Although diesel is still the default choice for many companies, petrol has been catching up in terms of economy and emissions. New engines – like Ford’s award-winning 1-litre EcoBoost – are fast gaining popularity, and VW isn’t one to sit there and let rivals get all the glory.
The Volkswagen Golf is one of the most popular company car choices here in the UK and now the German firm has added a new ultra-frugal ‘TSI BlueMotion’ petrol engine to its line-up along with a bespoke trim called ‘Match BlueMotion’.
Company car drivers can now fit their new Golf with a three-cylinder 1-litre turbocharged petrol on hatchback, estate and SV models – and for the first time for any BlueMotion engine, the cars will also be available with a DSG gearbox as an option.
This small engine delivers 113bhp with 200Nm of torque capable of accelerating the car from 0-62mph in under 10 seconds.
Around 15kg lighter than a comparable four-cylinder engine, the new engine offers impressively low running costs with a combined fuel economy of 65.7mpg in manual and automatic versions of the hatchback and in the manual estate. Opt for the DSG gearbox in the estate and fuel economy drops slightly to 62.8mpg and in the SV the official combined figure. when coupled with the DSG, falls to 61.4mpg which is still pretty impressive.
Crucially for company car drivers is that CO2 emissions are as low as 99g/km for both the six-speed manual and seven-speed DSG versions of the hatch meaning just a 14 percent BIK tax band for the current 2015/16 year.
Opt for estate or SV models and CO2 rises to 105g/km which still only means a 16 percent band for the current tax year.
With P11D prices set to start below £20,000, a 20 percent company car driver could be paying as little as £45 a month.
Unlike the diesel BlueMotion model which is based on the entry-level S, the Golf TSI BlueMotion comes as standard in Match trim and includes equipment like cruise control, parking sensors, air-con, Bluetooth, front fog lights, 16-inch alloy wheels, an Automatic Post Collision Braking System, a PreCrash system and stop/start with battery regeneration.
Order books for the Golf 1-litre TSI are open now with first deliveries expected in just a couple of months time.
