I am having Hybrid thoughts.... Golf GTE

[john999boy]

LED head lamps,

 

Are they 'proper' LED headlamps or just LED's for the DRL's?

If they are 'proper' ones, are they able to be on full beam all the time and selectively adjust out other cars?

[James I]

Are they 'proper' LED headlamps or just LED's for the DRL's?

If they are 'proper' ones, are they able to be on full beam all the time and selectively adjust out other cars?

I believe they are full LED head lamps, as for main beam, I have not yet driven in the dark (light nights) so I will let you know when I have been out in full darkness.

[john999boy]

Dom Joly's take on the GTE from today's Sunday Times:-

 

Volkswagen Golf GTE, £33,755

THE Volkswagen Golf GTI has come a long way since I was the proud owner of one. Back in 1990 I met a man who worked at Fuller’s brewery in Chiswick, west London. I was answering a badly written ad in which he announced that he was selling a white Golf GTI cabriolet. It was only when I saw the car that I realised just how “wide” it was. It was pure Essex boy, with extra large bumpers.

I didn’t have time to think too hard about all this, as the gentleman I met in an alley near the brewery appeared to be on the verge of imminent arrest by the police. He kept looking over his shoulder and telling me to “get a shift on, mate”. So eager was he to sell me the car, he even forgot to remove the cosh he kept under the driver’s seat. I found it while adjusting my seat after I drove away from the brewery at some speed. I’d handed the vendor an envelope of cash in return for some quite dodgy-looking papers and the car. It was very much like what I imagine trying to get your local Tory MP to ask a question on your behalf in the house would have been like.

 

Volkswagen Golf GTE

Engine 1395cc, 4 cylinders, plus electric motor

Power 201bhp

Torque 258 lb ft (combined)

Transmission 6-speed automatic

Performance 0-62mph: 7.6sec

Top speed 138mph

Fuel 166mpg (combined)

CO2 39g/km

Range 31 miles (electric only) | 580 miles (total)

Price £33,755

Release date On sale now

Verdict For a trip to town, it’s absolutely capital

 

 

 

 

 

 

CRITIC'S RATING

By the time I’d discovered the cosh, however, I couldn’t have cared less as I’d also found out just what unadulterated fun this car was to drive. I took it on a tour round Europe with a rather glamorous Essex-born girlfriend, who looked as if she’d been born to ride in the thing. I parted ways with said blonde in Vienna after a seriously hedonistic three weeks of topless driving (not her, you understand).

She went back to Essex, whereas my Essex car and I headed off to Prague to take up a post as a diplomat in the delegation of the European Commission. Eastern Europe had just gone capitalist, a poet was running Czechoslovakia (as it was then), I had diplomatic immunity and I had the only convertible in Bohemia. Life was good. Bloody good.

But back to the present, and coming up my Cotswold drive was the newest version, the Golf GTE, the hybrid, middle-aged-hippie-uncle version of my original. As it happened, this one was also white, but it had a more sedate air than mine. It looked good, though: it had aged well and was certain to be less expensive than my hormonal, youthful motor — although I secretly missed the stupidly big bumpers.

The children liked it straight away. Since my wife tired of the family bus, had a midlife crisis and bought her BMW hot hatch, they’ve been complaining. They are now mere afterthoughts in my wife’s driving life, squeezed into the dark rear seats and thrown about windy country lanes by a Canadian racing in Comfort mode. By comparison, they found the back of the GTE roomy, although I suspect this initial enthusiasm may dim after a while.

My wife was going crazy thinking of things for the kids to do in the long, rainy English summer, so I decided to take them up to London for a day and give them a break. The GTE is fast and economical and I wouldn’t even have to pay the capital’s congestion charge. It would be perfect for my needs.

Touches such as the tartan seats emphasise the family resemblance to the GTI
So we set off, and confidence was high . . . until we got near Oxford. The county council has already spent ages turning the Oxford-to-Witney road into a solid mass of cars. Now it has turned its attention to “improving” roundabouts. A battered sign on the edge of the traffic jam informed frustrated drivers to expect delays until November — 2016.

It was going to take 16 months for these “improvements”. For perspective, the Pentagon was built in the same time. When we finally got to improvements ground zero there were predictably no workers to be seen anywhere. To be fair, it was 11 o’clock in the morning so they were probably not up — or simply hadn’t managed to find a lorry to bring them over from Calais yet.

I felt annoyed. I’d done my bit for the globe; I was driving a hybrid on pure electric power with the motor turning itself off when we were at a standstill. On top of that, I was carrying three people around. Why didn’t the council build me a special lane for my electric threesome? Then I remembered I was not in my impetuous, youthful Golf. I was now in a calm and sedate hybrid version. I breathed deeply and put some Enya on the stereo. All was calm.

