VW debuts its forbidden fruit 8th-gen Golf Variant and Alltrack models
That sound you're hearing now is Roadshow's Andrew Krok cursing fate because he can't buy one.
Yes, it's awesome, and no, you can't have one in the US.
We Americans were able to buy the VW Golf (and sometimes Jetta ) in wagon form for a good, long time, though only a few brave souls (Roadshow's Andrew Krok being one of them) ended up buying them, it seems, and now that ship has sailed, probably for good.
Of course, just because we're not getting them doesn't mean that VW isn't still making them, and to that point, the folks from Wolfsburg debuted both the Golf Variant and Golf Alltrack Wednesday. Wagon fans, look away now because you're just going to get sad.
To start with, the outside looks just about as you'd expect, given that the styling from the last-generation Golf to the current one didn't exactly leap forward in evolution like some kind of German Pokemon. That's not a bad thing, though, because that means it's still got clean lines and a purposeful look with the new Golf's nose.
Inside, though, is where things get awesome. One of the most obvious things is the inclusion of a Porsche-like shifter toggle. While I don't really love it in a 911, it looks futuristic and cool in the Golf. The rest of the interior is typically VW-sensible, though I will cop to not loving the way the infotainment screen is situated here, but VW's Digital Cockpit Pro dash is standard, so I'll let it slide.
Overall, the new Golf wagon is just shy of 2.6 inches longer than its predecessor, which means that rear passengers get more room and there's also a bit more space for all your junk in the rear. We're talking like 0.2 cubic feet, so the difference isn't massive, but more storage is always nice when it comes to wagons .
Power comes from VW's eTSI four-cylinder mild-hybrid engine and is routed through a seven-speed DSG gearbox to the front -- or in the case of the Alltrack model, all four -- wheels. Volkswagen will also offer a new TDI diesel engine with dual AdBlue injectors and dual selective catalytic reduction (SCR) converters to help clean up emissions.
The Golf Variant will go on presale in Germany on Thursday, with the rest of Europe set to follow soon after.
