Summer holiday...

I needed a practical car with much grunt, and gladly, I was handed the key to a silver Volkswagen Golf Sport for an entire week. The car proved to be an excellent choice for a long-haul driving trip like this.

I chalked up approximately 1,500km on the Golf Sport, and every second spent with it was undeniably pleasant. It loves to be stretched and driven hard, and it utilises the 160bhp without any hassle. Its 1.4-litre twincharged engine, mated to the 7-speed DSG gearbox definitely lived up to its reputation - when it's time to floor the pedal, the Golf Sport will not hesitate to downshift as you watch the tachometers fly up to the redline.

Besides the superb high-speed stability, any bends and tight corners were taken with much confidence by the Golf Sport. It has little body-roll and sharp turn-in, and can dive into and haul itself out of a tight corner like nothing else in its class. However, comfort is not one of its forte, according to my passenger. He found the suspension set-up a tad on the hard side (despite riding on tallish 205/55 R-16 tyres). Then when driven over uneven road surfaces, proves to be a rather un-cosy affair for him.

That aside, there are numerous storage spaces within the interior, and it's really useful when we needed space to place our knick-knacks. And did I mention how we manage to store everything in the boot, even after all the shopping we made throughout the whole trip?

I would like to thank Volkswagen Group Pte Ltd for kindly loaning the Volkswagen Golf Sport. For information on the car, check out

And I would also like to thank Swiss-Garden International for kindly sponsoring my stay at both Swiss-Garden Golf Resort & Spa Damai Laut and Swiss-Garden Kuala Lumpur. All oneshift members can now enjoy and )

Credits: Story & pictures by Azfar Hashim