Once through Oxford — only two hours instead of the usual half an hour, and don’t even think about rush hour — we pootled on towards London. The battery had run out and the GTE switched into Hybrid Auto mode. There was a little bit more noise but I actually find that reassuring in a car.

Plugging in to a wall charger, assuming you can find one
We arrived in London safe and sound, and I zoomed into the centre of town — because I could. I parked in a car park that charged me the equivalent of a month’s rent for Blenheim Palace, but at least it plugged the vehicle into a wall charger for me. You could use a mains socket, which took about four hours to top up the VW, or a bigger, faster one that took closer to two hours. I went for the former as the car park man was very vague about rates for the fast charger and I feared he might impound the car to cover unpaid debts.

We had a grand day out: lunch in Soho, shopping in Covent Garden, tea at the Wolseley, more shopping and then back to the car. It was fully charged and waiting for me expectantly. It had clearly been rather shaken up by the visit to the big city — the rest of the car park was full of black Range Rovers with tasteless personalised numberplates.

“They bullied me,” whimpered the GTE. “They said I wasn’t a real GTI . . . ” I pacified it as best I could by putting on Supertramp. The GTE loves Supertramp. We drove home in silence save for the dulcet tones of Roger Hodgson and the occasional scream of despair as we crawled through Oxford. Ah, well, not long now: only 16 more months and then it’ll be all right . . . won’t it? It had better be — I’ve still got the cosh.

[James I]

he doesn't say much about the car does he!  More about his whining on about driving through Oxford to get to London. Simple answer to that is move up North 

 

I still think fully charged, Robert Llewellyn has done the best revue of the GTE, the youtube link is in previous posts on this thread.

[DaveI]

I can't wait to get mine, the only criticisms I have read is that it's not as sporty as it should be considering what it's badged as.

 

Couldn't care less!

 

I'm just hoping the leasing company comes through, the GTE was only available for a couple of months all together as they sold all of the ones the UK were getting quite quickly, we did order in this magic window, I just hope Arnold Clark did as well!

[James I]

DaveI, Hit the GTE button and the thing comes alive!  It goes like a scalded cat and sounds great.

 

 I have noticed fuel economy is not the best, certainly nowhere near claimed figures of 166mpg, more like 50 mpg.

 

 Not to worry though as I expected as much, it is a 1.4 turbo Golf with a few bonus miles from the battery and is super cheap on BIK so who cares.  

[B33fy]

DaveI, Hit the GTE button and the thing comes alive!  It goes like a scalded cat and sounds great.

 

 I have noticed fuel economy is not the best, certainly nowhere near claimed figures of 166mpg, more like 50 mpg.

 

 Not to worry though as I expected as much, it is a 1.4 turbo Golf with a few bonus miles from the battery and is super cheap on BIK so who cares.

Had the Volvo plug in hybrid for a few days, the economy was worse than the standard diesel with lugging around the battery's. electric doesn't really suit my driving style unless in sport mode. As you BIK and a few bonus miles make it worthwhile. Rumour has it the £5k subsidy will stop next year and I reackon the government will catch on to "performance hybrids" and not make them so appealing cost wise to own, maybe putting a minimum range on them or something.

I went for the Merc C Class 350e in the end. Not that excited about the badge or all the driver assist features as I find them intrusive until I get used to them, though looking forward to the HUD and Burmester sound system.

Cleaned the 7GTD today, still looks fresh. Be sorry to see it go in some respects. Glad you're pleased with the GTE James, hope you enjoy it as much as I have mine.

[DaveI]

I can't wait to get mine, the only criticisms I have read is that it's not as sporty as it should be considering what it's badged as.

 

Couldn't care less!

 

I'm just hoping the leasing company comes through, the GTE was only available for a couple of months all together as they sold all of the ones the UK were getting quite quickly, we did order in this magic window, I just hope Arnold Clark did as well!

 

It turns out Arnold Clark didn't order within the magic window  :no:

 

Contacted them to find out if they would be able to deliver any earlier than the 2nd of November we had requested and they came back with no, it will actually be around March the 1st 2016! We ordered the car with them on the 24th of April.

 

Looking at other stuff now 

[Ootohere]

Not unusual for Arnold Clark.

5 years back I ordered a new car they could supply cheaper than anyone else, paid a £300 deposit because it was a factory order,

was trying to arrange insurance and wanted to now why 16 week was now 20 weeks and they still said the car was coming, until the salesman was never at work, and neither was the Sales Manager, that was until i went passed the UK Customer Services for Fiat & contacted Milan..

