A tale of two Golves*

"Cé hé sin" (michael-m-mouse) 05/30/2018 at 17:03 • Filed to: VW, Golf, eGolf

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* Or Golfs. Take your pick.

This brown one:

And this white one. Note the E at the end of the number, because it has a significance.

I was in eastern Germany and (briefly) Poland last week and drove both.

Let’s begin with the brown one, as it happens the first VW I’ve ever driven. It’s a 1.5 petrol with seven speed dry clutch DSG and a higher level of toys than I was expecting - heated seats, sat nav, adaptive cruise control, cylinder deactivation and the world’s most aggressive stop/start.

It went generally very well indeed. Gearchanges were usually imperceptible and at the same time faster than with a torque converter automatic, there was enough power to do me, it was very quiet at speed. I thought I detected a slight judder from the starting clutch at times and the stop/start was, well, interesting. It stopped the engine at every imaginable opportunity especially going downhill at speed and just about each time I lifted the pedal at lower speeds so when driving through towns you hear the starter going every few seconds. At higher speeds it was a bit cleverer and restarted by just engaging whichever clutch was doing duty at the time. Oddly enough it had a tendency to switch off as you stopped in traffic and then restart for no obvious reason (it also used the ACC radar to detect when the car in front was moving off and so starting was going to be needed).

It was my first time with ACC and I was surprised by how aggressively it would apply the brakes and select a lower gear when I approached slower traffic.

Also surprising, and not in a good way, was fuel economy. This is a car with high gearing, ACT and start stop so it should have been very mean with fuel. Was it? By way of comparison, a couple of years ago I borrowed my father’s Focus for a long journey. Same size car, no economy aids, six speed manual but a diesel. It managed 69 mpg (Imperial). The Golf, with its clever fuel saving kit? 46 mpg. Not bad, but anyone who claims that petrol cars are approaching the fashionably demonised diesel is on this evidence dreaming.

Then there was the white one, borrowed as part of a demo run by VW at their glass factory in Dresden. Remember that E in the number? Yes, it was an eGolf. Just like the petrol one, but with added electrons. It was as you would expect. Quiet (but not silent, it whined slightly), instant acceleration, somewhat blandly efficient. It’s the future I suppose but hardly an exciting one.

His Stigness > Cé hé sin 05/30/2018 at 19:40

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That white one is mine. Although that one has the wrong plate.

My mom and I both got e-Golfs. We love them. I still have my MKVI TDI too.

I want to go to Wolfsburg so bad!

FSI > His Stigness 05/31/2018 at 01:47

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Ah, another victim of the Wolfsburg/Ingolstadt syndrome.

His Stigness > FSI 05/31/2018 at 11:16

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What, liking VW’s?

FSI > His Stigness 05/31/2018 at 11:30

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Yes

FSI > His Stigness 05/31/2018 at 14:45

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(As the owner of an Audi and regularly driving a Golf)

Quattro-luvr, Powered by Datsun & Stinger > His Stigness 12/13/2018 at 14:44

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His Stigness,

Question for you, I’m thinking about a 2018 SEL. There are some serious deals right now. Do you still really like it? What do you not like? What kind of range are you actually getting?

I’ll be coming from a 2011 GTI.

Thanks for any input!

His Stigness > Quattro-luvr, Powered by Datsun & Stinger 12/13/2018 at 19:34

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Roughly 10 months in and I have a little over 8k miles on mine and my mom has about 4k. I take it on long trips on a regular basis. The longest distance I’ve gone on a single trip so far is 90 miles and I did that going between 70 and 75 mph. I arrived with 25 miles of estimated range, which is excellent when you consider the speeds I was going at.

