After the introduction of the Mk8, regular Golf hatchbacks or wagons are no longer available in America. You can either get the GTI or the Golf R. However, this continues to be a popular car in Europe and should receive updates about a year from now.
The Golf 8 was shown in 2019 but sales didn’t begin until 2020 for both the hatch and the wagon. They also make an Alltrack, the R Wagon, GTI, GTD, GTE, some hybrids, and some mild hybrids. Am I missing anything? There’s bound to be an official Golf ice cream van or hearse configuration.
Market conditions are horrible at the moment, and to make matters worse, Volkswagen disappointed loyal fans with elements ranging from front-end design to interior quality. Thus, updates are much-needed.
The channel AutoYa proposes several small changes which could change how the Golf is perceived. These are speculative, unofficial renderings but remain rooted in the current Volkswagen design.
The front end sports a visibly updated grille design with a mesh pattern that looks stamped directly into the bumper. This design idea may have come from high-end European commercial vehicles like the Caddy or the Multivan version of the T7 Transporter (the current bus). However, it’s also on the ID.7 Tourer concept (called Aero B).
I know for a fact that Volkswagen is never going to change Golf headlights during a facelift. They don’t want to spend money stamping a new hood or re-engineering the mounting points, so they just change the internals. AutoYa also proposes an unlikely wrap-around taillight design, which is admittedly appealing.
For the interior, the Golf 8 facelift should indeed bring a modernized steering wheel and infotainment. Both features have been harshly criticized over the past two years, the wheel because of the buttons and the screen because it’s laggy and lacks a hard volume controller while also integrating air conditioning functions.
Both these features were introduced as cost-cutting measures. Thankfully, other VW Group cars have normal buttons on the wheel, so at least that can be fixed. But it’s unlikely that the “Climatronic” separate controller is making a comeback.
This is likely to be the last Volkswagen Golf generation ever produced, so there’s not much incentive to make it cutting-edge. The ID.3 electric compact car has been specifically designed to replace it.
In March 1974, the first Golf rolled off the assembly line in Wolfsburg. So by the time the Golf 8 is retired, this nameplate will have been around for over 50 years with about 40 million sales.
