Volkswagen Golf BlueMotion news - Golf on the green - 2007

Anyone with an eye for green motoring - and if you don't, shame on you, you polar bear-slaughtering narcissist - should be familiar with the Volkswagen BlueMotion formula by now: take a small diesel, lengthen the gear ratios, fettle the engine and improve aerodynamics to crank up economy.

And, creeping frugally towards its Frankfurt debut, the Golf is the latest VW to get the full BlueMotion treatment.

By taking the 1.9-litre TDI engine and tweaking the software management, dropping the idle speed and adding a particulate filter, VW has made substantial gains over the stock Golf's already-respectable 53.3mpg.

A slipperier body - which looks good into the bargain - longer gear ratios in third, fourth and fifth, and lighter tyres running at higher pressure complete the BlueMotion equation, and as ever the results aren't to be sniffed at: 62.8mpg and a range of 745 miles on a tank.

As an added bonus, carbon dioxide emissions have been cut from 135g/km to 119g/km, which should mean that the Golf BlueMotion sneaks under London's revised congestion charging watershed next year.

It'll be early next year that we'll see the green Golf on these shores - about the same time as the widely predicted (and deeply bloody) polar bear uprising. Don't say we didn't warn you.