My range is diminished quite significantly in the “winter” here in SoCal because the heater takes up so much energy. I was actually able to calculate it one night when it was plugged in. It took 2 kWhs one night to heat it from 60 degrees to 80 degrees over 30 minutes. That’s less than 10% of the capacity, but having those numbers explains the drop in range when you turn on the heater. But, as long as you keep it at mild temperature the range isn’t reduced too much. When I went to Radwood LA the other weekend I got a few miles from my house and turned around to head back to LA to have dinner with Immoral Minority. I spent 15 minutes at a DC Fast charger and got to 90%. I didn’t see my range drop too far while keeping the cabin comfortable.

So the range is quite great. You don’t have to drive super slow to get very far. I don’t have enough miles to tell how well the battery lasts, but VW covers it to 80% capacity for 8 years or 80k miles. So I should be good for at least one battery change. But even I get below that, by then, I should have a longer range EV, so 80% of 125 miles will be plenty for a 5th or 6th car.

Things I don’t like: the floorpan is too high so I can’t get my seat as low as I’d like, but unless you’re super tall this isn’t an issue. Other than that there’s nothing wrong with it.

Oh, wait. It eats tires. And it comes with utter trash that Bridgestone calls a tire. We both replaced the tires about a month in because they were so shit and I got the old VW SKU Michelin’s instead. But I’ve calculated it and with current wear, they will wear out in about 10k miles. EV torque is a bitch. But, because I got Michelin’s I’m not worried because their proration policy is so great. But it sucks you need to put brand new tires on a brand new car because the factory ones suck.

What kind of deals are there? I wish I could have gotten an SEL. I want LED lights. 

Quattro-luvr, Powered by Datsun & Stinger > His Stigness 12/14/2018 at 08:25

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Thank you for all the info! They don’t sell  the E-golf where I live. I’ve got an eye on SEL in Maryland with the drivers package for $27,777 ask. When I add in what I can sell my GTI for and the $7500 tax credit I should get the car for about $7k + doc fees+tax and registration.

How’s the AC in the car? I’m in a humid area in Kentucky.

Thank you again.

His Stigness > Quattro-luvr, Powered by Datsun & Stinger 12/14/2018 at 10:32

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Holy shit that’s insane deal! That’s about what I paid for my base e-Golf. I’m afraid to look up what else the SEL has besides LED lights lest I cry into my coffee.

The AC is fantastic. But the best part about it is that you can turn it on remotely through the carnet app so you never need to get into a hot car again.

If they sell the e-Golf in Kentucky how is the charging situation there? 

Quattro-luvr, Powered by Datsun & Stinger > His Stigness 12/14/2018 at 10:44

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There are level 2 stations, but very few level 3 fast chargers( 4 non-Tesla total... in the state ) . As soon as you cross into any other state there’s chargers everywhere. Well, WV isn’t very good either.

Your mention of car net reminds me. Do you have to pay for the subscription service to access the pre-heat/cool features and the lock unlock stuff? I hope not.

Thank you again for the input!

His Stigness > Quattro-luvr, Powered by Datsun & Stinger 12/15/2018 at 15:04

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Not have any DC Fast chargers (I don’t think they’re officially called Level 3, just DC Fast /CCS and CHAdeMO) sucks because that’s how I go on longer trips. The fastest full charge on Level 2 is 4-5 hours. The main charger is use at work maxes out the car’s onboard 7.2 kWh charger, but the common public chargers are all 6.6 kWh, and they’re shared, so if someone parks at the same station your charge time is doubled. So when I go to Disneyland and am able to grab a spot it can take around 8-9 hours to recharge.

But with DC Fast charger cable of 40 kWh (the e-Golfs max current it can draw), it takes no more than 50 minutes, ish. But the first 80% really does only take about 30 minutes. And I stopped waiting to get to 100%. By the time I get to 90% the current drops so it’s not worth it to wait anymore and just get back on the road.

VW "pays" for carnet for the first three years for the EV functions only: charging stop/start, battery status, schedules, and most importantly, climate control function. Locking and unlocking is part of the $18 a month subscription but I think it came free for 6 months. But make sure you give them a fake credit card number (transpose one number wrong) because even though I said NO, they charged me on both cars and I had to file a claim with my credit card companies.