VII

When the venerable Golf returned in its seventh generation it had a hard act to follow.

The class leading hatchback has always managed to stay just ahead of the competition with a clever combination of quality and desirability but 2013 was not to be the year it had its title taken.

The Golf 7 arrived with only subtle aesthetic design changes making it hard to distinguish between the sixth generation version without direct comparison but many changes had been made under the skin.

Both new TSI petrol and TDI diesel engines were more powerful and used less fuel but Volkswagen missed the chance to save even more fuel by omitting the cylinder deactivation technology available in Europe.

Standard safety systems were updated with collision braking, which prevents the car rolling off after a crash, a driver fatigue sensor and Volkswagen’s XDL stability system.

Optional safety features included city braking, which prevents rear-end collisions, driver assisting automated parking and an occupant protection system which pre-tensions seatbelts and closes windows and sunroof if a collision is likely.

Interior spec was also boosted with a 5.8-inch touchscreen, USB and Bluetooth connectivity, cruise control all coming as standard.

The slow selling 77 TSI was dropped from the range in 2013 in favour of the better equipped and better performing 90TSI.

And as if all of the improvements weren’t enough the new Golf came in at a lower entry price.