2016 Volkswagen Golf TSI S review – Roadshow

The Good Its styling won’t age quickly and butcher resale value, its infotainment loadout is impressive on lower trims and its hatchback layout provides ample rear-seat and cargo space.

The Bad Its five-speed manual is old and seemingly fragile, and its fuel economy isn’t exactly all that and a bag of chips.

The Bottom Line For those that prefer to fly under the radar, the 2016 Volkswagen Golf’s practicality is sure to charm.

For those who err on the side of caution, the Volkswagen Golf has always been a pillar of sensible vehicle ownership. Not everybody needs to be flashy. Most people just want a car that doesn’t look bad, has competitive equipment and won’t be worth $1,000 in six months’ time. In that sense, the Golf is a damn smart purchase.

Two-door cars aren’t the most sensible vehicles, and Volkswagen does offer a four-door Golf variant, but this Golf I tested made up for its lack of doors with a rear hatchback, providing more than enough space for both cargo and rear passengers. Most competitors don’t even offer coupe variants of their vehicles, nevertheless hatchbacks, and especially not two-door hatchbacks (VW doesn’t call this a three-door, for whatever reason). The only one that comes to mind is Mini.

So if you are looking for a small hatchback, options are limited. Thankfully, the Golf won’t really leave you wanting for more. It’s not loaded with standout equipment, but based on what you get for the price you pay, it’s a solid bet.

Straightforward and easy on the eyes

If you’ve seen one Golf, you’ve seen them all. It doesn’t matter if it’s an old one or a new one, the formula hasn’t really changed in decades, and neither has the design language. There’s no flash here, like there is on a Civic Coupe. It’s restrained, it’s approachable.

You won’t be breakin’ necks in this car, that’s for sure.

Andrew Krok/Roadshow

Volkswagen’s conservative design is largely a good thing, as cars with fantastical elements and sharp creases from fore to aft don’t age well, which can affect resale value. The Golf doesn’t have that problem.

The Golf maximizes the feeling of usable space by keeping the dash nice and thin, too. I don’t like excess dashboard real estate — if I can’t reach the area where dashboard and windshield meet, that’s interior space wasted.

Overall interior layout is ace. HVAC and seat-heater switches live in one area, and the touchscreen infotainment system and its corresponding buttons and dials (hooray!) live above that. I found it easy to commit everything to muscle memory in a short time.

A monochrome information display tucks in between the straightforward black and white gauges, which you peruse with the help of buttons on the steering wheel.

The cloth seats feel rugged and waxy. Personally, I prefer this kind of material, but other editors have called it out for being a bit too hard. The leather-wrapped steering wheel isn’t too chunky, but also not thin enough to belong on a 1994 Buick.

While I usually associate coupes with cramped rear seats, the Golf’s hatchback shape works wonders. My 6-foot frame fit easily in the back, with loads of headroom and a front seat with a built-in handle for quick ingress and egress. It also benefits cargo volume, and with the rear seats stowed flat, I wasn’t exactly hurting for storage space.

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Tech: Pretty fly for a car this cheap

Infotainment is slowly expanding beyond the head unit and incorporating smartphones, and it’s encouraging to see Volkswagen at the forefront of this trend. Even on the next-to-base TSI S model, the Golf comes equipped with a 6.5-inch touchscreen display that includes both Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, along with Volkswagen’s own App-Connect system.

The Golf’s screen contains a proximity sensor, adding more options to the display whenever your hand draws near.

Andrew Krok/Roadshow

The infotainment system itself is a breeze to use. Navigation buttons on the side make switching from page to page a low-distraction affair, and it even features a proximity sensor, hiding the icon dock from view until your hand nears the screen. It’s a pretty trick feature on a $20,000 car.

Oddly enough, this is actually the first year that Volkswagen offers a USB port on the Golf. Before this, it relied on a proprietary cable system, which was both expensive and annoying for families with multiple brands of phone. I wish there was more than just the one port in the center stack, but it’s better than nothing.

A backup camera is also standard on this trim level. Its resolution is high, which is an issue with not just competitors, but certain automakers in general.

The information screen between the gauges is absolutely loaded with information. Unlike others, the music tab will actually tell you what song is playing, not just the radio station you’re tuned into. Once I got a feel for the steering wheel buttons, I found it easy to flip between pages without even looking. Much of the Golf’s information can be easily accessed with a minimal amount of distraction.