It has always been said that a Golf is a Golf. But throughout half a century of history, the Volkswagen Golf has been a sports car, with its GTI and R; a familiar; 4×4; a Cabrio; and even a practical and today unknown minivan.
Today we will talk about one of the most unknown, but also most practical and interesting versions of the Volkswagen Golf. A car that, even though it is no longer available at dealerships, continues to be a tremendously interesting purchase option on the used market.
Best of all, with a budget starting at 10,000 euros we can access a quality car, with plenty of space and a trunk of up to 590 liters and with ridiculous consumption, from 3.8 liters/100 kilometers according to approval.
From minivan fever to SUV fever
Before the SUV rush, there was the minivan rush. There was no self-respecting car manufacturer that did not have one, or several minivans, in its catalog.
Volkswagen was not going to be less and for a decade it was marketing a Volkswagen Golf Plus which, without a doubt, was a success, staying very close to one million units sold and selling annually, at its best, 150,000 units.
In 2012 the Volkswagen Golf Mk7 was presented and in 2014 the corresponding minivan version of the Golf arrived, gaining much more packaging, more personality, and differentiation compared to the 5-door Golf and now being called Golf Sportsvan.
The most practical and familiar Volkswagen Golf in history
It was without a doubt the most practical and family-oriented Volkswagen Golf that ever existed. And therefore one of the most interesting purchase options in the Golf range and in the Volkswagen catalog.
The problem: by then the market had already succumbed to SUV fever and Volkswagen was still keeping several aces up its sleeve, which years later would be revealed as Volkswagen T-Roc and Volkswagen T-Cross.
The die was cast for the Sportsvan.
A Volkswagen Golf… for all intents and purposes
The Volkswagen Golf Sportsvan is a Golf for all intents and purposes. The perceived quality on board, the technology, and the driving feel that we find in a Sportsvan is exactly the same as that offered by a Golf Mk7.
But obviously, its external appearance is that of a minivan, which subtly preserves some of the typical aesthetic features of a Golf, being a little longer than the compact five-door Golf Mk7 (+8.3 centimeters) and having a distance between axles also higher (+10 centimeters), in order to maximize space on board for passengers and cargo.
Beyond the space, which is the true raison d'être of the Sportsvan, I would like to highlight at this point another of the added values of this minivan compared to the compact Golf, which is its highest driving position and which, as we already told you in 2014, helps us to have a comfortable driving position and a good vision of the road. We recommend you read our test of the Volkswagen Golf Sportsvan at its launch, always keeping in mind that the opinion that I myself gave you then has to be contextualized in 2014, which was when I carried out and wrote this test.
More space and modularity than in any SUV
Plenty of space. It is what we could and can continue to find in a Volkswagen Golf Sportsvan, with a trunk that without folding down the seats could reach a cargo capacity of 590 liters, very close to the 605 liters of the Golf Variant of the seventh generation.
To reach those 590 liters of capacity, Volkswagen has arranged a sliding rear bench seat in the Sportsvan, which can be advanced or delayed by 18 centimeters, and in two pieces (1/3 and 2/3) to maximize cargo space in the trunk. (most forward position) or prioritizing space for passengers (most rearward position).
In the Sportsvan updated in 2017, there were already three independent backrests with inclination adjustment, which also result in offering greater comfort to passengers.
It is not a continuous-use feature. But the Sportsvan also had a passenger seat with the ability to fold down its backrest and thus allow, together with the rear seats with their backrests folded down, to accommodate very long objects. This feature was optional.
We recommend reading the test we carried out on Sportsvan in
2017, on the occasion of its update.
Still a modern car
The Volkswagen Golf Sportsvan has been on the market until relatively recently, it was produced in 2020. And that means that we are going to find a reasonably modern car in it, in its equipment, in technology, and in driving aids and systems of security.
If we value this aspect, it is interesting to point to units after the update that the Volkswagen Golf Sportsvan experienced at the end of 2017.
As of 2017 and 2018 in the updated Sportsvan we could already find Volkswagen Digital Cockpit digital instrumentation, adaptive cruise control with automatic stop and resume driving.
The engine to choose is, without a doubt, a diesel
The Volkswagen Golf Sportsvan is tremendously practical and
spacious, but also austere in its consumption. Throughout about 6 years of
commercialization, it was available with a range of diesel and gasoline engines
of up to 150 CV of power, with diesel being, for obvious reasons, practically
the only engine that we are going to find on the second-hand market, with a
much-reduced supply of gasoline.
Although they are the oldest, the diesels before the Sportsvan mid-cycle update in 2017 seem very interesting to us. Available with 110 CV and 150 CV of power, all of them comply with the Euro VI regulations and the C label, like any diesel that we buy new at the moment.
As if that were not enough, those diesels did not use AdBlue, when almost all Euro VI diesels had already opted for this technology to achieve compliance with the requirements of the emission regulations. A fact that in retrospect is very revealing, if we take into account that a year after the launch of Sportsvan the Volkswagen diesel scandal would be uncovered, which precisely concerned the tricks that Volkswagen had used to standardize its diesel without reducing reduction systems. of emissions.
A diesel that consumes 3.8 l/100 km
Even without being overly powerful, the Sportsvan's 110bhp diesel engine was balanced and sufficient. In its access version, it was available with a five-speed gearbox, which is definitely not the best for road travel, especially with a car of its size.
Luckily, Volkswagen had a second version of this engine, a Bluemotion Technology, which would be the one that would achieve an approved consumption of 3.8 liters/100 kilometers (which in practice necessarily leads to a real consumption above 5 liters/ 100 kilometers). At this point, it is also important to remember that the consumptions approved then are not comparable to the current ones, which are approved under a different and more rigorous protocol.
The Bluemotion Technology is an engine that we recommend, and that we will find frequently in many of the second-hand offers available in Spain, not so much because it consumes a little less, but above all because it has a six-speed manual transmission.
Beyond the access 1.6 TDI engines, throughout the Sportsvan's commercial life, there was always a 2.0 TDI with 150 HP of power.
On the other hand, if we find a 1.6 TDI with 115 CV, we will know that it is the restyle, a unit after the update that this model experienced in 2017.
Plenty of space and quality from €10,000
Now let's talk about prices. At the beginning of this article, we proposed a budget starting at 10,000 euros to access a Sportsvan, although it is true below we will find some units, with high mileage (far exceeding 200,000 kilometers) prior to the 2017 update.
From 10,000 euros we are going to find units with fewer kilometers, and years, almost all diesel and almost all Bluemotion Technology.
In any case, we would recommend a budget that is more
comfortable and close to 15,000 euros. In the What car should I buy? catalog,
for example, we have offers starting at 12,273 euros for units that in most
cases have a mileage of fewer than 100,000 kilometers and are even after the 2017
update.
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