Golf GTE Shocker! - 6.3sec 0 - 100 instead of 7.6sec

[Jammy1]

Company car tax is a point I had not considered...by the sounds of it the GTE could make more sense.

Ken

Yeah, I don't think the GTE makes sense as a private buy.  I came out of our scheme last year as we changed provider and my mileage had dropped.  As an example a GTD is £485 out of pocket and a GTE is £385 for a 40% tax payer.  It used to be a no brainer to take the car rather than cash at our place, you now have to do the maths carefully even if you're covering quite high annual miles.  I've not looked at what the mileage rates I coukd claim for the GTE as yet.  It's 13p a mile for the GTD.

PS
We're capped at 130g co2.

[matchboy]

Bit inaccurate of that article to not include what a GTI or GTD would do other than manufacturers claimed times.

Exactly the point.  Yet the article makes a point of saying a non PP GTI will do 0-60 in 6.5 and the GTD in 7.5, even though these are VW's official figures.  So how about line all three cars up and see what happens, instead of just making a headline out of just one of them and therefore implying that the GTE is the quickest

Also, I know nothing about electric cars, but if you're nailing it all the time in a GTE will you run out of juice or does it recharge itself ie. is the battery portion fully available all the time?

[fredgroves]

One thing to watch out for is that its really hard to claim the electricity as a business expense.

This article talks about the Advisory Fuel Rates actually over-paying for hybrids:

http://www.fleetnews.co.uk/news/2014/6/30/afrs-fail-to-reflect-real-world-costs/52844/

However, it does mention that the AFR is a maximum, your employer could easily restrict their payments to below it and not include your electricity costs....

[Jammy1]

One thing to watch out for is that its really hard to claim the electricity as a business expense.

This article talks about the Advisory Fuel Rates actually over-paying for hybrids:

http://www.fleetnews.co.uk/news/2014/6/30/afrs-fail-to-reflect-real-world-costs/52844/

However, it does mention that the AFR is a maximum, your employer could easily restrict their payments to below it and not include your electricity costs....

Just checked our policy:

'Petrol Hybrid cars are treated as petrol cars for this purpose'

That means 13p a mile for 1400cc or less.  There's no way my employer would pay for my electricity.  A guy has got a twizzy and he asked if he could plug it in, they effectively said F off 

[andrewparker]

Also, I know nothing about electric cars, but if you're nailing it all the time in a GTE will you run out of juice or does it recharge itself ie. is the battery portion fully available all the time?

It has a battery charge mode which recharges the battery via regenerative braking and on a trailing throttle while you're driving.

[GrahamFR]

Also, I know nothing about electric cars, but if you're nailing it all the time in a GTE will you run out of juice or does it recharge itself ie. is the battery portion fully available all the time?

It has a battery charge mode which recharges the battery via regenerative braking and on a trailing throttle while you're driving.

I saw that on the pictures, but how effective is it? Does it fully charge on the move or will it need a few plug ins?

[Exonian]

Another thing to remember is that if it's just a company car and you're just going to use it as a daily hack then fine.
What it isn't is a proper GTI/D replacement. No doubt those type of models will come in the next few years but the GTE is a 1.4 TSI with a f**k off big heavy battery to lug about, don't expect it to drive like a GTI.
If you live in Milton Keynes it'll probably be fun to blast away from traffic lights and not worry too much about hills.
If you live in Swindon with its six million roundabouts you'll probably be less impressed.
Just a thought!

Still, on a positive note - at least we finally have a car that is going to make use of a DSG box properly. 

[GrahamFR]

Remap to 180 tho

And I honestly cant wait for the time where were buying better batteries etc from Japan, its gonna be crazy with the amount of potential manufacturers. You can forget Revo vs APR convos lol

[dubber36]

My understanding of these new plug in hybrids is unlike the original Pryus which used the petrol engine as a generator to top up the battery when driving, the new cars have a option of plug in charging as well.

This means that if you have a short urban commute, you could realistically drive to work and back on electricity, then charge it up again from the mains overnight ready for the next day. Without plug in, once the battery was depleted, the only way you could re-charge it would be to run on petrol.

[Jammy1]

I've requested a demo through our fleet provider.  Goodness knows how long I'll have to wait for one though.  Although as this model is going to be very attractive to the company car driver you'd hope they'd have a few available...then again I had to wait 4 months for my GTD to be built