Golf GTe....Anyone driven one?
Discussion
Pretty simple post to be honest, time for the wife to change her company car and the GTe is a very compelling options with trade down the car comes in at 50p per month!!
Who has driven one or owns one? Whats it like to live with? What are the flaws?
Our local dealer won't have one for another month or so and its car order time, i like golfs so prepared to go for it anyhow but would love the real world opinion of others on the car. The performance figures etc look good on paper so could it be the car for us, it will be replacing a 118d cab M sport so I'm not looking for a fire breathing sports car just something that can hold its own in the real world but still has a little fun element and has room for tiny horse jnr in the back
cheers
Who has driven one or owns one? Whats it like to live with? What are the flaws?
Our local dealer won't have one for another month or so and its car order time, i like golfs so prepared to go for it anyhow but would love the real world opinion of others on the car. The performance figures etc look good on paper so could it be the car for us, it will be replacing a 118d cab M sport so I'm not looking for a fire breathing sports car just something that can hold its own in the real world but still has a little fun element and has room for tiny horse jnr in the back
cheers
johnnyreggae said:
Isn't it the same as the Audi A3 Etron which has not had great reviews ?
Huh? What not great reviews? The VAG drivetrain is well regarded.Only 'poor' reviews I've seen were a poor standard of reviews on a couple group tests were they managed to get the mpg average in the 30s... After driving over 500 miles in 2 days which you would almost never do in a plug-in hybrid. These things are designed for sub 60 mile days with regular home charging, not the car magazine 'lets go to South Wales and go through 3 tanks of fuel in 2 days' which is hardly representative...
PKLD said:
johnnyreggae said:
Isn't it the same as the Audi A3 Etron which has not had great reviews ?
Huh? What not great reviews? The VAG drivetrain is well regarded.Only 'poor' reviews I've seen were a poor standard of reviews on a couple group tests were they managed to get the mpg average in the 30s... After driving over 500 miles in 2 days which you would almost never do in a plug-in hybrid. These things are designed for sub 60 mile days with regular home charging, not the car magazine 'lets go to South Wales and go through 3 tanks of fuel in 2 days' which is hardly representative...
To be honest, if it's beneficial for tax reasons to get one then why not.
RammyMP said:
Three out of five from Auto Express: http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/audi/a3/66042/audi-a3...
To be honest, if it's beneficial for tax reasons to get one then why not.
I thought it would be that review - they even mention that they're long term test PHEV got almost double the group test mpg - because they are using it more like a typical owner. This group text was a farce in terms of mpg test as it was they didn't even charge the cars up between stopsTo be honest, if it's beneficial for tax reasons to get one then why not.
Drivers on a couple of other forums have been less than impressed with the range of the eTron (and GTE) and the nature of the drivetrain which is less "electric and a petrol when the battery runs out" and more "petrol with a bit of electric if you drive slowly enough". Most of the reports were that any vaguely enthusiastic driving had the petrol engine kicking in even when there was spare battery available.
But like I said, it's irrelevant. If you are in the market for a hybrid and have to buy German then you really don't have any other choice beside the eTron/GTE so it wouldn't matter if they had made the engine out of cheese and the interior from old crisp packets.
But like I said, it's irrelevant. If you are in the market for a hybrid and have to buy German then you really don't have any other choice beside the eTron/GTE so it wouldn't matter if they had made the engine out of cheese and the interior from old crisp packets.
pboyall said:
Drivers on a couple of other forums have been less than impressed with the range of the eTron (and GTE) and the nature of the drivetrain which is less "electric and a petrol when the battery runs out" and more "petrol with a bit of electric if you drive slowly enough". Most of the reports were that any vaguely enthusiastic driving had the petrol engine kicking in even when there was spare battery available..
Fair enough but it is exactly the same as the Prius then - and before you ask,we own a Prius+I havent driven a Golf GTe or an A3 E-tron
Looking at the numbers VW predicts 31 miles EV range with it's 8.8 kWh battery, that's an EV efficiency of 3.5 miles per kWh. Which on the face of it, is similar to a Tesla S in efficiency, but much less than Leaf, which I'm currently getting 4.7 mile per kWh in real life use.
