golf gte v prius

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Discussion

sawman

Original Poster:

4,953 posts

235 months

Saturday 2nd December 2017
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I am on the cusp of ordering a gte via the work lease scheme, my commute is max 35 miles each day, and 3 days out of 5 I can charge at work, and my weekend usage would almost all be within electric range - so my usage seems to fit fairly well with the gte electric range.
I dont know for sure, but suspect I wont use an awful lot of fuel and I have had a test drive and it seems to be fine for its commuter use.
But then I read that the latest prius has official figures of 94 mpg ( which I know it wont achieve) and has the benefit of not messing about with plugging in, and moving the car off the charged during the day when charged, and also means I dont need to bother getting a charging point at home. I have never driven a prius, but have been a passenger in a taxi one - it seemed to have an alarming turn of speed on snow packed canadian roads!

So if anyone has experience of one or the other (or preferably both) share their thoughts, that would be great.


Jasper3.0

652 posts

205 months

Saturday 2nd December 2017
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I have an April 2016 GTE as a company car. It has just passed 37k miles.
All up average (according to car) 49mpg. My driving alternates between long distances for three weeks a month and then short commutes (16miles) to a local office for one week a month.
It will happily do 20-23 miles on a charge (with a 70mph) section. Range varies greatly with ambient temperature.
Only issue so far is an unexplained failure of the infotainment system, resulting in a trip to the dealer (who had no ideas what the issue was (or how they fixed it). Currently have an issue where the car will not pre-condition, which hacks about 5 miles off the range.

Anything else you want to know? Ask away.

AmitG

3,336 posts

165 months

Saturday 2nd December 2017
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I have the Gen4 Prius, done about 18k miles so far.

Things I like:
  • It looks cool. It makes a statement (like it or not; personally I love it) whereas the Golf looks a bit boring to me.
  • Surprisingly quick. I think you get a lot of torque instantly at low speeds (the electric motor thing). The 0-60 time is not great but you can make surprisingly good progress in normal driving.
  • Fuel economy. I have the Excel version with 17 inch wheels and all the gadgets. I get about 65mpg in real world driving, this is on a mixture of fast roads and cities with no attempt to optimise fuel economy. In winter it drops to about 61mpg. I think the official mpg is about 72mpg so not that far off.
  • I like the way that the dashboard display is mounted centrally and is quite shallow. It means you get a clear view through the steering wheel to the road, and this combined with the HUD means that you don't need to keep switching your gaze between the dashboard display and the road.
  • Nothing has gone wrong.
Things I wish could be better:

  • It's quick, but I wish it were just a bit quicker. Especially on country roads where you need to do fast overtakes.
  • The interior. Quality is good, but the design of the centre console is not that attractive IMHO.
  • The infotainment system is off the pace. The graphics look like they were taken from the Nokia phones of the 90s, there are too many sub menus, there are no physical buttons, and it's slow to respond.
Happy to answer anything else...

Yipper

5,964 posts

95 months

Saturday 2nd December 2017
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GTE looks better.

sawman

Original Poster:

4,953 posts

235 months

Saturday 2nd December 2017
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thanks chaps.

I think the golf looks quite sharp, but ultimately dull. I do like the interior though. I have see na few of the latest prius about and they are 'interesting" I guess I should pop down to the local toyota shop.

I might expect that the goff is a better drive than the toyota, but in all honesty I am trundling along main roads commuting to and from work

I can get a prius busines for the same price as a GTE - seems to have fairly similar spec at that point (includng upgrading the goff with heated seats.)

I have heard of a few reliability issues with the golf.

my commute is mainly dual carriage way, average speed is 60-70, with the occasional snarl up, so not sure if this usage favours one or the other. I am currently doing about 18k miles a year, so on those figures the prius would be 500 cheaper over the year, (and 2k less than my current car) not including any electric to charge the gte

williaa68

1,528 posts

171 months

Sunday 3rd December 2017
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I assume you arent in a hurry? The lead times for the GTE are now something like 20 weeks?

