Volkswagen Golf GTE 2014 Review

When it began its whole alternative energy push, BMW became convinced that the owners of eco-friendly cars really, really wanted people to know they were driving eco-friendly cars. That's why the i3 and, more convincingly, the i8 look the way they do.

Like the world's first and best-selling hybrid, the Toyota Prius, these 'green' machines are about the impression they give off as much as anything else.

Volkswagen has taken a different path. It's sure about the future of electrified cars but it's unsure of when that future will arrive, so instead of a big-risk stand-alone sub-brand, it organised for its MQB architecture to swallow both electric and hybrid systems whole.

That way, it's easy to ramp up if people want more and it's easy to scale back and push more standard cars down the same production lines if people aren't ready for electrification yet.

That's the theory, anyway. The trouble is that Volkswagen has gone and built a production plug-in hybrid hatchback so convincing that it threatens the very existence of the cult Golf GTI.

Indeed, the Golf GTE actually gives the Golf family three GT cars and sits alongside the GTI and the GTD, largely because Volkswagen thought its first Golf hybrid would score more street cred points if it was quick and not just eco friendly.

Try the basic numbers for size and you'll get an idea. The Golf GTE runs to 60km/h in 4.9 seconds and hits 100km/h in 7.6 seconds. It also goes on to a 222km/h top speed, but it's phenomenally strong at urban speeds, boasting more torque than the GTD, and delivering it instantly.

It manages all of this because its powertrain begins with a 110kW, 1.4-litre turbocharged four-cylinder engine up front, hooked up to a six-speed dual-clutch transmission and driving the front wheels. The gearbox casing is stuffed with an extra decoupling clutch (making it effectively a tri-clutch transmission) and a 75kW electric motor, which is powered by an 8.7kW lithium-ion battery pack sitting beneath the rear seat.

If that sounds a touch familiar, it should be. It's basically identical to the powertrain of the Audi A3 e-tron, but more focused on sporty driving and it's even more economical.

It has a total system power of 150kW and 350Nm of torque, with the petrol engine contributing 110kW of power between 5000rpm and 6000rpm, plus 250Nm of torque between 1600rpm and 3500rpm. The electric motor chips in 330Nm from a standstill, which gives the GTE tremendous oomph from a standing start.

It also gives the car 50km of range as a pure electric car and it's range you can spend as an electric car, save up (by driving it as a pure petrol car) until you hit city traffic or blend in to the four-pot's grunt to give the Golf its fastest GTE mode.

And all of this comes in a Golf five-door bodyshell that asks no compromises (other than up-front wallet lightening and the installation of a wall-box charger at home). It has the same luggage capacity, the same air-conditioning capacity, the same interior trim and the same equipment levels as the standard Golf GTI, but a slightly softer ride to deal with its extra mass.

In Germany, the Golf GTE will cost €36,900, or just a grand less than the A3 e-tron (which arrives here early next year, priced at around $60,000) and a grand or two more than the Golf GTI, though that varies in countries that offer electric-driving subsidies (like the UK, where it scores a £5000 rebate).

About the only compromise is in handling, because the GTE weighs 1524kg. That's more than 100kg above the GTI's figure, but the GTE is saved from being even heavier by its lighter 1.4-litre petrol motor.

Weight normally adds fuel consumption, but not in the GTE's case (well, not while there's charge in the battery, anyway). Volkswagen claims a range of 939km out of the hatch, which includes the 50km of electric driving, plus taking into account recharging on the move via braking and coasting.

Volkswagen admits you should be flattening the battery every day if you want the GTE to pay for itself over your ownership period and twice a day would be even better. It helps out with this because the 8.7kWh battery takes less than four hours to charge from a household socket (or two from fast-charger).

The battery itself sits in a diecast aluminium case that is bolted to the body in five places and the entire thing disconnects from the power system if there's a crash big enough to set off a seat-belt pretensioner or an airbag. It adds 125 kg to the body but because it's mounted low and just ahead of the rear axle (right where the conventional car's rear silencer normally goes), it actually gives the GTE a weight distribution that even the GTD can't match.

It does all of this and still claims an NEDC fuel economy figure of just 1.5L/100km and CO2 emissions of a paltry 35g/km – both of which are slightly better figures than the Audi sister car, even though it's geared up to be driven more enthusiastically.

While handling giggles aren't the realm of the A3 e-tron, Volkswagen has worked hard to make the GTE more convincing. Even on interesting roads, the extra weight is enough to be noticeable even to the ignorant, but it's not going to bother you much unless you're punching in fastest laps on a track day.

It's still a sure-footed handler, even as a pure front-driver, and its ride is, if anything, an improvement, with its mass crushing the jigglier bumps nonchalantly underfoot.

It's easy to think that these cars boast a bit of laboratory cred for their mileages and not much else, but that absolutely was not the case with the GTE. We eked out 2.3L/100km from it over one 150km drive that included Swiss hills and valleys, then drove silently on electric power through a Zurich peak-hour traffic jam. And then, numbers in the book, we went on to throw economy out the window and drove it as much like a GTI as we could.

And it's a disturbingly charming bundle of fun, stupendously well equipped with LED headlights, sat-nav, Bluetooth, 16-inch alloys (though 18-inch versions are on offer), an eco take on the GTI's chequered seat cloth, radar cruise control, a multi-function, flat-bottomed leather steering wheel, lane departure warning and self-parking.

Beneath the buttons, there's the E-mode, which does what it says on the tin, driving on pure electric power at up to 130km/h. There's an EV Hold mode, which means you can drive along on the petrol motor with a full tank of battery, and that's helpful if you're commuting from, say, Geelong with downtown Melbourne to negotiate or from the south coast with Sydney on the horizon. It means you can use petrol power when it's most efficient (cruising at speed) and save the zero-emission electric motor for downtown work.

Then there's the GTE mode, which swings every possible piece of motive power to bear to justify the 'GT' part of the GTE badge.

And then there's a battery charge mode, which means you'll use more petrol because you're always asking the petrol motor to a) make the car go and b) charge the battery at the same time.

The thing is, none of these modes are a hardship to live with and you get to them simply by pushing a button. Pure electric mode is plenty good enough around town, punching to 60km/h in 4.9 seconds and topping out at 130km/h. It's not terribly efficient to use the electric motor alone when you're driving that quickly, but you can.

It's flexible, silent and strong. You're not just keeping up with traffic. You're able to zip in and out of it, leading it a merry dance. We didn't find a situation where we lost a sprint or didn't have enough urge to dive into the hole we wanted.

For added performance, you just use the GTE mode, which is the easiest mode to live with and it's also the most impressive, sliding in and out of its powerplants with ludicrous slickness.

The handling set-up feels like it's moved slightly away from the sharp flickery of the GTI to something more of a mini grand tourer, but it's still not bad. It carries the same steering feel, the same on-throttle effectiveness and the same security under braking and turn-in. It just loses a little on the crispness of its direction changes.

In the real world, the Golf GTE asks no compromise from its driver bar the initial up-front cost and if this is Volkswagen's way of the future we can't wait to see more of it, because this is the best Golf Volkswagen makes today.