- Doors and Seats
5 doors, 5 seats
- Engine
1.4T, 4 cyl.
- Engine Power
110kW, 250Nm
- Fuel
Petrol (95) 5.6L/100KM
- Manufacturer
FWD
- Transmission
Auto (DCT)
- Warranty
3 Yr, Unltd KMs
- Ancap Safety
5/5 star (2013)
2017 Volkswagen Golf 110 TSI Highline review
A family medical situation earlier this year forced us to recently upgrade our 2010 Mazda 6 diesel wagon (a manual, which we loved) to a car with an automatic transmission – our first automatic in over 14 years!
- DSG a delight to drive
- Full suite of safety tech: adaptive cruise and lane assist
- Loud and clear sound system with Apple CarPlay
- Ample boot space (605L)
- Not an SUV
- Driver’s side window wiper shudders as blade is too long
- Three-year standard warranty (extension at extra cost)
- Passenger seat not electric
- No live traffic for the in built sat-nav
- Having to listen to other people’s outdated opinions on VW DSGs
As a family with three young boys we love station wagons as they’re practical, good to drive and not SUVs.
While some complain there’s not as many station wagons as SUVs, it does make it easier to buy one as there’s less choice and it’s seemingly easier to negotiate as they’re in less demand. We tested and ruled out the Subaru Levorg 2.0 GT and Mazda 6 petrol sport wagon (Skoda weren’t interested in selling us an Octavia Wagon) – and decided on a VW Golf 7.5 Highline Wagon with Driver’s Assistance Package in Metallic Indium Grey.
We couldn’t really be happier with our car we call ‘Q Dubby’. It’s a much nicer drive than our previous Mazda 6 wagon – so much quieter and it has much thicker and more luxurious paint.
Engine and road noise is practically non-existent and the DSG is smooth and quick to change gears. I haven’t witnessed any low-speed hesitation that seems to be mentioned in every Golf review I have read so far (I’d love to see a video of it!).
The boot is very spacious and class-leading at 605 litres – the car easily fits our family of five comfortably and the rear air conditioning vents are an upgrade over our Mazda wagon which had none.
The feature list of the Highline wagon is pretty impressive: leather appointed/heated seats, electrically adjustable driver's seat, automatic power folding mirrors, keyless entry and start, fully LED headlights and DRLs and a full length ‘moon roof’ with electric sun blind.
It has in built sat-nav, albeit without live traffic, however we haven’t used it once since we just use Apple CarPlay which is amazing and has awesome Apple Maps with real time traffic and Apple Music. The eight speakers are loud and clear and more than sufficient for a family wagon.
We opted for the driver assistance package which is well worth the additional $1500 as it adds adaptive cruise control, blind-spot monitoring, rear-cross traffic alerts when reversing, lane assistance which keeps the car in the middle of the lane at around 65km/h and over, and automatic parking (reverse parallel, 90-degree forward and back, and coming out of parallel parks). The package also offers personalisation which is handy as I share driving the car with my wife and we both can have our own car settings (seat, mirrors, driving and air conditioning et cetera) which is tied to our keyless access.
The only downsides so far are the passenger front seat isn’t electrically adjustable and the driver's side window wiper blade shudders as it’s too long (and doesn’t have a metal reinforcement).
There’s a lot of nice little things that add up to a really nice experience in the Highline wagon: the frameless rear view mirror, the LED welcome lighting, mood lighting and lighting strips throughout the cabin, the way the stop-start engine starts automatically as soon as the car in front of you moves off at lights, the shopping hooks in the boot, the automatically dipping passenger-side mirror when reversing, the auto-folding mirrors that remind you your car is locked from a distance and the way the VW logo on the boot is both the boot opener and rear-view camera.
We’ve driven about 3500km so far and the fuel economy on 98 octane BP Ultimate has been around 6L/100km: about the same as our Mazda 6 diesel.
We’re very happy owners of our VW Golf 7.5 Highline Wagon 'Q Dubby'. We extended the VW factory backed warranty to a full five years at purchase so we can enjoy the car for the next five years – a great option to have in our opinion and something Mazda doesn’t offer.
The only downside we’ve had with VW ownership is having to hear all the opinions about VW from people you know. Cue the comments.