cut the eye, they do not cut (as in that joke: are you often tormented by erotic dreams? - Why - torment?) - attract air deflectors. Brutally rectangular in Golf in Golf Plus, they were rounded. The upper part of the torpedo, with a dominant large display surrounded by many buttons and four deflectors, is visually separated from the lower, where the microclimate controls are located. Large rotating regulators are very convenient and look just gorgeous. The beard, into which the climatic block flows, is also Neolfovskaya. Here is an ashtray, and a closing compartment for a trifle, and the control buttons for some options. Having reached the gearbox lever, the beard does not break, but turns into a closing refrigerator for three jars of 0.33 liters, which are cooled by air conditioning and will be useful in the heat. An armrest hangs over the refrigerator, which can be adjusted in height, which even in modern machines is very rare.
 
In the front doors, there are roomy pockets, and the central ceiling console crashes almost half of the windshield with many small containers and case for the whole family of bespectacles. There you can also add CDs, cassettes and no, gramophone records will not fit.
 
And what about the second row of our mobile concert hall? Ba, yes, almost like in a limousine! The distances between the front and rear seats are enough, but the rear can also be pushed by 16 cm. Yes, the trunk will, of course, decrease a little, but it is already more than Golfovsky by 45 liters even in its minimum condition.
 
The two in the back seat is still more convenient than three. At their service - comfortable comfort, as in an airplane: folding tables with holes for containers with liquids, a subsurrent table with cup holders, at the same time playing the role and a hatch for long -sized objects. A favorable climate is created by individual deflectors, there is also a 12 V socket, and a raising shelf with bottles mounts. Under the very edge of the rear seats, a place for an umbrella is provided. Passengers are very convenient. And how to get it to the driver in pouring rain?
 
By the way, about the rain: you can get into the trunk without leaving the car: something small gets through the back of the back. A large luggage and a spare wheel, of course, are more convenient to take through the fifth door. The reserve RLUS is equipped only with full -size, and not with a finish or belt, like a simple Golf in the database. It is stored at the lowest tier of the luggage compartment.
 
The choice of temperament
 
Volkswagen Golf Plus, like a regular Golf, is equipped with the same power plants: gasoline from 1.4 to 2 liters (from 75 to 150 hp) or diesel 1.9 and 2 l engines with mechanical or automatic transmission. The test car was equipped with the latest 140-horsepower 2.0 TDI turbodiesel with six-speed mechanics. It is more powerful than the old 1.9 by 35 hp. By nature, it is more like a gasoline, it does not bump at high speeds, but at the same time, it is already confidently pulling from one and a half thousand. The moment characteristic allows, even with urban ride, it is slightly working as a box of box, but the look at the current fuel consumption still makes it more energetic. What appetite do you prefer: 5 or 9 l/100 km? That's the same. And the difference was sometimes just that. On a direct suburban highway, it was sometimes possible at 100 km/h in sixth gear to 4.5 liters! Is this not the dream of any driver when the cost of diesel fuel approached the price of 95th gasoline? The declared 202 km/h - let the road police forgive me! - I easily reached before the autobahn. It felt in the cabin that the speed was unlikely to exceed 150 km/h.
 
It seemed that his suspension is slightly softer than the golf. True, dealer techies claim that there is no difference. But why, then, the Golf Plus has a 10 cm less turning diameter? It turns out that it is also more convenient for the city.
 
Especially careless riders, however, do not forget that the center of the mass of the car is slightly higher than that of an ordinary passenger car. No, Golf Plus has no tendency to overturning. However, at high speeds in corners, it is more fired, the tires begin to screech earlier. And when traveling with a oncoming truck on a narrow road, it is better to reset speed: Sailing affects controllability.
 
Attempt on Scenic
 
The appearance of Volkswagen Golf Plus caused a lot of bustle in that market sector, where Renault Scenic had almost completely ruined. Concerned French in response to the Germans released Grand Scenic. And there is a worry about what. For example, in the countries of the Golf Plus European Union in the basic configuration, only 10% more expensive Golf. At the same time, the plus base itself is richer: ABS, a full electric package, radio with CD and as many as six airbags. Such a car with the most modest 75-horsepower engine costs 13,200 euros. The air conditioner raises the price of 840 euros, an automatic box-by 1,500. In Russia, a 1.4-liter Plus will not be sold, the cheapest 1.6-liter will cost $ 21,290. But that after it arrives, even if they arrive, even if they arrive Grand will have to be squeezed - this is an axiom. Although in Renault, it was they who laid the beginning of the European minivans also in Renault.
But be that as it may, adding pepper, even black, to a large pea, Golf went only to the benefit.
 
Text: Carolis is important, Vilnius
 

Source: Mkobil magazine [10.10.2005]