For the love of golf! Top 10 cars for golf lovers.
It’s tee-time across the UK as golf courses reopen after the third national lockdown, but there’s more than one driver you need to think about when packing your golf bags.
The sport brings with it quite a lot of equipment. Bags, trolleys, shoes and clubs need to come along for the ride, so a car well-suited to the job is a must. Here are some of the best options on the market today.
You may think that as playing golf demands rather a lot of cumbersome equipment, you'd need a big car to fit everything in; but, you'd be wrong! Just as golfers come in all shapes and sizes, so do the cars which can accommodate your golf clubs and if you don't mind dropping part of your rear seats, you can even fit them in an iconic city car!
5 things you need to think about when you're choosing a golf-friendly car:
- How deep is the lip on the boot? A high lip can cause real problems heaving your clubs over it.
- If the car has a tailgate does it have automatic closing?
- Is the loadspace as unrestricted as possible; no protruding wheelarches?
- Have I measured the length of my clubs from the bottom of the bag to the tip of the driver?
- Am I bothered about the golf club car heirarchy?
How often you play; if you want to be able to accommodate a playing partner and their clubs too; these are other things you need to consider, but ultimately you don't have to drive a large SUV or an estate just because you're a golfer, though there are some really great ones to choose from if you choose to go large.
If you want to get your clubs to the club, here are several options that are well and truly on-par...
City Car
Fiat 500
The word ‘icon’ is over-used, but not in this case! Just like open-winning Italian golfer Francesco Molinari, the Fiat 500 is seriously cool, full of retro personality, street-style and Italian chic, it's also much more versatile than you might imagine and with half the rear seat down will accommodate your golf clubs with Italian aplomb.
So, if you still want to be retro-cool, park in the smallest of spaces with ease and be able to personalise your car to your hearts content, you needn't let your love of the fairways stop you from getting behind the wheel of one utterly distinctive Fiat 500. If you prefer something just as iconic but with a sporting prowess then check out the stunning Abarth range too.
Estate Cars
An estate car is an obvious choice for the avid golfer and today's estate cars aren't the ugly elongated saloons of old. They are individually designed to deliver large loadspaces, whilst still looking contemporary and elegant.
Volkswagen Golf Estate
We had to include it, didn’t we? The latest Volkswagen Golf arrived with an almost overwhelming level of tech and connectivity but, thankfully, has still majored where its predecessors did – comfort, practicality and build quality. And when it comes to golf, it even says it on the boot lid!
The new Estate variant brings even more spaciousness than the regular hatch, which would still give a good account of itself even if it is a ‘fairway’ behind the wagon for load capacity. It’s available with a wide variety of engines and specifications, too.
Audi A6 Avant
You may well need an estate car for all of its wonderful practicality; if you have a partner you regularly give a lift to the golf course and you want to fit in two sets of clubs and trollies it doesn't mean you have to sacrifice good looks and cutting-edge technology. The Audi A6 Avant is a large estate car that'll waft you to the fairways in absolute comfort, whilst making long motorway drives to far away courses an absolute breeze!
Peugeot 308 SW
If you want all the practicality of an estate car, but don't want your car to be like an estate car, help is at hand with the sinuously elegant Peugeot 308 SW. There's no stretched hatchback here; the Peugeot 308 SW offers pared back, sleek, swept, elegant design.
With a light bright interior, you and your passengers can enjoy the comfortable seating, whilst still having oodles of room for all your golfing paraphernalia. From golf bag to golf trolley the huge boot space will swallow it up. The Peugeot i-Cockpit gives the driver a head-up display and puts them right at the centre of the driving experience, along with super-connectivity to the world.
Skoda Superb Estate
Estate cars don’t come much more capacious than the Skoda Superb – indeed, you could probably get a golf buggy in the boot let alone your bag of clubs.
The Superb Estate is one of Skoda’s finest models thanks to its well-made interior and comprehensive list of standard equipment.
As well as that huge boot, it’s also an exceptionally comfortable and refined car to drive. Superb by name, superb by nature.
Audi S4 Avant
Audi’s A4 Avant is at the more compact end of the estate car spectrum, but that doesn’t mean it’s not up to the job of transporting golf equipment. There’s space for two sets of clubs in the boot and the rear seats can be folded down if you need to squeeze even more equipment on board.
Our pick of the bunch would be the performance-orientated S4. It’s powered by a 3.0-litre turbocharged V6 diesel which, as well as being hugely powerful, is surprisingly economical to boot.
