My local style consultant was deeply unimpressed from the moment she first saw the Golf Estate. "It looks like an old man's car," she said, wrinkling her 16-year old nose in disapproval. I said I would try to bring a Ferrari next time, and then launched into a spirited defence of the Golf which I suspect will make not the slightest difference to her views.Still, I like this car, even though I'm sure nobody will become remotely excited about it. It does nearly everything pretty well, nothing outstandingly well, and only a few things not very well at all. It's the kind of car you buy, use for a while and then sell on without particularly missing it - in short, it's a boring car, and what the world needs is a generous supply of good boring cars (bad boring cars being the work of the Devil).The car tested here is a 1.9 TDI SE, which makes it probably the most boring model in the entire Golf Estate range and therefore one of the ones that can be most highly recommended; Volkswagen itself reckons that this model will account for more than half of UK sales, and I'm rather pleased to hear that for a number of reasons.For a start, there's the engine. The 1.9-litre turbo diesel has been around for a very long time and has appeared in more Volkswagen Group products than there are grains of sand in the Gobi Desert. It produces a maximum of only 104bhp and is therefore much less interesting than the more modern 138bhp 2.0 TDI which is also offered in the Estate.Now, I would be the last person to advise you against the 2.0 TDI. It is a very lovely engine indeed, and is frequently among the best features of any car (Dodges and Mitsubishis as well as those with badges owned by the VW Group) to which it's fitted.However, let's have a little realism here. In Golf Estate World you have to pay nearly £2300 more for the 2.0 TDI, and it pushes the insurance several rungs up the ladder - 2.0 TDI Golf Estates are Group 12, while the 1.9s are in Group 6.The 1.9 has a relatively small economy advantage of 3.9mpg on the combined cycle (assuming manual transmission in each case) but with its power shortfall there's not much encouragement to drive hard, so in real life it will probably be a lot more frugal than the figures suggest.SE is the middle of three trim levels within the Golf Estate range. Sportline is the highest, and you don't get the 1.9 TDI engine with that, but I'm not sure I would want to go down that route even if it were available. Sportline cars have larger wheels, lower-profile tyres and lowered suspension, all of which have a positive visual effect but are likely to make the Golf fussier to drive.That's a Bad Thing, because the 1.9 TDI SE is among the least fussy cars I've driven all year. It rides very well, and although its reactions are not particularly sharp they are good enough for a car with 104bhp; on long runs the Estate was comfortable, relaxed, reasonably quiet for a Volkswagen diesel (some of them can be a bit raucous) and generally a perfectly acceptable A-to-B conveyance.Reader's Voice: Damning with faint praise here, aren't you? Myself: Not at all. Like I said, there's a demand for cars which neither excite nor irritate. That's what most people want, and that's what they get with the Golf 1.9 TDI Estate.Actually, there are a couple of irritations. There isn't much room in the rear for tall passengers (never a Golf strong point), and I found this part of the car at least as cramped back there as several models which are in all other respects a size down from this one.Visibility is none too good either, since all the pillars are quite thick. The front and rear quarter views are quite limited, and because the B pillars are unusually large there are thundering great blind spots at either side of the car, which means you have to exercise great caution at some junctions.The Golf's estateness is admirable without being startling. Standard load capacity is 505 litres, and this more than trebles to 1550 metres (with a 1.74-metre load length) when the rear seat is folded down.These are so close to the equivalent stats for the Ford Focus and Vauxhall Astra estates that you might believe everyone had been copying down each other's answers, though if we're being picky about this the Astra is slightly behind the others on seat-up volume.I can't believe that anyone will buy the Golf Estate 1.9 TDI SE for the thrill of it, but I still have to disagree with my style consultant on the "old man" thing. Although this may not be an interesting car in any way, as a pleasant, capable, comfortable, reliable and economical method of daily transport for a few people and a lot of stuff, it takes some beating. Engine 1390 cc, 4 cylinders Power 180 bhp @6200 rpm Torque 184 ib/ft @2000 rpm Transmission 7 speed semi-auto Fuel/CO2 47.9 mpg / 139 g/km Acceleration 0-62mph: 6.9sec Top speed 142 mph Price From £18714.00 approx Release date 15/05/2010
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