2022 Volkswagen Golf 110TSI Life Wagon Review

They might not be as desirable as SUVs these days, but the 2022 Volkswagen Golf 110TSI Wagon proves it has what it takes to be a serious contender on your shopping list. Better to drive and roomier than any small SUV, the Mk8 Golf Wagon, tested here in mid-range 110TSI Life spec proves we shouldn’t abandon the humble wagon in a world of SUVs.

It’s nice to see Volkswagen not giving up on wagons just yet, being one of the few manufacturers locally to still offer a wagon locally in Australia. If having a higher driving position isn’t a key requirement in your next new car, a compact wagon might just be what the doctor needed. So is the Volkswagen Golf Wagon a good choice for those wanting more room than a hatch, but without the unnecessary bulk of an SUV? Let’s find out.

Price & Equipment: 7/10

Priced at $38,990 plus on-road costs (around $44,000 drive away, depending on your location), the 2022 Volkswagen Golf 110TSI Life Wagon is the only regular Golf wagon variant available in Australia under the hot Golf R for now. A base Golf Wagon is $2700 cheaper, but misses out on some desirable goodies the Life includes, such as a larger screen and 17 inch alloys, compared to the base model’s humbler 16s.

Standard equipment includes all-LED lighting, auto lights and wipers, 17-inch alloy wheels, a 10-inch touchscreen with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, digital radio, satellite navigation, a seven-speaker sound system, four USB-C charging ports, a 10.25-inch digital driver’s display, tri-zone climate control, floor mats, keyless entry and start, heated and auto-folding mirrors with an auto-dropping passenger mirror, puddle lamps, roof rails, a power tailgate with kick-to-open functionality, a rear centre armrest, six-way manual front seats and a wireless phone charger. 

Safety equipment includes eight airbags, auto emergency braking (AEB) with pedestrian and cyclist detection, intersection assist, lane keep assist with lane trace assist, blind-spot monitoring with rear cross-traffic alert, rear auto braking, emergency assist, exit warning, driver fatigue monitoring, adaptive cruise control with traffic jam assist, front and rear parking sensors with automatic parking and a reversing camera. The Golf Mk 8 was awarded a five-star ANCAP rating in 2019 and it applies to the whole range.

Colour options for the Golf Life include the no cost ‘Pure White’, as well as the $650-extra ‘Atlantic Blue’, ‘Dolphin Grey’, ‘Reflex Silver’, ‘Deep Black’ and $950-extra ‘Pomelo Yellow’ that was on our test car. The only interior colour option is black. 

Two option packages are available for the Golf Life: the $2,000 Comfort & Style Pack that adds 30-colour ambient lighting, ‘comfort sport’ front seats with cloth and suede upholstery, a sunroof and footwell lighting, as well as the $1,600 Sound & Vision Pack, which adds a heads-up display and a 480W eight-speaker Harman Kardon sound system. Our test car had both packages fitted and was priced at around $46,500 drive away, depending on your location.

Rivals to the Golf wagon do exist and come in the form of the excellent and super practical Skoda Octavia 110TSI Wagon, with which the Golf shares its engine and other mechanical bits and the aging, but still loveable Mazda6 wagon. The Octavia Wagon in base Ambition trim comes in at $39,990 drive-away. It undercuts the Golf Life Wagon’s pricing and very closely matches its German rival’s specs. It does have more interior space than the Golf and a larger 644-litre boot. Stepping up to the Octavia Style adds leather upholstery among other goodies for $42,490 drive-away, which is close to the Golf Life Wagon’s on-road price. We’d suggest driving the Octavia first as it offers more space and a better interior than the Golf.

The Mazda6 feels like a larger car than the Golf and certainly has a more premium interior, along with a price tag to match. A Mazda6 Touring will set you back just over $45,000 drive-away and comes with leather seats and a premium sound system over the Golf Life Wagon. It does miss out on the Golf’s snazzy digital dials and larger infotainment screen, however. The Mazda6 Wagon also has a smaller boot with only 504-litres of space.

Performance & Economy: 8/10

Under the Golf Wagon’s bonnet sits a very well-known and proven engine – Volkswagen’s familiar 1.4-litre turbocharged petrol engine generating a respectable 110kW and 250Nm of torque. No fancy trickery here, with the engine’s power sent to the front wheels through a good old fashioned 8-speed torque converter gearbox, from Japanese manufacturer Aisin. We’ve long praised Volkswagen for ditching the dual clutch DSG automatic in some models, in favour of using smoother torque converter automatics and this is no exception.

Around town, the 1.4-litre engine is superbly refined and responsive, feeling almost teflon smooth. The gearbox shifts imperceptibly, even if it isn’t as fast to go through the gears like the dual clutch DSG automatic in the previous generation of Golf. With 250Nm of torque available from just 1500rpm, the Golf feels effortless at all speeds and never wanting for more pace. Volkswagen claims the Golf 110TSI Wagon will do the 0-100km/h sprint in 8.8 seconds.

Downsides? Well there are some. Aussies miss out on the newer, more efficient 1.5-litre petrol engine and seven-speed dual-clutch DSG automatic which consumes less fuel and generates less pollution available overseas. We also oddly miss out on the auto-hold function, meaning there is an awkwardly looking blank glossy button next to the handbrake switch.

