carmudgeons.com  

Go Back   carmudgeons.com > Automotive Forums > Car Talk

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 02-04-2019, 10:33 AM   #1
FC
Solving problems
 
FC's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2003
Carmudgeonly Ride: M5 / 718 GTS / Cooper S / GTI / LR4
Location: Metro Boston
Posts: 25,215
eGolf goes back today - Final thoughts

It was checked out for condition this morning and the guy said "It's as if it was never driven."

Final tally: 21,780 miles in 3 years. It suffered a minor fender bender in front and a really minor fender bender in rear (so both bumpers are new). It was a good car. Quiet, good in the city, and aside from one hiccup that took two visits to get fixed (a bad sensor causing dash to light up like a Xmas tree), it was pretty reliable. Impressive for a 1st-year car and VW's first electric attempt. I liked that they made it as "normal" a car as they could with no over-the-top EV goofiness.

We never fell in love with eGolf itself, but I loved the Golf platform. Roomy, solidly built, very practical, great driving position, and decidedly German in that it made me feel "at home" in ways no Japanese car ever has. I could see how a Golf R would be a car that I would be very happy to be in - and part of the reason why I questioned spending the money on the M3 (as you all know).

I got a Golf TSI loaner and liked that car quite a bit too. Potential reliability issues aside, the Golf platform is impressive.

I'll miss the eGolf for sure, but not enough to regret not having it. It was money well spent to have a nice car under warranty and try out the EV experience.

Things I did not like:
-Range in general, but this was vastly exacerbated by the extra hit taken in extreme cold (and heat) and highway driving.
-Horrid tires (downright dangerous in extreme cold) and in combination with the low-end torque they light up a lot.
-Dichotomy in personality and ability in town vs highway speeds. Quite quick in one/slow in the other. It required too much of an adjustment in driving style between the two to make it comfortable, IMO.
-Abysmal NAV/BT/connectivity/etc. For a 2015 car, it was pretty poor.
-A few other EV-related quirks I won't bore you with.

Last edited by FC; 02-04-2019 at 10:58 AM.
FC is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-04-2019, 11:33 AM   #2
clyde
Chief title editor
 
clyde's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2003
Posts: 26,599
Quote:
Originally Posted by FC View Post
-Horrid tires (downright dangerous in extreme cold) and in combination with the low-end torque they light up a lot.
Good summary, I thought. Thanks!

This item triggered me (for want of a better term). Tires are so incredibly fixable. Very little, if anything else, has such a huge impact on what a car is like, it's easily remedied, and it's a wear item. I mean putting only 21k on the car, maybe you wouldn't have had to replace tires anyway, but still.
__________________
OH NOES!!!!!1 MY CAR HAS T3H UND3R5T33R5555!!!!!!1oneone!!!!11

Team WTF?!
What are you gonna do?
clyde is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-04-2019, 11:44 AM   #3
kognito
older fart than ZBB
 
kognito's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: On the road again
Posts: 8,887
Quote:
Originally Posted by clyde View Post

This item triggered me (for want of a better term). Tires are so incredibly fixable. Very little, if anything else, has such a huge impact on what a car is like, it's easily remedied, and it's a wear item. I mean putting only 21k on the car, maybe you wouldn't have had to replace tires anyway, but still.

I'm just guessing that you have never leased a car. If so, think of it as a long term rental car. Ever thought of replacing tires on a rental car?

The Golf (well, Rabbit) we bought in 2007 came with shit tires, pretty sure I replaced them with less than 10K miles on them. And since I replaced them in way south Texas, I'm sure they ended up on someone else's car in less than 24 hours.
__________________
2017 GMC Sierra 1500 SLE
2020 Fusion Titanium
kognito is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-04-2019, 12:13 PM   #4
JST
195
 
JST's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2003
Posts: 24,593
Quote:
Originally Posted by clyde View Post
Good summary, I thought. Thanks!

This item triggered me (for want of a better term). Tires are so incredibly fixable. Very little, if anything else, has such a huge impact on what a car is like, it's easily remedied, and it's a wear item. I mean putting only 21k on the car, maybe you wouldn't have had to replace tires anyway, but still.
Am curious about which tires it had. My guess is that they were shitty partly because VW was trying to do whatever it could to reduce rolling resistance (and thus extend the eGolf's terribly short range). Fixing the tires might have made the range problem a lot worse.
JST is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-04-2019, 04:50 PM   #5
FC
Solving problems
 
FC's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2003
Carmudgeonly Ride: M5 / 718 GTS / Cooper S / GTI / LR4
Location: Metro Boston
Posts: 25,215
Quote:
Originally Posted by JST View Post
Am curious about which tires it had. My guess is that they were shitty partly because VW was trying to do whatever it could to reduce rolling resistance (and thus extend the eGolf's terribly short range). Fixing the tires might have made the range problem a lot worse.
This. They were low-friction, Helium-filled ( ) tires.

And correct. I was not about to invest in tires for a rental. If I had decided to keep it, I would have instantaneously tossed those POS tires out.
FC is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-04-2019, 09:21 PM   #6
clyde
Chief title editor
 
clyde's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2003
Posts: 26,599
Quote:
Originally Posted by kognito View Post
I'm just guessing that you have never leased a car. If so, think of it as a long term rental car. Ever thought of replacing tires on a rental car?

