VW Golf VI - So Far So Good

I posted back in June about my early days of VW Golf ownership. I liked it then and I like it now although I am still trying to find a convincing, positive reason for buying the thing other than it being the “car that you buy when you don’t know what you really want.”

I suppose the main thing with it is that it does most things very well: it rides excellently – possibly not as good as a Jaguar or the better French models but it isn’t that far off. It’s got good interior space – not exactly an MPV (we also have one of them) but perfectly adequately for everyday use. It’s efficient – nothing to worry a Toyota Hybrid but not far off. You get the picture? The only negative I’ve found is that cruise control would be nice for long journeys - I may get it retro-fitted but currently I wouldn’t use it much so it is difficult to justify the cost. I also noticed a minor problem with the wing mirror which appears to have been repaired (probably due to it’s former life as a hire car) – the replacement mirror is slightly off centre which causes the motors to catch. I may well get this fixed at some point.

The one thing I wasn’t sure of back in June was the fuel consumption. I didn't know how accurate the trip computer was – it turns out that it over-reads by about 2-3 mpg. That’s about 5% optimistic which isn’t too bad but considering the 15 year old Yaris design was pretty much 100% spot on you would think it was not beyond the wit or wisdom of German engineers to come up with something that could match it. Anyway, the actual consumption is pretty decent. In the 2,000 I’ve driven since buying it I’ve averaged 52.9 mpg. On a long motorway based return trip to Liverpool (a tank will actually get there and back now) I averaged 53.6 and the last tank managed 54.2. Carrying extra passengers and using the air con kills it a bit but by and large it seems to be largely comparable to the Yaris which isn’t bad for a vehicle weighing a quarter of a tonne more. I expect the consumption to drop in the Winter but I don’t see this being a bank breaking experience.

Overall there’s not much to report – which is as it should be. I’ve still to experience VW after sales service although I plan to get this serviced independently in the long run. The next thing I’ll need to get sorted is some Winter tyres as the Yaris ones won’t fit but that’s for the Autumn – probably after I see what ADAC are recommending this year.