But the problem with having a small battery, is that if you really drive it like a GTI it electric motor will devour that charge very very quickly, my Leaf when 'hurried' will drop it's efficiency down to below 2 miles per kWh, which translate a very small range indeed, so I suspect if you really extract all the power of a GTe, your quickly run it's battery dead in less than 15 miles. At that point, the battery/EV motor just becomes dead weight, much in the same was as in our Lexus hybrid when pushed into 'sport' mode for any length of time, though granted, carrying out 'dead weight' is better than just been having a empty battery and stranded out in the middle of no where.
The only real way to mix performance and EVs is a big enough battery pack, e.g: Tesla S. Even at 100 mph, the Tesla has enough charge to give it range of 100 miles....which granted is still half the range of my old 335i at similar speeds, but I suspect my Leaf would grind to halt after about 30 miles at those speeds.
Despite EVs seemingly have less range, don't forget a gallon of petrol has roughly 33.7 kWh, so a fuel tank of unleaded in my 335i would contain some 500 kWh of energy...compared to just 85kWh of energy in the Tesla, and just 24 kWh of energy in the Leaf!! That means even based on crude estimates EVs can translate energy into motion significantly more efficiently compared to ICE cars.
I understand the appeal of plug-in hybrids given the lack of reliable charging infrastructure in the UK (Tesla superchargers excluded), but in-terms of performance/economy full battery EVs with decent range and a reliable charging network as back up have to be future....If you can afford a Tesla S, the future is already here.
Looking at the numbers VW predicts 31 miles EV range with it's 8.8 kWh battery, that's an EV efficiency of 3.5 miles per kWh. Which on the face of it, is similar to a Tesla S in efficiency, but much less than Leaf, which I'm currently getting 4.7 mile per kWh in real life use.
But the problem with having a small battery, is that if you really drive it like a GTI it electric motor will devour that charge very very quickly, my Leaf when 'hurried' will drop it's efficiency down to below 2 miles per kWh, which translate a very small range indeed, so I suspect if you really extract all the power of a GTe, your quickly run it's battery dead in less than 15 miles. At that point, the battery/EV motor just becomes dead weight, much in the same was as in our Lexus hybrid when pushed into 'sport' mode for any length of time, though granted, carrying out 'dead weight' is better than just been having a empty battery and stranded out in the middle of no where.
The only real way to mix performance and EVs is a big enough battery pack, e.g: Tesla S. Even at 100 mph, the Tesla has enough charge to give it range of 100 miles....which granted is still half the range of my old 335i at similar speeds, but I suspect my Leaf would grind to halt after about 30 miles at those speeds.
Despite EVs seemingly have less range, don't forget a gallon of petrol has roughly 33.7 kWh, so a fuel tank of unleaded in my 335i would contain some 500 kWh of energy...compared to just 85kWh of energy in the Tesla, and just 24 kWh of energy in the Leaf!! That means even based on crude estimates EVs can translate energy into motion significantly more efficiently compared to ICE cars.
I understand the appeal of plug-in hybrids given the lack of reliable charging infrastructure in the UK (Tesla superchargers excluded), but in-terms of performance/economy full battery EVs with decent range and a reliable charging network as back up have to be future....If you can afford a Tesla S, the future is already here.
Edited by gangzoom on Tuesday 28th April 11:39
Thing is you cant really keep using a tesla at full chat mode as it sounds like there are reports everything starts getting too warm and de-rates the power electronics.
PHEVs are less effected as you still have solid ICE on backup with well understood cooling mechanisms.
Also its not really dead weight, you have a much more efficient charging system with enough storage for moving the car from standstill with EV assistance thanks to regenerative braking; and of course allowing the benefits of the engine downsizing.
PHEVs are less effected as you still have solid ICE on backup with well understood cooling mechanisms.
Also its not really dead weight, you have a much more efficient charging system with enough storage for moving the car from standstill with EV assistance thanks to regenerative braking; and of course allowing the benefits of the engine downsizing.
oop north said:
I keep wavering over a Tesla but one of my regular trips is 320 miles in one day (160 miles there and back). Can't see how it could work without making my day longer than it needs to be, sadly
I take it there is no supercharger on the route??I found the actual charging process in the Leaf using the motorway Rapid chargers to be quite easy (Finding a working charger is a nightmare though). 10 minutes was enough to go from 35% to 70%. Tesla Supercharger can apparently add 50% charge in 20 minutes, and by accounts appear to be very reliable. For a 320 mile trip, you would only need to charge up once surely?
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