Saloon Cars
Today's saloon cars are really extended hatchbacks offering the practicality of a tailgate and in consequence, an awful lot more loadspace than you might imagine.
Peugeot 508
A saloon that thinks it's a coupe crossed with a sports car! That's the Peugeot 508 fastback. Brilliant styling makes this saloon a real head-turner and it's not just a handsome car, it’s packed with technological innovations too.
Marrying elegance and muscularity with sportiness and sleek lines the 508 fastback is a bold choice for those who want to stand out from the crowd; at the same time it offers luxury, and who doesn't love that! Its raked tailgate gives access to a truly enormous loadspace, offering more than enough room for you and your playing partner’s clubs.
Volkswagen Arteon
With its aerodynamic styling and frameless windows, the Volkswagen Arteon certainly strikes a pose. Elongated with a long wheelbase, the Arteon is sleek and low, exuding elegance and a hint of hidden promise. Unlikely that you'd realise that part of that promise, hidden beneath the Arteon's tailgate, is a load space large enough for two sets of clubs.
A beauty to behold and a bonus to drive, try the Arteon will take you to the course in style.
SUV
As our love affair with SUVs continues apace we look at some you may not have thought of and how they can make you stand out in the golf club car park!
SEAT Ateca
SEAT is known for its free-spirited contemporary styling, marrying fun and sportiness and the SEAT Ateca brings with it the opportunity to personalise your car and make it unique to you; now you can express yourself through more than just your golfing attire!
Stylish, sporty and practical, what more could you want from a car that can take you from the fairway to your favourite tapas place in absolute style.
Alfa Romeo Stelvio
You can never mistake an Alfa for anything else! This legendary Italian marque always stands out from the crowd and the Alfa Romeo Stelvio is no exception. A simply gorgeous-looking SUV which demonstrates Alfa's never-ending quest for perfection. This is one SUV that you need to drive to truly appreciate.
The Stelvio can certainly accommodate your golfing paraphernalia, but more than that it can give you the freedom of the road and the envy of the 19th hole!
Hatchback
Dacia Sandero Stepway
Want to save a little bit of money to spend on new clubs? The Dacia Sandero Stepway is the way forward. It’s priced from £11,495, but brings all of the spaciousness and practicality you could want from a golf-going car.
Plus, it’s got a hard-wearing interior that’ll live up to bags being thrown in the back and, like others here, you can lower the rear seats to increase boot space even further. It’s an unpretentious but entirely practical option.
Volkswagen Polo
The latest facelift of the Volkswagen Polo model has overhauled the front of the car including new LED headlamps and a light bar stretching the full width of the grille, similar to the new Golf. The VW Polo excites with a wide variety of equipment as standard in every vehicle such as a Digital Cockpit, air conditioning system and Discover media system with DAB+ digital reception and mobile phone interface.
Electric Cars
Help keep the greens green and your bank balance out of the red, with an electric car. Most EVs don't do sufficient miles for range anxiety to be an issue and the latest electric cars offer much more than a clear conscience.
Jaguar i-Pace
The perfect car for a Golf Club captain, the all-electric I-PACE is as green as the, well, green. With zero tailpipe emissions and a range of up to 292 miles, the I-PACE is as practical as it is stylish, with handsome good looks, an opulent cabin and blistering performance (0-60mph takes just 4.5 seconds).
It uses a 90kWh battery and is propelled by two permanent magnet synchronous electric motors, similar to the technology found in the I‑TYPE Formula E racing car, giving an equivalent power output of about 400bhp. Oh, and there is up to 1,453 litres of luggage capacity, so no need to worry about getting the clubs in the back.
MG5 EV
Talking of unpretentious, The MG5 EV combines the practicality of an estate with the low running costs and environmental benefits of an electric car, meaning that you can have the best of both worlds. In fact, it’s the only pure electric estate car on sale in the UK right now, combining all of the practicality of its rivals with the exhaust emissions of a golf buggy.
It’s competitively priced, too, starting from £25,095. With a range of 214 miles, it’s got enough juice to get round the whole course as well.
Supercars
McLaren GT
Okay, so a supercar might seem a ridiculous suggestion for hitting the golf club, but with a leather-lined loading area, it’s actually got enough space for one set of clubs in the back, while a deep section in the nose provides room for everything else.
It was designed with golfers in mind, and it’s the perfect way to become the talking point at the 19th hole.
If you’re wanting a car that’ll be a riot to drive to the course, then the McLaren GT is the one for you.