We normally don’t think of or care what’s under our seats in a car. Under the bonnet maybe, because the engine is the most important piece of equipment after all. And besides, we can rattle off some impressive sounding numbers to those around us. But beyond that, what does it really matter whether it’s an E36, E46 or E30 BMW?
I doubt this information will change anything for most, so here’s the highlights package before I get too technical: the new Golf Mk 7 platform means that future VWs will be cheaper, more efficient, have shorter waiting lists – and will be powered by smaller engines.
The reason for this is that the Mk 7 platform, named MQB, is the first VW platform that will cater for anything from a Polo to a Passat. This means the same production line can be used to build a significant proportion of VW’s cars, making input costs cheaper, which will hopefully be carried over into the final asking price.
Furthermore, the same platform will be used by all the group companies, including Seat, Audi and Skoda, and due to the homogenous design, an assembly line could be set up to manufacture Passats today, and reconfigured for A1’s tomorrow – or one of the other 60 potential vehicles that the MQB platform will underpin.
As a result, we should see a significant reduction in waiting lists as supply can be matched to demand on a per-day basis. The platform is also the lightest since the Mk 4 Golf, making it more fuel efficient, and saving us a little more each month.
VW will start making use of Audi’s 1,2-litre turbocharged engine with the advent of the Mk 7, which is probably one of the best small-capacity power units around. There’s even talk of an 800 cc diesel engine for the Mk 7, but given the quality of SA diesel, it is unlikely that we would ever see such a minute thing (that’s less capacity than two ‘buddy’ Coke bottles) in a locally available Golf …