It had never been ordered, there was no build.   Its just the Arnold Clark way far to often.

[Baxlin]

We are and will be looking forward to it.

Picked it up yesterday, and done about 120 miles in it.  One word to sum it up?  Smoooooth.  Difficult to tell when the petrol engine comes in, apart from a green light on the dash going out.

 

CVT auto is seamless, (obviously) a big change from the Mercedes manual diesel it replaced.

 

MPG?  Driving from Brum down the M6 & M1 then into MK for some shopping, it showed 59mpg, but I don't expect that to continue.  The knack, I'm told, is to get up to speed as reasonably quickly as possible, then feather the gas pedal to keep it steady.  What kills the mpg, is town work that is too fast for the lecky motor to handle.  At anything above 30 mph, it starts guzzling petrol.  In stop start traffic it's free though!

 

It feels very solid, the doors close with a good clunk, moreso than the Merc.

 

Which is better, the Merc C220 or the Lexus?  The jury's out at the moment, as they are so different, let's say I thoroughly enjoyed two years of the Merc, and look forward to the same with the Lexus, borrowing the Fabia occasionally.........................

 

Malcolm

Edited 14 August, 2015 by Baxlin

[Ootohere]

Nice, enjoy.

VW do not call it a CVT but a 6 Speed DSG with Triple Clutch specially developed for Hybrids.

http://volkswagen.co.uk/about-us/news/583

[john999boy]

Nice, enjoy.

VW do not call it a CVT but a 6 Speed DSG with Triple Clutch specially developed for Hybrids.

Malcolm was referring to his new ls300h which he mentioned he was getting earlier in the thread.

Talking of the Lexus, it might pay to start a new topic about that as I'm sure that other people would be interested too - especially with regards to the CVT as quite a few people find it, shall we say, 'different'!

[TrevorB33]

couple of pictures, taken on the mobile phone so not best quality.

 

2015-08-01 18.46.52.jpeg

 

2015-08-01 18.47.01.jpeg

 

2015-08-01 18.47.18.jpeg

 

2015-08-01 18.47.38.jpeg

 

20150801_184753.jpeg

Looks lovely mate, was this to replace the 1 series?

[Baxlin]

Looks good!

Can't say I've seen many Golfs in white, it suits it.

Don't be offended, but the second pic makes it look like it's having a pe*!

Interesting to compare with the Lexus setup, which is a regen lecky motor rather than plug in

Malcolm

[James I]

Looks lovely mate, was this to replace the 1 series?

Yes Trev the 1 series has gone to a new home!

 

 Having had the Golf for a couple of weeks now there is good and bad things about the car.

 

 Bad things, firstly the Golf will connect to Car-Net, however there are 454 cars in Europe that VAG "forgot" (so VAG UK say) to install the hardware module to make my car communicate withe Car-Net, options they have given me are to give the car back and wait until February 2016 for a Golf with Car-Net installed or they will send me a cheque for £750......... money will be on its way!

 Secondly, charging and battery life, this is not all it is cracked up to be, from a 29 mile battery indication 18 miles are achievable, this is mixed city and motorway driving, on one occasion I have seen 28 miles range displayed, the car was left for 24 hours without use or being plugged in, when I drove it the display dropped to 12 miles, does this mean the batteries suffer leakage or they do not hold charge?

 

 Not so bad, is the fuel economy, VAG claim 166mpg, I knew this would never be achievable but the on board computer is showing an average of 72 mpg, not too bad from a 1.4 petrol, battery consumption shows a 7.2 miles per kilowatt/h not sure if this is good or bad.

 Fuel tank is a thimble, it takes a mere £40 to brim it from empty!

 

Good points, it is quiet, refined, a pleasure to drive, free to charge up at certain outlets and extremely cheap on BIK and did I mention it goes like a bullet when the GTE mode is enabled!

 

 So far so good, finding new things everyday too, I found out this week that by holding the door handle the car opens, touch the outside of the handle and it locks again, whatever next?

[B33fy]

Good feedback James, looking through the forums VW aren't the only one to exaggerate the battery range, real world is miles apart from stated range. The Merc, should do 20'ish miles lucky to get 8 miles out of it. Same with the Volvo when I had it, showing a range of 12miles on the dash, flattened it in 6, just about keeping up with the flow of traffic round town. As with fossil fuel consumption, stop start traffic kills the range. I expect the manufacturers quote range on a light throttle optimum cruising speed for their specific car. There doesn't seem to be a standard government test done by all.

 

I'm awaiting conformation of delivery date, though looking at others, March next year looks about right.

