2017-03-03

Yes, done the search. No thread on this.

http://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/new-cars/2017-volkswagen-golf-prices-revealed

New looks, new engine, a fresh start for VW?

Maybe they have fixed the gearbox issue?

Interested in this as a good friend's wife is looking at this.

The facelifted 2017 Volkswagen Golf features subtle styling changes, upgraded interior appointments and a newly developed 1.5-litre four-cylinder turbocharged petrol engine.

Design

Visually, the 2017 Golf departs little from today’s four-year-old model, with only minor changes to its exterior.

Up front, there's a lightly reprofiled bumper with altered grille and air duct styling, lightly restyled wings and revised headlights with altered graphics, LED daytime running lights and a new full LED main beam function in place of the earlier Xenon operated units. The rear receives full LED tail-lights and a newly designed bumper featuring integral tailpipes on the popular R-line styling package.

Further changes to the appearance of Europe’s best-selling car include a new range of wheel designs and exterior colours.



Technology

The main focus of the changes made to the seventh-generation Golf is reserved for the interior. New to the facelifted model are revised trims for the doors, dashboard and centre console.

In line with other recent new Volkswagen models, it also receives a new optional Active Info Display with 12.3in high-definition monitor, which can be ordered in place of the standard analogue instrument pack.

The Active Info Display supports five different information profiles, called classic, consumption and range, efficiency, performance and driver assistance and navigation. Depending on the model, the digital instrument graphics are customised, with the GTI receiving a predominantly red theme and the GTE using mainly blue hue.

More significant are the updates brought to the various infotainment systems offered on the new Golf. The facelifted model receives five optional touch-based systems, all of which now support larger screens and an altered operating system that, on the range-topping Discover Pro unit, supports gesture control.

The earlier 5.0in monitors of the Composition Touch and Composition Colour systems are replaced by 6.5in units, while the 6.5in screens of the Composition Media and Discover Media have made way for larger 8.0in monitors. The top-line Discover Pro’s previous 8.0in display is superseded by a 9.2in screen featuring touch, voice command and gesture control operation.

Volkswagen Golf variants to be cut from the range

Together with the new optional infotainment systems, the facelifted Golf also receives the latest generation of Volkswagen’s on-line services, including an updated App Connect feature that allows it to integrate with the latest versions of Apple CarPlay and Android Auto and MirrorLink.

Volkswagen’s best-selling model also adopts a number of new or updated driver assistant systems. Included is Traffic Jam Assist, which automatically applies the brakes to ease driving in stop/go traffic at speeds of up to 37mph, Emergency Assist, which sounds a warning and subsequently initiates an emergency stop when it detects the driver is incapacitated, Lane Assist plus ACC for active lane keeping with countersteer ability, an updated City Emergency Braking system that brings pedestrian detection to the existing Front Assist function that employees autonomous braking for collision avoidance, and Park Assist 3.0 that provides semi-autonomous parking in both parallel and perpendicular spaces.



Engines and gearboxes

Volkswagen has confirmed the introduction of an advanced new turbocharged 1.5-litre petrol engine, although it is yet to reveal the full petrol engine line-up or details of the any of the diesel units for the facelifted seventh-generation Golf.

Kicking off proceedings are Volkswagen’s familiar EA211 turbocharged 1.2 and 1.4-litre petrol powerplants in successors to today’s 1.2 TSI and 1.4 TSI models.

The new 1.5-litre four-cylinder engine, which will power a pair of new 1.5 TSI EVO models, is a development of the existing EA211 engine. It draws on a number engineering solutions already brought to sister company Audi’s new turbocharged 2.0-litre four-cylinder unit, including a new combustion process based around the Miller cycle principle, a turbocharger with variable turbine geometry and Active Cylinder Management that idles the two middle cylinders on light throttle loads for added fuel savings.

In its most powerful guise as fitted to the Golf 1.5 TSI Evo, the new 1.5-litre engine delivers 148bhp, along with 184lb ft at 1500rpm, giving it the same output as the 1.4-litre engine it replaces. No performance claims have been revealed, but Volkswagen quotes combined cycle fuel consumption and an average CO2 rating of 57.7mpg and 110g/km respectively, bettering its predecessor by 3.4mpg and 9g/km.

An even more economical version of the new 1.5-litre four-cylinder powers a new Golf 1.5 TSI Evo BlueMotion model. Tuned to deliver 128bhp and 147lb ft, it alos receives a coasting function that shuts down the engine on extended periods of trailing throttle, providing claimed combined consumption of 61.4mpg and average CO2 emissions of 104g/km.

