There is a gap of more than 45 years between the VW Golf I and the Golf VIII. In the New Year’s section, Techzle puts the latest generation next to the first Volkswagen Golf.
The first VW Golf guided the badly ailing Volkswagen through the most difficult times. Times are again difficult in 2021. Two months before Wuhan is closed, Volkswagen presents the Golf VIII. Expectations are high, because for the first time the Golf has been heavily digitized. The appearance may seem familiar, the VIII has been newly developed from head to toe. But the factories will close in mid-March 2020 and then no more wheels will be delivered. Thanks to creative measures it is possible to have the employees work continuously at a distance of five meters from each other. The closure is finite, Volkswagen hopes to limit the damage.
How long has it been since you encountered a first generation Golf? Perhaps such a rare five-door from the late days, which has an automatic transmission? In its heyday, you can buy a three-door with a 1,100 cc or 1,500 cc engine with a four-speed gearbox attached to it, or at most the 4 + E, a five-speed gearbox with a five that is as long as the journey to Mars. The five-door sells up to and including the Golf III more difficult, because it does not look nearly as sporty. With the arrival of the Golf IV, this way of thinking is changing and nowadays there is no three-door at all. Anyone who sees number I in front of them and is confronted for the first time with generation VIII will be shocked. Number VIII seems to be from Mars. Only take the dimensions: wheelbase +14 centimeters; length +46; width +18. Those are huge differences. And then the weight: from a meager 805 to 1,360 kilograms.
At the same time, it is a major achievement that the designers allowed the Golf to evolve with its sturdy, wedge-shaped design in which everything is drawn straight and triangular, except for the headlights, without disturbing the family bond. Because the Golf VIII looks one hundred percent like a Golf, but with a Cd value of 0.27. Responsible is of course the thick C-pillar with its Hofmeister-like kink, which is also already present in the first model. Giorgetto Giugiaro is responsible for the first model; The latest model is being produced under the auspices of Klaus Bischoff. Giugiaro must have been inspired by Michelotti, the actual creator of that kink.
Workplace
The contrasts are also great in the interior: my goodness, the old one is small and especially narrow inside. Yet because it is so nice and basic and square, it feels unexpectedly spacious. Of course, it is ergonomic, especially in terms of seating comfort and adjustment of handlebar height and length, by far more than overtaken by time. We have long forgotten the sobriety of the first model. The uncoated top of the wafer-thin doors, for example. Or take the absence of a center console. The thin two-spoke steering wheel with Wolfsburg logo, the naked automatic lever with P, R, D, 2, 1 along the backstage. And the graphics of the clock shop, whose speedometer has an optimistic 200 km / h as maximum …
Only the most essential elements and tools are present. The radio has two rotary controls, for volume and station search. AM and FM, there are also buttons for that. You have to push the switches for lighting and rear window heating with force from off to on and vice versa: klák. The rest is rationed in such a C version. The C of … you guessed it. Hurray, an ashtray, but where’s the lighter?
It all symbolizes the basic version of the Golf from 1983 that we have at our disposal. Still, you get pretty happy as soon as you put on that seat belt. You will not be deceived: do this, and do not do that. You can leave your foot on the accelerator. This is not allowed for the VIII. It warns with such a know-it-all light that you are driving too close to your predecessor. For example, there are more intrusive warnings in new cars. All thanks to Brussels and NCAP. For safety … or is it just fear?
Especially now
The new Golf is completely contemporary: large, low and as wide as an E-segment car in 1996. Connectivity and digitization are the magic words. The ultra-serious dashboard, in which two large screens are included, couldn’t be more ‘Volkswagen’, not more teutonic. Everything is ‘touch’, you swipe and touch. A handful of controls can be done from the handlebars, but the majority of the physical switches have been replaced with touch buttons, left and right of the handlebars.
Whether that all makes sense, a driver who leases or buys one can probably only tell you after months. Opinions about the touch-oriented approach are divided. The fact remains that the adjustment period takes time. This can be partly explained: we have been used to iPads that you operate on your lap or on a stand at the table for eleven years, but adjusting a function while driving is quite different. The new operating concept keeps people busy. But trust me: you get used to it, eventually, no matter how often it is abused. This e-TSi has an automatic gear lever that looks suspiciously like that of the latest Porsche 911. It even feels exactly like that. It is also no longer connected to the DSG box with a rod or cable, but switches ‘by wire’. The youngest Golf carries 70 percent more weight than its 37-year-old stable mate. That is not only in steel and technology, but also in sound insulation a lot of kilos. It easily achieves the low noise level of cars from higher segments. And that is a major achievement.
On the way
The differences are even greater along the way. Yet there is also a similarity: with their eyes closed, they feel like a Volkswagen. The first with its recognizable 1.5-liter timbre and scent, the latest with its literal touch and feel; the 1.5-turbo four-cylinder you hear only under acceleration. The Golf I dates from a time when people were less in a hurry. That also made little sense with 70 hp. Add a three-speed automatic transmission to that, and before you cross an intersection, make sure that the other traffic is far enough away. That machine still switches with real transitions from one to two and from two to three. There are no more gears. He forces the engine to speeds that we are no longer used to today. At 100 km / h, that poor crankshaft is already turning 3,400 rpm.
The Golf VIII has to drive about 200 to achieve that. Its eight-speed DSG is one of the youngest generation. He changes resistance completely imperceptibly. Coupled with the 150 hp TSi engine, the DSG makes this Golf a nice and smooth car, although it does not pull the pavers out of the street. In fact, it does everything you would expect from a modern car. The ‘e’ in the type designation indicates that the power source is receiving assistance from a 48-volt electric motor. So it is a mild hybrid.
Driving over a winding track in the old one you notice again how much undercarriages have evolved. It rises when the 70 horses are released and dives like an accomplished dolphin as soon as you hit the brake pedal. And yes, it leans over, a dirty word in the present day, but the 155 tapes warn you if you cross the line. Even with only 805 kilos you still have to lash the power steering wheel. Commands follows the Golf I somewhat delayed: unpowered makes indirect, the balloon tires also do not respond immediately. Contrast that with the movements that the latest Golf makes with its evolved VII chassis: it does not lean at all, is stiff but not hard sprung and damped, although you will notice that 18-inch whoppers are screwed underneath. But even those barely fill the huge wheel arches. Or does it indicate that 18-inchers are no longer whoppers? The electro-hydraulic power steering approximates the feel of a classic hydraulic installation. Steering movements are quickly converted into course changes. In its latest appearance, the Gulf has reached a stage of maturity that can probably only be surpassed by autonomous functions. Talk about progress!
Golf: worth knowing
- The Golf is the most sold Volkswagen. However, the Toyota Corolla and the Ford F-150 are more popular.
- The first Golf was presented in May 1974 and is the first water-cooled VW model with the engine transversely in the front.
- Italian Giorgetto Giugiaro designed the car for Italdesign and considers its creation to be the most important of his career.
- Contrary to what Giugiaro wanted, the production version will have round headlights instead of rectangular ones and tail lights that are half the size.
- The name Golf was chosen at the last moment for launch and refers to a particular wind, just like the Passat and the Scirocco.
- The Golf I has been produced the longest: from May 1974 to 1983. From the Golf II, the production time gradually decreases to seven years.
- The latest Golf, number VIII, was designed under the auspices of Klaus Bischoff.
- The current Golf is built on the MQB platform and developed completely new according to the makers.
- The Golf VIII is the first to no longer be built as a three-door.
- To date, 35 million Golfs have been built. In the Netherlands it is no longer the best selling Volkswagen.