Topic: Test Drive: 2010 Volkswagen Golf Wagon TDI Highline

[Autos_Editor]

Replacing the Jetta Wagon TDI, the Golf Wagon TDI has a lower starting price, reports Editor-in-chief, Greg Wilson. Its turbo diesel engine offers great fuel economy while its cargo area is the largest in its class, he says.  
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[airbalancer]

To bad the centre console is wide and cuts in the driver area. I find my knee hits it and I really do not like that

Also they should have squared off the rear end, but every wagon / CUV/SUV is like that that now, design over function

[jpd]

Great review and great pictures! I am interested by the Comfortline version, so without the panoramic roof, the more powerful radio and the leather seats.

With one of the best engine, a CLEAN one on top of that, this amazing DSG tranny, the EPS included and this very solid feeling behing the wheel, that is enough for me!  At $28240, I consider that it one of the best value for the money! I'll soon be part of the VW family.

[Rupert]

We seem to be stuck with the walls. Every manufacturer has them. I suppose that if you have to supply a stick shift for manual gearboxes then having the aoutomatic shifter in the same floor/wall location is more economical for production. Pity...a column automatic shifter would open up the front compartments a lot. Probably if we had never had column shifters and one was introduced; everyone would rave about how great it was and how much space there was because of it. This is a nice product though and if these cars do handle great and feel nicer on the road....then maybe other companies should aim for the same demographics. What in the geometry or whatever makes this so.

[Roscoe]

Hey Greg, how many kilometers were on that Golf Wagon when you tested it? Your fuel economy is not as good as it could have been, but having owned a TDI myself, I can tell you that diesel engines don't break in until 15,000 to 20,000 km. Only then are the internals smooth enough to start returning the fuel economy that the TDI is supposed to.

And unlike most Energuide ratings, the TDI's are actually very close to real world driving. I routinely saw 7 l/100 km city and 5 l/100 km highway. Sometimes even better.

[phoenexius]

"The info screen between the speedo and tachometer gives the driver an assortment of useful information such as outside temperature, time, heading, gear selection, trip odometer, travel time, current speed, average speed, distance to empty and range. To keep the driver’s eyes on the road, the info screen won’t operate unless the vehicle is stopped."

you get current speed from the info screen, yet the info screen won't operate unless the vehicle is stopped?

What exactly are you trying to say?

[conwelpic]

the KIA Rondo should also be added to the list of competitors as is also a 5-door wagon.  It has 31.7 cu. ft. behind the second seats and 73.6 cu. ft. behind the front seats.  It's too bad they don't offer a diesel like they do for it in other parts of the world.

[CraigS]

 I've had my highline golf TDI wagon for two months now and absolutely love it. I'm averaging 6.5/100Km's and I only have around 3000Km's on the clock. I don't do much city driving but do lots of mixed cycle driving (suburbs & highway).

This is my 4th VW and fit an finish is excellent compared to some of my past VW's. I don't think the pricing compared to US is as close as you say it is when one is looking at on the road pricing. The car cost is about $7K and then when you factor in Can sales taxes it quickly jumps to $10K which in my ipinion is not close.

[wing]

phoenexius,  Hmmm good question, you can certainly cycle through all these while driving, I have been this week all the time.  You cannot however enter the setup menu while driving.

[MKII]

So VW decided to clear up the confusion at least in Canada and call the compact wagon as it is known in other parts of the globe "Golf Estate" or wagon.

It is a true whitespace vehicle in North America with zero competitors.
A hatch or small CUV is not a "wagon".

[Shnak]

The Elantra Touring is a wagon, but a smaller wagon. I suppose you could say the Touring is closer to a hatchback than a wagon in terms of cargo, but it still looks like wagon.

[chrischasescars]

phoenexius,  Hmmm good question, you can certainly cycle through all these while driving, I have been this week all the time.  You cannot however enter the setup menu while driving.

Unless the Golf's display is different from the Jetta's.

[safristi]

..sat in a few "iterations"...gotta use the pro's Lingo eh!!!.......when my son's  Passat wagon(2002 4cyl turbo model) was gettin' serviced...............nice machina.....pricey as ya go up from basic to midlevel to goldplated....but damn tempting for a KEEPER CAR.................300.000Km and out to THE RESTAURANT @ THE END OF THE  TOWNSHIP .................... ............... tho' the Scotsman sez buy son's wheels off him when he get bored with his in a coupla years...as my new Winter banger......Oh how these olde brain cells scheme............

[editorgreg]

Hey Greg, how many kilometers were on that Golf Wagon when you tested it? Your fuel economy is not as good as it could have been, but having owned a TDI myself, I can tell you that diesel engines don't break in until 15,000 to 20,000 km. Only then are the internals smooth enough to start returning the fuel economy that the TDI is supposed to.

And unlike most Energuide ratings, the TDI's are actually very close to real world driving. I routinely saw 7 l/100 km city and 5 l/100 km highway. Sometimes even better.

My test TDI wagon was brand new so you may be right about the fuel economy.  I was wondering why it wasn't as good as previous TDI's I've tested with more mileage.  Back in 1993, I drove a Passat diesel from Calgary to Vancouver and got 4.8 L/100 km in mostly highway driving using a very gentle right foot.  And that was before the pumpe-duse technology.  Oh, and about that info screen - I think James is right, the Setup screen is disabled but not the real-time information like speed and current fuel consumption.  Greg

[DockMan]

I was at the dealership poking around (at a Routan) and was really disappointed to find that they dropped the Nav Option for this model. Seems kind of counter-intuitive for VW as the real users of this beast would be true "road-warriors" logging piles of miles. It would really be a bummer to ruin the dash of this car with a Garmin unit sticking out like a sore thumb and blocking windshield real estate or something.

[mikek]

In response to page 2 of the article, I wanted to say that when I went to the dealer to look at a Golf Wagon last week, the salesperson specifically touted as a selling feature that the rear headrests do not have to be removed to go into full flat mode.  He demonstrated it to me as well.  Folding the seats flat with the headrests in was infinitely quicker than having to remove the headrests in my old 97 Outback or older Volkswagens.

Perhaps the rear headrests on your leather Highline were slightly different than the ones on the Comfortline that I was shown?

Help, can't get the seats of highline to fold flat.  How was it shown on the comfort line?

[EV Dan]

One of the reason for the fuel economy to be less than expected I suppose is riding on winter tires in ... Vancouver 



The dash looks so 80's though.

[safristi]

..but ...but we burned Galleons then @ 50 cents a Barrel..............so WDF!!! eh.... dash it ALL.....................

[ovr50]

IMO, that dash layout is very attractive and functional. I like it. I am trying to quietly suggest my wife might like a new Golf in the Spring (preferably a GTI). 

We'll see.

[Mozeby]

The only thing that attracts me to the Golf TDI is the fuel economy.  Because I'm facing a commute of 100 km a day, saving gas goes a long way over the course of a year. What scares me away is VW's bad history of problems and high cost of maintenace.  I still don't get why we keep getting screwed here in Canada by the rest of the auto industry, and get denied of any diesels.  I know BMW and Mercedes have some, but I'm not going to blow 50K on a daily driver that's gonna have tons of clicks in a year.  Most companies have the engines available in Europe, in similar platforms that makes it easy to transfer here.  You think that by looking at the success that VW has had with diesels, somebody else would have jumped on that by now.