Infotainment in the Golf 8: botch and modernity

by time news

Da Volkswagen has not covered itself with fame: When the Golf 8 was launched in autumn 2019, the infotainment software had so many errors that a voluntary recall was made in January of this year to install a major software update. A whole workshop day was planned for each. Too much new technology was stuffed into the Golf 8 too quickly, said critics, and the system in a test car also failed in this editorial team.

But not only that. The new operating system has been unanimously criticized. Adjusting the radio, sat nav, air conditioning and seat heating is overly complicated. You need several taps of your finger even to activate the simplest functions. The focus of the criticism is always the touch-sensitive bar for setting the temperature and volume, which is neither intuitive to use nor precise, it also lacks lighting, so that you wiggle your finger at random on the dashboard at night.

We tried the whole thing with the most expensive infotainment system called Discover Pro, which costs between 1430 and 2500 euros and displays the content on a touch-sensitive on-board monitor with a diagonal of 10 inches. The 10.25-inch cockpit display in front of the steering wheel is also digital in the Golf 8.

When you first sit down in the car, you are amazed at how radically Volkswagen has done without buttons, switches and rotary controls. To the left of the steering wheel there is a touch-sensitive button for light and ventilation, and below the on-board monitor there is another for air conditioning, assistants and driving mode. The buttons on the steering wheel are also touch-sensitive, give a slight haptic feedback – and feel unworthy and cheap. You have to know exactly what you are doing with a pointed finger, otherwise there will be operating errors.

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