SE 1.6 TDI BlueMotion Technology 2dr Open Car

Nice but...

So I read all the reviews and did my research but I'm perplexed:

This is a good car - to these eyes it looks great, especially with the roof down. The way the hood quickly and almost silently raises and lowers is truly amazing. It drives well too, the little 1.6 TDI pulling strongly and the car handles well - it's almost nippy and fun to drive.

It's well equipped with dual zone climate control, cruise control, and Bluetooth. The seats in the S and SE models are very ordinary though, the interior of the GT is nicer. The standard CD/DAB sound system is great quality - almost as good as my previous Audi A3 which had BOSE speakers. You will need this good sound quality though as you'll need to turn the stereo up...

The most disappointing thing about this car is the noise. The 1.6 TDI is quite noisy. It's not a rough sound, just quite vocal. It could so with more soundproofing under the bonnet perhaps? You definitely know you're driving a diesel so the glamour points of open top motoring are fewer, however with the roof down you notice this less.

The second and most irritating thing is the road noise which is absolutely dreadful. The acoustics in the car are odd, often disorientating you with where the noise outside is coming from - especially from behind - like the boot isn't shut properly. In the rain the noise from the wet road comes straight into the cabin, so much so that I'll be asking my local VW dealer to check if there is a problem when it goes in for its 10,000 mile service. It always sounds like the doors aren't shut properly. This is particularly disappointing given the reviews and road tests. A second look at the official road test here makes me wonder how far the road tester actually drove the car, and it certainly wasn't road tested in the wet.

Lastly, after six months and 8,000 miles the slightly wobbly cabriolet body is taking its toll on the interior. The whole dashboard squeaks badly at times and a huge rattle behind the CD/radio unit is ridiculous in a new car from a manufacturer of such perceived high quality. The drivers side door window sounds like its going to rattle itself out of the door sometimes and the hood is starting to rattle and squeak at the back when it's up - I'm wondering how bad it's all going to get as the miles go up and the car gets older. I'm on a three year PCP so it will be interesting to see what's left of it when I change it. I assume the Porsche Boxsters that are built at the same factory don't suffer from similar build quality issues...

The bad points are few but so annoying it spoils what is a great little cabriolet. VW are apparently not selling as many as predicted, partly one assumes because the car arrived at the end of the Mk6 lifecycle so choosers of the Golf Cab are one generation out of date, again.

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