2017 Volkswagen Golf Revealed — Changes Are More Than Skin Deep

Facelifted Volkswagen Golf gets minor styling changes, upgraded interior, a new engine and semi-autonomous tech.

Published: Thursday, November 10, 2016, 19:07 [IST]

German carmaker Volkswagen has revealed the facelifted version of its best-selling car, the Golf hatchback.

The new facelifted Golf MkVII has added a brand new engine to its lineup of three and four-cylinder petrol and diesel engines and has upgraded some of the engines including the 2.0-litre turbocharged engine that powers the Golf GTI hot hatch.

A hybrid variant of the new Golf will also be available while the eGolf, the all electric variant is set to be unveiled at the 2016 Los Angeles Auto Show.

The all-new turbocharged 1.5-liter four-cylinder uses cylinder deactivation and a variable geometry turbocharger. The engine is available in two states of tunes with the more powerful variant pushing out 148bhp and 250Nm of torque, while the less powerful variant produces 128bhp and 200Nm of torque.

The less powerful variant also receives a coasting function which during extended periods of trailing throttle shuts down the engine.

The Golf GTI variants have received a bump up in power with the regular variant producing 227bhp while the performance variant gets 241bhp an increase of 10bhp over the current models.

Design wise, the changes are rather miniscule. The front end has been slightly tweaked and Golf owners can now opt for LED headlamps and different air intakes in the lower bumper.

At the rear, every Golf will now get LED tail-lights as standard, with higher-end variants getting animated ‘flowing' indicators.

Inside, the facelifted Golf gets new trim options with new seat cover patterns, along with new materials used for the dashboard, door panels, and the centre console

Golf owners can add an infotainment display of upto 9.2-inches in the centre console. The analogue dials of the instrument cluster can also be replaced with a 12.3-inch digital display similar to what you get with Audi's cars.

Safety wise, the Golf brings new improvements including the semi-autonomous Traffic Jam Assist on dual-clutch transmission models which allows the car to crawl in stop-go traffic and stop on its own at speeds up to 60km/h.