What can be said about the VW Golf that hasn’t been written a thousand times before? The perennial favorite of male and middle-class racers alike has been restyled, recalibrated and relaunched from VW’s German headquarters, Golfsburg. The drumbeats built up, the curtains were drawn, and the expectant chatter changed drastically to gasping. The result was, well, downright disappointing.
Much to the chagrin of all VW Golf enthusiasts, the new Golf was practically an identical version of the previous model. Sure, a few little touches had been made. The VW badge on the rear now became the trunk handle and the interior was filled with all sorts of bells, whistles and gizmos, but there was absolutely nothing for Golf purists who wanted to see a new take on the time-honored classic. . . Any.
But is that a ‘bad’ thing? I certainly thought the previous VW Golf was a prime example of what a family-size hatchback should look like. Deviating from perfection would surely be some kind of destructive behavior that would result in bankruptcy. Obviously, the VW designers also shared my opinion.
So the presentation tarnished the good name of the VW Golf, which was reinforced by the world’s automotive media who shared the same opinion. However, I remained stoic in my opinion that the Golf, new or not, had achieved its goal of being the perfect hatchback and was quite vociferous on the matter.
Essentially, all the discussions and reflections will solve absolutely nothing. The Volkswagen Golf has become a vehicle that, for better or worse, is mired in its own vanity. The Golf has created its own holding pattern, a plan from which it cannot deviate. If the designers tamper with it too much, the purists will throw their hands in the air and declare it an unmitigated disaster. If, on the other hand, they sit back and do nothing, the other new car fans will wave their hands in despair and demand more ingenuity.
This is the conflict that all car designers wrestle with on a daily basis; either option will likely end up with core groups of customers feeling cheated. So how do VW engineers get out of this dilemma? Building a concept car to distract people is how!
The Golf Concept that appeared at the show was essentially a VW Golf that contained a more comfortable engine in a Bugatti Veyron (also made by VW) than in the much smaller regular Golfs. This rather blatant diversionary tactic managed to divert attention away from the normal Golf considerably and had large groups of VW fans gasping for breath. What Volkswagen managed (very cleverly) was to create the world’s largest white rabbit. Well, I say bigger. The Concept Golf was actually very similar in size to the regular Golf, it just housed an engine capable of over 700 Bhp under the hood.
Since then, every time I see the new Volkswagen Golf I don’t see the world’s best hatchback (which it is), I see the world’s greatest distraction tactic.