Volkswagen’s venerable compact has earned a solid following with its high-quality interior, adult styling and European road manners. For 2014, the current Golf embarks on its farewell lap around the states—get it while you can.
What's New for 2014
The two-door Golf has already retired, leaving just the four-door hatchback with simplified equipment choices.
Choosing Your Volkswagen Gold
The Golf offers interesting engine choices for this class: a 2.5-liter five-cylinder with 170 horsepower and an optional 2-liter turbo-diesel four-cylinder (TDI) that delivers 140 horsepower. Both engines provide above-average performance for a compact. Although the TDI is lighter on horsepower, it makes up for it with generous torque.
Expect about 26 mpg combined with the 2.5-liter and five-speed manual—the available six-speed automatic reduces this slightly. The TDI trumps that with 34 mpg combined whether you chose its standard six-seed manual or the automatic.
Trim levels correspond to your engine choice:
For this final season, all interiors are black cloth and there are no individual factory options.
Choose your Volkswagen Golf >>
The diesel-powered TDI is an easy choice from our perspective, although its lavish list of standard features might make the gas-powered hatchback might be more practical for those on a tighter budget. The Golf we know and love will yield the showroom floor to its all-new successor at midyear—so be sure to use this as a bargaining chip when making the deal.