Volkswagen Golf 8.5 ARRIVES to fix the faults in the Golf 8.0

A facelift for the Volkswagen Golf arrives, aiming to fix the mistakes Volkswagen made with the arrival of the Golf 8.0.

It’s four years since the VW Golf Mk8 arrived but, unlike previous new iterations of the Golf, it felt like a backward step; it felt cheap, had awful infotainment and switchgear and glitchy software. It looked like VW had taken its eye off the Golf ball as it succumbed to a misguided focus on EVs to the detriment of its bread-and-butter product.

Now VW is aiming to put things right with the arrival of the Golf 8.5, which gets some mild cosmetic updates, but much attention is paid trying to fix the interior.

The cosmetic tweaks are the usual facelift fodder with new bumpers – and butch versions for R-Line and GTI – new alloys, new lights front and back, and a glowing VW logo on the grille.

Inside still looks similar, but there’s a new 10.4″ infotainment (12.9″ if you spend enough) with new MIB4 improving latency, graphics, menus and more, backlit sliders for volume and temperature and with the switches on the steering actual switches and easy access to climate controls too. Oh, and a new AI personal assistant.

Trim options are Life, Style and R-line for Hatch and Estate – plus GTI and GTE – with a wide range of engine options.

The starting point is a pair of TSI petrols with either 113bhp or 148bhp, a pair of eTSI mild hybrid petrols with the same power outputs, a pair of diesels with either 113bhp or 148bhp and an eHybrid with 201bhp.

The eHybrid gets a 19.7kWh battery and eMotor added to the 1.5-litre petrol and offers official EV range of 62 miles, with the GTE PHEV getting 286bhp, and the GTI comes with VW’s 2.0-litre turbo good for 261bhp. All Golfs now come with a seven-speed DSG ‘box.

Price and specs for the new Golf are to follow, with first customer cars due in the spring.