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Volkswagen is extending the appeal of the new seventh-generation Golf with three new R-Line packages designed by Volkswagen R GmbH. The 'Exterior' package emphasises the striking appearance of the Golf and complements it with a rear spoiler finished in body colour, fog lights, R-Line logo on the special glossy black radiator grille, special bumpers, flared sills and sporty black painted diffuser. The package is available with the Highline trim for the price of

And while journalism takes an ugly turn due to the mess concocted by the henchmen within the Rupert Murdoch media empire and while Lady Gaga still entertains us not with her songs but by her lack of clothing during her public appearances, Autocar UK has reported that the upcoming Mk7 Volkswagen Golf will look sportier than ever. This is very good news to me as I have always thought that the last few generations of everyone's favourite German hatchback looked extremely porky and minivan-like. This is especially true with the Mk5 Golf (pictured below). Park it beside its cousins the Audi A3, the Skoda Octavia or even the supposedly larger B7 Audi A4 sedan and you'd notice that the Golf Mk5 was at least 3 inches taller than all of the cars mentioned above. I know the Golf was meant to be a practical hatchback, but somehow being so much taller than even the bigger Audi A4 is a bit too much. Then when you add the fact that the overall styling of the Golf is pretty subdued, slabsided and understated without any overt aggression or signs of sportiness the minivan argument somehow makes some sense. Even in the GTI form it looked more like a bubbly loaf of bread than a hot hatch. Of course some may like the fact that the GTI only had red trimmings around the grille for some sign of power but I actually like my hot hatches fiery. The Mk6 was about an inch lower and with that wider, more defined split grille up front it looked wider and therefore lower. Ergo, the car looks sleeker. However I believe that sources within Volkswagen had told the people at Autocar that the company intends to give the Mk7 Golf a wider stance, a lower roofline with a nicely raked windscreen as well as a lower, more sportier driving position. The new MK7 Golf is scheduled for 2012 and will also have distinct models - the three door will be sportier than the five door and the five door hatch will look totally distinct from the taller Golf Plus mini MPV (now this makes more sense as the current Golf hatch does not really differ from the Golf Plus), much like the current Vauxhall/Opel Astra range where the three and five door models are pretty distinct from one another. This little bit of news makes me feel that there is still hope that Volkswagen intends to go back to the days of the Mk1 and Mk2 Golf (pictured below). The Golf in those days were proper hatchbacks