SA Road Tests

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This is the home of automobile road tests in South Africa. I drive South African cars, SUVs and LCVs under real-world South African conditions. Many of the vehicles driven are world cars as well, so what you read here possibly applies to the models you get where you live.

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Still the King: 2019 Volkswagen Golf GTI

Fewer gadgets

Posted: May 25 2019

The numbers
Base price: R565 800
Engine: 1984 cc, DOHC 16-valve, four-cylinder turbopetrol
Power: 169 kW between 4700 and 6200 rpm
Torque: 350 Nm between 1500 and 4600 rpm
Zero to 100 km/h: 6.4 seconds
Maximum speed: 248 km/h
Real life fuel consumption: About 8.4 l/100 km
Gearbox: Six speed DSG
Tank: 50 litres
Luggage: 380 – 1270 litres
Ground clearance: 133 mm
Standard tyre size: 225/40R18
Spare: Spacesaver
Turning circle: 10.9 metres
Warranty: 3 years / 120 000 km
Service plan: 5 years / 90 000 km at 15 000 km intervals

Someone wondered recently where buyers go after Golf? Volkswagen tried previously to lure its faithful further upmarket with the Comfort Coupe. We told you in 2012 that it was a bargain, offering a generally nicer car than Audi’s A5 Sportback of that time for considerably less money. But did you listen? Probably not.

VW is trying again with its recently announced Arteon. We’ll see what happens with that because South Africans are generally slow to accept new brands and models. In the meantime there is no guarantee that Golf buyers, on becoming wealthier, would graduate automatically to Audi; they could just as easily jump ship to other brands.

Volkswagen’s solution so far has been to move its more expensive Golfs; GTD, GTI and R, even further upmarket than was originally intended. This helps to retain customers who might otherwise desert, while maintaining profitability with economically installed electronics that have high perceived value. It seems to be working because these “hot” models account for about 60 per cent of all Golf sales.

Polos, in the meantime, take care of the bread-and-butter market - good, honest VWs with single channel air conditioning, normal windscreen wipers and lights that need switching manually. They outsell Golfs by a factor of 14.45:1.

Enough of that. Golf was facelifted in 2017, so you’re familiar with the details. What you might not know, however, is that GTI now has the outgoing Performance Pack engine’s 169kW and 350 Nm. The 0-to-100km/h sprint takes 6.4 seconds, or 0.1 sec quicker, while top speed increases slightly to 248 km/h. 

It earned its NHTSA five-star safety rating with seven airbags, disc brakes front and rear with ABS, EBA, EBD, anti-spin regulation, ESP, electronic diff lock, auto hold and XDS. If you still manage to throw yourself away, despite all that kit, do not expect our sympathy because Mister Darwin evidently needs you.

The standard, for GTI, Composition Media music system with integrated 8-inch colour display has been completely restructured. In addition to two rotary/push-button controls, the eight-speaker, 4x20-Watt system has eight function buttons. Along with SD card and aux-in interfaces, there’s a USB port compatible with Apple CarPlay, a Bluetooth connection for mobile phones and a CD drive. That’s so the old folk can borrow it occasionally.

Optional, at R16 500, Discover Navigation Pro has a 9.2-inch display with resolution increased from 800 x 480 pixels to 1280 x 640. Conventional buttons and knobs are a thing of the past with this; manual control is via the touchscreen and five capacitive surface buttons on the left. It can also be operated by gesture, touch or voice. A proximity sensor calls up additional menu functions when a hand approaches the screen. Despite offering such advanced features and functions, operation remains intuitive and simple.

Adaptive Cruise, Front Assist with City Emergency Braking, Blind Spot Monitor, Rear Traffic Alert, Park Assist, keyless entry and start, reversing camera and Trailer Assist are optional too. Our test car’s optional sunroof (R12 750) worked better than most with only mild hair disturbance at 120 km/h.

Despite not having Golf R’s all-wheel drive, seventh gear and awesome power, this car sits solidly, handles like it’s on rails and runs like the wind for which it’s named. Steering is solidly weighted and feels just right while the standard sports seats provide comfortably firm support. We could get used to having one around.

It’s also practical with more luggage room than offered by the ‘R’, spacious seating for four-and-a-half adults and fewer seldom-used gadgets like selectable driving modes. But if you must have lap timing, it’s in there somewhere. Saving R110 700 on the purchase price sounds good too.

Test unit from VWSA press fleet




What We Do

This is a one-man show, which means that every car reviewed is given my personal evaluation and receives my own seat of the pants judgement - no second hand input here.

Every test car goes through real world driving; on city streets littered with potholes, speed bumps and rumble strips, on freeways and if its profile demands, dirt roads or goat tracks as well. As a result, my test cars do occasionally get dirty. It's all part of the reviewing process.

I do my best to include relevant information like real life fuel economy or a close mathematical calculation, boot size or luggage space, whether the space is both usable and accessible, whether life-sized people can use the back seat (where that applies), basic specs of the vehicle and performance figures if they are published. In the case of clearly identified launch reports, fuel figures are of necessity the laboratory numbers provided with the release material.

If ever I place an article that doesn't cover most things, it's probably because I have dealt with a very similar vehicle already, so you will be able to find what you want in another report under the same manufacturer's heading in the menu on the left.

Hope you like what you see, because there are no commercial interests at work here. There are no advertisers and no “editorial policy” rules. I add bylines to acknowledge sponsored launch functions and the manufacturers or dealerships that provide the test vehicles.  And, as quite a few readers have found, I answer every serious enquiry from my home email address, with my phone numbers attached, so you can see I do actually exist.

Comments or questions?
Want to ask a question, comment or just tell me you completely disagree with what I say? If you want advice or have a genuine concern, I will be happy to hear from you. All I ask is that you write something in the subject line so I know which vehicle you're talking about.