Sector: Lower-medium Price: €29,700-€32,525 Fuel: 4.2-4.5l/100km CO2: 109-119g/km 

Can you think of many more complete company cars than the Golf GTD? Efficient, practical and low on tax, yet packed with kerbside appeal and great fun to drive, it strikes a brilliant compromise between commuter workhorse and desirable private use car.

The diesel hot hatch may have become a more common proposition in recent years, but Volkswagen has had three decades to perfect its offering. Only five years separated the arrival of the GTI and GTD badges in the Mk1 Golf, and it’s since grown from an economy-focussed model with a few of the GTI’s styling add-ons to become a far more convincing performance car.

It’s a surprisingly big seller, too. The GTD accounted for just under 5% of all European Mk6 Golf sales, and in some markets it’s not far behind the entire Jetta range.

At 184hp, the latest GTD is still 36hp behind the newest GTI but, as with the Mk6, what it lacks in power it more than makes up for in torque. Peak output of 380Nm is available between 1,750 and 3,250rpm meaning it picks up with the urgency of a far more powerful car. The all-important sprint to 100km/h takes 7.5 seconds, a second behind the GTI, but with ample in-gear pulling power to make each drive fun.

As one less sacrifice, the newest of Volkswagen’s 2.0-litre TDI engines are barely noisier than the direct injection petrols found in the GTI. There’s a tiny amount of diesel clatter with the window open, but in most situations it’ll leave you checking the inside of the fuel flap to see what nozzle to pick up. Volkswagen has a sound actuator planned for the options list, which pipes a gruff exhaust note into the cabin, if you wish to drown it out completely.

The same is also true outside. As with previous versions, the GTD looks almost identical to the GTI save for a few red pinstripes and stitches, all of which are reduced to monochrome for the diesel. Honeycomb grilles, large part-polished wheels and a twin exhaust separate it from the basic Golfs on the outside, while grey tartan-trimmed sports seats and a flat-bottomed GTD-branded steering wheel lift the interior.

It’s an accessible car, too. Fuel consumption of 4.2l/100km with CO2 emissions of 109g/km for manual versions means it’s 13% more efficient than its predecessor. Drivers opting up to the DSG gearbox get a resulting drop in fuel efficiency to 4.5l/100km with 119g/km CO2 emissions for the five-door – both of which are comparable figures to the first Golf Bluemotion launched in 2007. That’s a remarkable advance over just two generations.

Meanwhile, lower insurance groups than its predecessor and high residuals, with the five-door manual at the top of the desirability list, should keep running costs down for the substantial share of GTDs which are expected to sell to fleets.

Natural rivals are few and far between. The Opel Astra Biturbo is a significantly more aggressive looking car, but it’s slower and less economical, and nobody else has a sports-styled C-segment car which is a model and engine in its own right. It’s only when you get up to premium brands when a similar package of power, economy and styling begins to present itself.

The GTD remains a bit of a benchmark for the hot diesel hatchback, offering almost all of the plus points of the GTI but with much lower running costs than its petrol-powered counterpart. It makes this a company car which satisfies on every front.

Verdict:

Private buyers may baulk at paying almost as much for the GTD as the GTI, but for fleets the diesel is an accessible way to get GTI perks without the associated costs.