Design
With the exception of the TDI — standing for turbo-diesel injection — badge on the car's rump there's nothing to distinguish this Golf GT Sport from its petrol burning Twincharger, or TSI, brother. This means you get 17-inch alloy wheels, full-height black-out grille and lowered suspension to distinguish yourself from the common Golf driver. From the outside you could almost fool yourself that you're driving a GTI — the biggest clues are the different alloy wheel style and missing red garnish for the grille.
The good vibes disappeared somewhat when we stepped inside though. The petrol version we tested previously was kitted out with the optional macchiato leather. Without the two-tone colour scheme it brings, the Golf's interior has a bunker-like feel with its acres of industrial grey. Something which the red studding on the cloth seats does little to alleviate.
The luxury feel to the interior seems to have dipped from 11 in the previous generation Golf to, oooh say, about nine now. You still get damped overhead grab handles, a plushly lined glove box, slowly dimming interior lighting and squishy, soft touch plastics on the top of the dashboard. But there's also now a profusion of hard plastic — some with sharp mould lines — around the centre console and lower dash regions. These misgivings aside, it is a comfortable environment to be holed up in.
Features
The $2,300 price jump from the petrol to the turbo-diesel GT Sport is accounted for by the engine transplant and the substitution of the boost gauge for the more useful engine temperature gauge found throughout most of the Golf range. For a hatchback whose starting price is just north of $37k, the diesel Golf GT Sport doesn't particularly lavish you with toys and doodads to play with.
Climate control air-conditioning is a standard inclusion and proved a good antidote to cold winter days, warming the Golf's interior, and us, quicker than a month full of sunny Sundays. Less impressive was the Golf's audio system which, despite boasting eight speakers, never really got us jumpin' jumpin' — it doesn't sound tinny like an econobox's sound system, just incredibly flat. There's an MP3-capable single slot CD player, although in this iPod age, it's disappointing to see the auxiliary jack reserved for higher grade models, with the iPod connector relegated to the options list. Like the Golf's instruments, the display on the audio system's large head unit glows a pleasing shade of electric blue; the display is impossible to read with polarised sunnies though. Those in need of guidance — GPS, direction guidance that is — will need to fork out an additional $2,990 for the large screen, hard-disk sat nav unit.
As is becoming the norm in cars hailing from Europe, there's a large LCD screen — multifunction display in VW lingo — sited between the speedo and tacho. This screen can display various tidbits of information, including air temperature, fuel consumption, warning messages and audio information. When not moving, it can be used to configure a number of touchy feely settings, such as the timing of courtesy lights and the number of doors unlocked by the car's plipper.
Buttons for controlling the audio system's volume and the optional Bluetooth phone system are housed on the steering wheel's left spoke. The buttons for changing tracks or stations reside on the right spoke. However, because these buttons are also responsible for controlling the multifunction display, it's often easier to just fiddle with the audio head unit instead.
The standard-fit halogen lamps were more than adequate for city driving but they paled — pardon the pun — in comparison to optional bi-xenon units we sampled on the TSI. On sojourns to the bush, we missed not only the cool factor of the blue-tinted light they emit but also their ability to cut a greater hole in the wall of darkness in front of us. The $1,890 asking price might be worth it for a regular bush farer.
There's a good array of safety kits fitted as standard throughout the Golf range, including a total count of eight airbags, two of which are curtain airbags providing some extra protection for rear seat passengers. Traction control, electronic stability program (ESP), anti-lock brakes and brake force assist in emergency situations.
Performance
The diesel GT Sport features a more powerful version of the 2.0-litre turbo-diesel engine found in other Volkswagen models, including the Golf. Despite boasting the same amount of power (125kW) as the petrol Twincharger model, the diesel GT Sport has a completely different demeanour. The two models have the same suspension set-up, which does a fine job of absorbing road blemishes while still informing you of what's happening, as well as keeping body roll to a minimum. The steering is accurate but highly artificial in feel — in fact it felt almost like a gaming console steering wheel, but without the tactile feedback.
Both GT Sports can charge away from the lights, with tyres chirping and traction control struggling to maintain a level of decorum, but with the diesel you're rarely inclined. They can also carve up a twisty back road better than a butcher carves meat but, unlike in the TSI, you never feel the inclination to find said back road. That's because, where the Twincharger emphasised the sport element in its GT Sport moniker, the diesel engine's laid back nature means that it's more of a Grand Tourer.
With more torque, or pulling power, than a V6 Commodore — 350Nm versus 325 to 340Nm — the Golf dispatches hills and overtaking manoeuvres with casual disdain. While it doesn't have the agricultural roughness of diesels from yesteryear, the GT Sport's diesel donk is several decibels more voluble than the TSI's engine. Give the car a heavy shove with the right foot and the less than sonorous sounds increase again in volume. Only once you've reached cruising speeds does the engine approach petrol-like levels of hush.
Unfortunately our GT Sport diesel was afflicted with an engine gremlin which, on occasion, would manifest itself as an "engine fault" requiring a workshop visit. In this mode, throttle response was blunted and the rev limiter lowered to a measly 2,500rpm. Volkswagen has yet to inform us what the issue was.
Our car was kitted out with the optional ($2,300) six-speed DSG dual-clutch gearbox. Leaving the gearbox in automatic mode suited the relaxed demeanour of the car perfectly, with smooth gear changes — for an explanation of how the VW's dual-clutch gearbox is different to a conventional automatic transmission, check out our Please Explain video. Our stuttering starts, especially when facing uphill, were the only blemishes on the DSG's copy book.
In the fuel bowser battle, the diesel GT Sport proved significantly more parsimonious than its petrol cousin: in the city we achieved 9.4L/100km in the diesel versus 11.2L/100km in the petrol burning TSI, while in the bush the diesel sipped 5.9L/100km compared to the petrol's 7.5L/100km. Although the advantage is not so clear cut when other factors are taken into account. The diesel engine's carbon emissions advantage over the petrol is narrower (262g/km versus 290g/km in the city, and 164g/km versus 196g/km in the bush). Thanks to higher cost per litre of diesel, the diesel's refuelling costs per kilometre are, based on our calculations, only two cents per kilometre better. And that's before we begin to factor in the diesel engine's $2,300 price premium.
Conclusion
Without the Twincharger engine the GT Sport loses its joie de vivre. Yes it's a hugely capable long distance cruiser but, if we were to purchase a diesel Golf, we'd probably plump for a Golf Pacific instead. It may miss out on a few herbs under the bonnet, but the $5,000 saving could be usefully put towards a few options, like leather, or invested in a nice holiday.
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