Golf 6 Wagon

[Skoda Convert]

Has anyone sen what VW are doing with this Golf Wagon launch? I was poking around in the Golf 6 thread and noticed some of the guys and gals were talking about the Golf 6 Wagon and its rumoured pricing.

I looked at some Journo's write ups and it appears VW has hinted that it will be like most estate variants in the VW range and roughly $2,000 more than the hatch variant. This would mean a $27,990 price point in the 1.4ltr manual.

Thats a quieter car on road, same platform, stronger more fuel efficient engine and most of all the badge for (give or take $500) the same starting price.

Whats the logic behind this? They can't honestly believe that this won't have an impact on what appears to be diminished Skoda sales, or am i looking at this all wrong?

[spellbound]

I have a feeling its all tied into the resurection of the wagon , economy and some suv's is dont go hand in hand .

Big wagons use lots of fuel , so lets down size .

As a competitor to the octavia , yes in the lower end models , the rs wagon , correct me if iam wrong is the biggest seller in the octavia range , so unless they do a golf gti wagon the rs should not suffer .

Personally if they did a performance wagon in the golf i would be there , as my first choice was a gti , but i needed the space .

Time will tell i suppose , iam really keen on the superb wagon , which may steal sales from the passat .

Maybe its just VAG blitzing the whole market .

[dazag]

So VW Australia is thinking of bringing these into the country then?? I have yet to see an Estate version of the Golf Hatch, but then again I haven't really been looking.
Would be interesting to see the dimension differences between the Golf Estate and the Skoda Octavia, even though based on the same Golf platform (although I had heard the Octavia is based on a passat chassis running golf running gear ??) I would imagine the Golf Estate would cater for the smaller car market, where as the Octavia is more the mid size market.

But that's just an unadvised opinion because I know nothing of the Golf estate.

[Antiplastix]

I the back of this months "Wheels" mag. there is a short blurb on it. Doesn t really tell you much, though it does have a picture of the Mk.6 Golf Wagon.

[backdoc]

So VW Australia is thinking of bringing these into the country then?? I have yet to see an Estate version of the Golf Hatch, but then again I haven't really been looking.
Would be interesting to see the dimension differences between the Golf Estate and the Skoda Octavia, even though based on the same Golf platform (although I had heard the Octavia is based on a passat chassis running golf running gear ??) I would imagine the Golf Estate would cater for the smaller car market, where as the Octavia is more the mid size market.

But that's just an unadvised opinion because I know nothing of the Golf estate.

I was told the Octy runs the Golf estate chasis, which WAS unique as that wasn't sold in Oz.

[K1W1]

I the back of this months "Wheels" mag. there is a short blurb on it. Doesn t really tell you much, though it does have a picture of the Mk.6 Golf Wagon.

VW announced the Mk6 Golf wagon availability late last year (April arrival if I remember correctly) it was in the motoring section of the daily papers at the time.

[zach]

My 2c the Golf wagon/estate looks like an afterthought whereas the Octavia wagon/estate looks like it's meant to be!

[Spook]

So VW Australia is thinking of bringing these into the country then?? I have yet to see an Estate version of the Golf Hatch, but then again I haven't really been looking.
Would be interesting to see the dimension differences between the Golf Estate and the Skoda Octavia, even though based on the same Golf platform (although I had heard the Octavia is based on a passat chassis running golf running gear ??) I would imagine the Golf Estate would cater for the smaller car market, where as the Octavia is more the mid size market.

But that's just an unadvised opinion because I know nothing of the Golf estate.

VW isn't "thinking" anymore, it's definitely happening. It is on the VW website for registration to get more info.

