PINCKNEY, Mich.

THE Volkswagen Golf is proof that there is more to motoring fun than a cooperative powertrain and a well-designed suspension. The window sticker is important, too, especially when it shows a nicely equipped hatchback priced at just over $18,000 with estimated highway mileage of 30 miles per gallon.

The new 2010 Golf is the sixth generation in a line of small cars that dates back, in the United States, to the 1975 Rabbit. The car is better known as the Golf, although apparently lagomorph-loving marketing types have sometimes badged it the Rabbit, a less-than-heroic moniker most recently used for the 2006-9 model years. For 2010 it is a Golf once again.

The new model is still a front-wheel-drive hatchback with two or four doors, assembled in Wolfsburg, Germany. There are three models: the Golf, the high-mileage, diesel-powered Golf TDI (rated 42 m.p.g. on the highway) and the 200-horsepower sports-oriented GTI.

Prices begin at $18,240 for a two-door Golf with a 5-speed manual transmission and $19,940 for a four-door, which comes only with a 6-speed automatic. The cheapest Golf TDI diesel, a two-door, is $22,939, and the least expensive GTI, also a two-door, is $24,239. A jump from two doors to four costs $600 for either the TDI or GTI.