In-depth reviews

Volkswagen Golf review - Reliability & safety

New technology could cause hiccups but safety won’t be one of them

2 Aug 2024

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Volkswagen Golf facelift rear 3/4 static

Carbuyer Rating

4.1 out of 5

Owners Rating

4.0 out of 5

Read owner reviews

Reliability & safety Rating

4.0 out of 5

SPECIFICATIONS

Out of the top 50 cars rated by owners in the 2024 Driver Power satisfaction survey, the Volkswagen Golf came 50th, scoring highest for its engines but not particularly excelling in any specific area. Major rivals came higher, such as the Ford Focus (47th) and Toyota Corolla (24th). The brand will be hoping the Golf’s mid-life refresh can improve on these results.

Volkswagen Golf reliability

We’ve not heard any horror stories about the latest Volkswagen Golf in terms of reliability, but it did come last out of the 50 top models in the 2024 Driver Power survey in this category as reported by customers. Volkswagen Golf owners are disappointed with their cars’ reliability, safety features and infotainment systems. Servicing costs are too high, you also told us.

As a brand, Volkswagen came in a disappointing 27th place for customer satisfaction in 2023, with a slightly worse than average 26% of owners reporting an issue with their car in the first year. Most of these were electrical issues.

What owners said about the Mk8 Volkswagen Golf…
Pros	Cons
“Probably the best-riding car in its class for me. I’ve enhanced mine with high-quality wheels and tyres.” “The straight-line performance is as I expected; my car has all the acceleration I need.” “Has easily accessible ISOFIX, multiple cup-holders, folding armrests and deep door bins.” “I really like the adaptive cruise control. I wouldn’t be without it.”	“Most of the controls are touch-sensitive. It’s all very complicated and unintuitive. I’d like physical buttons.” “The built-in sat-nav is unreliable. Sometimes it works, sometimes not.” “I keep getting alerts about a software issue, but the dealer has been unable to fix it.” “The gearbox is clunky and power delivery inconsistent. Brakes aren’t firm enough.”

Safety

The Golf was retested by Euro NCAP in October 2022, due to an update to its safety equipment. It isn’t surprising that it holds onto its five-star Euro NCAP score with the new kit, however, the test is stricter than ever, making its most recent score all the more impressive.

The Golf scored especially well in the child and adult occupant safety categories, and while it didn’t perform as well for pedestrian safety, its score of 74% in the vulnerable road user category is still competitive in its class.

PreviousPracticality & boot space

Which Is Best?

Cheapest

Name
1.5 TSI Life 5dr
Gearbox type
Manual
RRP
£27,760

Most Economical

Name
1.5 TSI 204 Match eHybrid 5dr DSG
Gearbox type
Semi-auto
RRP
£36,345

Fastest

Name
2.0 TSI 333 R 4Motion 5dr DSG
Gearbox type
Semi-auto
RRP
£44,535

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Charlie Harvey

Charlie writes and edits news, review and advice articles for Carbuyer, as well as publishing content to its social media platforms. He has also been a regular contributor to its sister titles Auto Express, DrivingElectric and evo. As well as being consumed by everything automotive, Charlie is a speaker of five languages and once lived in Chile, Siberia and the Czech Republic, returning to the UK to write about his life-long passion: cars.