VW Golf Mk6 Wheels Car of the Year

[russ83]

and the Golf 118TSI won best mid-size car 30-50k in the NRMA open road mag. Jetta came second.

[cme2c]

I was saying to my wife that if they put a sticker on the car for every award the car and engine had won, you wouldn't be able to see out the back window.

[Flighter]

I have to concur with those who think the Mk VI is a significant improvement over the Mk V (particularly at the lower end of the range) and hence worthy of being treated as a separate model deserving of this award. The 90TSi engine is ridiculously superior to the old 1.6 atmo, and I doubt the old 2.0FSI has anything over the 118TSI. The 6 speed manual and 7 speed DSGs being offered are again both improvements over the Mk V (at least for the 1.6, which only came with a 5 speed trans if manual), and the interior is class leading (I prefer it to the more expensive A3 myself). Externally every panel is new apart the roof (I think), so the only gripe some have is that it looks too similar. Although I prefer the new look, and find it different enough, I've no argument with those that feel it isn't, as appearance is subjective after all. So what if the chassis isn't changed; I'm not aware of anything being inherently wrong with it, so if it ain't broke, why "fix" it.

[mikinoz]

Call me a cynic but VWA dropped a massive amount of money on Wheels for the GTI liftout special recently.

It is a corporate economy, you can't say money does not talk.

[Nath]

Thats somewhat cynical isnt it?

[mikinoz]

Yes, it is, but it was prefaced.

I think that there needs to be a proper analytical approach to results of these tests.

Really, international car of the year tends to be more balanced, despite not being inclusive of local AU car models.

[G-rig]

MK5 and MK6 are very similar they both should have got it depends what influencing factors were in play at the time.

[Nath]

Well you said to call you a cynic.....

[VW350]

The Golf V just missed out in Wheels COTY in 2004, it was in the final group alongside Volvo S40/V40 and winner Ford Territory. If it weren't for obvious local bias to the Ford, I'm sure the Golf V would have won.

The absence of the GTI at the time of judging didn't help its cause either. Had VW launched Golf V in 2005 with the complete range it most likely would have won COTY that year instead of the Mazda MX-5 which didn't even have ESP.

[Brian]

Call me a cynic but VWA dropped a massive amount of money on Wheels for the GTI liftout special recently.

It is a corporate economy, you can't say money does not talk.

OK, you're a cynic. Your text indicates that you think the GTI got the award "across the line". However I personally think the smaller more technologically advanced engines carried the day! After all, other than cosmetic refinements, what was the difference between the MK 5 and MK 6 GTI? Any old hot hatch will still run rings around it (the GTI) in standard form for a lot less oscar scholars.