Volkswagen is introducing a facelift to the venerable Golf line for the 2018 model year. Obviously, the headlights, front fascia and the rear valance are new, but the changes are more than just skin deep. Keep in mind, a lot of the specifications and options that are listed here are for the European version of the VW Golf lineup. United States will also get the facelifted lineup for the 2018 model year, and it will come a later in 2017 with slight variations.
First, the base Euro-Golf gets a new 1.5-liter TSI Evo turbo-four engine will produce 150 PS and feature Active Cylinder Management. The company is also planning a more fuel-efficient Golf BlueMotion for Europe. There is no specification or announcement of a TDI powerplant for the facelifted Golf.
The VW GTI gets more power! The base GTI is rated at 230 PS (an increase of 10 PS) and the GTI Performance is boosted to 245 PS. European customers get an updated Golf GTE model, which is a plug-in hybrid. The updates are also extended to the Golf Variant (aka. Golf SportWagen).
However, the big news are the new “Discover Pro” gesture controlled infotainment system and new driver assistance features. For starters, the Golf can be optioned with all digital 12.3-inch color display gauge cluster (resolution: 1,440 x 540 pixels), that Volkswagen calls “Active Info Display”. This is similar to the gauge cluster you may have seen in the new Audi vehicles. The driver can switch between different display themes, that includes a Navigation mode.
The Discover Pro infotainment system use a new 9.2-inch center-mounted touch screen (resolution: 1280 x 640 pixels). There are now four ways you can interact with the system: touch, voice, gesture, and proximity sensor that brings up additional menus. Here is what Volkswagen has to say about the Discover Pro infotainment system.
Conventional buttons and controls are a thing of the past with “Discover Pro”: all haptic operation is performed via the touchscreen and five capacitive panels on the left side of the new infotainment system. This vertical bar on the left comprises the functions: “Menu”, “Home”, “On/Off”, “Volume up” and “Volume down”—in other words the main commands, because the driver needs to have direct access to functions such as the volume control. The same applies to the capacitive panel “Home”, with which the driver can get back to the main menu—and thus the home screen—from any of the sub-menus in an instant.
How does the Discover Pro work in the real world while in motion? We will have to wait to find out. By the way, Volkswagen got rid of the volume knob (similar to what Honda has done on some of their vehicles). Roman will go ballistic when he sees this!
Check out this recent 2017 VW Golf versus e-Golf comparison review. Would you pick the regular Golf or an electric one? Which one does Roman pick? Watch below.
