Volkswagen Golf Bluemotion

FOR GREEN, READ BLUE
Volkswagen has underscored its commitment to environmental responsibility by extending the BlueMotion theme to the Golf range. Andy Enright reports

With environmental and efficiency factors scoring ever higher on the purchasing criteria of car buyers, Volkswagen couldn’t afford to sit back and lose the initiative. The Golf BlueMotion features a combined economy figure of 62.8mpg and 119g/km CO2 emissions at prices which start at just over £15,000. Think of it as responsibility without regret.

Opinion polls can be slyly deceptive. Ask most people if they would voluntarily drive a more environmentally efficient car and they tend to answer in the affirmative, even if that car will cost them a little more money. When it comes to actually buying a car, most vote with their wallets, the environment usually losing out to leather trim and alloy wheels. Volkswagen has studied this buyer behaviour carefully and with the Golf BlueMotion, the German giant thinks it has a car that will appeal to your conscience and your cashflow.

It follows in the footsteps of the Polo BlueMotion, a model that hasn’t been hugely successful thus far. The Golf learns a few lessons from the Polo, being more visually acceptable while at the same time being a more commercially attractive proposition. It wears its green credentials a little more subtly and is all the better for it.

As you might well expect from a car that’s sold on its environmental status, the Golf BlueMotion is no GTI hot hatch. Powered by a 1.9-litre turbodiesel engine, it generates 104bhp which translates into a sprint to 60mph from standstill in 11.3 seconds and on to a top speed of 116mph. This top speed is, incidentally, a couple of miles per hour quicker than the non-BlueMotion model thanks to the car’s slipperier aerodynamics. One reservation I have about this car are the lower rolling resistance tyres which might make a small saving in terms of fuel consumption, but don’t hang on quite as well as softer rubber through a set of corners. If that proved the difference between a near miss and a prang, I’m not sure I’d like that on my conscience.

"Think of it as responsibility without regret…"

The Golf BlueMotion nevertheless makes a very relaxed motorway car. All models are fitted with a five-speed manual gearbox as standard and with longer gear ratios in third, fourth and fifth gears, engine speed levels are lower while driving. These actions alone reduce consumption by about 0.2 litres per 100km and also increase refinement at speed. The turbocharger has also been revised to help improve economy.

Unlike the Polo BlueMotion, with its overt spoilers, wheels and grille treatment, the Golf version is a whole lot more low key. The keen-eyed will spot the BlueMotion badging on the grille and the rear panel but otherwise few would spot that this is anything but a stock Golf. The twin fans, the modified grille, the flow-optimised underbody and the harder compound tyres aren’t immediately obvious and the design details such as the low engine idling speed and the fitment of a diesel particulate filter aren’t broadly publicised either. After all, is there anything worse than the overt and sanctimonious smugness of a typical hybrid car driver?

Otherwise, the BlueMotion is much like any other Golf Mk V model. Both three and five-door bodystyles are available and there’s plenty of room to stretch out. The interior finish keeps the Golf near the top of the family hatch tree. It uses a fascia design reminiscent of the Phaeton luxury saloon, although the centre console is lifted from the Touran mini-MPV. With the exception of its pricier Volkswagen Group cousin, the Audi A3, the cabin has the beating of anything out there as regards ambience. The interior features soft-feel slush-moulded plastics, high-quality switches, subtle use of chrome, fabric-covered A-pillars and blue instrument backlighting with red needles.

Two trim levels are offered with the BlueMotion variant; entry-level S and better-equipped Match. The S is available in three-door guise from £15,565 on the road and for another £500, the five-door car is available. The Match opens at £15,445 for the manual and £16,845 for the DSG-equipped car, this trim level adding 15-inch alloy wheels, iPod preparation, cruise control, automatic lights and a leather-trimmed multifunction steering wheel to a Golf S specification that already includes air conditioning, anti lock brakes, stability control and six airbags. Compared to the stock 1.9-litre TDI, you’re paying a premium of around £500 for reducing your carbon footprint.

View these prices in the light of a typical diesel hatch and they do appear quite expensive, as a 1.8-litre Ford Focus TDCi Zetec is both more powerful and cheaper than the similarly equipped Golf BlueMotion Match but the Golf feels better built inside and many people will spend a little more for the feeling that they have bought a premium product. Anyway, you need to be comparing apples with apples, in this case comparing the Golf BlueMotion with the Focus in comparably eco-friendly 1.6 TDCi ECOnetic (DPF) guise. Here, you’ll be looking at about £16,300 for the 5-door version, a price Volkswagen’s marketers have evidently benchmarked against.

Whether this makes any sense to you depends on a number of parameters. Higher mileage motorists may well be able to recoup that premium back in terms of fuel economy, the BlueMotion’s 62.8mpg comprehensively trumping the standard car’s 53.3mpg showing, if not quite matching its Focus 1.6 TDCi ECOnetic rival. Those venturing regularly into the London congestion charge zone will certainly see the £500 investment over the standard Golf 1.9 TDI as money well spent, the Golf BlueMotion weighing in at under the 120g/km cut off for free entry. The standard Golf 1.9 TDI will get charged £8 per day, so it won’t take too long to make all sorts of sense on the balance sheet if those are your key criteria.

Elsewhere things aren’t so cut and dried. If you’re a low mileage motorist, the standard car will appeal to more buyers. It’s cheaper, it’s a bit more fun to drive and customers are more used to it. Where the BlueMotion does claw advantage back is in terms of residual values. It’s not inconceivable that a very strong demand will build for used cars that emit less than 120g/km of carbon dioxide and BlueMotion owners will reduce their overall pence per mile running costs as a direct result.

As an example of working smarter rather than harder, we doff our caps to the Volkswagen Golf BlueMotion. No single aspect of this car’s makeup is exceptionally clever, yet together a whole host of incremental efficiency improvements has resulted in a car that not only does the business in terms of emissions and economy but also makes a viable case for itself in cold commercial terms.

The bottom line is that for around an extra £500, you’re getting a car that not only has clearly better fuel economy than its non-BlueMotion sibling, but also weighs in at under 120g/km of carbon dioxide emissions with all the financial benefits that this entails. It might not be the most sparkling drive around, but it the Golf feels built to last and your friends will never tag you a miser. Going green has all too often meant making serious sacrifices. The Golf Bluemotion shows that needn’t always be the case.