Considering (nearly sold on) a Golf GTE plug-in hybrid and wondering if any fellow members would have experience, any thoughts and advice (encouragement or dissuasion gratefully accepted) to share on this model?
Thanks everyone in advance.
Have a friend who has one and it is a good car but heavy and range not great at all
I have a friend who as one as a company car and he loves it.
The point about the range is that its not an electric car, its not meant to be able to go far on electricity. If it did have really good electric range then it would be an electric car and lugging the weight of a mostly superfluous engine about all of the time would be wasteful.
It might come as a surprise but the very successful standard Toyota Prius, (non plug-in) can do just over one mile on its battery. The battery is there to allow the petrol engine to work most efficiently for more of the time. The battery ‘fills in the gaps’ and allows the car to effectively coast with the engine off which it does to great effect. Something that in the UK at least you are not allowed to do in a conventional petrol or diesel car. Coast that is.
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Mea culpa - I have confused my cars. My friend has the e-Golf not the GTE. Duh
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Yes, in our case it’s expected to cover my wife’s daily needs (~20 miles) locally in EV only/mostly mode and serve us for some more out of the way weekend and longer journeys, and as a back up/for flexibility as our other car is fully electric?
I’ve only driven it briefly and not so sure about the claimed GTE fun factor yet - if there is one, but hope so?
I would not exoect to go 20 miles in the winter. As long as you go into it with eyes open I suspect it is a good car. One option to consider is the BMW i3. A second hand one with the range extender is great (Basically you can do 80 odd miles on battery then a petrol powered generator kcan kick in to do the same again on a tank of fuel. You can obviously fill the small tank as often as you need. I have one before going full electric and they are a good stepping stone.
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I can’t comment on the Golf but I have the BMW 330e hybrid and my experience might be of interest because its stated electric range seems to be the same as the Golf (i.e. 38 miles). Currently in the UK my range is showing up as 31 miles when the car is fully charged. This estimate is based on current driving speeds, etc and air temperature, and is reasonably accurate. In the cold winter months this drops to 21 miles. So as Ryder says above temperature makes a big difference. There is another point that I think is important. I had the earlier version of the BMW and a significant difference is the maximum speed at which the car switches from battery to petrol. On the previous model this was at 50 and on the current one is at around 65. This meant with the older car that it was frequently using petrol unnecessarily when there was still battery charge. Now the 30 miles range is all on the battery unless I really put my foot down, at which point the battery motor supplements the petrol to significant effect.
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That’s good to know. It’s reassuring if the bmw 330e’s real world pure EV range is about 20-30 miles as its battery is very similar (only slightly smaller than the Golf’s ~11 vs 13 kwh?). The EV range is also more realistic when driving slowly and around town (rather than motorway) and this is why I am expecting and hoping such a plug-in hybrid to be useful daily as an EV as well as for some longer trips in hybrid mode?
As for the bmw i3, the range extender is a brilliant idea but I suppose mostly as a survival mode?
I have used the range extender for 200 mile trips, you just have to fill up twice!
It does sound a bit like a sewing machine when in traffic though!
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There are some annoying disadvantages of current plug-in hybrids such as slow only charging, compromised booth space etc.
I am also yet to be convinced how good they would be on a longer journey in hybrid mode?
FWIW my neighbour has a plug in hybrid and at the start they were very diligent about charging but now seem to have given up and use normal engine only. Unless you enjoy charging on a daily basis, I think choice is petrol v full EV
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Yes, can be a pain but it’s become second nature to me now
Do you have a home charging unit? From my experience I think that is essential with a hybrid. I can’t see the point in paying for a subscription and charging away from home with a hybrid. Any day I use the car I plug it in when I get home - I think I have a 7KWH charging unit and it takes about 3 hours if the battery is very low. For longer journeys, which I am not making very often, I don’t worry too much. Once the battery charge is depleted the car runs very well as a petrol vehicle. What I do sometimes if I am driving on a motorway or fast A road to an urban area is put the car into Battery Save mode which will put a charge into the battery. I am certain this will reduce the petrol efficiency but in relatively economical driving circumstances does not seem to make an obvious difference and will put 20-30% onto the battery quite quickly at say 60 mph.
If you are considering a Golf GTE, it may be worth comparing it to the new Peugeot 308 plug in hybrid, which has just come out top in a very recent Car magazine multi-car review.
Objectively, Peugeots are now more reliable than VW cars and have been for some time but only you can decide which one suits you better.
It’s nice to have the choice though.
Best regards, BF
Interesting car, thanks - and they seem quite closely matched from a quick look? The 308 is may be a bit overstyled for me on the outside but looks quite cool inside? We’ve also never had a Peugeot or a VW!
Will look into it more.
Yes, we have a dedicated home charging point and an external conveniently located 3-pin socket (no extension needed …. and if I did, this is where those Audiophile mains blocks and mains leads would finally come handy!!). The difference in charging speed between them when charging such a hybrid is not huge though (2.3kw vs 3.6kw per hour) so I guess both could be an option for overnight charging? But I don’t need to charge our EV every night so the home charger could be used between both cars. Equally both cars can be plugged in at the same time.
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Hi,
I owned a GTE Mk 8 for about one year. Eventually let it go due to its, in my opinion, unreliable software. Mine continually indicated faults that were sometimes there and sometimes not. VW were not good at supporting my dealer who I believe was left to try and sort it out. There is a lot on the WWW about the problems with the MK8 software and so I gave up and went all electric with another manufacturer.
The car when working was very comfortable, I had full leather etc, and had pretty good performance on tap. Top speed on battery was fairly high (70?) which facilitated comfortable driving on all roads. Range for me was as described above, circa 30-32 in warm weather and circa 25 in cooler weather. I used mine for a 60 mile commute (30 each way) daily and so tended to use it in hybrid mode all the time. Usually had about 5 electric miles at end of each day. Note you have to select hybrid every time you start a journey, by default it goes electric.
I assume that you have thought through how often the battery will be pulling along an engine for no need and the converse how often the engine is pulling along a battery for no need. I don’t think I ever achieved anything like the mpg figures quoted. Also note you need to add in costs for electric which I believe the car does not allow for in its calculation.
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Really good points and feedback, thanks.
Having continuous software issues could easily kill the greatest car. One would think they are resolved by now or not so common but who knows? Now, if you also tell me it’s zero fun to drive and 
In our case, I am considering this type of hybrid rather than essentially having 3 cars (2 EVs and 1 petrol) as I really cannot justify having an additional petrol car as a back up or for occasional use only. So at least the plan is that the electric mode would be used at least 80-90% of the time for daily local use (unless or until something in our routine changes), so the petrol engine should indeed be a passenger only most of time?
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I charge my Tesla on a 3 pin overnight without issue (only do 30 miles a day typically though
What do you have at the moment. I just have an ev and would never imagine a situation where I would need a petrol car
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