2009 Volkswagen City Golf Review (video)

Bringing back the old-generation Golf and selling it at a fire-sale price means one of two things, or maybe both. First, since Volkswagen currently has no subcompact ready for sale in North America, the company has got nothing to rival the recent surge of small-car offerings.

As old as it is, the City Golf can still provide decent transportation at a fairly low price.

At the same time, they might have figured that Canadians need or want basic transportation at a reasonable price, whatever the technology that's baked into the vehicle. VW seems to have a good strategy on both counts, since the German manufacturer is consistently selling as many City Golfs and City Jettas as Rabbits and Jettas.

The City Golf has a base price of $15,300, which is right in the middle of the subcompact price range. And if we would compare sales figures of this hatchback within the subcompact category, we'd realize that it would be fighting for 3rd place.

Archaic engine
Under the hood of the VW's City models, you'll find the old 8-valve, 2.0-liter 4-cylinder engine that develops 115 horsepower and 122 lb-ft of torque. While its 58 hp/litre output makes it among the weakest engines available to us Canadians, it's a hard-working one. A 6-speed automatic with manual mode is new since last year, and makes the engine quieter at highway speeds, but the row-it-yourself gate isn't very relevant with the 2.0-litre mill.

Our average of 10.5 L/100 km is nothing to get excited about, and definitely doesn't compare well with the subcompact gang. Zero to 100 km/h is ours in 10.4 seconds, and the quarter-mile mark is reached in 17.2 seconds at 128 km/h, which is unsurprisingly adequate.

Volkswagens have a reputation of being fun-to-drive cars, but that's partly true of the City Golf. Ten years ago, this car was one of the most involving hatches of its category, but today, almost every other manufacturer toned up the driving dynamics of their models. Still, the car remains nimble and the suspension does a good job of absorbing road imperfections.

Under the hood of the VW's City models, you'll find the old 8-valve, 2.0-liter 4-cylinder engine.