Volkswagen Golf Mk8 review: the most frustrating car on sale?

The controls aren’t bad all, I had a 2022 GTI and I get my 2024 R Wednesday.

the "touch" panel buttons killed this Golf.

It´s not the Golf. It´s the stupidity of our age. The trend is the same almost in every new car. Just screens & digitally controlled multi-purpose functions. So maybe the title of the video is a bit too much.

You press volume up down button on the steering wheel, and in the massive volume slider you tap up or down. Both the same. Who is stupid here?

Sounds like skill issues

VW is working hard to lose market share and fail.

More and more young people, specially in cities, are not driving anymore... Could it be that such a stupid mistake of choosing capacitive buttons that are unusable will driving is the result of designers and engineers that don't drive anymore?

Completely share your frustrations. We bought a Kia instead

Sounds like you need to get longer arms to reach the controls.

Everything about the design is too centered around having a smartphone, and making everything behave just like a smartphone/tablet. Everything gets dumbed down and VW lost track of what really makes the Golf great.

Open any window if its too hot?

I've been waiting since last July for my Golf, it's now April 2023! I ordered a petrol, 150bhp, automatic, the most basic trim model. I have been driving my wife's Polo (4 years old now), still a very nice car but I want my Golf!!!! Buck up VW!!!

Bollox. Great car...

i have the 2022 2.0 190 psi 4motion version and its an amazing ride! 10/10 the best golf i've had, and i've had 3 previous editions! The only thing i miss is the sunglass-compartement.

Nicola hit the nail on the head early on with the road noise. Great car but awful on long runs in Australia. This is the reason I sold mine. Too noisy on the road even with different tyres.

Gg

Worst designed interior and ux is terrible for their infotainment

Those controls and that poor cabin has stopped me from buying one. I remember when a new Golf was a thing of class, solidity and ease of use.

The new display sounds complicated on one hand but on the other it does look futuristically good. 2.0 TDI 150 engine is punchy.

Worst car ever. I purchased one, sold it in 7 months. Awful :(. Buy an Audi A3 instead, has proper switch gear.

I've had 4 VW's 3 GTI's and a Golf R . The 2016 R was my last one because When I purchased it I didn't pay much mind to the back seat until a friend pointed out that the back interior door panels, & leather quality were ALOT cheaper than what was in the front... This really turned me off that the back doors had super cheap plastic when the front had LED lighting and all soft touch materials.. spending 48k on a Golf R it should be finished the same front/back.

Don’t buy a Golf. The infotainment computer is poorly constructed. When it fails at only a few years old VW will charge you £2.5k to fix it. They are not fit for purpose. Avoid.

Nicola at 2 mins in "the battery is completely flat"
Nicola at 3 mins in " golf are saying this will get 300mpg but right now I'm only getting 59mpg"
the 300mpg wasn't what golf said the car would get on engine alone lol!

I own a 2015 Mk7 VW Golf 184 bhp 2.0 GTD, which has 14,687 miles at present time, I bought brand new , very nice comfortable and quite sporty car, but it is a bit gutsy with the diesel fuel, unlike my 2004 Mk4 VW Golf 1.9 PD GT TDI130, which I also bought brand new back in 2004, that has 48,790 miles at present time, and it’s fantastic on fuel.. I get more miles to the gallon in my Mk4 compared to the Mk7.. I was going to trade in my Mk7 to replace it with a new Mk8 when they were first released, but I’ve heard so many people complaining about the new dashboard layout and how everything is done through the touch screen or as in the higher spec models, the voice control set up, it made me decide to just keep my old Mk7 Golf .. maybe the new Mk9 Golf will be a better car when it’s eventually designed and built., I’ve also heard a lot of Mk8 Golf owners having nasty accidents or near misses because of the touch screen and lack of buttons to change things, there having to look at the touch screen to see what there changing, like the heating or radio stations, that there not watching the road but watching the dashboard and then disaster happens. !!!!

Just had a MK8 Golf style 2.0 DSG delivered. I've had it for two weeks, and I absolutely love it. It’s got all the familiar features of my previous MK6, but the new infotainment systems take things to a new level. I think it's absolutely awesome and I love it to bits. She talks about the sensor touch volume control, but the physical buttons I am familiar with are still on the steering wheel as well, my wife prefers the new touch controls, but either way best of both worlds. I think every aspect of the new infotainment system has been very well thought out. The connected system, for example, integrates extremely well with the Sat Nav and adaptive cruise control, to alert and offer automatic control. The slot she refers to, holds your mobile phone perfectly which connects flawlessly to the vehicle via cable or Bluetooth. If you don't want to use the in-built Sat Nav you can use an App on your phone with apple car connect. If you don't like the map display in the middle of the car you can move it to the centre of the dashboard. So many nice touches such as the interior lighting schemes, which can light up the door cards, to the auto dip headlights. The headlights themselves are outstanding, and actually make driving on the darkest of roads an absolute pleasure. Fuel economy wise my diesel engine will deliver 60mpg + on the shortest of journeys. Whoever finds this car frustrating must be people who simply don't like VW brand.

😂 have you driven a Ford Focus? I have…..and they are planets apart!😣

Truly spoken.

