There are two ways of looking at Volkswagen's Golf Plus. One camp says it offers little that you don't get in a standard Golf hatch and costs more. On the other side of the argument, they're saying, 'yes, but only around £500 more and for that, you get a car offering more versatility without any significant drawbacks. Why would you buy a Golf hatch'?

Since you're likely to sit solidly on one side of the argument or the other if you're in the market to buy a car of this kind, no amount of expostulating by me on the merits - or otherwise - of the 1.4-litre petrol TSI model featured here is likely to sway you one way or the other. Even in this office, opinion is divided, with Road Test Editor Andy Enright taking the 'why have Volkswagen bothered' perspective on developing the Plus. For what it's worth, I'm in the other camp. Going for a Golf Plus over a standard Golf seems to get you an awful lot for not much more money as far as I can see.

For a start, it gets you 20mm more of interior headroom, enabling you to sit much higher than in a standard Golf. That means more legroom for passengers too, even before they start playing with the sliding rear seats. These can be shifted fore and aft by 160mm and folded by means of a new system to Volkswagen which means that they are automatically lowered when folded down. This results in a virtually level load space, making the Golf Plus a very practical option indeed. The seats do the usual 60:40 split and the middle seat can also be folded down to form a drinks table. Additional stowage spaces around the cabin and a double height boot floor are nice touches too.

The 122PS 1.4-litre TSI version we're looking at here ought to be the most popular petrol variant (though the majority of sales of this car will probably be to diesel customers). In the petrol engine's favour is the fact that it's a very willing unit with plenty of torque and a slick six-speed gearbox to enable you to row it along quickly (with the option of an advanced seven-speed DSG transmission if you want an automatic).

Based on the original award-winning 1.4-litre TSI engine which combines a supercharger and a turbocharger to produce an impressive level of power from a small capacity engine, the 122PS unit we're looking at here uses simply a sophisticated turbocharger. The result is an output 7PS higher than that of the 1.6-litre FSI engine it replaces. Torque is also increased substantially by nearly 30 per cent from 155Nm to 200Nm. This engine also brings fuel saving benefits: the combined consumption on this Golf hatch, for example, has increased from 42.2 mpg for the old 1.6-litre FSI to 44.8 mpg for this 1.4-litre TSI. Carbon dioxide emissions are also reduced from 161 g/km to 149 g/km (or 139 if you go for the DSG auto option).

"Going for a Golf Plus over a standard Golf seems to get you an awful lot for not much more money as far as I can see"

The extra 95mm of height over a standard Golf might lead you to worry about an increase in body roll but you needn't. Volkswagen have increased the standard hatch's spring rates to cope and added a thicker rear anti-roll bar: as a result, there's virtually no discernable difference between the two cars from behind the wheel.

But not in the carpark. Volkswagen has had to redesign every one of the Golf's body panels in other to accommodate the extra height and as a result, the Plus' waistline is higher and the base of the windscreen further forwards. Just like an MPV in fact. Or is it? After all, despite the changes, this car is still no longer or wider than a standard Golf. Which means that the slight increase in luggage space (to 505 litres) that you get with the Plus' modifications is to be found nestling against the ceiling. My colleague Mr Enright points out that this is in the position which is least often used. I would counter that it might be very useful when it comes to bulky objects. But here we are arguing again.

Where I can't fault his logic is in the fact that all these improvements could have been incorporated into the ordinary MK5 generation Golf at the design stage without too much trouble. Why do the Plus version in the first place, particularly as Volkswagen already have a very capable (Golf-based) mini-MPV in the shape of the Touran? Probably, customers shouldn't trouble themselves too deeply about such questions of internal Volkswagen Group politics. It's like asking why the company's budget Skoda brand needs an Executive-sized saloon but doesn't have an entry-level Citycar. Just don't go there.

What you do need to ask if you think you might be in the market for this car is whether £15,440 is too much to pay for a five-seat Family Hatchback with great build quality, a delightful engine and a dash of extra versatility. After all, you can get a fully-fledged mini-MPV from a rival manufacturer for less (or a Volkswagen Touran for only a couple of hundred more). If a Golf Plus is really what you want, you could pay less (£13,290 for the rather under-powered entry-level 1.4-litre variant) but I wouldn't if I were you. Should you go for the diesel option? Well, it's around £1,000 more for which you get an ageing 1.9-litre TDI unit that isn't as nice as this 1.4 and won't pay its way unless you do a decently high mileage.

Volkswagen dealers acknowledge that they've got a sales job on their hands to shift metal with this one. But listen to their arguments and, like me, you may well end up coming away rather convinced.