Golf GTE

[SiT]

Been looking at the GTE recently, a job change means a daily motorway commute of around 20 miles will be required and my new place of work has just installed charging points which are free to employees.

Considering the suggested range is 30 miles in EV mode I figured my 6 day commute could cost me nothing! I am interested to know if left on charge during an 8-10hr day whether it would fully recharge the battery in order for me to get home in EV mode too?

The reviews all seem very good, was considering a lease on one but can’t seem to find any with sensible monthlies.

Anyone have any experience of the GTE as a daily and how realistic the EV range is??

Si

[ZX10R NIN]

I have a customer with a similar commute but no charging points & he's finding that he's getting nigh on the same economy as his previous GTI without the fun, so take a good look before taking the plunge & also look at the IS300 you may well be surprised.

[SiT]

Thanks for the info, was having a read up of some older threads on MPG etc when they first came out - seems varying figures are reported but not as ‘high’ as I expected.

Also some talk of range depleting quite quickly especially with motorway use - if I couldn’t make the whole journey in EV it wouldn’t really be worth buying one.

Si

[DukeDickson]

Seems to have some popularity of you are going for company car, have charging points and maybe have something else to punt around in (or other reasons to have one).
However, I struggle to see it personally. I'd rather take the money, rent or buy a GTI or R (or even a GTD, at a big push) and live with the extra few real mpg (favourable journeys aside), rather than the extra weight and the like. Time will probably come, but not yet IMHO.

[PSRG]

We’ve got an A3 e-tron, which has the same drivetrain I believe, which I originally bought for my 12 mile commute. I bought it as an ex demo and if I’m honest I really bought it because it was a very high spec A3, not because it was a PHEV. The claimed range is up to 30 miles; we’ve never achieved that. I’ve managed 26, but only once. But my commute has lots of fast dual carriageway and roundabouts to accelerate away from

Driving at 80 mph depletes the battery pretty quickly - I’ve seen as little as 13 miles out of the battery driven like that. 20 should be achievable, particularly if you pre heat the car while it’s plugged in, and don’t go flat out! It takes just under 4 hours to charge from empty using the 13A charger that comes with the car. If the ones you have at work are 32A ones then it’s just over 2 hours. If we don’t charge ours and just use it as a hybrid it does high 50s to the gallon - it still recovers quite a lot of power. I can do my commute on electrify only very easily; used like that I sometimes go months without the petrol engine ever firing. The OBC maxes out at 300 mpg though!

Having said that, I’d definitely buy another one. We’ve achieved far better fuel economy over 30k miles than we’d get got out of an equivalent petrol or diesel. It’s nice to drive, and the mid-range acceleration when combing petrol plus electricity is surprising. Plus, it’s very well equipped and very well built.

Let me know if you have any questions!

Edited to add, the misano red paint still makes me smile when’s it’s clean - an amazing colour IMO

Edited by PSRG on Saturday 17th February 06:05

[Big GT]

We have a GTE advance. Its a brilliant car basically an electric car with no range anxiety.
Build quality and the technology is fantastic. It has the looks and when in GTE mode the performance of a hot hatch.

In these winter months, with Kids, heaters and hills we get 15 mile max which is OK.
The petrol engine hardly gets used and in summer at a steady pace 25 miles is achievable.

You can run it on electric upto 80mph but to be honest once you above 60mph performance is not great so you will then be in hybrid or GTE mode which is fine however your then using a small 4pot engine to drag a shed load of batteries around.

So it depends on you 20mile motorway commute. If its stop start traffic then you may get all the way on batteries. But once at 70-90mph then your using the engine and economy will be less that a diesel.

But because your charging the mpg may still be good even on m/way. Get one you wont regret it, especially if lease deals are still around the £300 mark.

[Jasper3.0]

I am 40k miles into mine.

For short commutes it is fine on battery, with preconditioning I get around 20 (mixed a road and dual carriageway).

It is a wonderful little thing.

However I suspect you may have missed the boat, as if what I read elsewhere VW are no longer taking orders, allegedly due to order backlog.

[senwar]

I’ve had one since November 2015. Never bonded with it and can’t wait till it goes. I’ve got it till November but a change of job may see it going earlier. Always wondered if mine was a bit of a lemon but to be honest I think it just didn’t end up being the car I thought it would be.

Ignore the suggested ranged. You’ll get nowhere near it. Charging at both ends will help you though. I have probably charged mine 3 times in 18 months. I drive most of the time in GTE mode and get about 35mpg. My fuel is fully funded so no issue but I don’t even enjoy the gte mode. It’s nothing special and not a patch on other cars I’ve had. I will caveat this with saying I appear in a minority with my opinion on the car but as I say I just don’t like it.

I think the 7.5 models look better and seem better tech wise but as mentioned the order book is closed.

[ZX10R NIN]

I think the IS300 is better suited to your needs with no need for charging it can run fully electric when around town it'll give you nigh on the same economy as the GTE & as a hybrid is a better package IMO.

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

Or seeing as you do a mainly motorway on your commute a diesel hybrid is an option that will give you great fuel (better than both cars mentioned) figures:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...