Its electrical autonomy, its consumption

The latest generation of Volkswagen Golf offers a very wide range of engines. Judge instead: 8 petrol engines, with capacities ranging from 110 hp to the more extravagant 320 hp. This obviously includes the timeless GTI. In diesel, the range is also quite rich for a sedan in its class today with a total of 3 versions (from 115, 150 and 200 hp). And the sign of the times, even if not entirely new to the Wolfsburg agreement, Two plug-in hybrid versions. The GTE has 245 hp (a GTI equivalent number) and the eHybrid is more affordable than the 204 hp. We have precisely measured this latest version and are able to give you its autonomy and autonomy in electric mode as well as its consumption in hybrid mode. And the results are not impressive.

When in doubt, always take the scenic road #VWviews

📸 IG/aspanjol, finno_7r, Deepford Discovery pic.twitter.com/MxQw9YJjV4

—Volkswagen (@VW) May 12, 2021

Autonomy in electric mode: could be better

The main interest of the plug-in hybrid is being able to drive a fairly long distance in zero emissions mode. I still need to recharge the battery regularly. In terms of autonomy, the Golf eHybrid doesn’t do too badly, but we do a better job in this category. We decided to compare its numbers to those of the A-Class 250 e, which is hardly more powerful (218 hp versus the Golf’s 204 hp). And the The Etoile sedan performs better on all terrains. Moreover, of all the plug-in hybrids we measured, it shows the best result in the city, with an excellent mileage of 65 km.. Golf is not worth it on this basis, but the result is good, nothing more.

In other courses, it lags behind and delivers similar results to the larger and heavier DS 9 (1940 kg for the French woman vs. 1590 kg for the German). Crowning the cake, the Class A has the luxury of an offering cheaper than the Golf: €40,599 versus €41,025. Admittedly, the endowment of the latter is more extensive: a 10-inch touch screen (7 inches on Mercedes), navigation, a wireless smartphone charger, etc. But hey, if you’re not too bothered with equipment, and the coat of arms is important, the deal from Stuttgart is an option to consider closely. Unless it is important to crossbreed.

Consumption: good in the city, a bit disappointing everywhere else

As we know, the majority of manufacturers are turning to rechargeable hybrid cars, especially in order to avoid heavy CO2 fines from the European Union. Nor does it always improve consumption. As our measurements have shown on numerous occasions, the consumption of a drained battery is not necessarily impressive. Unlike “ordinary” hybrids, they are effective in most situations. To see if the 204-horsepower Golf eHybrid is discreet, we compared it to the closest internal combustion engine model: a 150-hp 1.5 eTSI-equipped engine, as the “e” in “eTSI” indicates, with subtle hybridization. Certainly less powerful at 54 hp, it’s also much lighter (about 250 kg less!), and it doesn’t quite get dropped in terms of performance (-1.1secs on 0-100km/h practice, -1secs on that from a 1000m start ).

corn Although there is a simple alternator starter, not an electric motor in the strict sense of the word, its consumption figures are almost not far from the rechargeable hybrid alternative. 0.2 l / 100 km on the road, and 0.4 l / 100 km on the highway, the difference is slight. And only 0.3 l / 100 km on average: the advantage of hybridization is almost imperceptible. This is only the case in the city. There, it decreases by about 1 l / 100 km. But we saw better elsewhere. Toyota RAV4 Hybrid 2WD 218 hp, simple hybrid, but 100 kg heavier and more massive (+ 32 cm long) does better: only 4.9 l / 100 km.

The 204-horsepower Golf eHybrid also costs €39,025 (once deducting the €2,000 CO2 bonus, and up to €1,000 only as of July 1) when the 150-horsepower Golf 1.5 eTSi costs €3,245 (€35,780) with the same the end . If you do a lot of city driving and have the possibility to recharge your car regularly, then a plug-in hybrid car can be considered. Otherwise, the thermal deviation will be sufficient in most cases.