Volkswagen Golf Blue Motion

First Drive
Wolfsburg, Germany

Volkswagen is poised to introduce one of the most frugal cars in Australia next year – a Golf diesel hatchback that uses less fuel than a Toyota Prius.

The VW Golf Blue Motion sips just 3.8L/100km, compared to 3.9L/100km for the petrol-electric hybrid Toyota Prius. Only the Ford Fiesta Econetic diesel sips less fuel: 3.7L/100km. The new VW also has one of the longest driving ranges of any passenger car in Australia, requiring a refill of its 55 litre tank every 1450km on the open road.

On sale in Europe since the end of last year, the Golf Blue Motion is due in Australia by the middle of next year.

Such economy and range is an incredible feat for a family-sized hatchback – and one that won't cost the earth. Price is expected to be about $30,000. Based on Europe's biggest selling car, the Golf Blue Motion is distinguished only by a couple of extra bends in the front bumper and bulging side skirts to improve air flow at freeway speeds. It also gets slightly skinnier wheels and tyres than usual, and they're made from special low friction rubber.

And, of course, the Blue Motion badge.

Why blue in a car world that's gone mad about green? It's the colour of the earth's resources we want to protect – the sky and the water – says Volkswagen.

Interestingly, however, VW sticks the Blue Motion badge to the rear of its cars pretty readily these days. It can have the whole kit and caboodle, or just one or some of VW's eco features. This one, however, gets the works – including changes you can't see, such as the underbody paneling that channels air under the car with less turbulence, and some computer trickery to make the 1.6-litre turbodiesel engine a little leaner than usual.

There are also some changes you can engage with. A gearchange warning system on the dash tells the driver the ideal gear to be in and a stop-start system is standard. That is, the engine automatically switches off once the car stops in traffic – and then re-starts automatically as soon as the clutch pedal is pressed.

There is just one catch to the VW Blue Motion (and other super frugal diesel engines from Europe and Japan): it is only available with a manual transmission. Such a restriction will likely cross it off the consideration list for many Australian new-car buyers -- more than 80 per cent of new cars sold Down Under are equipped with automatic transmissions.

"We know this transmission is an issue for some customers but we still want to the get the Golf Blue Motion as soon as we can," says Anke Koeckler, the boss of Volkswagen in Australia.

"A lot of our customers are very passionate enthusiasts and they like a manual transmission. But we also acknowledge that there are some customers that would like an automatic. With our headquarters in Germany we are working on hopefully finding a solution for this."

In Europe, at least 90 per cent of small cars are equipped with manual transmissions, so automatic variants are not a priority. Australia's most economical car, the Ford Fiesta Econetic diesel, a car developed by Ford of Europe, is also a manual only proposition.

How it drives
Given that the Golf Blue Motion has the same package and safety features as the regular Golf range, we've focused this preview on the specific changes that relate to the eco model.

We drove the Golf Blue Motion across Germany over two days taking in freeway suburban driving, much of it in pouring rain.

The specially-tuned 77kW/250Nm 1.6-litre turbodiesel is not as lethargic as you might expect. It has a 0 to 100km/h time of 11.3 seconds (slower than the petrol powered 1.2 Polo and 1.2 Golf at 9.7 and 10.6 respectively) but its ability to keep pace once on the move is more than adequate. Sure, you can occasionally get caught in the wrong gear on long hills, but it's simply a matter of acting quickly and changing gears rather than relying on the engine to pull it out of the hole in the torque.

The decision to fit the car with a five-speed manual transmission (rather than a six-speed) seems odd given that a six-speed would reduce consumption on the open road. At least it shifts smoothly.

Volkswagen engineers said the five-speed is a better compromise as it is lighter, has less frictional losses and the ratios worked better in the real world than the six-speed manual's.

Grip from the slightly narrower tyres was impressive – both at dispersing layers of water on the roadway, and also handling tight turns with confidence.

Low rolling resistance usually means low grip but in this instance, early impressions are that there is little compromise with these tyres. We are, however, yet to check the price with tyre retailers as they are not yet available in Australia.

There is a chance the tyres could be more expensive than usual – and the car won't drive as well with inferior, cheaper rubber. If you're in the market for this car, ring a tyre retailer once you have the tyre size and type written down after taking one for a test drive.

This rule also applies to other super eco cars such as the Prius and Fiesta; many car buyers are unaware of how sensitive these cars are to tyre selection; they're a big contributor to their awesome economy.

Overall, first impressions of the Golf Blue Motion diesel were positive but we'll reserve any further analysis until driving it on local roads – and once we know the price.

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