RE: VW Golf GTE: PH Carpool
Discussion
Ahbefive said:
So by most accounts this is a pretty useless hybrid. Great.
No, not really.It just needs using in a particular way, for relatively short journeys.
Having researched both the cars strengths and limitations before leasing and having assured myself that it would fit our needs well, I've been very happy with the car and as I said above, the long term mpg is showing ~154 mpg.
It is not a car for regular long journeys if you are interested in fuel efficiency.
My thoughts twelve months in to owning a GTE that is the same spec as the OP. I inherited it at twelve months old as a CC so it will shortly be two years old with 45k on it.
Made the decision to go with it instead of other choices that I have had previously (typical mid-range family wagons such as 2.0tdi SUV’s or German saloons / estates etc).
The main two reasons for taking it on have pretty much played out as initially thought.
Costs –
Cheapy Mc Cheap Cheap on the BIK. My long term MPG is currently 55mpg so is comparable to your typical 2.0tdi 3 series etc.
Critical bit is the driving profile as others have stated. Works well for me as the split between private / business mileage (recoverable) is as follows.
My private mileage is typically in the 100 to 150 mpg range.
My business mileage is typically in the 40 to 45mpg range.
Against a comparable mid-range 3 series 2.0 tdi or similar that I have had over the last few years I’m currently saving approx £150 to £200 / month on the BIK and approx £75 to £100 per month in fuel.
Space –
The 48-week rule mentioned by another poster is a good analogy as, in the main, there is just me in it.
The GTE gets used a lot at home for short trips into town etc and it is also fine four up for shorter trips (for e.g we have just done the airport run four up with four cabin sized bags and a couple of small rucksacks)
For longer family trips and more luggage, we decided to sell my wifes older car and sorted an SUV on a PCH using the monthly saving achieved through having the GTE.
The Car –
There are compromises if compared to the GTD / GTI but as others have stated the limitations of the handling due to weight compared to the GTD / GTI is the only occasional nark I have with it.
This occasional nark is offset in my opinion by the flexibility the car offers. It will waft along peacefully in E-mode, pootle along in hybrid mode and do 9/10ths of what a GTD can do in GTE mode. I see it as having three cars in one, not an expensive Golf alternative to an R.
I like the DSG over a manual and I now prefer the petrol / hybrid mix over a TDi.
Other than that, I have found I have learnt some new driving habits such as making use of lift and coast and using the regen braking etc. I have even learnt left foot braking although this has no advantage to driving the thing day to day what so ever……..
The hassle associated with plugging the car in isn’t really there if you have the means of a drive and an outside socket. I plug it in at night, un-plug it in the morning and then do the same during that day at work. It’s just become part of the routine.
Overall I'm still enjoying it.
Eta for VW's benefit -
Please make it into a tourer and use the extra under floor to either get some more batteries under there and / or give somewhere for the leads etc to go other than the boot.
Also please stop making it look different to the GTI, it deserves the same recognition.
Made the decision to go with it instead of other choices that I have had previously (typical mid-range family wagons such as 2.0tdi SUV’s or German saloons / estates etc).
The main two reasons for taking it on have pretty much played out as initially thought.
Costs –
Cheapy Mc Cheap Cheap on the BIK. My long term MPG is currently 55mpg so is comparable to your typical 2.0tdi 3 series etc.
Critical bit is the driving profile as others have stated. Works well for me as the split between private / business mileage (recoverable) is as follows.
My private mileage is typically in the 100 to 150 mpg range.
My business mileage is typically in the 40 to 45mpg range.
Against a comparable mid-range 3 series 2.0 tdi or similar that I have had over the last few years I’m currently saving approx £150 to £200 / month on the BIK and approx £75 to £100 per month in fuel.
Space –
The 48-week rule mentioned by another poster is a good analogy as, in the main, there is just me in it.
The GTE gets used a lot at home for short trips into town etc and it is also fine four up for shorter trips (for e.g we have just done the airport run four up with four cabin sized bags and a couple of small rucksacks)
For longer family trips and more luggage, we decided to sell my wifes older car and sorted an SUV on a PCH using the monthly saving achieved through having the GTE.
The Car –
There are compromises if compared to the GTD / GTI but as others have stated the limitations of the handling due to weight compared to the GTD / GTI is the only occasional nark I have with it.
This occasional nark is offset in my opinion by the flexibility the car offers. It will waft along peacefully in E-mode, pootle along in hybrid mode and do 9/10ths of what a GTD can do in GTE mode. I see it as having three cars in one, not an expensive Golf alternative to an R.
