2005 Volkswagen Golf Turbo Diesel review from UK and Ireland

Passenger seat occasionally squeaks.

Car is too new for any major faults to have appeared.

Ride quality is absolutely appalling. The car absorbs minor surface imperfections on smooth tarmac reasonably well, but on all other normal roads in the UK, every bump transmits itself into the car. The ride quality is noticeably jarring and its almost as if you're driving a car that has no suspension travel or is running on solid rubber as opposed to pneumatic air filled tyres. For example, I have one those SatNav PDAs which is attached to the windscreen using a suction mount. During a 300 mile round trip from Yorkshire to the East Midlands (motorways, A and B roads etc) the ride was so bad that the suction mount fell off twice and on some occasiosn, the PDA screen jiggled about so much that it was difficult to see the screen properly. That never used to happen on my previous car, a Mazda 6 which had much better ride quality.

Not sure why the ride quality of the 2.0 TDi Golf is so bad. It has the standard VW factory alloy wheels and factory standard low profile tyres, but I suspect its more to do with the suspension being very poor and simply not setup for ride comfort as a priority. A 10 year old Citroen Xantia is lightyears ahead of this car in terms of ride quality. Anyone who has ride quality high on their list of priorities should take this car for a long test drive (and not just a few miles) before buying.

The Golf 2.0 TDI handles well, has good fairly good grip, good road-holding and good torsional rigidity (if you hit a pothole or bump midway through a bend, the car doesn't feel as if its flexing in several directions). The car also resists roll and under-steer fairly well.

The 2.0 TDi engine has quite a lot of power for a diesel, but its power delivery is frustrating for keen drivers - you get a huge waft of torque between 2000-3500rpm and then practically nothing on either side of that rev range. Driven enthusiastically, this car's characteristic is to lurch forward in the midrange of each gear as the torque/turbo comes on tap. The non-linear nature of the engine's power delivery makes this a very frustrating driver's car as its far more difficult to modulate the power (the turbo decides and not you). 1st gear also has a very short ratio. 6th gear is a useful addition to motorway cruising though.

Engine still has that noticeable diesel 'clackety clack' noise when idling or stopping at traffic lights.

Economy is disappointing. On a hard driven run from Leeds to Birmingham, I averaged about 28-30mpg. There is no turbo boost gauge, so its difficult to tell precisely when the turbo is on part/half/full boost. On gentler runs, economy will undoutbedly improve, particularly those involving part-throttle conditions.

Car is screwed together very well and feels very solid.

There is nowhere to rest your right arm during motorway runs (armrest is too low and window sill too high).

The Golf has some lovely 'lifestyle' touches - if you unlock the car with the remote central locking, the headlights and interior come on to help you get into the car. Interior alarm (not the theft alarm) sounds if you drive off without putting your seat belt on. Xenon headlights are excellent and really help with night driving. Interior lights are also good.

Overall, quite a nice car ruined by its hugely disappointing ride quality.