price range "N4-5.4Million, $18000-$24500"
Volkswagen Golf’s have always been very exciting to drive. With their efficient engines, refined driving dynamics, high quality and spacious interiors, they are easily everybody’s favorite.
INTRODUCTION
For the new Golf, it’s obvious that the saying “if it ain’t broken don’t fix it” was applied; other than a minor shuffling of features between trim levels, the 2013 Volkswagen Golf returns majorly unchanged. The 7th generation is however built on a new platform with weight saving measures such as the use of high strength steel making the new Golf up to 100kg lighter than its predecessor. This along with new engines and better aerodynamics, has helped to reduce the Golf’s fuel consumption by up to14% across the range.
In a general sense, hatchbacks attempt to embody the best of all vehicles by incorporating comfort, style, utility, value and performance into one package. Among other hatchbacks, I don’t believe any car does this as well as the VW Golf, this should come as no surprise as the car as been in production for almost 40years. The 2013 VW Golf definitely hits the target in regards to its interior with class leading materials and construction as seen in Audi models. The standard feature list is also quite impressive with gizmos like Bluetooth and an LCD screen all in stock.
TRIM LEVELS AND OPTIONS
The 2013 Volkswagen Golf is a five passenger hatch back available in two and four door body styles, each to come with 2.5Ltr Petrol or Diesel engines “UK having more engine options”.
Standard features on the base 2.5L 2-door Golf include 15 inch wheels, full power accessories, heated mirrors, keyless entry, cruise control, air conditioning, a height adjustable driver seat, a tilt and telescoping steering wheel, a trip computer, a cooled glovebox, day time running lights “unnecessary battery killers if you ask me”, dual polished exhaust tips and an eight speaker sound system with a CD player and an auxiliary audio jack “Our 9ja boys would love this”.
The top of the line 2.5L 4-door Golf with the Convenience and Sun roof package adds heated front seats, sun roof, leather wrapped steering wheels and shift knobs and a premium VIII touch screen sound system with HD Radio as well as all the other standard features.
The premium Golf TDI 2 door includes all of the above equipment as standard minus the sunroof. Also included are 17inch alloy wheels, a sport tuned “hard” suspension, a lower ride height and fog lights.
The Tech package includes the Sunroof and Navigation Items plus adaptive bi xenon headlights, LED running lights and a premium dynamic audio sound system.
ENGINE PERFORMANCE AND ECONOMY.
The 2013 Volkswagen Golf is powered by a 2.5liter five cylinder engine “In UK there might be other engine options” that produces 170hp. A five speed manual transmission is standard while a 6speed automatic is optional. The five speed manual gets EPA ratings of 23mpg “city” and 33mpg “highway” while the automatic gets ratings of 24mpg “city” and 31mpg “highway”. Both however get ratings of 26mpg “11km/litre” combined though its most probable that you’d get higher ratings in real world usage. Whichever way the base Golf isn’t all that economic as it narrowly misses out on our base economy comparism since basically it won’t cover the 11.4km third mainland bridge on a single litre of fuel”
SAFETY
Standard safety features for the 2013 Volkswagen Golf include 6 airbags, traction and stability control, antilock disc brakes, front side airbags and side curtain airbags.
Online prices in the US start at $18,000 for the base model and $24,500 for the Diesel TDI Model so expect a 35-45% increase here in Nigeria meaning prices should range from N4.2Mill to N5.9Mill which is quite high for a compact hatchback
USED MODELS “prices from cheki.com.ng”
As usual, the used 4th generation Golf still goes for about N600k while one can get to 5th generation Golf for less than N900k. A good 2010 model would be priced for upto N2.4Mill and a new 2011 model for N3.7Mill though prices may vary according to trim levels and dealer initiative.
The 2013 Volkswagen Golf “7th Generation”
Reviewed by raffis
on
4:12 AM
Rating:
Reviewed by raffis
on
4:12 AM
Rating: