Used Volkswagen Golf Estate 2020-present review

Let's suppose you admire all the good qualities of the latest Mk8 Volkswagen Golf hatchback (and why wouldn't you?) but what you really want or need is more room in the boot for luggage. Step forward the Volkswagen Golf Estate.

Having been on sale for several years now, the Golf Estate makes for a very good used buy. You'll get a classy, practical and comfortable wagon with a healthy choice of engines and three well-equipped trims. There’s even a facelift Mk8.5 estate, which brings a raft of updates to the styling, engines and infotainment.

Engines: The 1.5 TSI 150 petrol engine has 148bhp for 0-62mph in a sprightly 8.7sec and enough mid-range get-up-and-go to pull the car with a full boot. Meanwhile, the eTSI 150 mild-hybrid version comes with a responsive seven-speed dual-clutch automatic gearbox.

The 128bhp 1.5 TSI 130 petrol is not a bad alternative but is not much cheaper than the TSI 150. Even the entry-level 109bhp 1.0 TSI 110 or 113bhp 1.5 TSI 115 aren’t vastly cheaper. The 110 is surprisingly flexible and does 0-62mph in 10.5sec, although it does struggle a bit with a full car.

If you want one of the quickest (and arguably, coolest) estate cars around, there’s also the Golf R Estate. In pre-facelift cars, it gets a 316bhp 2.0 TSI petrol engine, while facelift cars get the same engine but with 333bhp. Expect 0-62mph sprints well below 5.0sec for these versions.

As for diesels, there are three. The 2.0 TDI 115 makes for relaxed progress but is no quicker than the 1.0 TSI 110. The more powerful 2.0 TDI 150 feels genuinely punchy regardless of where you are in the rev range. If you want four-wheel drive, there’s also the Alltrack version, which gets a more powerful 2.0 TDI 200 engine.

Trims and equipment: Life trim kicks off the range and includes single-zone climate control, 16in alloy wheels, a leather-trimmed steering wheel and gear knob, automatic lights and wipers and adaptive cruise control.

Unlike the regular Golf there isn’t a Match trim on the estate, but there are Style and R-Line trims that add in a few more toys and sharper looks.

Ride and handling: On the standard suspension, the Golf Estate rides potholes and ridges around town more adeptly than the Ford Focus Estate. It’s comfortable at higher speeds, making motorway jaunts a real treat. The Skoda Octavia Estate is slightly softer overall, though.

If you want maximum comfort, you can choose a car with the optional Dynamic Chassis Control (DCC) adaptive suspension fitted. It’s only available with Style trim or above, but when Comfort mode is selected, the Golf Estate is one of the supplest estate cars of this size.

You won’t have any trouble with the Golf Estate’s handling. It’s tidy enough in the corners for a car of this type and it’s clearly geared towards maximising comfort rather than a sporty driving experience. If that’s what you’re after, though, the Focus Estate is more fun.

Interior and practicality: If you look at the dashboard closely, you’ll see that all the buttons are touch-sensitive or on the infotainment touchscreen. The only physical buttons are on the steering wheel, but unfortunately range-topping R and pre-facelift R-Line models get touch-sensitive ones.

What's the problem with that? Well, touch-sensitive buttons are fiddly to use while driving compared with proper buttons and knobs, which you’ll find in the Ford Focus Estate and the Kia Ceed Sportswagon. In the Golf Estate, you have to take your eyes off the road to make small changes and at night the temperature controls don’t even light up on pre-facelift cars, which leaves you guessing where they are.

The Mk8 Golf Estate does come with a 10.0in touchscreen infotainment system. It's mounted high up, the screen is sharp and there are lots of helpful standard features, including wireless phone-charging, built-in sat-nav, Bluetooth and Android Auto and Apple CarPlay smartphone integration. Unfortunately, it’s frustrating to use, with an intuitive layout and laggy response time.

In the Mk8.5, you get a 12.9in touchscreen and a new infotainment system. It's a much better set-up than what you get in the Mk8, with menus that make sense and the ability to add custom shortcuts at the top of the screen, making it easier to get to the parts of the system you use most. The screen is a bit more responsive, too.

The Golf Estate’s interior dimensions allow a pair of six-footers to sit relatively comfortably in the back. Head room is generous and there’s loads of space for feet under the front seats. Leg room isn't outstanding, though, and if the front-seat occupants slide their seats fully back, taller folks sitting in the rear won't have any space in front of their knees.

The biggest difference between the Golf hatchback and the estate version is, as you'd expect, the boot. Whereas the former is acceptable, the latter is big. Not quite as big as the Octavia Estate’s boot, and nothing like as voluminous as the frankly obscenely large luggage space in the Superb Estate, but more than roomy enough. There's room for a fold-up baby buggy, a week’s shopping or two sets of golf clubs.

