Volkswagen Golf (Mk7) review

Fundamentally, the Golf is a thoroughly well thought out car inside. More spacious than a Focus. Smarter materials than an Astra. A spot-on driving position, decent visibility, lots of oddment storage and mostly easy usability. However, we must nit-pick, because for the facelift, VW introduced a series of revisions to the Golf’s cabin to pep it up, and without exception, they made one of the most ergonomically correct cars on the market today inexcusably worse. First up, there’s the Active Info Display, a 12.3inch screen that lives where the dials used to on high-spec versions. It’s effectively VW’s version of the Virtual Cockpit Audi has exploited so effectively in everything from the TT to the Q7, but VW’s managed to muck it up by employing gauges and fonts which are just too fussy, and combining them with more confusing controls on the steering wheel. So, that’s an option to avoid.

Likewise, the new Discover Pro 8-inch nav screen, which we used to recommend straight away, has been spoiled. You have to pinch to zoom on maps as the twiddly knob has gone, and the replacement functionality just isn’t as smooth, and the addition of more sub-menus and touch-sensitive buttons surrounding the screen means you spend more time with your eyes off the road. VW also trumpets that the car has got gesture control, but it’s so woefully incapable of interpreting your Macarena waving, we refuse to acknowledge it.