[Wardy]

 

 Secondly, charging and battery life, this is not all it is cracked up to be, from a 29 mile battery indication 18 miles are achievable, this is mixed city and motorway driving, on one occasion I have seen 28 miles range displayed, the car was left for 24 hours without use or being plugged in, when I drove it the display dropped to 12 miles, does this mean the batteries suffer leakage or they do not hold charge?

 

On the leakage/charge hold question, this could be battery calibration, in that they might need several full-to-empty cycles, before you'll start to get more accurate battery capacity information.

[James I]

On the leakage/charge hold question, this could be battery calibration, in that they might need several full-to-empty cycles, before you'll start to get more accurate battery capacity information.

Very possible Wardy, this is all new to me so will keep plodding on with the extension lead and see how things go.  We are off on holiday soon and the Golf will sit in the airport car park for two weeks, I expect the battery to be flat when we return, which is worrying as I drove all weekend without a charge up and fuel consumption was poor to say the least.

[Wardy]

How long will you have it for? Potential to look at a faster, higher ampage home connection for it? 16A or 32A?

 

Also thinking the battery mis-information/fast drop in available battery range might be caused by a slower charge rate from a standard UK mains socket.

[cheezemonkhai]

 I am not too fussed if I drive a diesel or a petrol, the GTE is appealing to me from a BIK point of view, a mere 5% as for diesels being the nasty polluting beast you portray, I can only say take a look at the tail pipes of a modern diesel compared to a petrol car.

 

 

 

 I know the GTE will never do more than 40mpg but then any diesel VAG car I have had has only done similar, 40-44mpg, I also know it will be heavier than a GTD/GTI but when you consider fuel is paid for in any of the cars I would choose the only thing I am considering is the cost to me,

 

Golf R = £460 ish per month in tax

Golf GTD = £280 ish per month in tax

Golf GTE = £90 per month in tax  

 

Quite a saving and a decent enough car, compared to a prius 

 

The low BIK rate is somewhat offset by the higher purchase price though?

Are those figures taking that into account?

[B33fy]

The low BIK rate is somewhat offset by the higher purchase price though?

Are those figures taking that into account?

 

Not if you lease, where the lower depreciation is reflected in the cost along with the government grant of £5000. My C Class 350e is costing £50 month more than my Golf GTD and is fully loaded, (premium plus with all options) The only sacrifice I made was to stick to 17" wheels as 18's push the BIK from 5% to 9% You'll be surprised how reasonable they work out. No doubt the taxman will catch on and start some sort of electricity tax or something..

[DaveI]

They already are bumping the BIK up, when I worked out my Tax on the GTE is was £50 ish for this year, £70 for the year after and £100 is for the year after that.

 

So doubling in the time I will hopefully have it!

[James I]

Picked my payslip up today, new tax code on there which is much more favourable to that of the the previous one, difference in take home pay is £221 more than last month so no complaints from me.

 As for the higher purchase cost cheesemonkhai, I really don't know, I have been told the lease cost is favourable by our FD and if it had been really high then I would not have got the car. Benefits are there for the employer too, lower NI contribution for a start.

[Guest garpat32]

Had my my16 GTE for nearly 2 months now.

Everything has been spot on.

Just come from a mk3 octy TDI and the golf is way better on MPG, for my type of driving.

Roughly 80mpg from start. Easily getting over 20 miles on pure electric, and can park and charge for free in loads of places in town. Even gets to the point where we plan our days out around where we can park. :-)

The car net app is great, allows me to turn aircon, heated windows etc on before driving, will be great for the frosty mornings.

Its leased via a work scheme so all in its around £260 month,

[James I]

Had my my16 GTE for nearly 2 months now.

Everything has been spot on.

Just come from a mk3 octy TDI and the golf is way better on MPG, for my type of driving.

Roughly 80mpg from start. Easily getting over 20 miles on pure electric, and can park and charge for free in loads of places in town. Even gets to the point where we plan our days out around where we can park. :-)

The car net app is great, allows me to turn aircon, heated windows etc on before driving, will be great for the frosty mornings.

Its leased via a work scheme so all in its around £260 month,

 

I am not seeing the mpg you report Garpat, I had a long run yesterday to Penarth to see Josh H off this forum, my GTE only managed 40 mpg! (motorway speeds) so nowhere near the quoted 166mpg from VAG.

 I have also been informed that the car net app will not work with my car as the module was not fitted at manufacture, this can't be retrofitted, the options VAG UK gave me were to hand the car back and wait until February 16 for a new one or accept a cheque for £750, I chose the latter as every little helps as they say.

 

 On the whole I am enjoying the Golf however it does not handle as well on the B roads as the 1 series did and the fuel economy is dire, much less than we see from our 330d e91, at some point the extra fuel cost will over take the BIK saving......