Looking at a (new to us) car.  Seriously considering a Golf GTE as I actually like the GTD but don’t think the Diesel engine will suit us.  I’m looking for opinions from anyone who owns or has driven a GTE, 2nd hand prices are at the top of our budget, but manageable at £17kish, will be buying outright via part ex and cash.

User profile is, Mrs BS will use it during the week for her commute of 7 miles each way (no she can’t ride it) and at weekend for going to town etc.  After that we’ll use it at weekends for a long trip away, 200+ miles.

She won’t be able to plug in at work, so how much is it going to cost us to charge up, I’m guessing, every night?  What is a realistic fuel consumption on long runs?

As you can see, I’m on the fence.  I’d like to like a Hybrid/EV but still a bit of a luddite.

I have on the face lift version.

It’s tremendous. 7 miles each way means your wife will be able to use full electric mode to and from with ease. It seems to roughly cost around £1 per charge from flat. Long runs on your weeeknd in hybrid mode you should see high 50s to low 60s. The only slight downside is the smaller boot but it’s not really that much of an issue,

£30 per charge from flat

How many miles will that get you?

£30.00 from flat! Is that correct?

Haha! No sorry £1 from flat £30 per month.

Still knackered from a busy few days my brain is asleep.

We’ve had ours for about 18 months now as a lease. Mainly for running the kids to after school clubs and the odd longer trip, with mileage / usage similar to yours. Its pretty good, but I assume massively complicated from a maintenance / repair perspective. We had a glitch with ours, the AA came out, opened the bonnet, laughed and shut it again. – I can’t image many things on the engine / power train side can be serviced / repaired anywhere else than VW.

We’ve not noticed any significant increase in the electricity bill, so I assume Drac ‘£30’ must be per month.

You get about 28 miles from a charge between march – october, drops down as low as 18 in mnid winter with the heater on full.

Eats front tyres and is the worst car ever in snow.

Not sure we’ll lease again and will probably just buy something with an efficient petrol engine.

@Drac….Phew :o)

I can’t image many things on the engine / power train side can be serviced / repaired anywhere else than VW.

I would bet the engine is the same as most VWs.

I would bet the engine is the same as most VWs.

Its the stuff around it that probably flummoxed the AA man

My mate just bought one. He seems to have had a fair chunk of money for getting rid of his old car & buying a hybrid. His electric charging point at his house was also provided and installed at zero cost to him through two subsidies.

As a passenger I was surprised at how effectively the electric only option propelled the (almost two ton) car along. The day he took me out the the outside temp was getting on for 30 deg. I hinted that putting the AC might me nice as it was sweltering inside but he declined as he said it really put a dent in the battery endurance.

For a car that weighs as much as a LWB Landrover Defender I wonder about the true cost & feasibility of lugging around all this weight as a mode of daily transport. IE paying attention to the things we’re measuring & ignoring the things we’re not.

IE paying attention to the things we’re measuring & ignoring the things we’re not.

This isn’t the old ‘electricity generation still produces CO2 therefore it’s all rubbish’ thing is it?

The day he took me out the the outside temp was getting on for 30 deg. I hinted that putting the AC might me nice as it was sweltering inside but he declined as he said it really put a dent in the battery endurance.

I know that’s kind of the point of this car, but how often is it 30°C?  How much would it cost you to use it for a few journeys, maybe 10 days a year?  Don’t you love a penny-pincher :-).

This isn’t the old ‘electricity generation still produces CO2 therefore it’s all rubbish’ thing is it?

No, simply put the car is sold on it’s green credentials. But the inescapable fact is that you still have to find/produce/manufacture two tons of raw materials & propel it around for the lifetime of the vehicle. Reading the sales pitch it would be easy to overlook the facts.

Reading the sales pitch it would be easy to overlook the facts.

If you also believe in unicorns and pixies maybe. I don’t think anyone actually thinks the car grows on a tree… Whether people buy them for purely altruistic (ie it’s a truly green end-to-end option) or personal (running costs are less) reasons is something else entirely.

They do look quite good, would be interested to drive one.

We’ve had one since January, neither of us commute regularly by car but plenty of local trips, running the kids about to things and a few trips further afield. Wonderful for the mundane everyday stuff, get into a pre-heated (or in this weather, pre-cooled) cabin and waft silently along. Electric plenty quick enough for <40mph, GTE mode (uses engine and electric together) pleasingly fast when you want it. Usual Golf stuff otherwise, not the last word luxury but all very intuitive and nice feeling inside.

