The Plus is a Golf, only bigger, which means there’s a bit more room for passengers and luggage. Even so, its practicality score was modest. Our testers couldn’t fit a full luggage load in the boot, with further black marks for the difficulty in fitting towing mirrors.

VW’s Plus won back lost ground thanks to the Trailer Stability Programme fitted as part of the its stability control. There were no dramas through our lane-change test to get the electronic co-pilot working, but there’s a softer edge to the handling than in the standard Golf.

With a turbo and a supercharger to boost performance, the Plus accelerated from 
30-60mph in 21.4 seconds. 
For a petrol engine there’s 
lots of low pull, but the engine can’t match the flexibility of the best diesels.