Just had a rental diesel one of these whilst on holiday in Germany. Software was an absolute nightmare. Also, coming from a Tesla, I find all the buttons just ridiculous.

Plug in hybrids are pointless.

Touch screen control is much much cheaper to produce but hard to fix it..simple

Ghehhe funny video... I have owned a mk7 and now a mk7.5... The MK8 nehhhhh

I currently own a gti Clubsport 45 and it’s a great drive,but the electronics are awful,it will be replaced by a civic type r shortly

골프 8세대 디젤을 몰고 입장에서 답답해서 적어본다.

이 차를 리뷰한 대부분의 시승자들이 편의를 위한 기능들을 조작할 때 디스플레이를 통해 조작하는 방식으로 인해 에어컨 및 열선 등의 기능들을 조작하는데 있어 불편함을 느낀다고 하지만 이들의 공통점은 이 차를 처음 접한 채 이 차에 대한 평가를 한다는 것이다. 인간은 적응의 동물이라 이 차를 몰다보면 어느샌가 이 차의 조작 방법에 익숙해지며 사실 자주 사용하는 편의 기능들 대부분은 한번에 조작이 가능한 숨겨진 기능이나 직관적인 물리버튼을 갖고있다.

지금 내게 이 차는 조작하기 매우 편리하다. 직관적인 물리적 버튼들을 없애면서 얻게 된 심플한 인테리어와 가로로 길게 뻗은 넓은 스크린 및 깔끔한 센터의 기어노브가 더해지며 좀더 미래지향적인 차를 타고 있다는 느낌을 갖게 한다. 8세대 골프보다 7세대 골프의 실내 디자인이 더 낫다는 사람이 있다면 그는 분명 꽤나 보수적이며 변화를 두려워하는 사람임이 분명할 것이다.

8세대 골프는 여전히 만족스러운 주행 성능과 고속에서의 안정감을 제공해준다. 7세대의 주행 성능을 계승하면서도 트래블 어시스트, IQ라이트, 무선 카플레이, HUD, 눈높이에 맞는 넓은 디스플레이 등 여러개의 편의장치들이 더해지며 운전이 상당히 편리해졌다. 8세대 골프는 여전히 매력적인 골프가 맞고 이 차의 구입을 망설이는 당신에게 난 그냥 사면 된다고 말하고 싶다. 200%의 만족감을 주는 차다.

Another in the endless line of reviewers who haven't bothered to study the digital cockpit a little bit closer. See the start of the video, she is making a big
mistake using the 'slider' buttons (the one big weakness of the digital cockpit design). The trick with Mk8 Golf is to never even use these (save them for front passenger only), to adjust anything. There is an easy short-cut climate actual haptic button just underneath where she is trying to flail away with the slider buttons. Or she could have just touched one of the temp readings numbers in lower right-hand corner of the touch-screen to quickly access climate options. If you come from Apple iPhone ecosystem, you get used to touchscreen buttons very quickly within 1-2 wks of studying the car. Software 2022 upgrades have also vastly improved response as well..the other trick is just leave everything on auto for climate and lights, don't have to do a thing...and heavily use Apple Carplay..

The VW Golf is a boring looking car especially made for boring people.

Dull, painfully dull, painfully German. Nice review though

Yet when they tested the car for the first time they didn't give bad points to the interior. Were they on vw payroll or jusy plainly bad testers

Is the slot thing for your keys? If its keyless start?

No, the volume and AC controls are just perfect. See I hate it when front seat passengers switch and turn the radio and climate settings the other way than I, the driver prefer! Let's just make this more difficult to them.

Nah... Overpriced for what you get...
The Golf has been going downhill since the Mk1

The interior doesn't look like premium or exciting, adequate at best.

That interior looks so cheap and nasty

I like you much more than the car tested, a car pricier than previous model with lesser quality build. You nailed with the infotainment system, why these square headed germans can understand that people prefer physical buttons in the cockpick? Great video review

Yup. I have had several Golfs and loved them. I rented a Mark 8 and loathed it for all the reasons you describe. Just terrible controls. The odd thing is I own an Audi, in which the same company gets the touchscreen / physical button balance almost exactly right.

I was able to pick a Golf GTI Clubsport as a company car. I was prepared for all the chatter about the infotainment system to be journalists parroting the meta opinion (not you Nicola), but sadly...it's real. Not just the infotainment, but the entire cockpit is really bad. It looks cheap, it feels cheap, it's ugly, and it functions poorly. The seats are nice and a small family fits easily for weekend trips. It is fun to drive on open roads, but in the city it feels numb just toodling around (no manual in a GTi?). This car starts at 53K CHF where I live with no options. In the spec I have, that's two Fiesta ST's which are much more fun in village driving conditions. Or if you want a car for open road driving, you are into low mileage Giulia Quadrifoglio territory. This is the worst German interior on the market, and will be used as a teachable moment for trash interior design for years to come. Only the hardest of the core VW fanboys should buy this car.

What a ugly looking car, that colour is horrible, the front lights are boring looking and those are granny car alloy wheels

Thumbail is si funny 🤣

Haha anyone who spends thousands on one of these is a mug 🤣 30k or more and can't even adjust the volume? Rofl

Designers using piano black plastics should be fired.