New Volkswagen Golf vs used Volkswagen Golf: verdict

New Volkswagen Golf vs used Volkswagen Golf – alternatives

New rivals, used rivals

Like we mentioned earlier, the Seat Leon has beaten the latest Golf because, for similar money, you can get a more powerful Leon that also happens to be more fun to drive. Also, the software that Seat has applied to the infotainment system is just that bit easier to get on with and comes with voice recognition as standard: it's an option on the Golf. The Leon also has a little bit more head and leg room in the back to make it the more practical choice.

Speaking of practicality, the Skoda Octavia is right up there with the very best in terms of boot capacity. It isn't particularly clever (it doesn't have an adjustable boot floor, for example) but it is vast. We can get 11 suitcases in there, no sweat, plus it has acres of room for lanky teenagers in the back. You can have the same sweet 148bhp 1.5-litre petrol engine in the Octavia, plus its interior isn't that far removed in terms of quality and gadgets either –particularly on higher-spec models.

New Volkswagen Golf vs used Volkswagen Golf – which is best?

Our verdict

On its own, the latest Golf 8 is a sound buy that's more efficient and promises great safety benefits because of systems such as Car2X. But the effectiveness of that relies on lots of similarly equipped cars being on the roads and at the moment, we're not there yet. 

Unfortunately, the successor of a car as thoroughly well designed and executed as the Golf 7 was always going to be in for a tough time, and the Golf 8 comes up short in a few too many areas for us to recommend it over a year-old used Golf instead. The fact that you can save a few thousand in the process is just an added bonus that sweetens the deal.   

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