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December 2, 2009
   2009 Volkswagen City Golf. Click image to enlarge |
The City Golf and City Jetta share a similar interior, save for their cargo compartments. I’ve always been impressed with the way Volkswagen puts its cabins together, and the City Golf is no exception. The plastics are textured, the panels are carefully fitted together, and it all looks rich and upscale. It loses a few points on the ergonomics, though. The heater dials are small and tough to turn, and placed so low on the stack that you must reach around the shifter for them, and while the stereo volume and tuner knobs are easy enough to use, the on/off button is a tiny plastic nubbin off to the side.
The seats are very comfortable, with cushions that are longer than in many compact cars, offering good thigh support. Reaching for the dial that controls the seatback angle is tougher, though, since it’s placed so far back that it’s difficult to access, especially since the seatbelt gets in the way. (I’m also not fond of a dial adjustment, preferring the lever variety, but readers inevitably chime in that the dial is safer since the seatback won’t fall back and leave you stranded from the steering wheel.) The rear seat offers up about what you’d expect for a car this size in terms of legroom, although there’s room to slide one’s feet under the front chairs for a bit more comfort.
The cargo compartment is 73 cm long when the seats are in place, and a hard tonneau cover is included to keep prying eyes away from your goods. The seats fold to form a flat cargo floor that’s 140 cm long, but it’s not the simplest of tasks. Flipping up the seat cushion is easy enough, but then you must remove the head restraints – and the middle one can be tricky – before you can push the seatbacks down. Once you have, you’ve then got to find a place to store them, and they’re bulky and not the easiest to stash away.
One final complaint was with the power locks, which didn’t really lend themselves to a “city” car that you’d expect would see heavy use for running errands. If you open the vehicle with the keyless remote, then the hatch automatically locks when you close it again. Well, that’s fine, except that when you hit the fob to unlock all the doors, it doesn’t include the hatch; you’ve then got to press a separate button to open it. If there was a way to program the fob to open doors plus hatch with one touch, I couldn’t find it in the owner’s manual. If Volkswagen’s going to call the City Golf a “five-door,” then I should think that the fifth door should be part of the central locking system.
 2009 Volkswagen City Golf. Click image to enlarge |
All in all, when compared to the 2009 Rabbit (and the upcoming 2010 Golf), you can certainly see how much of an improvement Volkswagen made on its little hatchback. But money is a huge consideration for most buyers, and comparing the City Golf to the Rabbit, as close as I could get with similar features, the City version’s price was $2,580 less. When compared to other compact models from the various Japanese, Korean and North American manufacturers, the City Golf’s base price ran about mid-pack, and while the electronic stability control had to be added to the Volkswagen, competitors such as the Hyundai Accent, Kia Rio, 2009 Mazda3, Nissan Versa and Chevrolet Aveo don’t offer it at all. The City Golf’s ride and handling also meets or beats many of its compact competitors. For those who have always wanted a Volkswagen but need to keep an eye on the bottom line, the City Golf definitely needs to be on the test drive list.
Related posts:
- What’s New: 2009 Volkswagen City Golf/City Jetta
- Buyer's Guide: 2009 Volkswagen City Golf/City Jetta
- Buyer's Guide: 2007 Volkswagen City Golf/City Jetta
- Buyer's Guide: 2008 Volkswagen City Golf/City Jetta
- What’s New: 2010 Volkswagen City Golf
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