Used 2015 Volkswagen e-Golf SEL Premium 4dr Hatchback (electric DD) Consumer Reviews
Used e-Golf for sale
Great, but know what you're getting into.
Jeff Rut, Fremont, CA, 08/27/2015
Volkswagen e-Golf SEL Premium 4dr Hatchback (electric DD)
40 of 40 people found this review helpful
I own an E-Golf, and generally I love it, but I don't think general discussion touches on two important points. First, my only real negative to the car: the Navigation/Entertainment System is a complete joke. The entertainment/navigation console takes a minute to boot up. So if you're going to use navigation, you have to turn on your car and wait a minute before you can get on your way. Then, the screen is slow, it's small, etc. I do like the little dashboard screen. Overall, Google Maps is incomparably better than VW's navigation. There's also a problem that it doesn't have standard USB power, and they just assume you have an iPhone, so no micro-USB/Android charger is available for their proprietary slot (I got a 3rd party wire off Amazon, but it's crazy slow). Also, it has a weird bluetooth problem where it switches up music sometimes. It's just generally clunky and ugly and problematic. It does allow an SD card full of MP3s, I know that's like 2003 tech but I actually really like it. Also, about the range: I drive with a heavy foot, mostly on freeway, I don't use the annoying auto-brake or evo modes, and I get 85 miles or so. Before I got the car, I thought charging stations were going to be a big deal. But unless you have charging at work, charging stations are really not a large part of the EV experience. Even in the Bay Area, you just can't count on one being available - somebody else is parked there, and will be parked there for at least another hour or two more. Or it's broken. Or a non electric vehicle parked there. You just can't rely on it 100%. Anyway, who wants to wait around an hour to charge up enough to get home? A better way to think about it is, every morning your car starts with a quarter tank of gas. Sure, if there's an EMERGENCY, or you need to BARELY extend your trip past the car's range, something will probably be available. But if you think this will be a regular occurrence for you, buy a gas or diesel car. OK, not to scare off buyers, because yeah I do love this car. If you have a regular daily commute it's incredibly cheap to operate, especially with the lease deals out there. Quality isn't luxury car, but it's very high-end for a low-end car. With the torque and tight turns, it's really fun to drive around town - I feel like I'm driving a go-kart around on city streets. It's not quite as good on the freeway, but it's not bad. I'm six and a half feet tall and my wife isn't all that much shorter, and it's still surprisingly spacious inside, I don't keep the slider all the way back. However, tall people up front does mean that the people in the back row have basically no space at all.
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City Stealthmobile BEV
Randy, Riverside, CA, 10/17/2015
updated 10/19/2016
Volkswagen e-Golf SEL Premium 4dr Hatchback (electric DD)
30 of 30 people found this review helpful
This is a 2nd car for me, for driving around in the city. The car does have limited range, I can get 5.5-5.8 miles per kwh, but I am retired and I do drive at or under the speed limit at all times, with most consumer devices turned off. What I like most about the e-golf is that it is just another Golf. It does not draw attention to itself. It does not say "hey, look at me, I'm a hybrid or electric car". It's low key, it's quiet, it's stealthy, and most importantly, it drives, due to it's heritage, like a german engineered car. Not like a japanese electric or hybrid econobox. It is purposeful, it's a city car, pure and simple. If I need to do a long distance trip, or get out of town and do some major driving, the TDI I have is for long distance trips. It's hard to put into words how a german car drives, compared to a japanese car... but you know it was designed to drive on Autobahns, and in the German, Swiss, and French alps too, in the twisties. And for all the mountains and canyons I drive in, I demand the way a german car drives, and gladly pay the premium for it. Update after 6 months: Still a nice car for the city and short trips. Key is to charge it at home, overnight, where filling up isn't so burdensome, and the cost of electricity is reasonable at $0.16 per kw, instead of using public infrastructure for recharging, which is quite a bit more expensive and time consuming, 2.5 to 3.25 hours each session. Forget about mooching electrons for free if you need a recharge, it's a business model doomed to failure. Provide your own infrastructure to charge, and you'll do fine Update after 1 year of use: Battery life has dropped to about a 7% loss in maximum range. I am averaging 6.0 miles per kwh with careful driving, over the last 2000 miles. My route remains a constant. What was 129 miles of range on a charge when new has dropped off to 120 miles now. Loss first started in the warm weather of May, and continues to drop in the heat of the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles, CA. Odometer now reads 7750 on 10/19/16
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2015 Volkswagen e-Golf for sale near you
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- SEL Premium 4dr HatchbackMSRP: $9,4991,452 mi away
- SEL Premium 4dr HatchbackMSRP: $11,9951,538 mi away
- Limited Edition 4dr HatchbackMSRP: $7,6951,973 mi away
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Love this car - never buy gas/oil/smog check again
mrmichaelwill, San Anselmo, CA, 06/29/2015
updated 06/30/2017
Volkswagen e-Golf SEL Premium 4dr Hatchback (electric DD)
21 of 21 people found this review helpful
I bought this car January 2015 assuming it is going to be our secondary car. Turns out its so much fun to drive that its used as our primary car, and we use the Honday Oddysee only when we need the extended range going on vacation, need more than 5 seats or transport bikes, or when second adult commutes to near by train station. At the rate it is going we are putting about 12k miles per year on the car, so I am glad I did not lease it. Update: May 2016 we replaced our Honda Odyssey with a Tesla Model X, and now the VW eGolf is our secondary car again. Still we put 25,000 miles on the eGolf in the last two and a half years and it is still a lot of fun to drive. Gas cars are still revving up behind me at the light when the immediate electric torque propels me forward continuously accelerating. My only gripe is that Volkswagen sold me the car with three years of remote phone access car-net service included and then two years in their sales people started harassing me Comcast / SiriusXM style to start paying $15/month for it. They are lying and harder to get rid of than toilet paper stuck to your shoe. Since tesla Model 3 comes out this July and has more range and a more honest business model I will probably trade the car in for that.
