The VW e-Golf Review – The Value of Quality?

NIEVO member Darren Hanna has quite literally sold his Soul and is now on the lookout for a new EV. Here’s his experience spending a few days with the VW e-Golf…

I’ve had the e-Golf for 3 days and I’ll have covered 500 miles by the time I hand it back to Donnelly Volkswagen in Campsie later on today.

I am not an EV virgin, but I am a VW virgin. Why? Because I’ve always been that guy who said they are overpriced for what they are. I’ve always thought that a Ford Focus or Kia can match them in quality and in most cases far exceed them in spec in like for like price.

This Golf I’m in today has a heat pump, heated front screen and the mirror pack. It had just 600 miles on it when I picked it up and still smelt new. They are looking for £23,500 for it. That’s the same as the MG ZS EV brand new and it has Lane Keep Assist, a massive glass roof and pleather seats. But it doesn’t have a heatpump and (the big ones for me) no charging timers in the car or pre-heating. It also doesn’t have app connectivity for any pre-heating when I’m at work. Those last 2 where my biggest concerns, especially not being able to charge on my cheap night rate electricity.

So, back to the e-Golf. My daily commute is 69 miles and I completed this route twice to test the car. The first time I drove it like a diesel, keeping up with speed limits (60-70mph), overtaking cars and with the heater on at 24 degrees. I got back home with 46 miles range remaining.

Then for comparison I drove it like I used to drive the Kia. For 4 months of the year I am forced to drive in super-eco mode, max 50mph to and from work with the heat on low at 20 degrees.

Driving this more efficient way in the e-Golf (although I kept the heat at 22 dgrees as my wee toes where ao cold 😁) I left with 140 range showing (see pic above) and arrived back with 66 miles remaining. The Kia, even driving at 50 the whole time, would have arrived back with anywhere from 6 miles to just 1 mile remaining.

On Saturday I did my monthly family visit, this is a 176 mile round trip via The Junction outlet in Antrim for coffee and shopping. This time we went to the Boulevard in Banbridge instead. We don’t always do this, but anyhow the day was totally range anxiety free. I drove just how I liked, not in eco, and on these A and B roads speeds don’t exceed 60 mph mostly. Our average speed for the day was 39.

In my opinion the car drove very nicely (supple but sporty). It had Kia amounts of space in the back for the teens and my wife’s bad back never got aggravated. Our Irish Setter fits in the boot which is actually a bit bigger than the Kia (the Soul was 315 litres while the eGolf is 340 litres).

For me, the one who has always had that voice in his head that veedubs are not worth it, it certainly has been an eye-opener. I did provide a sense of “quality” it far exceeded my range needs and my daughter never got car sick (meaning the Golf is not claustrophobic the back). BTW whilst those wheels are better looking than the Kia’s and if I bought a Golf they’d be changed to GTE style 18’s in the Spring to Autumn months.

Volkswagen have some great deals on the e-Golf at the minute as the ID.3 is on the way. I have found a 2019 car with metalic blue paint, heatpump winter pack, keyless entry and just 3,500 miles on the clock for £22,300.

I hope this helps someone if they have the same opinion I’ve always had about VW’s. Great car.

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Review kindly edited from this original post on the NIEVO Facebook Group.