It’s appropriate, on the bicentenary of Darwin’s birth, to investigate the evolution of the origin of the hatchback species, the Volkswagen Golf. While most rivals have gone through more styling changes than David Beckham, the 34-year-old Golf has evolved through gentle natural selection.
There have been six separate iterations — the latest went on sale at the beginning of this year — and every one has been a modest styling revamp of its predecessor. Along the way certain versions of the Golf have done a dodo. There is no longer a V6 version, a V5, or a hot all-wheel drive street racer. Most remaining variants, including the GTi, have adapted to customer demand, been upgraded, and prospered.
Volkswagen, of course, knows a thing or two about long-lived models. The Beetle, the world’s best selling car, may have been the brainchild of the 20th century’s most notorious warmonger and yet, in its 65-year life, became the favoured transport of peaceniks and flower-power love children. It was a strange random mutation (few makers tried to imitate it, and when it died, so did its automotive genes). It also evolved with the speed of a Galapagos tortoise. The Beetle was essentially always the same, with minor facelifts over successive generations. It sold on value-for-money and quirky appeal (unusual for a German car), as well as its reliability.
The Golf, which replaced the Beetle as Volkswagen’s mainstream model, has evolved at a much sharper pace. New Golfs may look similar to their predecessors but, mechanically, successive Golfs have always represented a substantial evolutionary leap. While the Beetle, in its 34th year, was about as high-tech as a mangle, the latest Golf is one of the class technological leaders.
The original Golf was a major trendsetter which set the mechanical and design template for the modern mid-sized family hatchback. Despite the steady evolution, comparing a Mk1 Golf to a Mk6 comes as quite a shock. The common genes are apparent (the chunky rear pillars, the smooth body surfacing, the strong horizontal styling lines) but the cars are very different. The latest Golf is bigger, stronger, faster, heavier and much cleverer. The original Mk1 is now shorter than Volkswagen’s Polo and almost 20 inches smaller than the latest Golf.
Compared with the outgoing Mk5 Golf, the latest version uses the same suspension and floorplan but every body panel, apart from the roof, is new. Sixty per cent of all parts have been changed. The biggest improvements are in cabin quality and in the refinement and performance of its diesel engines, currently the big sellers in Europe.
Today’s new Golf is once again the class leader: the vehicle of choice, in the medium hatchback market, for those who value quality, comfort, good residual values and the confidence that comes with owning a car that has been honed and perfected over more than three decades.
Gavin Green is a motoring journalist and consultant
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