2012 Volkswagen Golf gets Bluetooth, USB upgrade

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By Tim Beissmann | September 01st, 2011

The 2012 Volkswagen Golf has scored a small equipment upgrade for the new model year.

Bluetooth phone connectivity with audio streaming and phone book display is now standard on all new 2012 Volkswagen Golf Wagon models and on most 2012 Volkswagen Golf hatch models.

The entry-level 77TSI hatch and BlueMotion hatch variants miss out on the factory-fitted Bluetooth system, however, these models can be optioned with Bluetooth phone connectivity, which is added as a dealer-fitted Volkswagen Genuine Accessory.

Volkswagen’s Media Device Interface (USB interface with cable) is also now included on all Golf Comfortline models and above. This includes the 118TSI and 103 TDI hatch and wagon, as well as the GTI, GTD and R hatch models.

The technological upgrade to the Golf comes less than two weeks after the all-new Volkswagen Jetta was launched in Australia.

Priced from $26,490, all models in the Jetta range include full Bluetooth functionality and the Media Device Interface unit as standard.

Read CarAdvice’s reviews of the Volkswagen Golf.

d

Welcome to 2011 VW Golf.

Toyota Guru

Don’t you mean welcome to 2009 VW?

me-all-day

For sure! The new Focus is bound to put pressure on Golf offerings. Where is the value VW? This is after all Germany’s cruze, arguably with a touch more refinement.

K

Cruze is only a Daewoo… And refinement of GOLF is Way better than that korean car, even the focus cant match.

gmh-bogan

Rubbish,Cruze is 100% Holden.
K

OMG gmh-bogan…its only being built in AUSTRALIA, does not mean it is an Holden being developed in Aus….it is badged as chevy in the US and China.
Bangel

Crude is just a very average korean car , handling is rubbish , interior hard plastics , golf way more refined .
me-all-day

The new Focus is better in every way when you compare direct models. More power, better refinement, more features, better efficiency, cheaper. I challenge you to prove me wrong.
K

Well, me-all-day, ur wrong…if u have driven both cars, u’ll know. here’s what i know after actually driving them. yes, focus is better than jap and korean rivals, but still no match with the golf. Engine wise, golf has turbo across the range which translate to more grunt and max efficency, focus none…xcept for diesel. And according to Caradvice, both cars starts from 21,990. therefore you are wrong…..
me-all-day

I have driven both and many variants of both.
The Focus is better value, the tubo diesel has more power and torque. The 2L NA has no direct competitor because as you said all Golfs are turbo charged (and a dodgy one with Supercharger also). Yet it is priced far better than the TSI despite similar performance figures. The dynamics are every bit as good as the golf and it has an active differential STANDARD which is only present on the GTI and GT Golfs.
You have not proved me wrong you have only proved yourself a badge snob.
gmh-bogan

K are you aware of the reliability issues with the 118TSI .Some 7500 engine replacements at this point,the tip of the iceberg i guess.GOOGLE/ VOLKSWAGEN 118TSI RELIABILITY.
K

Buddy, relax! Why are you getting angry and personal?! I was stating some facts, and now you are saying I am a badge snob? If you love the the blue oval soooo much, then buy it. but for the same money, I’ll go for the golf for a better ride, more pleasant interior, much more refined TDI engine which i’m sure you know the fact that power and torque aren’t everything. For the STANDARD active differential, I don’t think you’ll every need that in the 1.6 or the 2L focus….
K

I’ve heard about it, but according to CarsGuide of the Herald Sun, they’ve heard 1 engine replacement case from a reader, otherwise no more horror stories, all 118tsi they know of are fine.
Bangel

GMH BOGAN/SPENT8 , please send me the names of the 7500 new engine reciprients , please no more fairy tales .

Any idiot can post a bogus story on engine failures , we have heard it all before , but GOLF sales keep growing even with all these mystery failures .
Martin

Recently rented a Cruze and it was rubbish. The engine was gutless, the interior noise was shocking and the gearbox is frustrating!! The only thing I liked was the style. I now understand why people buy corollas – the one I rented prior to the cruze was easy to get along with.
gmh-bogan

Bangle you where told last week.Captain Nemo is all over this 118tsi story..

