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 I
have to admit that when I saw the 2010 Volkswagen Golf parked in my
driveway, I thought the test car delivery service had delivered the wrong
car. This micro machine couldn't be a Golf. It appeared to be much too
small and the corners around its rear hatch looked much too rounded. I
had a flashback to 20 years ago when several American auto writers were
invited to Germany to drive VW's so-called three-liter Lupo, a tiny car
that got huge fuel mileage. That Lupo could cover 100 kilometers (67 miles)
on a mere three liters (0.8 gallons) of fuel. Do that math and that's
nearly 80 miles per gallon. This new Golf reminded me of that old Lupo.
But as we all know,
looks can be deceiving. Open the door - or the rear hatch - and climb
inside and this rounded off and therefore smallish-looking Golf is roomy
as ever (well, except, perhaps, for the limited knee room the driver finds
between the steering column and center stack).
But those sitting
in front can stretch their legs, and so can those sitting in the back
seat.
While I had the Golf,
I had to do a run to Costco and there was plenty of room beneath the rear
hatch for all sorts of pallet-sized, feed-an-army containers of water,
soda pop and fruit juice boxes to be stacked deep and wide.
With its tight dimensions
- 101.5-inch wheelbase, 165.4-inch overall length - the 2010 VW Golf is
easy to wedge into whatever parking space has been left between two behemoth
sport utility vehicles in the parking lot.
The Golf we drove
was the two-door version with the standard 2.5-liter, four-cylinder engine,
but with the optional six-speed Tiptronic transmission, which adds $1,100
to the sticker price.
Seems strange to
us, but it costs nearly as much as the Tiptronic to equip the Golf with
an optional power sunroof, which our car had and which adds a thousand
bucks to the customer's cost. Base price on the 2-door 2010 Golf is $17,490.
As-tested price on our example was $20,565 when you added in the gearbox,
sunroof, $225 in cold weather gear (heated front seats and windshield
washer nozzles), and the $750 in destination charges.
Twenty grand for
such a small package seems pricey unless that small package has the visual
and dynamic appeal of, say, a Mini Cooper.
 
On the other hand,
standard equipment for the Golf includes power mirrors with turn signal
repeaters, 15-inch wheels, intermittent windshield wipers, air conditioning,
cruise control, power locks and windows, single-CD audio, front/side/curtain
airbags (with optional rear-seat side bags available), eight-way manually
adjustable front seats, height-adjustable steering column and carpeted
cargo area.
The Golf we drove
was designed and assembled in Germany, and equipped with a transmission
produced in Japan and an engine made in Mexico. While that engine is pretty
spunky, the car is rated at only 23 miles per gallon in city driving and
30 on the highway. We've come to expect cars of this size - and even larger
cars - to produce much better fuel economy figures, especially on the
highway.
The 2.5-liter engine
does generate 170 horsepower and 180 pound-feet of torque. It launches
the Golf off the line promptly and, with the Tiptronic, accelerates to
60 miles per hour in just a tick more than eight seconds.
Thanks to a footprint
that's 60.7 inches wide in front and 59.6 in the rear, and to VW's well-engineered
steering and suspension, the Golf may have a redesigned body, but remains
responsive.
The new Golf also
comes with an updated new vehicle warranty that includes 24-hour roadside
assistance for 3 years or 36,000 miles and 5-year/60,000 mile coverage
of the powertrain, plus no-charge "carefree" maintenance for
the 3/36,000 period.
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