As diesel fuel goes up and hybrids are becoming more affordable, the diesel market is shrinking.  The diesel used to be the car of choice for those who wanted fuel economy and a “green” option behind the wheel.  Now, there are few left.  Are they still a worthwhile investment?

The 2011 Volkswagen Golf TDI Diesel is a compact hatchback.  It has a 2.0 liter, 4-cylinder turbodiesel engine that puts out 140 horsepower.  It has 17-inch alloy wheels and a 6-speed manual transmission.  It gets 30 mpg in the city and 42 mpg on the highway.

The Golf Diesel has a tilt-telescope, leather-wrapped steering wheel, 8 way front seats, leather-wrapped shift knob and brake lever, full power accessories, cruise control, standard air conditioning, folding rear seats, an upgraded sport suspension, and a trip computer.  The upgraded audio system has an in-dash CD/MP3 changer, satellite radio, audio jack, USB/iPod interface, 8 speakers, and bluetooth.

The Golf Diesel has anti-lock brakes, stability and traction controls, side front airbags, and side curtain airbags.  It rated 4 stars for front impacts and 5 stars for side impacts in government testing under 2010 standards, and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety gave it perfect scores of good in all tests.

Conclusions and driver feedback:

First of all, like its siblings with conventional engines, the Golf looks more like a luxury car on the inside than a hatchback.  It has soft, high-quality materials that reek of prosperity, and the design is the same.  There is plenty of space for its class, and both the front and rear seats are very comfortable.  From the inside, the Golf Diesel really looks more like a car in the mid to upper $30,000 range than the low twenties.

Obviously, the mileage here is the big thing.  The Golf Diesel gets up to 42 mpg on the highway.  At today’s prices, that can save a lot of money if you drive this car very much.  Anytime you can get over 30 in the city and over 40 on the highway, you are doing great.  For those who are “green,” you are leaving a smaller carbon footprint.

The Golf Diesel drives and rides as luxuriously as it looks.  The steering is very responsive, and the sporty suspension helps you feel the road enough to provide engagement and confidence negotiating curves and corners, or darting in and out of traffic.  It accelerates nicely, too.

The sporty feel, however, doesn’t seem to transfer to the seats.  The ride is like a small luxury car.  You can feel enough road to know you are riding, but this ride is still smooth.

As for negatives, there are almost none, and they are nit-picky.  Basically, everyone, from industry experts to customers, loves this car.  It is almost impossible to find anyone saying anything bad about it.

The verdict: at this point, the Golf is an industry icon.  It combines luxury performance with low mileage.  You can’t go wrong here.

The 2011 Volkswagen Golf 2.5 TDL is a 2-door, compact hatchback.  It is also available as a diesel.  It is reasonably priced, and has plenty of amenities for its price range.  Volkswagen has upgraded the interior considerably for 2011, and the Golf is now one of the better cars in its market segment.

The Golf has a 2.5 liter, 5-cylinder engine that provides 170 horsepower.  It has 15-inch steel wheels and a 5-speed manual transmission.  It is rated at 22 mpg in the city and 30 mpg on the highway.

It has a tilt-telescope steering column, 8-way adjustable front seats, cruise control, full power accessories, standard air conditioning, split-folding rear seats, and a trip computer.  The audio system has 8 speakers, AM/FM radio, a CD/MP3 player and an audio jack.

The Golf has the five modern safety essentials: anti-lock brakes, stability control, traction control, side front airbags, and side curtain airbags.  In government testing, the Golf got 4 stars for front impact and 5 stars for side impact.  The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety gave it its highest ratings of “good” all the way around, and it was one of their top safety picks for this model year.

Conclusions and driver feedback:

There is a lot to like about the 2011 Golf.  Especially in the base model, you can pretty much go down a list describing the vehicle and it would sound like a sales pitch.  The cabin is very roomy for its size.  There is plenty of headroom and legroom in both front and back.  The seats are extremely comfortable.  And the front seats slide easily for easy access to the rear seats.

The cabin is the star of the show when it comes to the 2011 Golf.  It is made of such high-quality materials that it looks more like a European luxury car than the “people’s car,” as its name translates to from German to English.  The materials are soft and visually pleasing.  The design is very functional, but still reeks of refinement.  The cargo area is decent for its size, too, and the folding rear seats add a lot of space for those who need to haul more cargo than people.

On top of all that, the Golf drives really well, too.  The steering is very responsive, and the suspension helps the car hug the road while giving the driver great feedback.  At the same time, while the passenger feels a little bit of road, the ride is still very nice, and there are no “sport suspension jolts” when going over patchy pavement.  The Golf gives very nice acceleration while still giving good gas mileage.

There are almost no negatives for this car.  Those in other reviews are nitpicky at best, and the only one I would take seriously involves the Diesel model.  As for customer reviews, nobody has anything bad to say.

The verdict: the 2011 Volkswagen Golf is possibly the best car in its class.