Bangel

Focus is okay but golf is a superior handling car and better finished and much nicer quality interior , sorry the starwars focus interior will date very quickly .

Freddo

Nice one Bungle. The throw away Golfs already look dated!
Think the thumping DSG in your golf must be affecting your brain.
Bangel

FREDDO/SPENT8/GMBOGAN sorry to disappoint you but i have manaul , iam old school hands on , how is the old 3speed trimatic in the vk , clunking on .

Speaking of dated looks when is the old VE going to get some more botox shoved in its grill , now starting to look fat and old with all these new quick compacts in the driveways .

anti-WV

Well, some people like fossilized cars….The design of Golf is “only” 21 years old (from 1991). WV loves this business: Basically they only change the headlights or the rear lights and follow selling the same car from decades. This means huge profits as they did with the beatle in the past

Golfschwein

A minor equipment upgrade. Golf buyers get 7 airbags, 6 or 7 speed transmissions and a host of other things that might previously have made up for the absence of bluetooth and MDI.

http://internode.on.net Old Pete

Golfie, about time someone mentioned the extras on the Golf which do not appear on their competitors.

gmh-bogan

Now VW has joined this century,just got to pull Great Wall in to line.
diddlio

Of course, the year after I bought one it comes standard.

Crummydore

ARE YOU HAPPY WITH IT?

diddlio

I DON’T KNOW. I GUESS SO?

Brayden Cresswell

Were right here no need to yell.

Planned_Obsolescence

Technology has arrived, but not bad for a German taxi.

Cracker Barrel

Do our Australian taxis (ie Falcon/Commodore) have these standard ?

Datsun1600

Both Commodore and Falcon have them standard these days. Heck a lot of cars under $20k do as well.

Pretty poor of VW not to make them standard across both the Polo and Golf ranges, it’s not like they are the cheapest in their respective classes.

theillestlife

@Datsun 1600 – they may not be the cheapest, but hey, your getting what you pay for. golf is the best hatch in its class.

And to people who comment new focus is better… i have to ask, where is your sense of style? the rear likes look like they were mixed in a blender.

F1MotoGP

German taxis are Mercedes diesel manual

Ryan

Even the Micra!

Eric

Is blue tooth hands free talking while driving, still on the chopping block.
Chee

I never really understand why people buy Volkswagen?? They’re like a brand in ‘no mans land’.. Pay less and get something like a Accord Euro, Aurion etc etc which is better then Volkswagen.. Or pay just a fraction more and you get into the Luxury segment..

Ian

Chee…
As VW owner I just reakon you dont know what you’re talking about.

me-all-day

Ian, as an ex-VW owner – I reakon he is right. VW were once the innovators, the market leaders in technology. Now they are just another face in the crowd. With fantastic, well designed and equiped vehicles coming from the likes of Ford and Hyundai to name but a few, they are leaving VW in their wake. The only thing that VW can lay claim to these days is their logo. Shame it’s getting tarnished, I hope they can add more value and sharpen their pencils more. I guess market forces will force them to change when people find them lacking.

K

Well, obviously you guys dont know anything about driving dynamics….Hyundai and toyotas??! Yes, ford drives well, but the interior quality just can not match. Why do you think Golf have won CAR OF THE YEAR internationally and locally? so you are saying all motoring journalist around the world are idiots who dont know what they are talking about?

me-all-day

Obviously you havent been in the new Focus – go try it and get back to us.
Oh and btw – Car of the year? Like the 118TSI engine of the year? Give me a break! A classic case of oops we F(*&$# that up! Next time we’ll wait until it’s proven!
Unless VW pulls it’s finger out, the golf will disappear into over-priced, under-equipped obscurity.
K

me-all-day, please, do you know what ur talking about? i wont write rubbish if i havent tried it like someone. If you dont know what is car of the year, there are some links which may educate you about the current car industry.
oooops, the winner of many car of the year 2009 was golf…..
theillestlife

me-all-day, have you seen how fugly the new focus looks? a major case of “oops we F(*&$# that up!”
no matter how you put it, its uglier than a 1990 camry.