I like the DSG over a manual and I now prefer the petrol / hybrid mix over a TDi.
Other than that, I have found I have learnt some new driving habits such as making use of lift and coast and using the regen braking etc. I have even learnt left foot braking although this has no advantage to driving the thing day to day what so ever……..
The hassle associated with plugging the car in isn’t really there if you have the means of a drive and an outside socket. I plug it in at night, un-plug it in the morning and then do the same during that day at work. It’s just become part of the routine.
Overall I'm still enjoying it.
Eta for VW's benefit -
Please make it into a tourer and use the extra under floor to either get some more batteries under there and / or give somewhere for the leads etc to go other than the boot.
Also please stop making it look different to the GTI, it deserves the same recognition.
Edited by onemorelap on Tuesday 5th September 14:17
Edited by onemorelap on Tuesday 5th September 14:27
Edited by onemorelap on Tuesday 5th September 14:42
nickfrog said:
It's great to hear rational and experienced based feedback from people actually using the car, thanks.
Yep. But still not letting go of my straight six just yet - unless I really need to save some money/company car driver while compromising grip, handling, performance, longevity and luggage space over 170k+ miles of business, pleasure, load lugging, 5up holidays, trailering 1.8t and amazingly some track use.Sort these things out and I'm in.
I've had mine for two years. I would not buy one as a private car, but s a company car it makes sense as the personal tax is very low due to its low emissions, plus for the company they got a grant to offset costs, and they could also offset it against the tax- all because it was a hybrid.
I've done 25k miles in it. Plus side, it's ok to drive and doesn't cost me much in tax,
Negatives, well the 30mile charge only gives me 17 miles on my run to work, it's averaging 35miles per gal, the boot is small because of the battery, it switches it self off so it won't sit running.
The infotainment also has a habit of not working every so often, but unfortunately this never occurs when it's at the dealers!
I've done 25k miles in it. Plus side, it's ok to drive and doesn't cost me much in tax,
Negatives, well the 30mile charge only gives me 17 miles on my run to work, it's averaging 35miles per gal, the boot is small because of the battery, it switches it self off so it won't sit running.
The infotainment also has a habit of not working every so often, but unfortunately this never occurs when it's at the dealers!
I've seen a few cheap-ish deals crop up for these recently. They're not really cheap at all tbh but cheaper than i've ever seem them offered before. More £300 pcm as apposed to something daft like £450!
I've not got much to say about them other than i cannot believe how horrific those LED light strips are on the front. Seriously though, what were VW thinking? It literally looks like an aftermarket Halfords job.
I've not got much to say about them other than i cannot believe how horrific those LED light strips are on the front. Seriously though, what were VW thinking? It literally looks like an aftermarket Halfords job.
culpz said:
I've seen a few cheap-ish deals crop up for these recently. They're not really cheap at all tbh but cheaper than i've ever seem them offered before. More £300 pcm as apposed to something daft like £450!
My lease is via Vertu and about £7k for 2 years - that's with white paint and the armrest optioned, 8k miles.You can get about £6k off via DTD, and another £4k "scrappage" if you have an older diesel to trade in.
onemorelap said:
My thoughts twelve months in to owning a GTE that is the same spec as the OP.
Spot-on, great post. I'm 14 months into a 2 year lease GTE which looks identical to the OP's through our work lease scheme. I've done about 22k so far.
There are people who seem to go out of their way to articulate why theoretically a hybrid like the Golf GTE is a big ball of tangled compromises they couldn't possibly live with. All cars are a compromise of sorts. Our Fiesta ST was a great hot hatch. But I couldn't live with it for 2-3 hours commuting/business miles a day. The GTE handling is a bit fat-boy-wobbly when you push really hard, but for swift overtakes and more measured 'progress making' it's grippy and solid.
BIK was the clincher. Our lease scheme at work is based on salary sacrifice. I think my payslip is £300 lighter all-in with the GTE, inclusive of BIK, insurance, servicing and tyres on 18k miles pa with no upfront deposit.
The boot space thing is a non-issue for us. It does Tesco shopping or luggage for a weekend for a family of 4 without problem. For our holidays in Scotland with fishing gear and many, many suitcases, I borrowed a roof box.
