Volkswagen has unveiled a new smart climate control system that will be introduced on the 2020 Golf.

Called ‘Air Care Climatronic’, it has a 3-zone automatic air conditioning setup that enables comfort in all parts of the vehicle. It has a Smart Climate menu that can be used to enable very specific settings such as “Warm feet”.

This climate control system can be used via the infotainment screen, the touch field with buttons on the dashboard or the driver and passenger can use the voice control feature. This makes it the first ever Golf to react to the preference of the driver and the passenger.

Volkswagen have chosen what they think to be the five most used settings and has integrated them into the Smart Climate menu. These settings include; 

  1. “Clear view”- To demist the windows
  2. “Warm feet”- Warm air sent to the footwell
  3. “Warm hands”- Warm air to be sent through the vents in the dash panel 
  4. “Cool feet”- Cool air sent to the footwell
  5. “Fresh air”- Cool air sent throughout the vehicle interior

The Smart Climate functions only operate for a temporary period of time, until regressing to the previous setting. 

The digital microphones in the Golf recognise whether it is the driver or passenger talking on the voice control and change their individual environments accordingly. Volkswagen states that saying “I am cold” or “I am warm” will activate the “Air Care Climatronic” to change the environment on the driver or passenger side for each individual command.

They also state that is is possible to change the temperature in a more specific way, for example, “Make it nine degrees warmer”, or with a more vague comment, such as “There’s a draught”. 

Written by Emily Lunn