Plain Jane Golf holds its ground

VW: HATCHBACK REMINDS WHAT HERITAGE FEELS LIKE >>> 1.4 TSI delivers refinement, efficiency, comfort in a world of noisy rivals.

- Mark Jones

When you say VW Golf, almost everybody thinks GTI, but in our case, VW Golf means 1.4 TSI. And you would think that this is not enough to make this Golf a great car. But the new VW Golf 8.5 in 1.4 TSI guise is a brilliant car. So, good in fact, we just might never return it.

Long story short. Our VW Golf was due to return. But fate and my daughter had other plans. Her car was misbehaving and required a visit to the workshop, and this left her without any transport.

Having never really paid any attention to our VW Golf, mostly because it wasn't the flashy R Line decked out derivative, she was now about to have it bail her out.

What was meant to be a oneor two-day loan, turned into a kidnapping. As a recently graduated varsity kid in her first real job that is still using her old student car from years ago, the upgrade to this VW Golf 8.5, 1.4 TSI Life Plus proved too much.