Volkswagen took the wraps off its seventh-generation Golf at a gala presentation held in Berlin, Germany last night, revealing a sharper appearance, higher quality interior, frugal new petrol and diesel engines and improved safety features.
Volkswagen chairman, Martin Winterkorn, says the Golf is significantly lighter than the sixth-generation model it replaces despite a moderate increase in size and higher levels of standard equipment.
“We have been able to reverse the upward spiral in weight, but it is safer, more comfortable and more spacious,” he says.
Sixth-generation Volkswagen Golf (left) versus seventh-generation Golf (right).
The headline news surrounding the new car, which will go on sale in Australia in 2013, is the claimed 3.2L/100km combined cycle fuel consumption figure Volkswagen quotes for the new 77kW 1.6-litre four-cylinder common rail diesel-powered BlueMotion model, making the Golf more economical than the petrol-electric Toyota Prius on the European test cycle while endowing it with average CO2 emissions that undercut the Smart fortwo diesel at just 85g/km.
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First introduced to the Volkswagen line-up in 1974 as a replacement for the original rear-engined Beetle, the Golf has racked up more than 29 million sales worldwide over the past 38 years, making it the company’s best-selling model and the financial foundation upon which the German car maker relies for prosperity. Its showroom success has seen it top Europe’s sales charts for decades, making the introduction of this new model a significant event on the automotive calendar.
As tradition dictates, the new Golf receives an evolutionary look with all its classic exterior design cues of the original preserved in newly interpreted form: the simple front end, the pronounced front wheel-arch flares, the extra wide rear roof pillar and upright rear end.
Styled by German Marc Lichte, who was also responsible for the appearance of the sixth-generation model, it leaves you in no doubt about its identity despite clearly more structured surfaces and a newfound edginess to detailed features, including a prominent swage line running beneath the door handles.
A further subtle change in appearance can be detected in the new Golf’s overall proportions, with the bonnet receiving added length and the cabin shifting further back. Lichte explains: “The proportions have changed. The front wheels have moved 43 millimetres further forward. The front overhang is therefore shorter and at the same time the bonnet looks longer.”
Head of Volkswagen design, Klaus Bischoff, adds: “Visually, the passenger compartment has moved towards the rear, creating what is called a ‘car-backward’ impression. That’s what we call the proportions of premium-class vehicles, on which the bonnet is long and the passenger compartment a long way towards the back. On the new Golf we thus have proportions that you otherwise only get in higher-class segments of the market.”
Alongside the initial five-door hatchback, Volkswagen also plans three-door hatchback, high roof five-door hatchback (Plus), five-door wagon (Variant), four-door sedan (CC) and two-door cabriolet versions of the seventh-generation Golf. Its new appearance will also be reflected on upcoming replacements for the Jetta, Touran, Scirocco and Caddy commercial vehicle.
Unlike its direct predecessor, which was essentially a heavily facelifted version of the fifth-generation Golf, this new model has been completely re-engineered from the ground up. “We have replaced or modified each single component. It is new in every sense of the word,” says Ulrich Hackenberg, head of development at Volkswagen.
As with each generation before it, the latest Golf has grown in size. Length is up by 56mm to 4255mm and width extends by 13mm to 1799mm yet a flatter roof has reduced its height by 28mm to 1452mm. The increase in external dimensions has also led to a larger footprint, with the wheelbase growing by 59mm to 2637mm and the front and rear track widths extending by 8mm and 6mm to 1549mm and 1520mm respectively, providing the new model with a more confident road hugging stance than its predecessor.
The positive effect of the larger exterior is a roomier interior; cabin length now extends to 1750mm, providing the basis for a 15mm improvement in rear legroom, according to Volkswagen. There are also 31mm and 30mm improvements in shoulder room for the front and rear seat occupants respectively.
Boot space has also benefited, extending by 30 litres over the outgoing sixth-generation Golf to an impressive 380 litres. It is more versatile, too. The width of the boot has grown by 228mm to 1272mm at its widest point and the loading lip has been reduced in height by 17mm to just 685mm.
Behind the evolutionary appearance of the new Golf is a highly contemporary platform known internally as the MQB (modularen querbau, or modular transverse). Set to underpin more than half of all Volkswagen models by the middle of the decade, the highly flexible structure makes use of a higher percentage of hot formed high strength steel than its predecessor, the so-called PQ35 platform, leading to a 37kg reduction in weight for the platform alone.
In combination with other weight saving measures, including a 40kg reduction in certain engines, 26kg reduction in the chassis and 6kg reduction in the electrical architecture, the adoption of the new structure sees the new Golf tip the scales at up to 109kg less than the fifth-generation model introduced back in 2008, with a claimed kerb weight of just 1050kg for the most basic model, according to Volkswagen’s own figures.
The seventh-generation Golf will continue the tradition of its various predecessors in offering a wide range of transversely mounted four-cylinder direct injection petrol and common rail diesel engines – all now with automatic stop/start and brake energy recuperation systems as standard. Engineering refinements and resulting efficiency gains see a reduction in CO2 emissions of up to 23 per cent, according to Volkswagen, with standard models all boasting front-wheel drive.
The initial launch range in Europe offers two turbocharged petrol engines from Volkswagen’s new engine family: a 1.2-litre unit producing 63kW and a 1.4-litre with 103kW - the latter fitted with a cylinder cut off mechanism that disengages the middle two cylinders from the combustion process for reduced consumption in low-speed city driving between 1400 and 4000rpm.
Official figures put their combined consumption at 4.9l/100km and 4.8L/100km respectively, corresponding to average CO2 emissions of 113g/km and 112g/km.
Also planned to be added to the line-up but not yet officially confirmed are 77kW 1.2-litre and 90kW 1.4-litre engines. The 118kW 1.4-litre TwinCharger engine, endowed with both a turbocharger and supercharger to increase its low-end response, has been dropped. In May 2010, 6700 Golf hatches and Jetta sedans equipped with this engine were called back to dealers for a software update after customers complained of rough running.
The big sellers in Europe, though, will continue to be the diesels. They include a lightly reworked version of today’s 1.6-litre unit from the existing engine family. With 77kW, it will power both standard versions of the new Golf that are claimed to return 3.8L/100km and 99g/km as well as an upcoming BlueMotion fuel miser model with optimised aerodynamics, lower ride height and low rolling resistance tyres that is claimed to return an impressive 3.2L/100km on the combined European consumption cycle for average CO2 emissions of just 85g/km.
Ranged above it will be Volkswagen’s 2.0-litre diesel engine, running a heavily modified exhaust system that sees it sit in the opposite direction to its predecessor in the engine bay for more efficient cooling. It delivers an added 7kW at 110kW, with consumption and emissions put at 4.1L/100km and 106g/km.
The engine line-up for the Australian market is yet to be confirmed.
In 2013, Volkswagen plans to unleash replacements for the sixth-generation Golf GTi and third-generation Golf R. With front-wheel drive and four-wheel drive respectively, both forgo their current turbocharged 2.0-litre four-cylinder petrol powerplants for more contemporary units of the same capacity developed in partnership with Audi. In the new GTi, which is set to be previewed in concept car form at the Paris motor show later this month, it is claimed to produce 168kW, with the R receiving a more heavily tuned version of the new aluminium block mill delivering a gutsy 209kW.
Also underway is a successor to the Golf GTD running a 134kW version of the new 2.0-litre diesel engine. Sources close to Hackenberg also say there are moves to introduce a new performance orientated Golf R diesel model. Nothing is official at this stage, but talk centres around a twin turbocharged version of the 2.0-litre with up to 168kW.
Also planned for launch in 2013 is a compressed natural gas powered Eco Fuel model running a modified version of Volkswagen’s turbocharged 1.4-litre four-cylinder engine. Further in to the future the German car maker will also launch both petrol-electric hybrid and all-electric E-motion versions of the new Golf.
