The New 2015 Volkswagen Golf SV Review [Video]

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If you’re in the market for an SUV with the style and class factor that will allow you to feel considerable pride when it’s in your driveway, then you may well be looking in the right place with the 2015 Volkswagen Golf SV.

This isn’t the first time Volkswagen has made the foray into MPV territory. They’ve already got vehicles on the market such as the Caddy Life, the Golf Estate and let’s not forget more specifically, the precursor to the 2015 Volkswagen Golf SV – the slow selling Golf Plus. So what makes this 2015 Volkswagen Golf SV worth putting into the mix? Well it’s fair to say the Golf Plus experiment has at least allowed the Volkswagen engineers to learn a thing or two. You see, rivals such as the Renault Scenic and the Ford C-Max had the distinct advantage of being well thought out for the family application they would be facing. Something the Golf Plus could well have done with. With the 2015 Volkswagen Golf SV, they have essentially taken their hottest selling hatch and made it bigger and more versatile to suit the needs of the compact MPV market. Does this combo really work? Well yes to be frank, it does. It represents the higher end of the compact 2015 Volkswagen Golf SV segment, being a bit more of a premium price at about £2000 more than the regular hatch, but offering that style and flair that makes it more desirable to see on your driveway.

The 2015 Volkswagen Golf SV stands for Sports Van, but you may notice that it is a far cry from being an LCV van and still not quite sporty enough to wear the moniker with confidence, however it does a good job of appearing to be a crossbreed. It’s a proper 5 seat purpose built compact MPV, with all the panache that you’d expect from a Golf. This is evident with the way it looks. Instead of crowbarring its dimensions out to fit the MPV bill (as with the gangly teenager that was the Golf Plus) they’ve genuinely made their Golf shell fit to the mould, so it doesn’t really look much different from a regular Golf aside from being larger with 80mm more length and width plus 120mm extra in height. There are some clever size expanding tricks thrown into the body to make it seem natural.

Side view of 2015 Volkswagen Golf SV

Inside the cabin, it looks very much like the Golf again with all the identical elements installed into the large and classy setup. There is perhaps not as much high tech sophistication here as with some other rivals, but it’s fair to say it’s still very plush with a finger scrolling infotainment system and all the usual mod cons. The seating position is characteristically higher than the hatch and the cabin holds plenty of storage with enough secret compartments to make you feel like a smuggler. The back seats have handy plane style folding tables behind the front chairs as well as having great head and legroom, which can be extended to feel practically like a limo if you fancy by sliding the back bench into the boot space a bit – there is a full extra 180mm to play with here. The middle seat does however have a large transmission tunnel hump to contend with when in the normal position. All together the 2015 Volkswagen Golf SV does a great job on the practicality front. The everyday boot space is class leading at 590ltrs, however some criticise it due to having slightly less than its rivals when the back seats are fully folded down. You can weigh this up against how often you imagine you’ll actually need to use this function to get full capacity. There is also a handy repositionable boot floor which forms a flat ramp when the seats are down.

When you get behind the wheel of the 2015 Volkswagen Golf SV, you expect all the extra size and 120kg extra weight would have a significant effect on the driving dynamics, but the weird thing here is the fact that it isn’t that different from the hatch at all. It’s obviously not a clone, there is a slight bit more body roll for example, but this doesn’t figure much in the grand scheme of things. The steering is impressively sharp too due to the XDS electronic differential lock, which cleverly breaks the inner wheel through all tight corners, allowing it to shoot around bends with ease. Aside from the lowest spec trimmings, you’ll also have the Driver Profile Select system, which gives you the ability to alter aspects such as the throttle response and gear shift timings (for Automatics obviously). This gives a great deal of personalized character to the way the 2015 Volkswagen Golf SV drives. One downside is the fact that the suspension is a bit fidgety at lower speeds unless you go for a high spec engine model.

Front view of 2015 Volkswagen Golf SV

The engine range is great, going from the aforementioned high spec 150ps units – the 2.0ltr TDI diesel or the 1.4 TSI petrol boast, a 0-62mph in 9.2 seconds up to a top speed of 132mph. However most people buying this vehicle probably won’t have the need for so much power. By far, the most buyers will get is the 110ps 1.6ltr TDI diesel engine which provides a great blend of perky performance and 70mpg efficiency, doing 0-62 in 11.3 seconds up to 119mph.

All in all, what have we got here with the 2015 VW Golf SV? Well you’ve basically got a VW Golf with much more room and practical family appeal, which by and large is the entire point of this enterprise. If you want versatility but don’t want to get a dull estate and you don’t care about having the full 7 seats that some others can offer, then the 2015 Volkswagen Golf SV is the one. It might not be the largest or most spacious of the entire people carrier segment, but it is almost definitely the classiest. It offers a lot of desirability in a very practical category. The price is a bit loftier but then again it is what you’d expect for a premium product such as this.

If you want to lease or finance the new 2015 Volkswagen Golf SV then don’t hesitate to leave us a message on our contact us page or give us a call on 01903 538835 to find out about our VW lease deals.

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