Speaking of fuel consumption, the 2022 Volkswagen Golf Wagon fares very well, despite featuring a relatively old engine. Fuel consumption for the Golf wagon is claimed at 5.9L/100km on the combined cycle -slightly worse than the hatch’s due to the wagon’s extra weight. In the real world, we managed a rather exceptional 6.0L/100km in a mixture of freeway and city driving. You certainly won’t get that sort of fuel economy from any non-hybrid SUV.

Ride & Handling: 8.5/10

The 2022 Volkswagen Golf Wagon continues the fine Golf tradition of being a masterclass in how small cars should drive. Not only is it engaging to drive, but it is also very refined and comfortable.

Throwing the Golf Wagon into corners at speed is a rewarding experience, with light, responsive steering, superbly judged damping and decent amounts of grip from the Bridgestone Turanza T005 rubber. The body control is top notch, with the Golf Wagon keeping its composure through tight corners even with bumps present. The Golf Wagon very simply rewards keener drivers and is a whole lot of fun to drive from behind the wheel, showing just how well ordinary cars can still surprise, and delight.

Around town, the 2022 Volkswagen Golf 110TSI Life Wagon has excellent visibly and a tight turning circle to make city driving a breeze. What’s perhaps most impressive about the way the Golf Wagon drives, is its ability smooth out road surfaces and absorb all sorts of bumps. Bumps are seen and not felt, and the Golf Wagon feels more comfortable than pretty much any other small car, or even small SUV on sale.

What we weren’t such huge fans of was the apparent lack of sound insulation in the Golf Wagon, something we picked up on in other Mk8 Golfs. It seems Volkswagen has skimped on some extra insulation on newer Golfs as road roar is always present on country roads and really detracts from the otherwise serene driving experience the Golf Wagon offers.

Interior & Practicality: 8.5/10

Golfs have always had plusher than average interiors and with the Mk8, Volkswagen appears to have backtracked from that slightly. Build quality is still impressive – the doors open and close with solidity – and everything has a premium air to it, but there are now very visible elements of cost cutting inside the Golf Wagon. Take the large exposed cupholders, without the sliding cover seen in the previous Golf Mk7.5 for example, or the lack of a gas strut to open the bonnet – it’s clear bean counters have been cutting some corners here.

Having said this, the interior is still a nice place to be. Up front, the seats are form-fitting seats and very comfortable with ample adjustment in the driving position. The ergonomics and seats just feel right no matter where you’re seated with supportive, but firm seats all round. The steering wheel and instruments feel upmarket, and the stubby little gear lever actually works well, while freeing up space for more cubbies in the centre console. Up front, there’s also tons of space to put odds and ends such as phones in the wireless phone charger and keys in the smaller cubbies.

Volkswagen has aimed for to eliminate as many buttons as possible, meaning the climate controls have been replaced by a little selector on the dash which then brings up menus on the touchscreen. The screen and its software might look sharp and modern, but we noticed some clear instances of lag. We even had to wait for the air conditioning menu to pop up once. Not something you would face if the climate controls were physically available.

Even simple things like changing the volume has been made more difficult, the small non-backlit panel under the screen is touch sensitive and using it at night is impossible as it’s not backlit. Whilst the glossy screens and slick design might be nice to look at, it’s ultimately a case of form over function.

Luckily, the Golf Wagon comes with tons of room inside its tech-laden, but not all that functional interior. It offers loads of legroom for all occupants, with ample toe and knee room, and decent headroom for even taller rear passengers.

Where the Golf Wagon really shines is with its large boot, that is bigger than many small and mid-size SUVs. Its 611-litre capacity even runs the larger Tiguan’s 615-litre boot size capacity close, and expands to a mighty 1642-litres with the rear seats folded down and proves just how practical modern wagons are, without needing to resort to heavy and cumbersome SUVs.

The boot is well shaped with a variable boot floor, a few hooks to hang bags, along with a ski port and a 12-volt outlet for a vacuum cleaner. Under the boot floor, there is a space-saver spare wheel.

Service & Warranty: 7/10

Like other Volkswagen products in Australia, the 2022 Volkswagen Golf Wagon 110TSI comes with a five-year/unlimited km warranty with 12 months of roadside assistance that’s extended a further 12 months with each service up to five years in total. The Golf’s service intervals are once yearly/every 15,000km, whichever comes first and for five years/75,000km of servicing, the Golf costs a massive $2,900 (or $580 per service).

Buyers can choose a pre-paid service pack at the time of purchase, and for five years/75,000km, a service pack costs $2,100 ($420 per service), which is $800 less than what it would cost to pay-as-you-go. Toyota and Hyundai both offer five year warranties – the Hyundai has the same roadside assistance program as Volkswagen, while Toyota gives you none at all. Five years of i30 servicing costs $1,540 and an amazing $900 in the Corolla.

The 2022 Volkswagen Golf 110TSI Life Wagon DiscoverAuto Rating: 7.8/10

We certainly love a good wagon here at DiscoverAuto, and the 2022 Volkswagen Golf 110TSI Wagon continues to prove just how fit for purpose the humble wagon is. The Golf Mk8 Wagon might not be the huge leap forward compared with the Golf MK7.5 we had expected, but it is brilliant to drive, super roomy and well built with a tech-heavy interior that looks good, even if slightly flawed.

Yes, the Golf is still one of the top picks in the small-car segment and the wagon takes the Golf’s practicality up another level. There, we said it. It’s value might not be as sharp as before, thanks to forever increasing pricing, but if the high-ride height of an SUV isn’t needed, the 2022 Volkswagen Golf 110TSI Wagon might just be all the car you need.