If you're interested in buying a used VW Golf Estate or any of the cars we've mentioned, head over to our Used Cars For Sale pages to find lots of cars listed at great prices.

Prices for a used Golf Estate start from around £10,000, but that’s for 2020 models with high miles. If you want a low mileage example, expect to pay upwards of £15,000. For 2023 top-spec R-Line cars with low miles, prices start from around £18,000.

The Mk8.5 Golf Estate models are still quite new, so prices for these are higher. Expect to pay £21,000 for a low-mileage example in entry-level Life trim and around £27,000 for top-spec R-Line models.

Golf R Estates are quite rare, but these start from around £32,000 for 2022 cars. Facelift versions are only just arriving in showrooms, so there aren’t many of these available.

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MPG

According to the latest WLTP tests, the 1.0 petrol Volkswagen Golf averages 51.4mpg, the 1.0 eTSI 54.3mpg, the 1.5 130 52.3mpg, the 1.5 eTSI 51.4mpg, the 1.5 150 50.4mpg and the 2.0 TDI 115 diesel 64.2mpg and the 2.0 TDI 150 60.1mpg.

Road Tax

All Golf Estates of this generation will have been registered after the tax changes of April 2017, so these will have an annual VED at the flat rate, currently £190 a year. Unlike the hatchback, you can’t get the estate as a plug-in hybrid, so the £180 hybrid rate is not applicable here.

Running costs

Servicing is reasonably priced. It won’t be quite as cheap as, say, a Ford Focus or Vauxhall Astra, but compares well with most other rivals.

Like most VWs, the Golf comes with a three-year/60,000-mile warranty and one year of roadside assistance. That's not exceptional these days, falling short of the five-year warranties Hyundai, Renault and Toyota offer, let alone the seven years of cover provided by Kia.

Safety

The Golf achieved a full five-star Euro NCAP safety rating in 2019, with excellent category scores that all but matched the best cars in the class, including the Mercedes A-Class, for adult and child protection. The protection for pedestrians and vulnerable road users isn’t as good as the A-Class's, though.

Reliability

The Volkswagen Golf Mk8 has faced criticism for reliability, with owner feedback revealing a mix of experiences in our latest What Car? Reliability Survey.

Frequent issues include warning lights, electrical malfunctions and infotainment system glitches, with some software problems necessitating multiple trips to the dealership. While mechanical reliability is generally stable, diesel variants have experienced AdBlue system failures, whereas petrol models perform better but still encounter occasional sensor issues.

Experiences with dealership service are inconsistent – some owners report satisfactory support, while others face delays and parts shortages. Despite its popularity, the Golf Mk8’s reliability leaves room for improvement.

Find out more about the Volkswagen Golf Estate’s reliability on our dedicated page.

Engine

We think the more muscular 148bhp 1.5 eTSI 150 makes the most sense out of the VW Golf range. It’s noticeably swifter getting up to motorway speeds (0-62mph comes in a sprightly 8.5sec).

Trim

We'd also stick with the Golf's entry-level Life trim. It comes with all you really need, including single-zone climate control, 16in alloy wheels, a leather-trimmed steering wheel and gear knob, automatic lights and wipers, adaptive cruise control, and all the infotainment, visibility and parking aids we've discussed in the previous sections.

Whichever trim you pick, stick with the regular 16in alloy wheels. The optional 18in wheels cause the Golf’s suspension to ping and thwack over expansion joints and large surface abrasions.

Our favourite Volkswagen Golf Estate: 1.5 eTSI 150 Life

The Ford Focus Estate is good fun to drive and has been one of the best-sellers in the family car class for many years. However, it isn’t quite as comfortable as the Volkswagen Golf, nor does it have such a classy interior.

The same can be said of the Vauxhall Astra Sports Tourer, although it does offer exceptional value for money as a used buy because of its heavy depreciation. It’s also comfortable, roomy and, with the right engine, reasonably economical.

If you want a Golf with a little extra flair, you could try the Seat Leon Estate. It’s sharper to drive but its interior doesn’t feel quite as classy as that of the Golf. Second-hand prices are highly competitive, but then it also suffers from the same reliability issues.

That's also true of the Skoda Octavia Estate – the car’s big plus point is the space it offers. While it’s similar in size to the Golf, it has a much bigger boot and more room in the rear seats. It’s a bit more reliable than the Golf too, but not by much, according to our Reliability Survey.

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If you're interested in finding a used Golf Estate or any of the other cars mentioned here, head over to the Used Car Buying pages to find lots of cars listed for sale at great prices.