Class act

James Batchelor hits the road in the 2024 edition of Volkswagen’s dependable hatchback

This is the Volkswagen Golf Estate... but you already knew that, as it’s one of the most recognisable cars on UK roads. It’s not just familiar, but rather successful too, as the Golf Estate won its weight class in the Caravan and Motorhome Club’s Towcar of the Year 2025 awards (see October issue). Here we take a closer look at it.

Comfort – 87%

The Golf has been a feature of the automotive scene for 50 years now, even becoming a benchmark against which others are measured.

But while the Golf has long been a desirable, slightly posh but always rational hatchback, it lost some of its faultless image in 2020. The Mk8 was a step backwards in terms of perceived material quality (cheaper-feeling plastics used inside), attention to detail (a conventional bonnet stay instead of gas struts as used in previous Golfs), and a frustrating infotainment system and technology.

Just like the Mk7.5 Golf, this update for 2024 is significant enough to warrant the ‘.5’ nameplate. The Mk8.5 boasts a raft of changes which address those earlier criticisms, and for the most part Volkswagen has been successful here.

Perhaps surprisingly, there’s not a huge departure in the styling department. There’s a range of new colours and wheel designs, as you might expect, but look closely and you’ll spot the slimmer, more angular headlights. Some models get a light bar that stretches across the grille, just like the Mk8, but this time the area around the VW emblem also lights up, giving a more complete look, while the front bumper is cleaner. There’s a set of more showy rear light clusters, too.

The bulk of the changes has been made to the interior. Unlike the seventh-generation Golf, which had a well-ordered, logically laid-out interior with plenty of buttons, the German carmaker tried to de-clutter the cabin in the Mk8. The resulting interior was frustrating to use, but this time around Volkswagen has restored some order.

The infortainment screen is larger than before

The steering wheel, no matter whether you go for entry-level Life or racy GTI, gets buttons instead of the haptic ones found on higher spec models last time around; and while the screen is larger and more dominant, the system functions more quickly, is easier to use and seems less buggy than before. The sliders to control the audio and climate are now backlit so they can be operated more easily at night.

The quality of material is the same as before, though. The seats in this Style model are nicely bolstered and trimmed, the leather feels good on the steering wheel, the door pockets are flock lined, and there’s plenty of squidgy plastic across the top of the dash. But there are some decidedly scratchy plastics elsewhere – the silvery, patterned trim that runs horizontally across the dash feels particularly hollow, for example. The fit and finish is by no means bad, but the plushness of the seventh-gen Golf is absent.

It’s easy to get into a comfortable driving position though, and there’s plenty of room in the rear. (While the mechanically-similar Škoda Superb may have a little more space at the back, there’s easily room for a couple of six-footers here.) There are some neat touches in this section of the car – those flocked lined pockets make another appearance and you’ll find twin USB-C charging ports, climate control and numerous pockets on the backs of the seats in which to store things.

Boot room has always been a Golf selling point. The space is still enormous – 611 litres to be precise, and there’s a moveable boot floor. There are various little practical features like hooks and lash down points, while the towball is electrically released using a button on the side of the boot. The ball has to be locked into place, and, along with 13-pin electrics, it costs £765.

Driving – 85%

Volkswagen has also been working on the Golf’s engines. The hatchback gets a plug-in hybrid model, but that option isn’t available for the estate. The car still gets a wide selection of power, with a pure petrol 1.5 turbo in 114bhp and 148bhp flavours with a six-speed gearbox; a mild-hybrid 1.5, again in 114bhp and 148bhp forms, with a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic gearbox; and there’s even a diesel – a 2.0-litre unit with, you guessed it, 114bhp and 148bhp versions.

The diesel is the natural choice for many towers, and it’s refreshing to see a volume carmaker still offering DERVs at this price point. Diesel isn’t for everyone, though, and happily the 148bhp 1.5 ‘eTSI’ mild-hybrid – which is the one fitted to this car and the one that won an award in Towcar of the Year 2025 – does a stellar job of towing a 1,200-1,300kg caravan. It also offers excellent day-to-day fuel economy and refinement.

The ‘mild’ hybrid element of this engine is very mild indeed. Far from being a conventional, full-hybrid, like a Toyota Corolla, a mild-hybrid uses a belt-integrated starter generator that acts as an alternator. It recovers energy from braking and stores it in a 48V battery pack, which is then used to assist the engine when starting and gives an extra boost in power. It works most noticeably on start-up and when coasting towards traffic lights, for example, and really improves fuel economy – I regularly averaged 52mpg during testing.

The mild-hybrid system also really smooths over the DSG automatic gearbox’s characteristic foible of seeming hesitant at low revs. The only annoyance is the brake pedal, which is set up to recover energy during braking – it can seem overly grabby and difficult to modulate.

There was never really anything much wrong with the way the Mk8 rode and handled; Volkswagen hasn’t changed a thing for the 8.5. The steering is well-weighted and crisp, the chassis is agile, and there’s excellent body control. Our test car had the optional £870 Dynamic Chassis Control – or adaptive dampers in non-tech speak. It’s a pricey feature but really improves the Golf’s already excellent ride and handling balance – the dampers can be really slackened off to give a pillowy soft ride, or stiffened to give sharper responses.

Towing – 80%

These towing impressions are from the judging process of Towcar of the Year 2025, where the Golf was put through a gruelling set of tests, from high-speed braking to gearbox-grilling hill start assessments. The Golf was in a class comprising two similarly powered but non-mild-hybrid VW Group SUVs and a full-hybrid-powered Hyundai Kona; it was mightily impressive in such company.

That mild-hybrid assistance, albeit small, gave extra oomph to the 1.5-litre four-cylinder engine on long, increasingly steep sections of the test course, and again in the hill start test. It also helped smooth out gear changes on faster sections.

The car’s light-of-foot feel and agile chassis set-up give the whole outfit a lovely sense of fluidity on all types of road and at all speeds, and those adaptive dampers, while expensive, are a very worthwhile option for caravanners.

Verdict – 84%

The latest Golf improves on what went before, particularly when it comes to technology, while also sticking to the tried-and-tested Golf formula. It’s a superb all-rounder.