All we actually need from any car is for it to do its career nicely. It is a deceptively easy standard that direct our evaluations of everything from burly offroaders to thrifty sub-compacts to ludicrously able exotics. We are hard pressed to believe of a car that meets its mission better than Volkswagen's Golfing SportWagen--perhaps the lunar rover.

The Volkswagen is comfy, looks great, hauls quite a bit of material, is moderately priced, is among the finest highway cruisers accessible everywhere, and can more than hold its own in the event that you opt to attack a nearby back road. In addition to all that, it even gets good fuel-economy using the 1.8-liter TSI turbo-four examined here. We got 26 mpg more than 850 850 miles of largely urban commuting, which is simply 1 mpg over the EPA town rating--the automobile is rated at 3-5 mpg highway--but let us simply say our driving type will not gain us any plaudits from the friends of John Muir. And in the event you would like better mileage compared to TSI motor can offer, Volkswagen sells a TDI diesel automatic station wagon rated at 31/42 mpg; we handled 38 mpg in a manual transmission one of these.

Regardless of the motor, the Golf SportWagen handles and rides just like a superior automobile, with nicely-damped suspension movements, closely managed body motion, and, with the bigger wheel-and-tire bundle of our SE evaluation version, sharp turn-in reaction to to input signals from the enjoyably weighted steering system. As we mentioned in our evaluation of the standard Golf hatchback with this particular powertrain, the 1.8T is properly mannered, with a a lovely sound and enough torque--199 lb-feet--to feel more powerful off the line than its 7.8-2nd zero-to-60-mph time may indicate. The sole powertrain demerit is a transmission that may feel out of step in what your right-foot is requesting, occasionally fighting to choose the best gear when pulling from a stop light or at lower rates.

As in every-other Golfing we have examined, the the inner quality and layout of the station wagon tops that of every-other compact-car save for the Mazda 3. The substances really are a category above, the openings are restricted, the gauges exceptionally legible, as well as the lay-out of the controls makes obtaining and using them simple. The front seats are completely contoured for all-day driving, as well as the back seat will hold several adults with no criticisms. The greatest defect is a finicky, occasionally slow touchscreen infotainment program that is annoying on first usage and grows only to tolerable with acquaintance. Additionally, as of the model yr, VW nevertheless fo