Volkswagen Golf

Some cars leave a paper trail; the Volkswagen Golf left a name, a year — 1974 — and a place in Volkswagen's list. What follows is what can be said with a source behind it.

Where it came from

The Volkswagen Golf () is a compact car/small family car (C-segment) produced by the German automotive manufacturer Volkswagen since 1974, marketed worldwide across eight generations, in various body configurations and under various nameplates – including as the Volkswagen Rabbit in the United States and Canada (Mk1 and Mk5), and as the Volkswagen Caribe in Mexico (Mk1). The Golf is Volkswagen's bestseller and the third best-selling automobile of all time, with over 37 million units sold worldwide. The original Golf Mk1 was a front-engined, front-wheel drive replacement for the air-cooled, rear-engined, rear-wheel drive Volkswagen Beetle. Initially, most Golfs were hatchbacks, with the three-door version being somewhat more popular than the five-door. Other variants include an estate (Variant, from 1993), convertible (Cabriolet or Cabrio, from 1979), and a Golf-based saloon called the Jetta, Vento (from 1992), or Bora (from 1999).

The Golf covers economy to high-performance market segments. The Golf has won awards, including the World Car of the Year in 2009, with the Mk6 and in 2013 with the Mk7. Along with the Renault Clio and the Vauxhall Astra, the Golf is one of only three cars to have won European Car of the Year twice, in 1992 and 2013. The Golf has made the annual Car and Driver 10Best list multiple times. The Mk7 won the Motor Trend Car of the Year award in 2015, and the Mk1 GTI also won the award in 1985. The Mk4 won for the best-selling car in Europe in 2001.

In context

Where it sits in Volkswagen's history is not in doubt: the Volkswagen Beetle (first generation only, until 1998) came before it; the Volkswagen ID.3 (for e-Golf) followed it. On a showroom list of its day it stood against the Lamborghini Countach, the Jeep Cherokee, the BMW 3 Series. Nearby in the Volkswagen catalogue sit the Volkswagen Apollo and the Volkswagen Routan.

The money

On the used market today a Volkswagen Golf typically changes hands for $6,300–$22,000, and running it — fuel and maintenance at its age — costs about $2,701–$5,785 a year. Insurance sits around $960–$1,890 a year. The figures are class-level estimates from the federal record, with the formula on the methodology page; the model-year pages carry complaints, recalls and repair costs year by year.