The future of the VW Golf is hanging in the balance

[GranpaB]

According to this article, there may potentially not be anymore Golfs after the Mk8, with the Mk9 being fairly uncertain.

https://www.motor1.com/news/602151/vw-golf-9-in-do...

[bluemason]

GranpaB said:

According to this article, there may potentially not be anymore Golfs after the Mk8, with the Mk9 being fairly uncertain.

https://www.motor1.com/news/602151/vw-golf-9-in-do...

The mark 7.5 was the pinnacle of golf. I sat in a mark 8, and I felt so disappointed.

[SteBrown91]

bluemason said:

The mark 7.5 was the pinnacle of golf. I sat in a mark 8, and I felt so disappointed.

It was and it wasn't. It had good tech and a better chassis, but personally I prefer my old Mk6 as a "Golf". Build quality much better, nicer feeling interior (I had the GTD with the chunky wheel and seats) and a much better ride quality. Also, the LED "horn" rear lights were pretty smart and less fussy than the later fun fair spec lights.

[GranpaB]

As with all things VW, i do think the quality has been slowly getting worse as each model is released, even to the point of current generation models getting worse as time goes on. They kinda blame ICE as one of the factors but i think there are many.

I had a 7.5 GTI for a while and enjoyed driving it, with a couple of 500 mile round trips to Cornwall in reasonable comfort on non DCC suspension. One thing that did get on my nerves was the clonking from the rear suspension, and even with a change to Bilstein shocks it was still there.

[Geffg]

Sad that the golf may disappear! Or is it just me that’s sad!
Only ever owned one golf years ago, a gti turbo that would lose power randomly but still loved it. Just so iconic.

[Debaser]

If the next Golf can’t massively improve on the Mk8, it deserves to die.

[Fluid]

bluemason said:

The mark 7.5 was the pinnacle of golf. I sat in a mark 8, and I felt so disappointed.

Loved my 7.5 r estate. Should have looked into extending the lease or buying it. Regretting the decision to return it.

[Ryyy]

Going off looks they should have stopped at the mk4

[Mr Squarekins]

SteBrown91 said:

bluemason said:

The mark 7.5 was the pinnacle of golf. I sat in a mark 8, and I felt so disappointed.

It was and it wasn't. It had good tech and a better chassis, but personally I prefer my old Mk6 as a "Golf". Build quality much better, nicer feeling interior (I had the GTD with the chunky wheel and seats) and a much better ride quality. Also, the LED "horn" rear lights were pretty smart and less fussy than the later fun fair spec lights.

My wife took the same view, choosing to buy the last of the mk6s even though the mk7 was out for much the same reasons.

[CrgT16]

Interesting because it feels like VW is really spent as a brand. With Skoda, Audi, Cupra being pushed much more. In the U.K. the VW lineup is poor imo.

[dcb]

GranpaB said:

According to this article, there may potentially not be anymore Golfs after the Mk8, with the Mk9 being fairly uncertain.

Summer season story aka nonsense.

A well known North German company has been knocking out various small cars
for over 40 years, somewhat successfully, and calling all of them Golfs.

There is considerable market value in the name.

While that name still has value (i.e. still sells well in the marketplace),
VW will continue using the name.

It would take *considerable* change for VW to abandon the name of
one of the most popular European small cars.

[Scaleybrat]

Ryyy said:

Going off looks they should have stopped at the mk2

FTFY

[Drive Blind]

the demise of the Golf is only to be expected,

the move away from ICE to EV
the move away from the hatchback to SUV

[Aunty Pasty]

I suspect the Golf as an ICE car will stop after the Mk8. They'll retire the name for a decade or so then bring it back as an EV.

[GranpaB]

Thing is, there was the E-golf which is now discontinued, so i can't see any reason why they don't carry on producing those, although i doubt they sold that well initially, and they have been produced for about 10 years so they have the platform already.

[Whataguy]

I recently bought a Mk7.5 instead of a Mk8 as I preferred it over the new one.

Talking to the salesperson at the main dealer, they said they have customers who had been buying golfs for years but have stopped as they don't want a Mk8.

I'd expected that Golf will end in the future, replaced by ID cars.

The interior of the Mk8 does seem to be a stepping stone to get people out of ICE and into EV with the dash displays and tech - the ID cars look very similar to the Mk8 golf inside.

[SteBrown91]

Whataguy said:

The interior of the Mk8 does seem to be a stepping stone to get people out of ICE and into EV with the dash displays and tech - the ID cars look very similar to the Mk8 golf inside.

Its nothing to do with convincing people to go EV, its cost saving pure and simple.

With a big single touchscreen controlling everything, you only need one board/set of microships and a screen.

Designing digital climate panels, audio control panels all need moving parts, circuit boards, microchips, modules to communicate with the car etc etc.On top of that they need to design and cost the control materials, testing out how they feel, how robust etc. Its millions in development.

The cars would have had a screen anyway, so bundling all controls on the screen saves a tonne of cash. They are all rubbish, but the manufacturers don't care as they are saving per car and on the whole people will buy it anyway.

[rottenegg]

Yeah right, VW ditching the Golf is like BMW ditching the 3 series. It's not going to happen. Fake news articles and EV/Euro babble isn't going to make VW think "You know what, our Golf, our bread and butter car that sells in the millions....yeah, let's just kill it off, because.....BS reasons". Absolute bum fluff.

I've owned MK1 thru MK6, and driven plenty of 7/7.5s, so have a broad understanding of what makes these cars tick.

Look underneath the MK8 and you will see the same basic architecture that hasn't changed since the MK5. The MK6 took the PQ35 platform to another level and is where the Golf peaked, imo. MQB and on have seen drastic cuts in quality. Alloy subframes, control arms and sumps binned in favour of cheap pressed steel and plastic. They've gone back to the rust friendly MK3 Golf way of doing things. And lets not even go there with engine covers that fall off and catch fire and deletion of gas bonnet props.

Yes VW have some work to do to make the Golf more premium and appealable because the MK8 just looks like some generic bland arse POS, but it's not going anywhere. EV Golf, yeah why not, embrace the current times and hug the trees, but professional suicide is not on their agenda.

They just need to make the MK6 again in MK9 flavour. Focus on build quality and cut out the superfluous junk.

[The Cardinal]

I have a soft spot for the Mk5 & Mk7 personally. IIRC the Mk6 was substantially cheaper to build than the Mk5, so there is precedent and it was clearly successful based on the Mk6 love here. I'd like to see the ID3 get a serious interior upgrade and set the template for an A3 replacement.

The popularity of the Mk8 has arguably been affected by the disruptions of 2020-2022(+) and consequent availability above any other factor. There must be tens of thousands fewer Golfs supplied since 2020 because of this reason alone... I ordered one in March 2020 but the dealer couldn't commit to supplying, just as one example.

There are of course other factors like new MQB platform alternatives (Tiguan, Taigo, T-Roc to name a few).

[AI1601]

Not a chance I'm believing this. The Golf is to VW what the 3 series is to BMW and the S class to Mercedes - a brand icon.

Also agree that the cost cutting began with the Mk7 which feels cheaper and less solid than the Mk6. The Mk8 in turn feels substantially worse.