As for dimensions, per the UK VW website, the Golf Estate has the following:

Length (mm): 4,534
Width (mm): 1,781
Height (mm): 1,504
Wheelbase (mm): 2,578
Luggage capacity (L): 505 / 1,495 (rear seats up/down)

Compared to Octavia Wagon:

Length (mm): 4,569 (4,599 for RS)
Width (mm): 1,769
Height (mm): 1,468 (1,451 for RS)
Wheelbase (mm): 2,578
Luggage capacity (L): 580 / 1,620 (rear seats up/down)

So they both have the same wheelbase, but the Golf Estate is shorter, wider, taller, and has less cargo space.

[TuNeS]

The Golf Wagon has been around in Europe and the USA for ages, although they are sold as Jetta wagons. I saw heaps of them in NY late last year.

The golf wagon will take Skoda's sales in the entry level wagons, but I think the 118TSI and the vRS wont be affected at all. The golf comes with a crappy choice of engines. You also get a bigger boot in the Skoda's.

Also, the Golf wagon is built in Mexico from what I have been reading, while the Octavia's are built in Europe in the Czech Reupublic. Just hope siesta doesnt conicide with your Golf Wagon build

Also, the Octavia is built on the Golf platform shared with many other VAG cars. See here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkswa...oup_A_platform

The PQ35 platform is designed to be more modular and flexible than previous A platforms. For the first time, a fully independent suspension front and rear will be present in all A platform vehicles. There is also a derivative version of this platform for 'B'-class cars (with larger variations expected in the future) called PQ46.

PQ35 is intended for compact-size vehicles, and PQ46 is an enlarged version for mid-size vehicles, such as the Volkswagen Passat. A common misconception is that the PQ46 generation of the Passat is based on the "B6" (PL46) platform. However, this transverse-engined Passat has little in common with the longitudinal-engined "B6" Audi A4.

Current and expected PQ35 platform cars (Typ numbers in brackets):

* Audi A3 Mk2 (8P)
* Volkswagen Touran (1T)
* Volkswagen Caddy (2K)
* SEAT Altea (5P)
* Volkswagen Golf Mk5 / GTI / R32 / Rabbit Mk5 (1K)
* Škoda Octavia Mk2 (1Z)
* Volkswagen Golf Plus (5M)
* SEAT Toledo Mk3 (5P)
* Volkswagen Jetta Mk5 (1K)
* SEAT León Mk2 (1P)
* Audi TT Mk2 (8J)
* Volkswagen Eos (1F)
* Volkswagen Tiguan (5N)
* Volkswagen Scirocco (13)
* Audi Q3
* Volkswagen Golf Mk6 (5K)
* Škoda Yeti

[JP-009]

Just in reference to Spook's stats, one of the key reasons that I bought the Octavia was the depth/length of the 'boot'. It is very important for us to be able to store the pram in length ways (and not across) the boot to make better use of the space avaliable.

This was not possible in our Mk5 Golf (which I was very sad to sell), and would not be possible in the current Golf wagon/estate.

External dimentions and total volume figures are fine, but it is what is on the inside of the car where you sit and store stuff that is really important to me.

I will have to go to the UK site and check out the interior figures to compare usable space as a matter of curiosity.

I agree with Zack, that the Golf wagon rear looks very much an after thought. VW should have stuck with the original hatch and lights, but just extended the body.

Beware that I think that my 2TDI Elegance wagon is the greatest family car that I have ever driven and owned, so my comments are prejudiced

[VW Convert]

Also, the Golf wagon is built in Mexico from what I have been reading, while the Octavia's are built in Europe in the Czech Reupublic. Just hope siesta doesnt conicide with your Golf Wagon build

Let's separate perception from reality in regards build quality from Mexico or any other country for that matter. I had a Mexican built Jetta and now have an Eos (built in Portugal) the build quality on both cars is exceptional.

When companies such as VW build build factories in other countries they build replicas of their German factories and set up identical work processes and as car assembly is so highly automated these days, there is much greater uniformity in build quality. The nett result is that the difference in build quality from country to country is negligible.

And for all those out there that have the perception of build quality of cars built in Germany being superior because of all the meticulous German factory workers, I suggest you take a trip to Germany and go see some car assembly plants, a significant majority of factory floor workers are from former Eastern bloc and other less developed countries.

