My previous car was a Ford Fiesta, and although that was good, in comparison, the Golf SV is simply amazing!

The interior quality is excellent, there are virtually no creaks or rattles. The infotainment system is excellent, with a CD player (in the glovebox), a USB port (in the centre console) and two SD card slots (one is used for the SatNav) also in the glovebox. There is also a 3.5mm stereo input next to the USB port. You also get FM/AM and DABS (which is excellent).

If you listen to MP3, the album art is displayed against each track, together with track name and artist. The album art has to be a certain size but if you head to this link, you can pick up tips or download software which can re-size it for you (http://www.haydnwilliams.com/blog/vw-golf-mk7-sd-cards-and-album-art).

I have the Dynaudio system, with the subwoofer which is installed on top of the space saver spare wheel in the boot. The sound quality is excellent and there are numerous options available to tailor the sound to your own requirements.

The SatNav is pretty good, although the journey planning can be a little off sometimes (although there is an option where you can input waypoints so you can get the SatNav to go the particular way you choose). The SatNav is updated using a piece of software you can download from VW. Apparently updates are available twice a year. It is really easy to do - you remove the SatNav SD card from the car, plug into your PC and run the VW software. It can take several hours though to download and install the new maps, so leave plenty of time (or leave it going overnight).

The Active Cruise Control (ACC) is also fitted. You can set a speed and the car, using a front facing radar system, will alter its speed to keep a safe distance between you and the car in front, up to the maximum speed you set. It is unnerving the first couple of times when the car brakes for you, and then speeds back up. Apparently it will brake to a stop in queuing traffic and then start off again all automatically, but I haven't experienced that myself.

In the GT version the ride is firm, but not uncomfortably so. The large 17" wheels mean the ride is a little smoother as the wheel tends not to "drop into" the smaller pot holes.

The DSG gearbox is excellent! It is very smooth accelerating up through the gears and you barely notice the gear changes. It has a couple of little oddities to it though. For example, if you are approaching a busy roundabout, cruise up to it, see a space, and want to accelerate onto the roundabout, the gearbox sometimes hesitates as it tries to work out which gear to be in, so the gap that was there can suddenly disappear. The solution appears to be to knock the little gear lever backwards to put the gearbox into Sport mode, which seems to reduce that hesitation.

The 1.4 turbo engine is very sprightly and accelerates very quickly for the size of the car. The 7 speed box means that you can cruise at 70mph at around 2,000 rpm, so on long motorway journeys your MPG should be excellent.

I mainly do short journeys to and from work of around 9 miles each way, using A and B roads. Having only had the vehicle in the winter, with all the lights, heaters, etc, going, the MPG has been around 35mpg, which is a little disappointing, but on the couple of longer journeys I have done the mpg has increased.

Auto-lights, heated mirrors, rear windscreen wiper, auto wipers with various sensitivity settings, heated washer jets, front and rear parking sensors and a reversing camera all add to the experience.

In summary, it is a great car to drive. I love driving it, it is so smooth and quiet (although there is quite a lot of road noise from the rear tyres on rougher road surfaces) and the seats are very comfortable. It is very easy to get in and out of, so anyone with any sort of physical impairments or aches and pains should find it a very comfortable car.

I have the service plan, but the fixed price servicing seems very reasonable considering it is VW.

***UPDATE JULY 2019***

Car failed its MOT a couple of weeks ago due to leaking suspension. I made the mistake of having it MOT'd at the main dealer (along with the service). Instead of advising me it would fail, they failed it leaving me without car for a day as they were unable to fit in replacing the suspension unit. Anyway, suspension unit was replaced, but now has a strange squeaking/knocking noise. The car is due to go back in to the dealer next week to be looked at (at no charge) for 2 days (not sure why as they fitted the part in a day) and hopefully the suspension unit replaced (assuming it is a faulty part and has not been installed incorrectly).

Car had only done 22,000 miles at the MOT and not quite 4 years old, which seems a little too soon for a suspension unit to fail, even taking into account the state of the roads. I can only put that down to the state of the roads for now. I took out an extended warranty with VW UK direct, and the dealer so far has not made the claim with them (I had to pay the full cost and the dealer would recompense me if the warranty was successful). I was told the lady that deals with warranty claims was not available. I will continue to chase this up.

My opinion of the dealer has gone down rapidly, although I am reserving judgment until they have had the car in to repair the faulty part.