The Golf (well, Rabbit) we bought in 2007 came with shit tires, pretty sure I replaced them with less than 10K miles on them. And since I replaced them in way south Texas, I'm sure they ended up on someone else's car in less than 24 hours.
I think I never clicked post earlier...

You pay for gas in a rental, right? Tires are consumable like gas...they just last longer than a tank.

On a 3/30k or 3/36k lease, there's a good chance you're going to use up a set of tires to the point you'll need to replace them before turn-in if you use all your miles.

If you're going to do that, why would you suffer on shitty tires so you can bu a new set of shitty tires at lease end when you could just as easily spend the same money early to enjoy good tires over the lease life and then put the OE tires back on at the end?

If you only expect to use 20k miles over three years, it's a more difficult call since there's a good chance you won't have to replace tires, but if you know the tires are shit and compromise your enjoyment, why spend all the money on the lease to begin with?

The point on range by JST and FC is well taken and I hadn't considered when I wrote something similar to above earlier today.
__________________
OH NOES!!!!!1 MY CAR HAS T3H UND3R5T33R5555!!!!!!1oneone!!!!11

Team WTF?!
What are you gonna do?
clyde is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-05-2019, 12:30 AM   #7
lip277
The old cranky SOB....
 
Join Date: Oct 2003
Carmudgeonly Ride: several cars... way too many....
Location: Near Seattle
Posts: 4,798
Quote:
Originally Posted by clyde View Post
You pay for gas in a rental, right? Tires are consumable like gas...they just last longer than a tank.
True - But you only 'replace' the fuel when it is used.

If the tires still have life left in them.....???

Like draining the fuel tank and then filling up again....
__________________
Kevin


1970 2800CS - - 2001 740iL - - 2006 997.1 - - 2012 Escalade
1968 Mustang GT Convertible - - 2003 Ford F250 PSD - - 1985 728i
lip277 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-05-2019, 06:25 AM   #8
Alan
Carmudgeon
 
Join Date: Apr 2005
Posts: 4,646
I’m with Clyde on this one, if the tires were so terrible I would replace them though the whole rolling resistance issue does come to play, do any of them actually feel good or are they all terrible.

Overall this car sounded pretty cool though I am pretty sure you’re not going to miss it.
Alan is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-05-2019, 09:37 AM   #9
kognito
older fart than ZBB
 
kognito's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: On the road again
Posts: 8,887
Quote:
Originally Posted by clyde View Post
If you only expect to use 20k miles over three years, it's a more difficult call since there's a good chance you won't have to replace tires, but if you know the tires are shit and compromise your enjoyment, why spend all the money on the lease to begin with?

The point on range by JST and FC is well taken and I hadn't considered when I wrote something similar to above earlier today.
I have leased a few vehicles, and have usually ended the lease with 10-12K miles left on the clock, so yeah, it has not made sense to replace tires.

And sorry, my first post towards you now sounds much more of a wizeass post than I meant it to be. In the past 20 years, my Rabbit had the worst tires I have had on a new vehicle, but it was owned, and I had a lot of choices on replacement tires.

My 1999 A6 (2 year lease) had poor preforming tires, but they were an odd ball size, I just couldn't make myself spend 2K on tires for a car I was returning due to many reasons.

I have had my current leased truck a little over two years, usually by this point I am looking at what will replace it at lease end. But so far, I really like this truck, and still have many yard, truck worthy, projects around the house. If I felt I needed to replace these tires I would, because I still feel that at lease end I will keep this truck.
__________________
2017 GMC Sierra 1500 SLE
2020 Fusion Titanium
kognito is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-05-2019, 10:42 AM   #10
FC
Solving problems
 
FC's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2003
Carmudgeonly Ride: M5 / 718 GTS / Cooper S / GTI / LR4
Location: Metro Boston
Posts: 25,215
Quote:
Originally Posted by clyde View Post
I think I never clicked post earlier...

You pay for gas in a rental, right? Tires are consumable like gas...they just last longer than a tank.

On a 3/30k or 3/36k lease, there's a good chance you're going to use up a set of tires to the point you'll need to replace them before turn-in if you use all your miles.

If you're going to do that, why would you suffer on shitty tires so you can bu a new set of shitty tires at lease end when you could just as easily spend the same money early to enjoy good tires over the lease life and then put the OE tires back on at the end?

If you only expect to use 20k miles over three years, it's a more difficult call since there's a good chance you won't have to replace tires, but if you know the tires are shit and compromise your enjoyment, why spend all the money on the lease to begin with?

The point on range by JST and FC is well taken and I hadn't considered when I wrote something similar to above earlier today.
Recall that the eGolf was primarily my wife's car. I've driven it a bunch recently just to put miles since I have a longer commute. The way she drives, she really could not care less about the tires.
FC is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Bookmarks

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Returning eGolf/winter tires for Miata FC Car Talk 33 07-05-2020 08:09 PM
eGolf troubles and a slushie Tsi Golf FC Car Talk 2 03-20-2017 12:31 PM
Stupid to hold on to eGolf post lease? FC Perseverators Anonymous 20 10-01-2016 03:35 PM
Thoughts on eGolf FC Car Talk 32 02-17-2016 06:52 PM


All times are GMT -4. The time now is 04:55 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.7.1
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Forums © 2003-2008, 'Mudgeon Enterprises - Site hosting by AYN & Associates, LLC