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Car #1
Make
Model
Variant
Engine
Car #2
Make
Model
Variant
Engine

compare selected cars
1998. - 2001.
C - Small family car
hatchback, 5 door
front
Badges
Production
Vehicle class
Body style
Wheel drive
Safety
1998. - 2003.
C - Small family car
hatchback, 5 door
front

Marketing

Dimensons & Outlines

4152 mm
1702 mm
1430 mm
350 liters
1205 liters
55 liters
Length
Width
Height
Boot (min)
Boot (max)
Fuel tank
4149 mm
1735 mm
1439 mm
330 liters
1184 liters
55 liters
1998 Ford Focus
1998 Volkswagen Golf

Engine

Diesel
4 - Inline, 4 valves per cylinder
Turbo
1753 cc
115 hp
280 Nm
Engine
Fuel
Configuration
Aspiration
Displacement
Power
Torque
Volkswagen
1.9 TDI AJM
Diesel
4 - Inline, 2 valves per cylinder
Turbo
1896 cc
115 hp
285 Nm

Performance (manual gearbox)

manual gearbox - 5 gears
kg
10.8 s
193 km/h
7.2 l/100km
4.5 l/100km
5.5 l/100km
145 g/km
Gearbox type
Vehicle weight
Acc. 0-100
Top speed
Cons. (urban)
Cons. (highway)
Cons. (average)
CO2 emissions
manual gearbox - 5 gears
1219 kg
10.6 s
193 km/h
6.5 l/100km
4.0 l/100km
4.9 l/100km
132 g/km

Performance (automatic gearbox)

 
kg
s
km/h
l/100km
l/100km
l/100km
g/km
Gearbox type
Vehicle weight
Acc. 0-100
Top speed
Cons. (urban)
Cons. (highway)
Cons. (average)
CO2 emissions
automatic - 4 gears
1236 kg
11.9 s
190 km/h
9.0 l/100km
4.8 l/100km
6.3 l/100km
170 g/km

Expenses

800 EUR
Price from
800 EUR

Virtual Adviser's™ opinion

Overview

Well, these are two pretty similar cars we have here! It's only details that could potentially make the difference. Considering they both belong to the small family car segment and utilize the same 5-door hatchback body style and the front wheel drive system, it all comes up to the specific diesel engine choice they offer. The first one has a Ford-engineered powertrain under the hood, a 4-cylinder, 16-valves 115hp unit, while the other one gets its power and torque from a 4-cylinder, 8-valves 115hp engine designed by Volkswagen.

Safety

A starting point here would be to take a look at the results from European New Car Assessment Programme (Euro NCAP) tests which were performed on both of the cars, with the same number of safety stars gained in the process. Still, apart from the official crash test results there are other things we need to be aware of. Both vehicles belong to the small family car segment, which is generally classifying them somewhere in the middle safety-wise, but it doesn't do much to help us decide between the two.

Reliability

Manufacturers have been building their reliability reputation for decades now and, generally speaking, it appears that Ford does have a slight advantage, at least on all of the models level. That's the official data, while our visitors describe reliability of Ford with an average rating of 4.4, and models under the Volkswagen badge with 4.2 out of 5. Independent research findings rank Focus as average reliability-wise, and Golf is more or less at the same level.We should definitely mention that owners of cars with the same powertrain as the American car rank it on average as 4.3, while the one under the competitor's bonnet gets 4.1 out of 5.

Performance & Fuel economy

Volkswagen is a bit more agile, reaching 100km/h in 0.2 seconds less than its competitor. In addition to that it accelerates all the way to 193 kilometers per hour, exactly the same as the other car does. When it comes to fuel economy things look pretty much the same for both cars, averaging around 5.2 liters of fuel per 100 kilometers (54 mpg), in combined cycle.


Verdict

Ford appears just a bit more reliable, although the difference is truly marginal. The most important thing when deciding between any two vehicles should always be safety, both passive and active. In this case though, it seems that both cars show similar levels of passenger protection all together, so that won't break a tie. But one thing that actually could is the performance, with Volkswagen offering somewhat better performance, just enough to call it quicker. To make things even better, it consumps less fuel! I believe that, when we take all into account, we have only one winner here - the Volkswagen. Anyway, that's the most objective conclusion I could've came up with and it's based solely on the information found on this website. Aspects such as design, practicality, brand value and driving experience are there for you to measure them out. Also, you could use the oportunity to find out which car, everything taken into account, would be the perfect choice for you in the eyes of the virtual adviser, among more than 12.000 different ones in our database.

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