Test Drive 118TSI

[Rocket]

After the launch last night, did as I was told to do and went and drove one this morning.

Went out in the 118TSI, fitted with nav, sunroof, sportspack, park assist, 7sp DSG, silver.

Short review: Feels much newer inside than the Mk5, though familiar. Drive is nice, perhaps as some reviews suggest, tyre noise is present on coarser roads, perhaps more evident because the interior is actually fairly quiet otherwise.

DSG (in S Mode) sometimes a little hesitant on straight line takeoff, 1 to 2, but once through that is good. 1.4TSI fairly smooth, better in S than D, a little sluggish at very low revs, more so in D.

Outside is nice, sheetmetal is clean, simple, closer to a large Mk 4 in shape (boxier). I am not a fan of the rear light clusters, looks very touareg, and too simple. Cost saving? the Mk 5 had better detail through the lenses.

Front grilles look nicer with the silver strips (higher models) and fog lights complete the front end.

What to do...?

[Manaz]

Cost saving?

Almost certainly - the biggest driver for bringing Golf VI out was to cut per-unit costs.

[blackb6]

Went to the Austral Dealer in Brisbane on Sat. They had heaps of mk6's.. supposedly already sold a few..
Drove a silver 118TSI with sports back, sat nav, roof, leather and reversing camera which i thought was pretty cool in where it pops out.
All the above would come close to 50G on road.
Drive itself, much like the described above, felt laggy low down and the DSG just seemed to hold a sec before changing. In this particular vehicle it happened all the way up to 4th.
Noticed also that when you are at 60, it would be in 4th and then jump to 7th... in a effort to save fuel :!
It is defintely quieter than mkv and more refined.. although in typical VW fashion, the rattle bugs dont appear till a year in..

[JasonP]

blackb6, I think Idrov that same car.
Just ordered a 118TSI DSG with Sport Pack & Leather, RNS510, Dynaudio, Park Assist, in Silver Leaf.
can't wait!

[Lima]

Congrats Jason, sounds like a nice spec too.

[Breno]

I had a browse of the new Golf on the weekend in Brisbane, one strange thing I spotted at the dealer was a TDI with Sport Pack, nav etc. basically all the options available and it had Bi-Xenon HID headlights or what appeared to be xenons but I find no mention of these in any official literature. My Liberty has Bi-Xenon Hids and these look exactly the same. ????

[Splashalot]

I had a browse of the new Golf on the weekend in Brisbane, one strange thing I spotted at the dealer was a TDI with Sport Pack, nav etc. basically all the options available and it had Bi-Xenon HID headlights or what appeared to be xenons but I find no mention of these in any official literature. My Liberty has Bi-Xenon Hids and these look exactly the same. ????

Good pick-up, Breno - zenons don't appear anywhere in the Mk6 literature - either as std fitment or accessory.

Hopefully this is just a printing oversight.

[Rocket]

I had a browse of the new Golf on the weekend in Brisbane, one strange thing I spotted at the dealer was a TDI with Sport Pack, nav etc. basically all the options available and it had Bi-Xenon HID headlights or what appeared to be xenons but I find no mention of these in any official literature. My Liberty has Bi-Xenon Hids and these look exactly the same. ????

Maybe your liberty doesn't actually have xenons?

[Breno]

Maybe your liberty doesn't actually have xenons?

I can assure you my Liberty has Bi-Xenons complete with the mandatory squirters/cleaners that the ADR's require, i'll stake my house on it. The Golf in question had lights very different to the rest of the MK VI's on show.