By David Bonnici
While it doesn’t share the excitement of it’s GTi sibling, the Volkswagen Golf 90TSI Comfortline is the perfect car for city diving.
It’s well put together and brimming with technology, providing safety, comfort and remarkable fuel efficiency, even for a small car.
There’s not much it does doesn’t have – from 360-degree parking sensors and low-pressure tyre indicator to a driver fatigue warning system that can recognise if your driving is getting erratic and beeps to wake you up.
The interior is smartly presented and uncluttered, with no cheap-looking plastic to be seen. There’s also no handbrake lever – in its place is a much smaller switch that controls the electro-mechanical parking brake.
The dashboard and steering wheel are a mass of lights and switches, though there’s nothing confusing about the layout.
The 5.8-inch “composition media” touchscreen typifies the Golf’s usability. It displays radio, MP3 player and phone functions, park assist and real-time information about the car’s performance. Bluetooth connectivity is flawless.
Park assist expands on reverse assist, with sensors around the car. While the camera only shows the reverse view, a graphic of the car appears with a series of distance markers that start flashing, along with an audible sonar-like warning, if you’re close to any objects. It’s handy for obstacles below window height such as bollards, high curbs or all the crap strewn about my garage.
So what’s it go like? It has a 1.4 litre engine that won’t break speed records, but doesn’t struggle either. It cruises nicely on 100km/h, and if you want to get there faster the 7-speed automatic transmission has a semi-manual mode, which gives this car some zing.
It’s incredibly fuel efficient too, helped by the start/stop system which turns the engine off when at a standstill and starts again when you take your foot off the brake. Incredibly, it will let you do about 850kms between fuel stops.
This isn’t the cheapest hatchback on the market, but it’s a class above the pack.
www.volkswagen.com.au