By comparison, the lower-powered version of the earlier 1.4-litre engine delivered 123bhp and 147lb ft for respective fuel consumption and emission figures of 54.3mpg and 120g/km.

Among future developments being pursued by Volkswagen for its latest petrol engine is a particulate filter, which is claimed to further reduce its emissions.

Further up the range, the Golf GTI’s existing turbocharged 2.0-litre four-cylinder petrol engine has been retuned, giving it an added 10bhp in both models. In the standard GTI, the EA888 designated unit now delivers 226bhp, while the GTI Performance now develops 242bhp.



The facelifted Golf GTE retains the same driveline as today’s model, with a 148bhp 1.4-litre four-cylinder petrol engine and 101bhp electric motor. Together, the two power units provide combined system outputs of 201bhp and 258lb ft.

So new engines, same drivetrain, more features and safety items

Early reviews:

http://www.whatcar.com/news/2017-volkswagen-golf-15-tsi-evo-review/

http://www.straitstimes.com/lifestyle/motoring/golf-ups-its-game

Volkswagen puts a bigger engine and more gadgets in Golf's facelift

Kong Yongyao In Majorca, Spain

You will be forgiven for failing to recognise Volkswagen's facelifted Golf as its styling changes amount to merely gentle grooming of an already inoffensively handsome face.

New for 2017 are fresh LED lights and a subtle reprofiling of the bumpers. Inside, you will see a familiar dashboard. Flamboyant design is, as it always has been, absent. Instead, the interior remains a shining example of luxuriant material quality and ergonomic good sense.

The Highline test car has a new 9.2-inch Discover Pro touchscreen infotainment system. Its functions are numerous, including smartphone mirroring in a vibrant, sharp, responsive and easy to navigate interface. The loss of hard buttons and knobs may take some getting used to, however.

Even more impressive is the new Active Info Display - a 12.3-inch fully digitised and customisable screen in place of analogue gauges. Apart from putting far more information in front of you, it allows you to control many functions via steering wheel buttons. Largely aping sister company Audi's "virtual cockpit", the execution is superbly intuitive and takes little time to learn.

Bucking the downsizing trend, a new 1.5-litre engine will replace the existing 1.4-litre. A 128bhp BlueMotion version runs on a Miller combustion cycle for better efficiency.

The test-car is a 148bhp variant. On a mixture of motorways and country roads, it proves more than capable of partaking in the cut and thrust of traffic with ease. Combined with a new wet-clutch seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox, its response is immediate and generous all the way up to the redline, even if the soundtrack is more polite than stirring.

SPECS / VOLKSWAGEN GOLF 1.5TSI

Price: To be announced when it arrives in fourth quarter

Engine: 1,498cc 16-valve inline-4 turbocharged

Transmission: Seven-speed dual-clutch with manual select

Power: 148bhp at 5,000rpm

Torque: 250Nm at 1,500-3,000rpm

0-100kmh: 8.3 seconds

Top speed: 216kmh

Fuel consumption: 5.1 litres/100km

Agent: Volkswagen Centre Singapore

Volkswagen does not tout any major chassis revisions for the facelift, which means the car retains its confident gait. Ride is on the firm side, but well-judged, and progressive damping means where bumps intrude, they do so in a muted fashion and without taking away the authority of the wheels' contact with the road or harshly deflecting the car's body.

Response is always sure-footed and predictable. It is thus rarely necessary to make sudden corrections mid-corner. Altogether, the Golf remains a car in which you can undramatically enjoy the business of guiding quickly and accurately from point to point.

The Golf is billed as spacious but compact, high-tech but affordable, comfortable yet capable of satisfying the occasionally interested sporting driver.

That is a tall order for any manufacturer and a brief as dauntingly broad as any. Yet, it is this astounding breadth of ability that has allowed the Golf to transcend class boundaries. You could be the richest person in Singapore, put a Golf in your stable, drive it every day and feel nothing but quiet satisfaction that you have made a great motoring decision in good taste.

Wisely, then, substantial as the improvements in powertrain and infotainment are, the fundamental formula remains resolutely the same. The Golf continues to do what it does best, only now a little bit better.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/cars/news/new-2017-volkswagen-golf-revealed/

More reviews:

http://www.drive.com.au/new-car-reviews/2017-volkswagen-golf-75-new-car-review-20170214-gud3k1.html

Show more