Yahoo Autos The Volkswagen Golf Mark 8 Is Getting a Radical Interior Redesign
New spy photos and a teaser sketch give us our first look at the next-generation Volkswagen Golf's interior.
The Golf's interior will be getting a radical redesign with a dual-screen setup and a much more angular look.
While the Mark 8 Golf might not come to the U.S., the GTI and Golf R will.
We've already seen the next-generation Volkswagen Golf almost completely undisguised, but we had yet to get any look at the interior. Well, now we have, as our spy photographers sent us some shots of a Mark 8 Golf with the interior completely revealed. The car seems to be a lower-spec trim and is equipped with a manual transmission. Also, our friends at Motor1 dug into the 39-page PDF from VW's Annual General Meeting and discovered two new teaser sketches of the Mark 8 Golf, one of which shows almost the entire dashboard and likely depicts a higher trim.
The overall look is a big step up from the current Golf. It's also unlike that of any other Volkswagen on sale in the United States or Europe. A large strip of silver trim runs the length of the dashboard and extends onto the doors; in the teaser drawing, it looks like actual aluminum. A big central screen stands atop the dash, and the gloss-black bezel of the screen flows into the surround of a digital gauge cluster, which is under a hood. On the left side of the cluster, the giant panel keeps flowing and has a set of buttons that might be part of another touchscreen.
Total Digital Environment
Last year, Volkswagen's design boss said that the new Golf will have "a total digital environment" with the only analog component being the steering wheel, leading us to suspect that the dual-screen setup will be standard across the board. That's a break from cars like the Jetta and the Arteon, which only offer digital gauge clusters on higher trim levels. The infotainment system itself looks to be totally new, with modern graphics and new functions.
At the base of the main touchscreen are a power button for the screen and touch-capacitive controls for the climate-control system. Visible on the screen are graphics for the temperature and the heated seats, so most climate functions will probably be accessed by the screen. There are almost no other buttons or knobs to be found, aside from a few clustered in between the central air vents that look to control things like the defroster.
The car our spies spied has a manual transmission and a fairly traditional center console, with push-button start and buttons for the electronic parking brake. But in the teaser sketch, which shows an automatic Golf, there is a complete absence of a shifter. Instead, it looks like the new Golf will use a setup similar to that of the new Honda Accord, with a series of buttons for selecting gears. To the side of the controls is a long storage slot, and ahead of the shifter is a large covered storage compartment.
The rest of the Mark 8 Golf's interior is more evolutionary. The steering wheel is a new angular design but will look familiar to anyone who has been in a modern Volkswagen. The door cards are more angular, too, and the dashboard itself is fairly sculpted. Like other modern VWs, the air vents seem to spread across the entire dash thanks to clever trim pieces. It's obviously hard to tell from photos like this, but all of the materials seem to be of fairly high quality.
Recently, there have been reports that Volkswagen might not bring the standard Golf hatchback and SportWagen to the United States, so we may never see this new interior. At least, not in this spec; we'll still get the GTI and Golf R for sure. In those cars, expect more gloss-black trim, slightly nicer materials, plaid seats on the GTI (with leather as an option and standard on the R), and, we hope, a classic golf-ball shifter.
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