It’s a shame, with reference to the car’s comfort-first positioning, that VW didn’t think to make its excellent 14-way Ergoactive seats standard-fit. As it is, however, the Golf eHybrid offers a good, comfortable and fairly well-supported driving position; plenty of room for taller occupants up front; and just enough second-row space for average-height adults, without making the car itself feel overgrown for the compact class.
In the boot, any underfloor storage, or split-level boot configurability, is lost to the packaging of the power electronics and relocated fuel tank, but 273 litres is left. That would be more typical of a supermini than something from the class above, but it does at least offer a flat floor with the back seats folded down.
Legroom in the back seats is good, and there’s enough headroom for those under 6ft; those over it may find their head rubbing against the headliner. There are a couple of customary air vents, and some USB-C ports back there for phone charging.
The car’s primary controls are intuitively positioned; the instrumentation is all-digital but clear and usefully configurable; and the new multimedia system is better laid out and easier to use than in the pre-facelifted car, albeit still missing some more simple, physical controls.
The 12.9in infotainment system is relatively easy to get used to, especially after spending a couple of weeks with the car. It’s smooth to operate, with sharp graphics and configurable menus (such as the ribbon of icons that runs along the top of it), and in our time with it we experienced no glitches or latency worth talking about. It helps, too, that the smartphone mirroring software is well integrated, making it easy to switch between Apple CarPlay, for example, and the native system.
As in other Golfs we have tested, material cabin quality is good rather than great. There are some sturdy-feeling soft-touch materials atop the dashboard and front door cards, but the infotainment screen and centre console are all given to a fair amount of flex – and you don’t have to be pushing them very hard to be able to tell.
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