I don't know what fuel economy I'm getting right now. It won't be what I'd like, but I know that if I thrash it down a 37 mile rural commute I get maybe 30-40mpg or worse. If I don't charge it up the night before but have 10 miles or so of battery, I can average 50-60mpg by driving really carefully, using re-gen and electric power as I gain it. When I charge up overnight and also at work I got nearer to 100mpg when driving with a light right foot.
The thing is, I just get on really well with the GTE day in day out. It doesn't need to be the best car on a spread-sheet costing or the last word in handling. It goes pretty fast when I want it to and wafts in a very calming way when I don't, being oddly relaxing (a bit like my old Volvo V70). I also love that when my wife leaves the petrol tank nearly empty, I can still get to work without a fuel stop on a chaotic Monday morning when I'm getting late for work.
james_tigerwoods said:
Idiot question - If it's a hybrid, doesn't it charge when running on petrol?
Yes.On my 37 mile commute it'll regen about 13 battery miles if I'm in GTE mode and knock the DSG into "B-mode", through braking, lifting off down hills etc. A needle on the big dial by the speedo swings into the green 'charge' area when you do this. Within the many settings you can also force it to recharge the battery as a constant, although I think this is fairly pointless given the impact on the petrol economy.
If I'm really bored I'll see how far from home I can knock it into e-mode and get back without using any petrol.
I think a few on here are missing the point. I have to be brutally honest and admit that I chose mine purely because I needed a few years of low BIK while my wife was off work and we did a few home improvements. However, I have grown to love it. I haven't driven the Golf 7 GTI/GTD so I cant make the comparison, but I find it handles very well and certainly enough to have some fun on the back roads. The DSG suits me as its a commuter wagon and I find leaving it in auto makes for a much less stressful drive to and from the office. The boot isn't very big but 4 of us went to London in it for a long weekend earlier in the year with our cases. If I need more room I will buy a roofbox with the c.£3.5k annual saving on CC tax over my previous Octavia VRS.
I very regularly get asked about the fuel economy, and I'm a bit tired of explaining that it depends entirely on your usage. I have a 80-90 mile daily round trip, but charge at home and at work and am averaging 80mpg across a tank. If i drive a long distance it drops, if I use it for pottering around town at the weekend it stays purely on electric and does 20-22 miles on a charge which costs me £0.78 IIRC.
Its not for everyone, granted. If you do regular high mile trips, buy a GTD. If you want to spend your weekends thrashing round country lanes buy a GTI, but if the middleground works for you or your commute is 10 miles each way, it really does make a lot of sense. I did make sure I had the nav, car nett and heated seats, but the nav hardly ever gets used as Apple Car Play is constantly on for maps/music/podcasts etc.. It just does everything so well, its reminded me what I love about the Golf after not having one for 10+years.
As I said, it won't make sense for everyone, and these days you need to consider if what car you are buying really works for you (see the DPF nightmare on the Qashqai of a few years back) but if it fits the bill I can't see anyone being disappointed.
I very regularly get asked about the fuel economy, and I'm a bit tired of explaining that it depends entirely on your usage. I have a 80-90 mile daily round trip, but charge at home and at work and am averaging 80mpg across a tank. If i drive a long distance it drops, if I use it for pottering around town at the weekend it stays purely on electric and does 20-22 miles on a charge which costs me £0.78 IIRC.
Its not for everyone, granted. If you do regular high mile trips, buy a GTD. If you want to spend your weekends thrashing round country lanes buy a GTI, but if the middleground works for you or your commute is 10 miles each way, it really does make a lot of sense. I did make sure I had the nav, car nett and heated seats, but the nav hardly ever gets used as Apple Car Play is constantly on for maps/music/podcasts etc.. It just does everything so well, its reminded me what I love about the Golf after not having one for 10+years.
As I said, it won't make sense for everyone, and these days you need to consider if what car you are buying really works for you (see the DPF nightmare on the Qashqai of a few years back) but if it fits the bill I can't see anyone being disappointed.
Interesting, at the moment you can get the best part of 10k off one of these using a dealer discount and the scrappage scheme. I have a golf gti so doesn't qualify but something to think about.
Dealer said 5k scrappage for your car, plus 4400 discount - it would be 5400 but you lose a grand in deposit contribution if you include scrappage.
At 23k I wonder if this car starts to make a fair bit of sense if you have a rattly old diesel worth peanuts to trade in?
Dealer said 5k scrappage for your car, plus 4400 discount - it would be 5400 but you lose a grand in deposit contribution if you include scrappage.
At 23k I wonder if this car starts to make a fair bit of sense if you have a rattly old diesel worth peanuts to trade in?