YoLex

+1. The Focus interior is designed by teenagers, fugly!

F1MotoGP

Do you understand why people other cars? I think for the same reason they like that car!

ShockJock

Me all day.

The focus is now only including technology vw has had available since the mk 6 golf launched.

Park assist

Dual clutch transmission

Electronic lsd

Additionally class is a rare commodity round these parts the lack of which may explain your affiliations.

Z

Thumb down.
Brayden Cresswell

Awesome Bluetooth as standard pity you cant here what there talking about when someone uses them.

Brayden Cresswell

Hear*

Jake Williams

Skoda recently made Bluetooth standard across their whole range (which I guess is better late than never). Even that isn’t news-worthy, why is the fact that SOME of the Golf range gets it as standard? Whoopdi do!

Bangel

VW better looking than a skoda .

Jake Williams

I disagree. Skodas don’t all look the same, unlike VWs…

I’m saying that Bluetooth becoming standard on SOME Golfs is a crap news piece and the fact that Skoda has made is standard on all its cars is also irrelevant, yet less irrelevant than this piece.

Oh btw, COOL STORY BRO! TELL IT AGAIN

http://internode.on.net Old Pete

Jake, I think it rates as newsworthy as sooo many people on this site bag the bejesus out of VW because Golf didn’t have bluetooth. They have lots of other stuff like 6/7 speed trannies, usualy more airbags, better build quality, better ride … but they missed out on the bloody bluetooth (which I would never use anyways).

MK

And rear passenger air vents.

Car Fanatic

Me all day.

Yes the Focus is more powerful than the 118TSI, but you need to rev it to 6600 rpm to get all that power.

It lacks the torque of the Golf ( which kicks in as low as 1750rpm), it uses loads more fuel in town compared to the Golf ( 9.4 urban vs 7.7 urban)

And it’s almost 80 kilos heavier than the golf so power to weight ratio is virtually identical, it has one less gear and one less airbag, but has LED tail lights and Voice recognition ( big deal).

Now the Focus is $33,300 driveway ( in Perth) the Golf is 35,900.

But resale values based on previous models show the Focus and golf between 45 to 50 of original price so despite the price difference it’s still the same gap after three years. At the end of the day it’s down to preference. Both cars drive nicely, one is cheaper on fuel and tyres and both cost around the same to service.

So we can all stop the p!$$ing competition.
Deane

Why is it that every time a Golf gets mentioned, the discussion instantly lowers itself to sub-Kindy, barely legible crap.

I mean really, we know exactly what the regular commenters think, why can’t they just accept that different people have different tastes, perceptions and needs.

Ryan

Well said!
K

See, its obvious how many ppl works for VW rival brands trying everything to bring it down as its sales keeps growing….

http://Caradvice Onepoppa

It is amazing that people seem so intent on Korean car bashing. It is like the case of Japan over again. When Japanese cars first came here there were some pretty ordinary cars on offer – the first Australian assembled car was Toyota Corona with a three speed column shift. The everyone loved the Datsun 1600 – all revs and swing axle rear suspension, as I recall.

Over the years Japan looked like the very paragon of reliability – then it joined the bigleague by making cars like white-goods – mostly built in the USA.

People have odd perceptions as to what cars prople in other really buy. Are Renault Clios and Fiat Puntos really such fabulous cars? Fact is that even in the home of “character” cars in Europe they are selling Chevrolet Cruzes, Eastern European built Kias, and French built Toyotas by the bucketload.

ShockJock

Are they? You better go and check the list of top ten best sellers in Europe and report back to us.

The cruze is garbage. Daewoo which is (effectively what it is) are miles behind Hyundai and Kia who in turn are now up there with the japs but still a considerable distance behind the best of Europe.

ShockJock

Onepap I did it for you

http://economicsnewspaper.com/policy/french/best-selling-cars-in-europe-in-the-first-half-of-2011-a-german-full-podium-47966.html

Ford Man

Looked at Golf v Focus and got a Golf. Focus can not match the fit and finish of the Golf. Handling wise both are competent. Focus in Titanium guise isn’t exactly cheap and is comparable in price to the Gold ($38k).