The Best Golf Buggy Volkswagen Golf Wagon TSI 103 Highline

Volkswagen-Golf-103 TSI Wagon Highline

It won just about every Car of the Year Award worth mentioning last year, did the Golf hatch, so you’d expect the wagon variant to be about as fancy, yes? And so too it is, in top-shelf $41,990 TSI Highline guise, which is $1,240 more than the equivalent hatch. It’s the one I’d have too. Last time we drove the wagon variant, as a sixth-generation offering, it was a lone 1.6-litre TDI version costing $44k. It certainly wasn’t quick, with a kerb weight just over 1,500kg, but it did manage fuel use figures of a claimed 4.8L/100km. The new Gen VII diesel version uses the same engine but is cheaper by over $4,000. It also has two petrol sibs, the top Highline version featured here is 150kg lighter, vastly quicker and VW state an overall combined fuel figure of 5.0L/100km. That’s how far petrol engines have come lately. And there’s the base 90kW petrol option for $36,990. Plenty of choice then.

The specification level has leapt too. Back in 2010, you got sweet fanny a dams - a trip computer and air - but these days the Highline comes with satnav, a colour touch-screen, dual-zone climate air, alcantara-clad sports seats, and spring-loaded split folding from the load bay. The top Golf wagon also comes with full iPod integration, handy bottle holders in the door pockets, under seat drawers, and 17-inch alloys. Not everything is gratis, however, and cost options include shift paddles (I would, but I like to fiddle), a smart key, adaptive cruise control, sport suspension (with or without adaptive damping), and active bi-xenon lights.

More big news is that luggage space expands, up 100L from 505L to 605L.

Volkswagen Golf Wagon cargo space

VW’s new MQB modular chassis is responsible for much of the goodness in terms of weight and cost savings, but it’s the engine and transmission that so impress here. While it’s ‘only’ a 1.4 with 103kW, this turbocharged engine is happy lugging around the suburbs at low revs in high gears, auto stopping at lights to help save gas, with a claimed city figure of 6.1L/100km. Out of town, the 1.4 engine is equally robust, accelerating without effort in the 2,000-3,000rpm area. VW claims 8.9sec for the zero to 100 discipline and we got close to 8.5sec.

The double-clutch gearbox action is outstanding, and gear changes now feel slicker than ever, after the typical edgy ease-away from standstill. Moreover, at red light situations merely punch the Auto-hold button, and you can remove your foot from the brake, and you stay in one place. Nice engineering.

That’s how it feels inside too, solid with sensible ergonomics. Moreover, it’s quiet on the go, and the ride quality is just so. Handling isn’t quite as pinned down as with the hatch variants, but when you’re toting a load in the back, bend swinging is the last thing on your mind. Unladen, it’s perfectly acceptable, the ESP system having a calming influence when pressing on. Like we said, it’s the ride that impresses more.

With the rise of the compact class and the growth in its physical size, you question whether a medium isn’t too much, both in size and price. With surprising back seat and luggage space in the Golf Wagon, what more does a young family need?

Volkswagen Golf Wagon On Road

We’d bet the $37k model is a pretty decent all-rounder if $40k breaks the budget, but if its spec and speed you’re after you won’t want for much in the Highline variant. Small wonder folk are choosing more cost-effective compacts like these instead of oversized, and sometimes overpriced, medium wagons.