Review: Golf in two guises

The VW Golf is an iconic car in several ways, depending on the variant, writes Brian Byrne. Each has a personality of its own.

And the chance to sample two of those personalities back to back recently resulted in me comparing a frisky sheep and a gentle wolf.

All Golfs have core values and commonalities. A rather unadventurous style which evolved incrementally, because that's what Volkswagen figures Golf owners want. An ethos of honest build quality. And handling which is always around the benchmark for the compact hatch segment.

Regular owners will be comfortable inside any Golf because they are in familiar surroundings. Never cutting edge, in form and substance every Golf interior is an amalgam of smartness and simplicity. Golf instruments are traditional and clear. The model's controls don't require a hunt through the manual. Seats and space are always up to class norms.

Boring. Boring. Boring? Well, no. More that Golf is always what it says on the tin. Whichever tin you want. Like beans, or beans with curry.

The Golf BlueMotion is basic beans plus, though without the curry.

The 'plus' part is the highly-efficient powertrain, based on the 105hp version of VW's new 1.6 diesel, rapidly becoming appreciated as one of the best in the business. Along with a number of what are now familiar fuel-frugal technologies, including auto stop/start, it puts the Golf BM in the lowest A Band taxation class here. Below it, actually, with 99g/km of CO2.

The review car came well specified, including a full symphony of optional parking sensors front, rear and seemingly sideways. Leather covered steering wheel with controls for radio and phone answering, and for checking through the various informations provided by the optional trip computer. No cruise control, though, which surprised me. I'd have thought it one of the basic weapons in the fight to trim emissions and fuel consumption.

On the road the BM variant is a true-blue Golf, with a comfortable ride and a handling feel that doesn't require the driver to think like Michael Schumacher.

This is an engine which takes VW up there with the best in small diesels. It has a friskiness that belies its nominal horses, and a power band that seems significantly less restrictive than some competition. And, hallelujah, it has a very competitive level of refinement, especially against the tired 1.9 TDI which has been VW's basic workhorse for arguably too many years.

At €23,000 and some change, the Golf BM isn't the cheapest version of the nameplate. But the pricing is fair enough for the value which many buyers would place on their Golf if at the same time they figure there are the extra benefits of feeling a little more superior than 'ordinary' Golf owners do anyhow. The review car at that price had €1,528 worth of those afore-mentioned extras.

Which brings me to the 'gentle wolf' version, the GTD. Straight up, I really liked this one for its own particular flair.

The GTD is in some respects the thinking person's GTI, the latter the ultimate aspiration for every Golf owner even if it simply wouldn't suit their real lifestyle or their running expenses pocket.

Obviously from the name, it has a diesel engine instead of the 220hp petrol of the GTI. And at that the 2.0 oilburner only generates 170hp. But it does it really well, and the torque more than makes it a real GT-style contender.

In the detailing the car comes with its own variants of the GTI style elements. But in a more subtle way. Like missing out the red banding around the grille in the 'senior' car that itself can light up the eyes of a traffic cop.

The interior has its own GTD badging, and the review car had full leather sports seats that proved to be really comfortable and supportive on a trip across some of the less good roads in the Wicklow mountains.

The car comes with standard 17" alloys but the review one had optional 18"s which certainly added road presence. As did the lowered suspension and the more sporty aspect of the car being a 3-door.

With the optional 6-speed DSG automated gearbox, this turned out to be a seriously good performer, whether on the trundle through town traffic or having a bit of a gallop on some quiet mountain roads with long-distance visibility. In addition to being able to use it manually via the central shifter, there are paddles on the steering wheel which even I began to like.

Although the car's underpinnings were quite comfortable on good roads, the mix of larger tyres and harder suspension made it a bit fidgety on the poor surfaces which are increasingly the norm in this recession. OK for the driver but not so good for a passenger. And in this 3-door format, it generated squeaks that aren't what you want to hear from a VW.

I've driven many Golf GTIs over the years, but this diesel variant has quite caught my fancy. With an average fuel consumption of 5.4L/100km over my week it is also a truly sporty car that is economical enough to make one feel quite green. Altogether a bit of a paradox, and the reason that I dubbed this particular 'wolf' a gentle one.

At over €34,000, the review car isn't at all cheap. Money can be saved on wheels, the seats and going for the 6-speed manual gearbox. All probably without losing anything of the excellent quality of the car.

I have never been the classic Golf fan. But, if it was for myself, I'd be very tempted this time.