- Doors and Seats
5 doors, 5 seats
- Engine
1.4TSC, 4 cyl.
- Engine Power
118kW, 240Nm
- Fuel
Petrol (95) 6.2L/100KM
- Manufacturer
FWD
- Transmission
Auto (DCT)
- Warranty
3 Yr, Unltd KMs
- Ancap Safety
5/5 star (2009)
2012 Volkswagen Golf 118 TSI Comfortline Review
I've had this car since new and I definitely want to replace it when the warranty runs out in November.
- Power, Quietness, Park assist, Room for my golf gear, Handling
- Lack of external visibility, Transmission in lower gears may be future trouble., No hill hold, so can roll back on hill, Expensive service, Charcoal interior difficult to keep clean.
I can see down the track there will be transmission issues which are intermittent now and cannot be replicated for the technicians.
Eg. total failure of gear engagement while negotiating turn at busy intersection. Clunks from transmission from 1 to 2nd gear very occasionally.
There are other things I don't like but I believe are fixed in later models. There is no hill hold and slipping backward while waiting in busy traffic uphill is no joy if you have to remember to plant your foot on the brake to ensure it wont roll back before going forward.
The pillars seem very obstructive and blind spots, plus the distortion of the external rear vision mirrors make extra caution in lane changing a necessity. The wax protection extra does not seem to repel road grime, it just embeds itself in the paintwork. the charcoal upholstery can actually be scratched with a fingernail, the upholstery is very hard to keep clean.
There are many things I like though. Plenty of power, quietness in the cabin, the flexibility of a small station wagon. I really like the park assist (an extra) for parallel parking in tight spots. I cant be bothered with the sunroof, just makes noise.
I like the steering column mounted controls and the clear display of dashboard. I dont, however, like being beeped at when engaging reverse. Externally it might be good, but internally I am thoroughly aware I am in reverse and need to watch where I am going. The sensors are ultra conservative. In my next car I will be looking for realistic help in vision, with probably a web cam. Before I could only get it with a $3000 sat nav which cost $700 a year to update.
The service is very expensive and, when I bought the car, not capped. The second service was $710 for basically doing nothing much. To date i've only done 28,000km.