Volkswagen didn’t wait until its ‘home’ show – the 2013 Frankfurt Motor Show – to preview the all-new Golf, choosing instead to wheel-out a couple of production-ready prototypes in Paris. In fact the all-new seventh-generation Golf will go on-sale in Europe shortly.
Good news is one of the Paris reveals was the all-new Golf GTI (some European websites had the GTI model dead and buried when the all-new lineup debuts). Also on display in Paris was a fuel-sipping BlueMotion model.
Clearly evident was the sharp new styling, highlighted by piercing headlights and much more dynamic lines than the current model. Of course the hallmark, thick ‘Golf’ C-pillar remains.
Volkswagen says the all-new Golf lineup delivers enhanced interior space, 30-litres of extra cargo capacity and new safety technologies including multi-collision braking (automatically keeps the brakes jammed-on after an initial crash to lessen the intensity of subsequent impacts) and PreCrash passenger protection.
Across the range, fuel consumption drops by around 23 per-cent including a new 102kW petrol engine with cylinder de-activation which returns 4.8l/100kms and a turbo-diesel listed at 3.8l/ 100kms.
Even the 162kW Golf GTI sets a new record for low fuel consumption for Volkswagen’s sports star – 18-per-cent down on the current model at 6.0l/100kms.
But the real star will come later when Volkswagen Golf BlueMotion arrives – with fuel consumption reckoned to be 3.2l/100kms and exhaust Co2 emissions rated at just 85g/km.
