GT 1.4TSI ACT DSG

Quiet and comfortable car with a superb engine and gearbox

The Golf may be a bit conservative but it is wonderfully comfortable and practical and in 1.4TSI GT trim benefits from a superb engine which is extremely smooth, free revving and powerful yet is close enough to the economy of a diesel to make sound financial sense. The clever cylinder de-activation works very well and it is surprising just how much time the car spends in two cylinder mode, the only indication being the message on the driver information display. The DSG gearbox suits the engine well and changes gears a lot more quickly and smoothly than I can and is well worth paying for. The cabin is a nice place to be with excellent seats, generous space and great ergonomics, whilst it may lack the wow factor of some rivals it feels like it will continue to be a fine cabin environment long after fashions change and those more stylish rivals have lost their allure. Of note the car has an excellent balance between using a well set up touch screen to de-clutter the dash whilst retaining conventional switches and dials where this makes sense, such as for the air-con. The boot is a good size and is very usable thanks to a large opening, split floor and well positioned hooks. On the subject of practicality the cabin is well endowed with storage boxes, under seat drawers and cubby holes and puts some MPV's to shame. The car is quiet on the move and the suspension does an excellent job of smoothing out road imperfections, the refinement and ride comfort would be considered good for cars a lot bigger than the Golf. Although the car feels set up for comfort rather than out and out chuckability it has good steering and goes around corners well enough, for real world driving it handles more than well enough and for the vast majority of buyers the bias towards comfort and refinement is much more appropriate than making the car a pseudo sports car. Although not cheap GT trim is well equipped with some features such as sat-nav, adaptive cruise control and parking senors that are often optional extras along with attractive finishing materials. That said the absence of climate control seems rather mean. The styling may be conservative but it is something of a slow burner in that with time it has grown on me and it is surprising just how much sharper it looks next to a Golf VI. Overall, an extremely fine car.

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