- Doors and Seats
5 doors, 5 seats
- Engine
1.4TSC, 4 cyl.
- Engine Power
118kW, 240Nm
- Fuel
Petrol (98) 6.5L/100KM
- Manufacturer
FWD
- Transmission
Auto (DCT)
- Warranty
3 Yr, 100000 KMs
- Ancap Safety
5/5 star (2009)
2010 Volkswagen Golf 118 TSI Comfortline Review
I have owned my 2010 mk6 Golf 118TSI Comfortline DSG Wagon for 4 years and 90,000km. When we were looking for a new vehicle we compared a number of compact SUV's to the golf wagon, but the boot space and comfort of the Golf won out.
- Quality, Economy, Wagon practicality, Not just another SUV
- Cost of Options, No bluetooth, Service Costs
I have to say though, the buying process through the dealer was not pleasant, but i think it can be hit and miss when it comes down to dealers. I chose the dealer because they could get me the Golf spec I wanted in two weeks, only three weeks later that blew out to three months.
We had already sold our previous car so we ended up compromising on the spec we wanted to take a car a that was actually in stock. A bit more, well any communication from the dealers end might have helped the situation. After this initial experience, owning the car has been a delight.
As much flack as the twincharge engine gets, I think a number of commentators should drive one of these great engines before passing judgement. There is a reason why this engine won engine of the year awards. This engine revs so smoothly and is plenty powerful, but there's really no need to rev it out as there's so much torque down low in the rev range that you never need to floor it to get the car up to speed. Just ride the torque wave.
To top off it the whine of the supercharger when taking off really is intoxicating. For the record, i have had no reliability issues with this engine.
The engine is tied to the 7 speed DSG which really is the drivetrains weak link. After 90,000k's I dont even notice the delay when taking off, you learn to anticipate traffic movements and take your foot of the brake a fraction earlier to avoid any delay from the transmission.
What does annoy is the occasional roll back on hills when the hill holder doesn't activate immediately, the car will roll back before the hill holder 'catches' the car. The hill holder doesn't really seem to work very well in reverse either, sometimes the hand brake is needed or alot of throttle. There is the occasional delay for the gearbox to actually select reverse as well.
I have had the clutch pack replaced once, at around 35,000k's after getting the dreaded clutch shudder. Once you get past the transmissions quirks the transmission is smooth and changes gears very quickly (compared to the dual clutch in the Ford Focus i have driven).
It will change up to 7th gear as quickly as possible for economy; sometimes I will be travelling 60kmh in 7th gear which will cause the engine to labour and struggle on an incline until the transmssion changes down to 6th or usually 5th gear. I do like though that in the MFD it tells you want gear your in. I've previously owned a car with a CVT before and for all the DSG's quirks, i'd rather have a DSG. I will never go back to a CVT!
As the Comfortline model denotes, this model is set up more for relaxed cruising then corner carving. The ride is fairly comfortable, i have 18inch rims on my wagon which make the ride a bit firmer over smaller lower speed bumps, but that was a compromise i was willing to make.
It really is a cruiser, just set the excellent cruise control, which you can increase/decrease in 1kmh increments, and this car will eat up the miles. I love how solid the car feels on the road. Economy wise, I've been averaging about 7.8ltrs per 100k's in a mixture of city and highway driving. On longer highway journey's I've seen figures in the low fives. I've been very happy with the economy of the car.
Servicing costs are on the expensive side but i expected that. I just had the 90,000km service completed and was charged $800. Admittedly of that $800 i was charged $125 to have the front and rear wipers replaced which i probably could have done myself. Otherwise, my car is still on its original brake discs and pads and I have found it to be easy on tyres.
Now, the reason for buying the wagon, the flexibility. The size of the boot is perfect for me, I love the ability to just chuck whatever I feel like in the boot without having to worry about whether or not it fits. The seats fold completely flat in a two stage process and there's a luggage net built into the cargo cover.
The space under the boot floor is very shallow and I would like to be able to store the cargo cover under the boot floor like on the newer mk7 Golfs, but otherwise I've moved house twice with this car filled up to the roof and I've never found myself wanting for space. If I need more space I have a tow bar fitted.
After four years the interior has held up very well. The seats are the most comfortable of any car i have driven. Yes, the dash design is boring, but everything is high quality and feels solid. I have the optional rcd-510 touch screen display which helps liven things up a bit.
The mk6 Golf wagon also has the oddity of having the mk5 interior door trim but mk6 dashboard, after all, everything from the dashboard forward is the mk6 golf update, everything after that is all mk5 wagon which was never offered in Australia. My only issue with the interior is a rattle in the drivers side B pillar which seems to be a common mk6 problem and no bluetooth (which can be retrofitted).
My in laws recently bought a new Kia Cerato and the interior of my Golf is much, much better quality in the materials and the way its put together. After 90,000km's the interior is still like new with only minor wear on the drivers seat.
It astounds me when I look at the current cars in the small car segment and realise just how competitve the mk6 Golf still is. For a car that was introduced in 2009 and really was just a heavy facelift of the mk5 Golf, I think it really shows the depth of engineering that Volkswagen puts into their cars. I have no reason to upgrade my current Golf now, but when i do i'll be buying another Golf.