Mk7 Golf - Australian Specifications and Prices (Base, Comfortline and Highline)

**Ryan_R** · 01-05-2013, 07:30 PM

Test drove a 103TSI DSG Highline today, here are some points that have stayed in my mind (from the perspective of a MY10 118TSI owner):

Top-mounted accelerator pedal - great, very light on initial uptake (similar to the new Corolla I drove a few weeks ago), no more DSG lag at all when taking off at stand-still.

Auto stop/start. I had forgotten about this and when I was stopped I couldn't actually tell if the engine was stopped or not; when I accelerated the car started immediately with no real lag (at least no more lag than a Mk6 Golf DSG7 owner would be use to). I ended up turning the feature off but then every time I stopped, the MFD showed an eco-tip suggesting I turn it on, which covered all the other useful MFD parameters. I know there is a way to turn off these eco tips just like you can choose what other MFD screens you want (speed, fuel, distance, eco tips, etc) but I didn't bother looking for it.

Electronic handbrake seems fine to use, I don't think there will be any issues with it, but I haven't tested it extensively. The auto-hold is cool feature that I could see myself using. You press it once, then every time you come to a stop, you can take your foot off the brake pedal and the car won't move at all, no time limits as far as I could tell. As soon as you start to accelerate the brake is released. In theory then, if you also had the Driver Assist Pack, you could jump on the freeway in morning traffic and not have to press any pedals at all. Interestingly, if you have a look inside a Kia Optima Platinum it's electronic handbrake and auto-hold buttons look almost identical.

Power... better than the Mk6 90TSI Trendline, not as good as the Mk6 118TSI. Enough for the average driver, but I'd like more. Steering wheel buttons were a little hard to get used to and I found myself wanting to look at the wheel for too long while driving to figure it all out so I ignored it for the test drive. Easier to see the speedo through this wheel, if I sit in the best position and adjust the wheel in the Mk6, the top of the rim blocks it in my car (can't see beyond 60kph).

Comes with front + rear sensors, RVC, BT, NAV, etc which is great. Seats are nice. No option to upgrade to the Discover Media Pro which is disappointing, (losing features if upgrading from a car with RNS510). The very nice sales person confused RDS for DAB+ so I kindly corrected her.

Am I sold? Nope, only because there just isn't enough new stuff that my car can't already do to spend the money on upgrading, plus in a few areas I'd be downgrading. The sales person said I'd love the new car menu on the touchscreen, I was too nice to mention that I can already do all that with the Polar FIS (which btw I forgot to turn off dropping it off with VW today) or on my phone via the OBD port. Plus I'm not sure if I like the idea of passengers being able to change settings via the HU. So I'll be waiting for the GTI. For Mk5 or non-Golf owners though, it's looking hard to beat if you've got that sort of money to spend. Speaking of...

On road costs in VIC are as follows:

90 TSI Trendline (M6 / DSG7) - $24,983 / $27,555
90 TSI Comfortline (M6 / DSG7) - $28,585 / $31,163
103 TSI / 110 TDI Highline (DSG only) - $35,795 / $38,373

Options

Metallic/Pearl Paint (all models) - $500
Discover Media GPS (C'line only) - $950 (from what I can tell the system is the same, you're just buying the SD Card)
Anti Theft Alarm (C + H'line) - $600
Driver Assist Pack (C + H'line) - $1,300
Panoramic Roof (H'line) - $1,850
Vienna Leather (H'line) - $2,950
Bi-Xenon Headlights (H'line) - $2,150

**Arnold** · 01-05-2013, 09:59 PM

Interesting review, Ryan. Not sure what the new TSI engines say about the future of VW's twin charger technology. Interesting too, that VW has lowered power output on its new mid-range models. That does not happen all that often in the auto world, and certainly not to as sizeable an extent as in this case.

The Mark VII GTI certainly seems to represent the single biggest incremental improvement to the GTI marque since the Mark V.

It is great to see VWA is retaining the 6MT for the GTI and 90TSI versions for purists, enthusiasts, the value-conscious and cheapskates, alike.

