Golf Refresh Imminent, Volkswagen Celebrates With Retro Photos

by Matthew Guy

Published: December 28th, 2023

golf refresh imminent vw celebrates with retro photos

Next year will mark five decades since Volkswagen presented its first Golf, showing up with front-wheel drive and its engine ahead of the driver unlike the loaded-diaper Beetle. The model, currently in its eighth generation (or Mk8 as forum dweebs like to say) will receive some freshening for the big party in 2024 – and VW has decided to mark the occasion with a few retro photos.

If you’re looking for a way in which to while away the time at yer desk during these nebulous few days between Christmas and New Year’s, when no one’s sure what day it is and we’re all filled with cheese, may we gently suggest pointing an internet browser to this page on VW’s media site. There is a wealth of Golf history and, more importantly, entertaining snaps of the model from different eras along with more than a few creative print ads. Go mad and use up the company bandwidth – we won’t tell.

As for the upcoming Golf refresh, VW released a typical teaser shot which only reveals new lighting signatures up front plus a potential massaging of the bumper style. The company also promises Der Golf 8.5 will have new assist systems and “next-generation infotainment systems and software.” The latter is likely to be hauled from the brand’s SUV lineup where a wholesale rethink of such tech is mercifully underway in an effort to bin some of the, erm, odd UX decisions of present-day VW infotainment systems.

The bumf also talks in vague terms about new powertrains, though nothing is mentioned with even the slightest amount of specificity. There’s every chance in the world that the GTI may gain a few ponies from its current 241-horse stable, though any movement on that trim would likely necessitate also cranking the wick on the R, a machine which is presently good for 315 horsepower.

The company promises a premiere of the updated Golf (not next-gen, as VW themselves call the changes an ‘evolutionary development’) is just a few weeks away, suggesting versions might land on dealer lots this side of the pond before Santa shows up again.

[Images: Volkswagen]

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#VW #Volkswagen #Golf #2024 #VolkswagenGolf #VwGolf

Matthew Guy

Matthew buys, sells, fixes, & races cars. As a human index of auto & auction knowledge, he is fond of making money and offering loud opinions.

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3 of 22 comments

3SpeedAutomatic on Dec 30, 2023

Back in the day when you were actually in control of the car.
No anti-lock, no power steering, no power windows. Maybe a stereo, flip open roof panel, 5 speed stick, stiff suspension but your buns were firmer back then. 🚗🚗🚗

Today, you drive a rechargeable toaster in muted colors. 🚫🚫🚫

1 Reply
- Teddyc73 on Mar 20, 2024
  
  Yeah, and cars with "No anti-lock, no power steering, no power windows. Maybe a stereo, flip open roof panel, 5 speed stick, stiff suspension" were horrible.
  
  Like
Inside Looking Out on Jan 01, 2024

Back to the future.

