• Slightly larger than the Mk7 Volkswagen Golf
• Enough interior space for four passengers to get comfy
• Boot is a good shape, but it’s an average size for the class

How much space is there?

Enough for four adults to get comfortable, but that’s about it. The Golf’s size increase has been rather gradual across its generations, whereas rivals such as the Ford Focus, SEAT Leon and Skoda Octavia has all grown larger, faster. So, they’re all better bets if you need to carry taller passengers thanks to their more generous rear leg room.

Still, we think families shouldn’t find much to complain about with the Golf. Because it’s basically a big box, elbow room and headroom is good everywhere – and there was just enough legroom in the rear for our six-foot tester to sit behind his own driving position.

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Space on the rear bench is a little neat for three to travel cross-country in comfort. The central tunnel robs a bit of foot space, but the Golf is just wide enough to allow your passengers to not be fighting for shoulder room.

Boot space and storage

The standard petrol and diesel Volkswagen Golf has 381 litres of boot space with the rear bench in place, which is average for the class. It’s slightly more than you get in the back of the Ford Focus (375 litres), but far less than the Skoda Octavia (600 litres).

Fold the Golf’s seat flat and you’ll liberate 1,237 litres of space. That’s beaten roundly by the Focus’s seats-down figure (1,354 litres) and it’s utterly embarrassed by the Octavia (1,555 litres). In fairness, though, both the Focus and the Octavia are larger cars. It’s also worth noting the Golf’s seats split 60:40 and fold almost flat.

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Beware if you’re shopping for a plug-in hybrid Golf. Both the eHybrid and the GTE sacrifice 108 litres of space to their battery packs. There is an upside, though. Even though this facelifted model’s battery is almost twice the size of the outgoing car’s, the amount of boot space it loses to its hybrid tech is the same as before.

Cabin storage is good. The door bins are deep and there’s a huge cubby in the central armrest. We were disappointed by two items, though. The front cupholder is awkwardly positioned and feels a little flimsy. Also, even though automatic models have a tiny toggle switch instead of a bulky gear lever, Volkswagen hasn’t found any extra storage space in the centre console.

Is it easy to park?

Of course. Apart from the rear three-quarter view over your shoulder and its slightly narrow rear window, visibility is good. Plus, because it’s slightly smaller than its rivals, it’ll easily slot into all but the tightest parking spaces.

The Golf’s visibility limitations are offset by its huge door mirrors and technology. Even the most basic Life model is fitted with front and rear parking sensors as standard, but if you step up to the Match specification you get a rear-view camera as standard.

Volkswagen has also added its Area View camera as an option on the Golf for the first time as part of this facelift. That gives you a top-down 360-degree view of the car, so you have no excuse for kerbing the one of the car’s alloys.

Safety

• Five-star Euro NCAP score
• Loads of standard safety kit
• And lots more on the options list

The Golf performed well in its Euro NCAP crash tests. The car was first tested in 2019, but Volkswagen made it run the gauntlet again in 2022 to make sure it conformed with Euro NCAP’s updated safety regulations. It scored five stars on both occasions.

In its most recent appraisal, the testers at Euro NCAP said the Golf would be an ‘aggressive impact partner in a frontal collision’ thanks to its marginal protection of the driver’s chest. All other critical areas of the dummies were quite well-protected, though, including those of the child dummies sitting in the rear.

Volkswagen has loaded the Golf with plenty of safety equipment, too. We’ve listed the car’s most interesting pieces of technology below:

• Car2X communications – this allows the Golf to communicate with other similarly-equipped cars and infrastructure to relay details of hazards such as accidents, jams and slippery conditions to following traffic.
• Travel Assist – this is Volkswagen’s latest driver assistance system that combines adaptive cruise control and lane-keeping assist to take the strain off the driver on the motorway. It’s now more sophisticated and only requires the driver to touch (rather than hold) the wheel to keep the tech working.
• Adaptive cruise control with predictive speed detection – this works like normal cruise control, but is embellished with the ability to automatically adapt speed based on mapping data and speed limit signs.
• Turn-off assist – designed to apply the brakes when crossing the flow of traffic, as you would at a crossroads. If the car senses an impending impact, the Golf will automatically brake to avoid a crash altogether or reduce the severity of it.
• IQ Light – all Golfs come with LED headlamps, but there are three levels of sophistication for buyers to choose from. IQ Light is the highest, with matrix functionality to allowing sections of the main beam to be switched on and off, rather than the whole thing.

Watch the Volkswagen Golf Euro NCAP crash test video