This is VW’s latest Golf Plus, with a Scirocco-inspired nose and high-quality interior. And while the exterior changes might not look much, Volkswagen will tweak the Golf Plus just enough to designate it a Mk2 model. Expect the revised car to make its debut at the Bologna motor show in December 2008.
Talk me through the tweaks to the VW Golf Plus
Most obvious is that nose job, which takes inspiration from the Scirocco and new Mk6 Golf. But the lights on the Golf Plus won’t change too much – the main visual difference will come from an all-new grille and front bumper. Apart from that, the exterior remains unchanged. It’s under the skin that VW’s engineers have made the difference.
So what surgery can’t I see?
The platform has been carried over from the current Golf Plus, but VW engineers have been hard at work making this new car quieter than ever, and cheaper to build. So there is a revised door design to snip production costs, plus new window seals and engine damping to bring a hushed calm to the cabin.
As well as being quieter than before, the new interior will feature VW’s latest tech, lifted from the Mk6 Golf. Expect Adaptive Chassis Control (ACC) and Automatic Distance Control (ADC) to feature, along with seven airbags and a new head restraint system.
The engine range should feature a 1.4, 1.4 TSI and a diesel in two states of tune, but the 1.4 will eventually be replaced by a 1.2 TSI and a new 1.6 common-rail oil-burner will appear late in 2009. Expect prices to climb by at least £750, offset by a more generous spec, so the Golf Plus should start at £14,000 when it goes on sale in the UK in summer 2009.
