How much has the Volkswagen Golf really become?

No one will show much sympathy if you complain that your new Porsche 911 Turbo S is much more expensive than it was before. So, we’re certainly not going to investigate the prices of every car, but it’s interesting for the Golf, because it seems like the people’s car is becoming increasingly out of reach. But if you compare it to the past, how much more expensive has this Golf become?

At the request of Top Gear, Volkswagen Netherlands has dusted off an old brochure and can say that the cheapest Golf was allowed to take it home in 1974 for 9,495 guilders. If you convert that like your grandparents do, it’s 4,300 euros and a bit, because with the conversion to the euro you had to put 2.2 guilders for 1 euro. So is a new Golf eight times more expensive?

Golf 1 price after inflation

Well, no. It would not be fair to easily forget fifty years of inflation. CBS’s inflation calculator shows that the price of 9,495 guilders would be converted to 17,582 euros It will be helpful. This is the newest conversion option offered by CBS. There is still a big difference with today’s cheaper golf, but there are still some things to take into consideration.

Golf 1 somewhat later | Photo: © Top Gear

BPM was only introduced in 1992, so to make a fair comparison you should remove this amount. Then the cost The new Golf is suddenly only 29,226 euros – which still includes VAT. In reality, it’s still much more expensive, but you also get a lot more cars per square metre. The Golf 1 is best compared to the Up, but unfortunately it’s no longer in the showroom.

You can get more with modern golf

And most importantly: the car is equipped with much more than then. The Golf only had 50 horsepower at the time, so the new car has more than double that at 116 horsepower. In addition, the new Golf has air conditioning, power steering, driving aids, parking sensors, airbags, tire pressure sensors, disc brakes everywhere, traction control, ISOFIX, LED headlights, seven speakers, navigation screen, converter. Catalytic, particle filter. More sound insulation and safety.

A comparison with the Polo might be more interesting. This car is larger, safer and more comprehensively equipped, but costs around €21,000 without BPM. If you look at what you get with a modern Polo compared to a Golf 1, it’s not a huge difference in price. Today’s Polo would have cost a fortune in the 1970s with all the trimmings: The humble Polo had more computing power than NASA had at the time.

What about 15 years ago?

“Honey, are you sure this is the base car for €17,790?” | Photo: © Volkswagen

It is also interesting to compare with the Golf 6 from 2008. This car is also less equipped than it is now, but it is no less good in terms of fit, size and comfort. At the time, the cheapest version was priced at €17,790. If you run the inflation calculator on top of that, you arrive at €25,054. That’s a difference of over €10,000 for a relatively similar car.

So, has golf gotten that much more expensive?

Even if you take inflation into account, the cheapest Golf now is still much more expensive than the cheapest Golf at the time. The question is whether you can really compare the two, when you look at how much of that is in a modern car. But also compared to ten years ago, the Golf has become more expensive. The fact remains that even after adjusting for inflation, cars have become more expensive in recent years. So does the people’s wagon.