I've had a GTE since the start of 2016. A great car. Fast, great handling, comfortable.
I got it as the cheaper option of the company car offerings - the tax was way lower - and downsized from a Passat Estate GT.
I like it very much. It drives well and has all the gadgets and goodies.
The hybrid drive offers huge amounts of torque that even a speed awareness course finds hard to discourage. The DSG gearbox is a dream and changes faster than most manual drivers! You do, of course, have the paddle options if you want to pretend to be a racing driver but, in all honesty, they soon become tiresome and you revert to the normal 'D' or 'B' auto modes. Even in these, it is a sporty drive with the GTE button pressed.
But, make no mistake, this is not a frugal car! When fully charged, running in town, in electric mode only, it is fast, nimble and shows miraculous MPG (strange that when no petrol is being used at all!), but get it out on a run along A roads and Motorways, the electricity soon seeps away and that great little 1.4L, 3 cylinder engine kicks in and gargles down the super unleaded like a big bloke running across a desert. You have to be pretty constrained to achieve 40MPG at times like this but, at least, you are recharging the batteries.
The batteries do take up quite a large proportion of the vehicle: there's no room for a spare wheel; the petrol tank is a mere fraction of the standard Golf so you seem to visit the forecourt a lot more often than you used to - certainly in my old diesel Passat; but I have convinced myself, at least, that the added weight does give the car a certain stability and chuckability. I love driving it!
In times of such ridiculous tax laws, this car exists just for folks like me. As a private buyer, I would not consider a GTE unless I had off-street parking (for a charging point) and spent my time tootling around town.
As a company car driver, it is fabulous - much more fun, cheaper and faster than a lot of the more of the other offerings available. Of course, our wonderful government, having persuaded us that diesel was wonderful but is now killing the planet even faster than super unleaded, will soon find a way to tax the hybrids to extinction too . . .
I got it as the cheaper option of the company car offerings - the tax was way lower - and downsized from a Passat Estate GT.
I like it very much. It drives well and has all the gadgets and goodies.
The hybrid drive offers huge amounts of torque that even a speed awareness course finds hard to discourage. The DSG gearbox is a dream and changes faster than most manual drivers! You do, of course, have the paddle options if you want to pretend to be a racing driver but, in all honesty, they soon become tiresome and you revert to the normal 'D' or 'B' auto modes. Even in these, it is a sporty drive with the GTE button pressed.
But, make no mistake, this is not a frugal car! When fully charged, running in town, in electric mode only, it is fast, nimble and shows miraculous MPG (strange that when no petrol is being used at all!), but get it out on a run along A roads and Motorways, the electricity soon seeps away and that great little 1.4L, 3 cylinder engine kicks in and gargles down the super unleaded like a big bloke running across a desert. You have to be pretty constrained to achieve 40MPG at times like this but, at least, you are recharging the batteries.
The batteries do take up quite a large proportion of the vehicle: there's no room for a spare wheel; the petrol tank is a mere fraction of the standard Golf so you seem to visit the forecourt a lot more often than you used to - certainly in my old diesel Passat; but I have convinced myself, at least, that the added weight does give the car a certain stability and chuckability. I love driving it!
In times of such ridiculous tax laws, this car exists just for folks like me. As a private buyer, I would not consider a GTE unless I had off-street parking (for a charging point) and spent my time tootling around town.
As a company car driver, it is fabulous - much more fun, cheaper and faster than a lot of the more of the other offerings available. Of course, our wonderful government, having persuaded us that diesel was wonderful but is now killing the planet even faster than super unleaded, will soon find a way to tax the hybrids to extinction too . . .
I'm shocked you can't get app connect installed. I got it on my 15 plate (July 15) GTD. The stereo was updated for the 16 model year, yours should be compatible. The dealers are useless with this, I got told a few times it's not possible but I insisted. In the end, all ok (excluding the 200 quid it cost!). Basically you need an MIB2 stereo. If you have the standard, non-8" screen, the screen itself should have no bezel. The older MIB1 (used up to MY16) have a glossy surround.
Basically, this is compatible:
https://goo.gl/images/k3AcqE
This is not:
https://goo.gl/images/7CiELG
If you have an 8" screen, I don't know. Loads of threads about this on the forums
Basically, this is compatible:
https://goo.gl/images/k3AcqE
This is not:
https://goo.gl/images/7CiELG
If you have an 8" screen, I don't know. Loads of threads about this on the forums
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