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Gas free diet!
P Adl, Mission Viejo, CA, 03/12/2016
updated 03/16/2022
Volkswagen e-Golf SEL Premium 4dr Hatchback (electric DD)
7 of 7 people found this review helpful
Review update after near 4 yrs. I still really like this car. Has been trouble free (except for the radio volume control issue) and an extremely versatile car for transport and even cargo. The 125 mile range model did not materialize until the 2019 models were released! I checked them out and they are nicer too with more bells and whistles, but decided it was not worth the expense since VW, at least the Norm Reeves dealership, was not interested in making me a deal I would consider acceptable. The Golf (2015 - on models, and generally all of them) are much larger than they look. My daughter got the new 2019 Leaf and comparing the two, the Golf is smaller on the outside, but larger on the inside. The new Leaf is a much better driving car than the previous Leaf model, but the Golf is still a much nicer driving car than even the new Leaf. Where the Golf loses is in the range. 83 miles for the Golf, 150 miles for the new Leaf. My daughter would have bought the Golf, but she drives to 60-70 miles away twice a week for work and the Golf would not make it, but the Leaf does it comfortably. Thankfully I don't need that range and when I do the 60-70 miles, it is usually for the whole weekend so I can get an overnight charge and comfortably make it home. It is an ideal car for around town and a 35 mile work commute range. Still zero maintenance costs! Review update after almost 3 yrs. Really like this car, but the real limitation is the range and it's slow charging. VW should have figured an update to existing 2015/16/17 car and they would be keepers. New ones have 125 m range and faster charge, and that is better, but to be useful for SoCal area, 200 m range is minimum for a successful electric car. Everything else is as previous review below. Range is not that great, but everything else is! I test drove most of the smaller EVs, the Fiat, the Smart car, the Leaf, the BMW, etc. The best handling/driving one was the e-Golf. So I got it and have been driving it now for a year and three months and enjoying it more every day. I work very close to home and one charge can keep me going for around two weeks with a few excursions, i.e. driving to shops and running errands (all close). I did manage just over 105 miles with level 3 regeneration, and max limited power but it was slow going. VW has free charging at their locations and I use them since one is close to my home and if one is on my way, I stop, charge and catch up with emails using their WiFi. I find it to be the most practical of all the smaller lower cost EVs out there because it is roomy, comfortable, reasonable luggage capacity, with all the bells and whistles I could want. The 2017 has better range, 120 Miles is what I was told. That would let me drive to San Diego easily (if I spend the night to recharge)! UPDATE: 14th March 2018 - Now have 6500 miles. Bad news is VW decided to shut down their charging access! Terrible customer relation move if you ask me. They claimed many were fighting over the charge spot, but I almost always found it available when I went. They could have made money charging non customers to use it, but they chose to just shut it down - VERY DISAPPOINTING! Anyway, I still like the car, especially since I work just a couple of miles from work and one charge lasts a couple of weeks. Well, I tried a run to San Diego, and in my earlier review, I lied! It would NOT let me drive to San Diego easily! I just barely made it. It was sniffing electrons to make a 75 mile trip. It told me I had '0' miles for the last 2.8 miles!! After an overnight and half a day charge, I drove home on eco mode (limited to 75 MPH with slower acceleration) with full regeneration settings and made it home with 3 miles to spare. The car still feels very tight, as it should with only 6500 miles on it. Has not needed any service other than a recall software update. Only problem I have has is the radio volume jumps up and down when I try to adjust it. Everything else feels and runs/works great. My 105 mile trip is still my record, but do not want to drive that slowly, for a trip again. After 2+ years, I am very happy with my decision to get this car, fun to drive, performs when I want it to and amazingly economical both for energy usage and maintenance! Update: 16th March 2022 - 6 years later - still very happy with my decision! Now with only16K miles, ate up the original Bridgestone eco tires which I just replaces with Michelin Defender tires - much smoother, more quiet, and actually handles better too! Only issue I had was the fuel cover door release solenoid stopped working and would not open. So I couldn't charge the car. Still had charge though, so drove it to the original dealership thinkin it is still under warranty within 3 years and NOPE, they wanted to charge a LOT! Part was out of stock too. A week later I bought the part, took it to German Car Garage and it was installed in one afternoon and working great for $100. No other issues, NONE! and I'm still really enjoying this very versatile, zippy, fast little hatchback with no gas price worries!
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Really like it
sweetwagon, Sunnyvale, CA, 07/03/2015
Volkswagen e-Golf SEL Premium 4dr Hatchback (electric DD)
4 of 4 people found this review helpful
I wanted to try out an EV. After over a month with the car, happy I chose this one. Best interior and looks out of all the budget EVs. So far this car is great. I've got two kids. It's become the primary car for just going around town. Definitely a great experience with my first EV. Can't wait to see the next iteration of EVs.