2021 VW Golf swings into Singapore

Singapore

THE sequel to Volkwagen's biggest hit made its Singapore debut yesterday, with new versions of the venerable Golf going on sale here some 18 months after it first hit German roads.

The local line-up starts at S$125,900 with Certificate Of Entitlement for the most basic Golf Life 1.5 eTSI, which has a 1.5-litre engine that packs a 150 horsepower punch. It accelerates to 100km/h in 8.5 seconds but sips as little as 4.8 litres of petrol per 100 kilometres, and burns cleanly enough to score a S$15,000 Vehicular Emissions Scheme rebate. It has a mild hybrid drivetrain, with a 48-volt system that can capture and store energy when the car slows down, and use it to give the petrol engine a boost.

Two additional variants, badged Golf Life Plus (S$132,900) and Golf R-Line (S$142,900), come with extra equipment and cosmetic upgrades, but the version for driving enthusiasts remains the Golf GTI (S$205,900), with a 245 horsepower engine, the ability to crack 100km/h in only 6.4 seconds, and iconic styling features such as a honeycomb grille and a red stripe that stretches between the headlamps.

Yet, the new Golfs trade on connectivity. Their cabins have been largely wiped of physical buttons, with most controls now taking the form of touch-sensitive pads and digital screens.

"Never before has a Golf been so progressive, digitalised, connected, and intuitive to operate," says Ricky Tay, the managing director of Volkswagen Group Singapore. "It has a completely new digital interior that enables a new dimension of intuitive operation, bringing the car closer than ever to the human."

Mr Tay says that Volkswagen rolled out a new logo here last year to signal its digital transformation, and that the new Golf lets customers experience the fruit of that corporate revamp.

For all that, the eighth-generation Golf continues an age-old tradition of taking technology and features from pricier cars and spreading them into the mainstream, a strategy that has helped Volkswagen sell 35 million of them.

Fully digital displays and glossy touchpads may be more commonly found in premium cars at the moment, but VW's new hatchback has them. For the Golf, that is par for the course.`