VW's spruced-up Golf remains a contender

VW's spruced-up Golf remains a contender

The new/old car, with the "City" moniker added to the name, is a Canada-only offering. Built in Brazil, the City Golf is a competitive entry-level car with some standard equipment you would not expect to find in a car at this price level.

Anti-lock, four-wheel disc brakes, power steering, tilt and telescope steering wheel, height-adjustable driver's seat, 60/40 folding seats, tachometer and a rear wiper are some of the standard features. Our tester, a five-speed manual-transmission car, came with the convenience package that included power windows, power door locks, keyless entry and alarm.

The 115-horsepower, two-litre four-cylinder engine is eager and lively, producing its maximum torque (122) at 2,600 rpm. Combined with quick, light steering and powerful brakes, it chirps along almost effortlessly in the low gears, making for a very enjoyable ride, particularly in the city. It pulls strongly to its redline when accelerating and it has no trouble keeping up with highway traffic.

The gearing is a bit low, with the engine turning at 3,000 rpm at 100 km/h. Even at those revolutions, the engine did not sound loud or strained. The price for all the fun is fuel economy (9.8 in the city and 7.1 on the highway) that trails the competition. On the bright side, it is still better than the new Rabbit.

The five-speed manual transmission is direct and precise, with no vices.

The interior is equal in quality to most of its contemporaries. There has been an attempt to stay away from hard plastics with a semi-soft textured surface and some cloth to soften the interior. Unfortunately, blanks in the centre console drag the whole

interior down a notch or two.

Replacing the blanks with a simple cubby-hole would have been a more elegant solution in my opinion. A simple stereo is found at the bottom of the blanks.

There is no centre armrest, but space for two cupholders behind the hand-brake. The glove-box is large enough to be useful.

The height-adjustable cloth driver's seat paired with a tilt and telescopic steering wheel is a real bonus for anybody who has difficulty finding a comfortable seating position in a subcompact car. Seats are comfy with good leg support and more than adequate headroom. The power windows feature one-touch power up and down, a nice bonus. With the power group, owners also get retained accessory power - power for a brief time after the engine has been turned off, handy to close windows and whatnot.

The rear seats are lumpy and the seat cushions shorter than the front. The rear-seat occupants must also fight over a solitary cupholder. The City Golf requires the bottom seat to be

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