Jonny_

4,268 posts

212 months

Sunday 3rd December 2017
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The GTE has a tiny boot, smaller than a normal Golf hatch (which isn't exactly capacious to start with) due to the battery pack. Slightly smaller than a Fiesta's, IIRC.

I thought it would make a decent company car until I noticed that!

sawman

Original Poster:

4,953 posts

235 months

Sunday 3rd December 2017
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Jonny_ said:
The GTE has a tiny boot, smaller than a normal Golf hatch (which isn't exactly capacious to start with) due to the battery pack. Slightly smaller than a Fiesta's, IIRC.

I thought it would make a decent company car until I noticed that!
Thats one of the things making me think twice about the golf. I did consider the passat, but its quite a bit more costly- and at that point i would be signing up for a c350e

Pistonheader101

2,206 posts

112 months

Sunday 3rd December 2017
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with the prius you will very often get mistaken as an uber driver

raspy

1,733 posts

99 months

Sunday 3rd December 2017
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I have a 2016 Prius and also recently drove a 2017 GTE and a 2017 Prius Plug in.

Chalk and cheese. The GTE is much better if you prefer a smaller car that is much more fun to drive. I loved pressing the GTE button and getting maximum performance. The electric battery depleted rapidly when I was using all that performance.

The GTE goes round bends far better than the Prius. The Prius is competent and safe to drive, but it's primarily designed for fuel efficiency and comfort.

Forget the headline figure of 94mpg. I've got an indicated 70mpg over 14,000 miles. Most likely that's closer to 65mpg given the dash over estimates.

The plug in Prius that I drove was interesting, even drove on the motorway on battery power, but battery depleted very rapidly if making progress.

And yes, as one other person said, you keep getting mistaken for an Uber driver. I keep my doors locked when driving at night in London because drunk folks think I'm their ride home.

sawman

Original Poster:

4,953 posts

235 months

Sunday 3rd December 2017
quotequote all
thanks raspy, thats great feedback. What sort of driving has comprised your 14k? dual carriageway cruising or city stuff?

I was mildly surprised at the earlier post where the GTE had returned less than 50mpg.

As I said this is specifically a commuter, up and down main, straightish roads so twisty road talent isnt really an issue, although the ability to tow my lightweight sailing boat (and fitting in camping gear) is important. I didn't think the toyota hybrids were able to do this, which is why I have not looked at them previously - but I have discovered that they can now do this, although the tow limit is not high, it is sufficient for my needs

raspy

1,733 posts

99 months

Sunday 3rd December 2017
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sawman said:
thanks raspy, thats great feedback. What sort of driving has comprised your 14k? dual carriageway cruising or city stuff?

I was mildly surprised at the earlier post where the GTE had returned less than 50mpg.

As I said this is specifically a commuter, up and down main, straightish roads so twisty road talent isnt really an issue, although the ability to tow my lightweight sailing boat (and fitting in camping gear) is important. I didn't think the toyota hybrids were able to do this, which is why I have not looked at them previously - but I have discovered that they can now do this, although the tow limit is not high, it is sufficient for my needs
Good to know about the towing, although I've never had that need myself.

14k has been half in 20/30 zones and the other half in 40/50 zones with an occasional motorway trip. Whatever hybrid you go with, you will find yourself adapting your driving style to suit the car, that's what I've found.

I frequently have to park in tight spots and cramped car parks and it's small things that make life easier. My Prius has a turning circle of 10.2m, whereas the GTE has a turning circle of 10.9m - probably not a big deal for your commute, but it's one of those things that I look at now, beyond just mpg or performance.

saaby93

32,038 posts

183 months

Sunday 3rd December 2017
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Have you seen the autocar review near the end of here
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

HKP

192 posts

164 months

Saturday 9th December 2017
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We have both a Golf GTE and a Passat GTE currently. If you want a bigger boot, the Passat's is enormous.

The Golf is quite a sporty little thing when you want it to be, yet incredibly refined if you're just chilling out.

Very expensive if they go wrong though (like the Passat's gearbox did)!