The market for station wagons … of any size … in Australia certainly isn’t what it once was but there are still some car makers out there who are producing quality vehicles for those of us who have a need for a station wagon.
The release of a new VW Golf wagon shows that Volkswagen want to be part of the market for smaller wagons and with prices starting at $26,990 (plus on-roads) there’s sure to be some interest in this vehicle.
The new Volkswagen Golf wagon comes in two basic equipment levels … the Trendline and the Comfortline … with a choice of two turbo-charged petrol and two diesel engines coupled to either a manual or automatic transmission.
Diesel or petrol?
The petrol engines produce 90kW or 118kW and are designed to be run on premium unleaded petrol. Volkswagen says that the 90kW engine will return combined fuel consumption figure of just 6.2L/100km while the 118kW engine will return 6.3L/100km when coupled to the automatic gearbox.
The diesel engines are 1.6-litre and 2.0litre and they produce slightly less power than the petrol engines. The output for the 1.6-litre diesel is 77kW while the 2.0-litre diesel produces 103kW of power.
The smaller diesel coupled to the automatic transmission will give you 4.7L/100km while the 2.0-litre diesel 5.7L/100km.
Luggage space
The amount of available space for luggage is important for most station wagon buyers and the new VW Golf wagon certainly has plenty of space once the rear seats are folded down. With the seats up there’s 505 litres of useable space and that almost triples to 1495 litres with the rear seats folded forward.
All models come with a cargo partition net that can be attached just behind the rear seats to give you even more space in the luggage area. When the rear seats are folded forward the cargo partition net can be moved to a position just behind the front seats.
Four tie-down eyes are also provided on the side panels in the cargo area.
Safety features
The VW Golf wagon is fitted with front, side and head airbags. The side airbags are integrated into the backrests of the front seats and protect the front seat occupants’ chest, abdomen and pelvis.
The head airbags are located in the usual position and cover an area from the A pillar right back to the C pillar. All the airbags are designed to remain fully inflated for enough time to provide protection in case of a rollover.
A reversing camera is not fitted as standard to either the Trendline or the Comfortline but it is available as an option. Park Assist is also available as an option.
Comfort
Air conditioning is standard on all vehicles as you would expect. Leather upholstery is standard for the Comfortline while the base model Trendline vehicles have black cloth seat covers.
Electric windows, remote central locking and electrically heated door mirrors are standard across the range. Cargo area lighting and numerous storage compartments are also standard on all vehicles.
If you’re prone to getting lost then you’ll love the $3000 dollar satellite navigation system and there’s an electric sunroof available too.
As far as small station wagons go Volkswagen seems to have all the bases covered with their new VW Golf wagon.