Cheers

George

[Golf Loon]

I heard that only VWA have the wagons at the mo and no decision to sell them here has yet been made.

I hope they do though.

[K1W1]

All RHD 3 Series BMW's and C class Mercedes (with the exception of the top of the line sports models) have been assembled in South Africa for around 10 years. The first M class Mercedes models came from the USA.
Most Honda cars in Australia come from Thailand.
RHD Nissan Pathfinders are assembled in Portugal.
My last Land Rover was assembled in Britain with an Austrian made motor, Japanese manufactured gearbox, US manufactured rear diff, mainly French made lenses on the indicators and lights and a Japanese stereo fitted in Australia.
Who cares where a car is assembled? What you are buying is the manufacturers reputation and their ability and willingness to support it.

[woofy]

The last line is what has upheld Skoda in other countries, I truly hope we will start seeing it visibly here.

Does it matter where a car is assembled, I would say probably yes. Merc are a bad example, quality control there wherever they have been assembled has been bad for a long time. BMW are better but again questionable.

I do know that SA made Golfs seem to have more rattles than from anywhere else, and that US made anything, eg Mazda 6s are awful over there, and seem to have problems not seen elsewhere. I haven't heard of any issues coming from Thailand carwise. On a similar vein though I know Nintendo have had more issues since they moved manufacturing from Japan to China even with more modern factories, so that doesn't always count.

In the case of Skoda people seem to point out that they have more success due to the most modern factories out of VAG, I would be more expecting that its the work ethic of the workers themselves, unlike over here, anyone working for Skoda seems to have a pride in their work, they haven't become jaded, or complain about the myriad of crap people who have been in Westernised countries do. I know a few German guys via my company, and they themselves don't buy German cars as they think they are overpriced for the quality, one even has a Roomster as he found it better built than his previous A3.

Not so much here anymore, just had a recent reminder of that-I had a fence and gate put in this week, which wasn't a cheapo job. It was mostly done when I last saw it but the gate was taken away to be done at the guys house and it was put in while I was away. I get back to find that unlike the fence, the wood used was probably not first grade, one was cracked so bad you could see through it, and one panel is split from the screw and a section of it about to fall off due to that. Several panels have multiple screw holes where they kept moving the screw until the hit the frame. It was obvious to Stevie Wonder, so not sure why you would leave a gate like that, but again for some people it may have been good enough. I sent him an email to say it was stuffed and could he fix it before the weekend is out. He is coming by tomorrow morning to do it. I'm sure it would have been easier for him to just do it right the first time, but who knows maybe his son the apprentice who keeps appearing and disappearing on the job did it and he didn't see his crap work.

If you have a dig around Briskoda there is a thread someone posted about a tour of the Skoda plants, from their description, there definitely is a lot of manual labour still going on the assembly line, now if someone is pissed at their employer, they might not care about torqueing a bolt right over someone who is glad to have their job. A lot of rattles seem to come from the last things put in, which inevitably are done by hand.

Despite all that, these will come up against the Skodas and it might mean that they drop the pretence and lower prices somewhat as they will lose the advantage they have had at the moment.

[Frufru]

Build quality

It is well known fact that VW has had big problems with reliability of vehicles produced in Mexico. There is a reason behind a poor perception of VW vehicles reliability in US market!! On the other hand, VW did quite a lot lately there so their quality must have improved. Mind you they still decided to shut down production in Puebla in Mexico I have heard.

I still think that when I look at dishwasher or anything build in Germany it just have something solid in it, unlike a dishwasher assembled in Turkey from the same manufacturer. There are awful lot of Germans in Germany to think that Wolfsburg assembly is manned by someone else.

So overall, I would say it is a factor for me where the goods were manufactured. On the other hand, car assemblies these days use the parts from different suppliers, so Golfs assembled in SA still have considerable amount of parts from Germany (or Czech Republic for that matter).