1 Reply

Recent Comments

NJRide A question and a point:1) What were hybrids at compared to last year? And plug in bs a regular hybrid?2) How can state governments like mine possibly think 40 percent of sales will be electric in 3 years?
Steve S. Steve was a car guy. In his younger years he owned a couple of European cars that drained his bank account but looked great and were fun to drive while doing it. This was not a problem when he was working at a good paying job at an aerospace company that supplied the likes of Boeing and Lockheed-Martin, but after he was laid off he had to work a number of crummy temp jobs in order to keep paying the rent, and after his high-mileage BMW was totaled in an accident, he took the insurance payout and decided to get something a little less high maintenance. But what to get? A Volkswagen? Maybe a Volvo? No, he knew that the parts for those were just as expensive and they had the same reputation for spending a lot of time in the shop as any other European make. Steve was sick and tired of driving down that road."Just give me four wheels and a seat," said Steve to himself. "I'll buy something cooler later when my work situation improves".His insurance company was about to stop paying for the rental car he was driving, so he had to make a decision in a hurry. He was not really a fan of domestics but he knew that they were generally reliable and were cheap to fix when they did break, so he decided to go to the nearest dealership and throw a dart at something.On the lot was a two year old Pontiac Sunfire. It had 38,000 miles on it and was clean inside and out. It looked reasonably sporty, and Steve knew that GM had been producing the J-car for so long that they pretty much worked the bugs out of it. After taking a test drive and deciding that the Ecotec engine made adequate power he made a deal. The insurance check paid for about half of it, and he financed the rest at a decent rate which he paid off within a year.Steve's luck took a turn for the better when he was offered a job working for the federal government. It had been months since he went on the government jobs website and threw darts at job listings, so he was surprised at the offer. It was far from his dream job, and it didn't pay a lot, but it was stable and had good benefits. It was the "four wheels and a seat" of jobs. "I can do this temporarily while I find a better job", he told himself.But the year 2007 saw the worst economic crash since the Great Depression. Millions of people were losing their jobs, the housing market was in a free fall, people were declaring bankruptcy left and right, and the temporary job began to look more and more permanent. Steve didn't like his job, and he hated his supervisors, but he considered himself lucky that he was working when so many people were not. And the federal government didn't lay people off.So he settled in for the long haul. That meant keeping the Sunfire. He didn't enjoy it, but he didn't hate it either, and it did everything he asked of it without complaint.Eventually he found a way to tolerate his job too, and he built seniority while paying off his debts. There was a certain feeling of comfort and satisfaction of being debt-free, and he even began to build some savings, which was increasingly important for someone now in their forties.Another bit of luck came a few years later when Steve's landlord decided to sell the house Steve was renting, at the bottom of the housing market, and offered it to Steve for what he had in it. Steve's house was small and cramped, and he didn't really like it, but thanks to his savings and good credit he became a homeowner in an up and coming neighborhood.Fourteen years later Steve was still working that temporary job, still living in that cramped little house that he now hated, and still drove the Sunfire because it wouldn't die. For years now he dreamed of making a change, but then the pandemic happened and threw the economy and life in general into chaos. Steve weathered the pandemic, kept his job when millions of people were losing theirs, and sheltered in place in that crummy little house, with Netflix, HBO, and a dozen other streaming services keeping him company, and drove to and from work in the Sunfire because it was four wheels and a seat and that's all he needed for now.Steve's life was secure, but a kind of dullness had set in. He existed, but the fire went out; even when the pandemic ended and life returned to normal Steve's life went on as it had for years; an endless Groundhog Day of work, home, work, home. He never got his real-estate license or finished college and got his bachelor's, never got a better job, never used his passport to do some traveling in Europe. He lost interest in cars. "To think how much money I wasted on hot cars when I was younger", he said to himself. He never married and lost interest in dating. "No woman would want me anyway. I've gotten so dull and uninteresting that I even bore myself".Eventually the Sunfire began to give trouble. With 200,000 miles on the clock it was leaking oil, developing electrical gremlins, and wallow around on blown-out shocks. Steve wasn't hurting for money and thought about treating himself to a new car. "A BMW 3-series, maybe. Or maybe an Alfa Romeo Giulia!" He began to peruse the listings on Autotrader. "Maybe this is just what I need to pull out of this funk. Put a little fun back in my life. Yeah, and maybe go back to the gym, and who knows, start dating again and do some traveling while I'm still young enough to enjoy it!"Then his father passed away and left him a low-mileage Ford. Steve didn't like it or hate it, but it was four wheels and a seat, and that's all he needed right now."Is it too late to have a mid-life crisis?" Steve thought to himself. For what he needed more than that stable job, that house with an enviably small mortgage payment, and that reliable car was a good kick in the hindquarters. "What the hell am I afraid of? I should be afraid that things will never change!"But the depression was like a drug, a numbness that they call "dysthymia"; where you're neither here or there, alive or dead, happy or sad. It was a persistent overcast, a low ceiling that kept him grounded. The Sunfire sat in his driveway getting buried by the needles from his neighbor's overhanging pine trees which were planted right on the property line. "Those f---ing pine trees! That's another thing I hate about this damn house!" Eventually the Sunfire wouldn't start. "I don't blame you", he said to the car as he trudged past it to drive the Ford to another Groundhog Day at that miserable job.
Yuda Cool. Cept we need oil and such products. Not just for fuel but other stuff as well. The world isn't exactly ready to move to wind and solar and whatever other bs, the technology simply isn't here yetNot to mention it's too friggin expensive, the equipment is still too niche and expensive as it stands
Rna65689660 Picked up my wife’s 2024 Bronco Sport Bad Lands!
Inside Looking Out Android too.