Boot is small, batteries are under the rear seats so the (smaller) petrol tank is under the boot. It’s like a regular Golf hatch with the boot floor permanently in the upper position. OK for us for daytrips, can fit pushchair and a few bags easily. Overnight we need a travel cot and other gubbins so the roofbox comes out.

Battery has around 7kWh usable capacity so just multiply that by your electricity unit rate. So about 89p for an empty to full charge for me on Bulb, less if you’ve got economy 7. For comparison I think of electric miles as about 150-200mpg equivalent. Long trips once the battery is drained 50-ish mpg. I did 120 miles to Swinley and back yesterday with a bike on the roof and used 65mpg-worth of fuel plus a single charge, so about 61mpg equivalent with the electric factored in.

Kerb weight is just over 1500kg btw, most SUVs and family estates weigh more.

I’m probably the opposite of Marcus, when our lease ends in 18 months I can’t imagine going back to a “normal” car.  Hoping there’ll be some more realistic 160+ mile range EV options which will cover all our needs nicely.

No, simply put the car is sold on it’s green credentials

Somewhat true, but most people buy them for economic and practical reasons (expecting cheaper running costs), rather than because they genuinely care about the environment beyond any superficial statement.

Kerb weight is just over 1500kg btw

Interesting.  My 2006 Passat diesel auto weighs about that.

No, simply put the car is sold on it’s green credentials. But the inescapable fact is that you still have to find/produce/manufacture two tons of raw materials & propel it around for the lifetime of the vehicle. Reading the sales pitch it would be easy to overlook the facts.

Looking at it another way, those who are shopping for new cars are going to be shopping for new cars anyway – and this one is probably greener.  Probably significantly greener than other cars that do 0-60 in under 8 seconds.

No, simply put the car is sold on it’s green credentials. But the inescapable fact is that you still have to find/produce/manufacture two tons of raw materials & propel it around for the lifetime of the vehicle. Reading the sales pitch it would be easy to overlook the facts.

The fact that no one denies.

Not the Golf but do have the Passatt Estate GTE as a company car

It’s brilliant (the much lower company car tax is a major plus)

Costs around £1.15 to charge from flat, I got a charging point installed at home for free through the ‘Electric Nation’ scheme WPD were running at the time (now closed) so it charges in about 2 hours (closer to 4 using a conventional socket)

Stated electric range is 30 miles, in reality around town is nearer 18-20 but on a motorway sat at 60mph (variable speed limit) I can get that up to 30-32 miles

Combined petrol/electric on a 70 mile run 90% m-way / dual carriageway is around 70-80mpg, solely on petrol the 1.4 engine still manages around 36-42mpg which is similar to my old diesel Ford Kuga (the worst car I have ever had the misfortune to drive)

0-60 is plenty quick enough, the electric pick up is instant, GTE mode is fun but I rarely use it

The VW app is also good for remotely controlling the charging etc

Well, this all sounds promising.  I need to get a test drive booked.  The reduction in boot space I can live with, as it’s a fair sized boot to start off with.   I guess my main concern is being stuck with a five to seven year old, out of date tech car that no one wants once I’m finished with it.

so they’ll charge from a std 3 pin plug socket if I don’t have a dedictated socket installed?

so they’ll charge from a std 3 pin plug socket if I don’t have a dedictated socket installed

They come with 2 cables of is for a 3 point socket.

^ Check you have both, as I saw the VW price on the warrany replacement one was £800. Aftermarket ones are significantly cheaper. Takes just under 3 hours to charge on a regular 13A supply.

I’ve been driving one since March 2016, and can agree most of what’s been written above. Drives like a lardy Golf, and had it not been for the tax on it, I’d not have bothered. I rarely get over 20 miles from a charge in Summer and barely 14 in the Winter. Suffers a few minor electrical gremlins (e.g. no sound from ICE, bluetooth goes AWOL, odd workshop messages on the display), so I’ll not be offering to buy it at lease end.

As there was a period when VW weren’t taking orders, this may explain the strong residuals on second hand cars.

Are the residuals that strong? Local VW is asking £16,500 for one that has 30k miles, that would have been a near £30k car originally?  Seems to be about the same sort of loss as a GTD or GTI.