Golf retains class crown in Caravan Club Towcar awards

Volkswagen’s Golf has been named the winner of the £16,000-£20,000 price category in The Caravan Club Towcar of the Year 2011 awards, retaining the title in spite of competition from ten new cars in that class.  The award was presented at a prestigious ceremony held at the Royal Automobile Club in London.

Voted for by a ten-strong panel of judges, the Golf was praised for its excellent performance in rigorous towing tests conducted at the Millbrook Testing Ground in Bedfordshire.  Here, 35 vehicles were put through their paces to assess their towing ability, acceleration, braking, ability to cope with demanding hill starts and an assessment of usability in terms of everyday caravanning.

The judges said of the Golf: ‘It romps off the line, before you know it you’ve passed 70 mph and the engine is still offering more.  On the hill circuit it snicked through the hairpins and off-camber downhill bends like it was on a roller-coaster’s rails.

‘The ride manages to be controlled yet compliant in just about the right amounts, while steering is well-weighted, nicely geared and accurate.  A slick gearshift and smoothly-engaging clutch combine with an efficient handbrake to make hill stops and starts additional plus points,’ they added.

The Golf Match 2.0-litre TDI has a 140 PS common rail diesel engine, a six-speed manual gearbox, and produces impressive amounts of torque – 320 Nm from just 1,750 rpm.  Despite its compact dimensions, it has a generous noseweight of 75 kg.  The judges added that the Golf is a good load carrier and ‘kind to the wallet in terms of running costs’.