Volkswagen has unveiled the most recent incarnation of its best-selling Golf — pledging that within the fiftieth anniversary 12 months of the top-selling automobile it has eradicated the dismal digital glitches that made such a canine’s dinner of its predecessor.
The facelifted model of the eighth-generation Golf — dubbed ‘8.5’ and headed by a sporty GTI hot-hatch mannequin — may even be the final model to supply a petroleum and diesel variant earlier than it switches to completely electrical.
The mannequin guarantees extra energy, simplified touchscreen menus and styling tweaks together with extra angular LED headlights and an illuminated badge on its nostril. You may even park your Golf remotely utilizing your smartphone.
But these tech enhancements had been a lot wanted. At the launch of the final model in 2019, I believed I used to be going bonkers. Its much-hyped digital touchscreen dashboard and info-tainment system, notably the infuriating finger-tip slider controls, drove me fairly mad.
I believed it was simply me till I in contrast notes with others current who had been equally flummoxed. But the excellent news is that VW insists it has ironed out these issues.
New and improved: The GTI hot-hatch is certainly one of three up to date Golf fashions
Controversial touch-sensitive temperature and quantity management sliders (sadly nonetheless there) have not less than been back-lit, so now you can truly see them in the dead of night. And correct, bodily buttons on the steering wheel — together with for quantity — have changed the extremely irritating and barely functioning sliders there.
Three fashions of the Golf have been unveiled — GTE and sporty GTI hatchbacks, and an elongated, big-booted Golf property — with as much as 9 powertrains between them. A efficiency Golf R will observe subsequent 12 months. The GTE plug-in hybrid model guarantees an electric-only vary of 62 miles and a mixed vary of 620 miles.
Prices are set to run from round £30,000 for the Golf GTE and £40,000 for the GTI. They arrive within the UK from April. Some 37million Golfs have been offered since its 1974 launch.
Women drivers nonetheless face sexism
Women visiting garages nonetheless face sexism, says a brand new survey by ‘no trouble’ on-line restore and repair agency Fixter (fixter.co.uk) which affords door-to-door assortment.
Six in ten feminine drivers stress about going to see a mechanic, three quarters consider mechanics take them much less significantly than male drivers, and almost half have skilled ‘informal sexism’ from storage workers, resembling being known as darling, love or sweetheart.
Sexism: Six in ten feminine drivers stress about going to see a mechanic
Six in ten have requested a male associate, buddy or member of the family to accompany them to the storage.
Overall, 69 per cent of motorists consider mechanics behave in a different way in the direction of women and men, the examine exhibits.
Call for Chancellor motion on electrical automobile VAT
Under stress: Chancellor Jeremy Hunt
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt ought to halve the VAT paid on new electrical vehicles to stop electrical automobiles ‘flat-lining’, say Britain’s sellers and producers.
Slashing the speed to 10 per cent for 3 years would stimulate sluggish gross sales to non-public consumers, may save prospects 1000’s of kilos and be a robust incentive to modify, they are saying.
It would additionally put them on a degree with firm automobile drivers’ profitable tax perks.
Without it, the Government’s formidable EV owership targets will stall, they warn forward of the Spring Budget on March 6 and a looming General Election.
A survey of members by the National Franchised Dealers Association (NFDA) revealed solely 27 per cent of dealerships anticipated EV gross sales in 2024 could be higher than final 12 months, although 4 per cent did predict gross sales could be ‘a lot better’.
Range nervousness, lack of chargers and value had been the chief causes placing individuals off going electrical.