Gearboxes include standard five-speed and six-speed manual units together with optional six-speed and seven-speed dual clutch units that, in the absence of a traditional torque converter equipped gearbox, provide automatic shifting.
As has been the case since the second-generation model in 1985, Volkswagen will continue to offer the new Golf with an optional four-wheel drive system in combination with selected engines, although the new 4Motion model isn’t likely to see sale in Europe until this time next year.
As part of Volkswagen’s efforts to improve fuel economy across the Golf line-up, the dual clutch gearboxes are now programmed to disconnect the engine on a trailing throttle for added fuel savings in combination with the eco mode of a new optional driver program selection system offering four different modes: eco, sport, normal and individual. A fifth mode, comfort, is also added in combination with optional adaptive dampers – or dynamic damping control as Volkswagen calls it.
Further driveline changes include the addition of a more advanced stability control system that mimics a differential lock on all front-wheel-drive Golf models. Previously only found on the Golf GTi, it prevents wheel spin by constantly monitoring traction on the front wheels, with the upshot that the intervention threshold of the standard stability control system has been recalibrated as it is not required to work as much as with the outgoing model.
Few details about the Golf’s chassis have been revealed but Drive understands it will be sold with two different suspension systems depending on the engine it runs. In a move mirroring that of the latest Beetle, lower-end models will receive MacPherson struts (front) and a torsion beam (rear) – an arrangement that harks back to the fourth-generation Golf.
Higher end models get a more advanced combination of MacPherson struts (front) and multi-links (rear) – a combination found on all sixth-generation Golf models.
Insiders who have driven the new car in prototype form suggest the longer wheelbase and changes to the elastokinematic properties of the suspension bring about improvements in overall ride quality. At the same time, they say the new Golf’s lower kerb weight and efforts to reduce the crucial centre of gravity have given it a boost in overall dynamic ability. Meanwhile, changes to the electro-mechanical steering system see its weighting lighten at parking speeds for added low speed manoeuvrability.
The new Golf continues to offer a high quality interior with lots of soft touch plastic surfaces, metallic features and damped switchgear, albeit in a typically restrained form. The larger interior has led to a rethink in ergonomics, with the driver’s seat shifted back by 20mm, the position of the gear lever raised by 20mm and the distance between the throttle and brake pedals increased by 16mm.
Volkswagen has also increased the range of steering wheel adjustment and added space on the centre console made possible by the switch to an electronic handbrake function. Further technological advancement comes by way of the German car maker’s new MIB (modulare infotainment baukasten – modular infotainment architecture) system.
To be offered in three distinct levels, it ensures even the most basic of new Golf models will receive an integrated touch screen monitor. In a change to the new car’s night time optic, the dashboard lighting switches from a traditional red hue to what Volkswagen describes as a cooler white colour.
The seventh generation Golf receives a number of new safety and assistant systems. Included as standard is a new multi-collision braking system which automatically brakes the car to a complete stop when it is involved in an accident in order to avoid a second impact with on-coming traffic.
Also on offer is proactive accident protection or pre-safe, adaptive cruise control that includes an emergency braking function designed to operate a city speeds to avoid low speed impacts, lane-keeping assistant, fatigue detection, traffic sign recognition, latest generation of automatic parking systems and automated light functions – all of which Wolfsburg officials claim make it the most sophisticated car in the hatchback class.
Additional information
Word on the Wolfsburg rumour mill suggests Volkswagen could bring a turbocharged 1.8-litre engine to the new Golf line-up – a measure it first undertook at the height of the economic crisis back in 2009, when it was unable to build enough TwinCharger engines to meet domestic demand for the sixth-generation Golf driven by the German government’s cash for clunkers scheme.
The unit, already found in the third-generation A3 but likely to be upgraded with cylinder shut down technology, would bridge the gap to more performance orientated versions of the new German hatchback with a claimed 134kW.
Source : news.drive.com.au
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