**Ryan_R** · 01-05-2013, 10:12 PM

They've lowered weight as well though, but still the 103TSI is 8.4 seconds to 100kph compared to 8.0 for the 118TSI (or 6.6 if you've tuned it). After test driving the Mk7 I then drove the Mk6 90TSI loan car and instantly noticed the heavier/laggier accelerator pedal, less power at low revs (Mk7 is pretty decent at hiding any turbo lag), and of course as is already known from 2009 Mk6 reviews, the 90TSI rolls around a bit more. However I was quite surprised how the Mk6 90TSI requires a lot more steering input compared to my 118. Every time I went for a 90-degree turn I'd suddenly have to go hand-over-hand to make the turn, wasn't sure why it was so bad. In my car I could keep my hands glued at 9 & 3 o'clock. And of course the Mk7 is even better.

One other interesting change with the new DSG shifter is Sport mode. In the Mk6 you push the shift-unlock button in and move the lever down to engage S. In the Mk7, D and S share the same spot. To switch between them, you just pull back on the shifter (feels the same as down-shifting in Manual/Tiptronic mode) without pushing any buttons. A little weird but not too bad. I'd miss the satisfying loud click sound when you push the Mk6 shifter back out of Sport mode though.

I'm hoping the Discover Pro will be available on the GTI but don't know if VWA will include it or how much they'd charge us to have the online features (sounds like it would needs it's own sim card and provide a WiFi hotspot to your phone - I would've designed it the other way, to connect to the Internet via your phone). Google Maps would be much better than the Sensis maps we currently have. Otherwise hopefully there's a way to get Mirror Link working.

**pologti18t** · 01-05-2013, 10:17 PM

Originally Posted by Arnold

Interesting review, Ryan. Not sure what the new TSI engines says about the future of VW's twin charger technology. Interesting too, that VW has lowered power output on its new mid-range models. That does not happen all that often in the auto world, and certainly not to as sizeable an extent as in this case..

I'd say that the twincharger tech is dead (it did arrive around 2005 - so 8yrs old). Once more VAG cars move to the MQB chassis (especially the Polo/Fabia/Ibiza) it will slowly vanish.

Apparently there is a 1.6L version of the new 1.4 in the pipeline - normally aspirated for developing markets. No reason they can't slap a turbo on that to get a 130kw+ motor.

**Ryan_R** · 01-05-2013, 10:23 PM

There were also plans for them to make an electric and/or Hybrid Golf a few years later that would be around 130kW

**Golf7** · 02-05-2013, 07:18 AM

Great review Ryan, glad to see you enjoyed the car. I can see where your coming from and in your case I wouldn't bother changing my car just yet. With the MK. 6 being so accomplished and so darn polished, I don't think it would be worth buying the MK. 7, even if it is a truly remarkable car. And yes, VW is once again a step ahead of everyone by not putting more power in but instead concentrating on fuel efficiency. The Hybrid will be in Europe in about a year and the electric variant shortly thereafter. Oh and the Twincharger is ver, very dead.

Oh and I forgot to add that I don't think that I'm quite as crazy as the guy in the last video...

**pologti18t** · 02-05-2013, 01:31 PM

Originally Posted by Ryan_R

There were also plans for them to make an electric and/or Hybrid Golf a few years later that would be around 130kW

They have a hybrid Jetta in the States. I assume it will slot in easily in the Golf/Leon/Octavia chassis. 1.4T + Electric motor + 7 DSG.

Here are comparative specs:
http://www.caranddriver.com/comparis...e-specs-page-6

The performance figures are quite acceptable - in gear its better than a diesel.

**Jimi** · 02-05-2013, 02:20 PM

Originally Posted by Ryan_R

I'm hoping the Discover Pro will be available on the GTI but don't know if VWA will include it or how much they'd charge us to have the online features (sounds like it would needs it's own sim card and provide a WiFi hotspot to your phone - I would've designed it the other way, to connect to the Internet via your phone). Google Maps would be much better than the Sensis maps we currently have. Otherwise hopefully there's a way to get Mirror Link working.

I think Golf7 threw up the standard spec list for the GTI in another thread and Discover Pro was on there (I was disappointed that PP had to be bundled with 19s)

When is all of that supposed to be made official?

**Golf7** · 02-05-2013, 02:43 PM

Originally Posted by Jimi

I think Golf7 threw up the standard spec list for the GTI in another thread and Discover Pro was on there (I was disappointed that PP had to be bundled with 19s)

When is all of that supposed to be made official?

Here in Oz? When the car arrives down under! About August...