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

[GolfTi]

I do like those wheels.




(Shame about the tyres....)

[gazmondo35]

Had one of these bad boys chasing me a few weeks ago on my way to work. It was impressively fast, it was on my @rse all the time. I thought wtf? How can that ugly as hell box be almost as quick as me? When I got to work I googled it and it seems the electric engine is quite fast, around 170 bhp and 0-60 in 7.2 sec.

Electric cars do seem to be very fast , when I was ordering my golf r , the dealer told me that they had a drag race with a golf gti with a E up ,the up had the gti upto 50mph.

[karlak]

I had a Vauxhall Ampera on a 3 day test a couple of years ago.  Pretty much same tech as the GTE, 30 odd miles on electric and then the petrol for when the electric runs out.

I did intend to use the car as I would normally over three days, which as a Service engineer can vary pretty much, but in reality I actually gave the car a pretty good thrashing at times to see what it could do and to show interested friends who came along for a drive round the block.

Anyway.  The car arrived fully charged on the battery and I reset the mileage and MPG counters.  I topped off the battery each of the 3 nights from my home 13pin plug and a couple of times partial charges when I had popped home between trips.  The headline figures over three days was 177mpg over a distance of 183 miles.  Remember this included a few foot down acceleration test to see what it was like as well.  Have to say the performance and pickup was pretty impressive, although the price VX were asking left some of the interior materials looking poor.

I think what got the figure so high was that I learnt pretty quickly where the electric made the gains.  On motorways and A- Roads I kept it in the hybrid mode, so the petrol was working with the electric (think that's how it works).  What I did do though and I think is key here, was to pop it into electric when in traffic, or roundabouts, pretty much any sort of stop / start driving. 

Anyone chasing MPG on a run in their car will have noticed that 55mpg figure soon takes a downturn when you leave the motorway or get into the town. Pop this into electric mode and save the fuel in those circumstances.


After a while changing the driving mode became pretty much natural.  My only criticism is that these manufacturers should put the driving mode switch on the steering wheel, where it is easy to toggle and less distracting than a centre console switch or info touch screen.  I guess a really clever next gen system could use a ECO/GPS mode where the car could choose the best electric/petrol/hybrid mode for the given geography and road types. 


I will definitely consider one for my next car if the maths work out on a PCP etc.  Just remember to keep a 300 foot electric extension reel in the back of the car for those opportune topup moments

Did anyone notice it doesn't have Xenon lights on the VW specs page?

[Jammy1]

Did anyone notice it doesn't have Xenon lights on the VW specs page?

Nice write up Karlak.  I'd really need a couple of days with a GTE to make my mind up.  With a GTD/GTI you can pretty much make your mind up as an overall car experience after a 30 min test drive.

The lights are full LED.  Pros and cons in my opinion over xenon.  Less power hungry, brighter and whiter.  They don't do active bending though like the xenons. A minor point is that they don't produce any heat, so when it's frosty/icy they tend not to melt it away.

http://youtu.be/FB4y_B9bKHs

[carl1]

Had one of these bad boys chasing me a few weeks ago on my way to work. It was impressively fast, it was on my @rse all the time. I thought wtf? How can that ugly as hell box be almost as quick as me? When I got to work I googled it and it seems the electric engine is quite fast, around 170 bhp and 0-60 in 7.2 sec.

Electric cars do seem to be very fast , when I was ordering my golf r , the dealer told me that they had a drag race with a golf gti with a E up ,the up had the gti upto 50mph.

I've got to laugh at this. The E UP is 12.4 to 62mph, the GTI 6.5 220ps. I rekon the GTI is about 5.5 sec to 50mph. If it matches the GTI to 50mph that means the E UP takes approx 6.9 secs to get from 50mph to 62 mph. You are either trolling or believe any $hit people tell you.

[TwoSheds]

Will be interested to try a demo when available in UK to confirm electric range.

Read somewhere a VW worker using the car was getting 18 miles electric range with normal driving unlike the up to 31 miles range being marketed.

[monkeyhanger]

Will be interested to try a demo when available in UK to confirm electric range.

Read somewhere a VW worker using the car was getting 18 miles electric range with normal driving unlike the up to 31 miles range being marketed.

Driving like a saint, in the height of summer, with no ancillaries on might get you 31 miles. Driving in the middle of winter with reduced battery capacity and using plenty of heating and lighting (possibly also plenty of aircon for demisting the windscreen), 18 miles range is believable. My mate got forced into a Nissan Leaf company car and gets about 60% of theoretical range in the winter.

[matchboy]

Slightly OT, but did anyone see Top Gear last night regarding the i8?  Book mph per BMW around 130; Clarkson got 31.  If I was in the market for an electric car I'd like to see real life mpg before buying one, and not figures per BMW, VW etc.

[monkeyhanger]

Slightly OT, but did anyone see Top Gear last night regarding the i8?  Book mph per BMW around 130; Clarkson got 31.  If I was in the market for an electric car I'd like to see real life mpg before buying one, and not figures per BMW, VW etc.

If you’re going to drive a 325ish hp (can’t remember the exact figure) car on a long journey like its got 325ps then you’re going to get similar figures to the Golf R if they weigh around the same (lightweight materials cancelling out the extra weight of the motor and batteries. When that thing is in sports mode and generating electricity to fully power the electric motor, it is going to be very thirsty. The way Clarkson was talking at times, it was like the petrol engine was generating that electricity for free.

These things only make sense if you’re avoiding a congestion charge and are prepared to do most of your shortish commute under electric power only. It did look smart though!

I’m sure when they all generate their 180mpg figures, there must be some official standardised way of coming to that calculation so that all things are equal when compared. I suspect it’s something like 80% electric 20% petrol in the calculations e.g. All electric, never drinking a drop of petrol it can do the equivalent of 200mpg (weighting calorific/kW cost of petrol vs cheapest electric rate like economy 7), and in all petrol mode the car can maybe officially do 40mpg.

Do a 10 mile run of 8 miles all electric and 2 miles all petrol and the car’s official combined figure comes out at “167mpg” pretty close to touted figures for the I8 and GTE. If that car has an electric range of 30 miles and you do a 430 mile trip doing 40mpg when in petrol mode, that same car is still going to use 10 gallons of petrol and a full electric charge.

[matchboy]

Good points MH, makes sense.  So, if you have a short commute to work then it's probably worthwhile getting something like the GTE.  If not, you won't see the benefit of the electric part.

As for the i8, yeah it looked awesome!  Completely OT, but the new Ford Mustang for £30k - is it me or is that ridiculously cheap for a car with that much power?!  Although it probably doesn't go round corners to be fair