Used 2016 Volkswagen e-Golf Consumer Reviews
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We have a limited number of reviews for the 2016 e-Golf, so we've included reviews for other years of the e-Golf since its last redesign.
Great, but know what you're getting into.
Jeff Rut, 08/27/2015
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, 10/17/2015
updated 10/19/2016
2015 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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2016 Volkswagen e-Golf for sale near you
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- SE 4dr HatchbackMSRP: $12,590474 mi away
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- SE 4dr HatchbackMSRP: $8,995179 mi away
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Fun electric commuter car
John Heyer, 01/19/2017
2016 Volkswagen e-Golf SE 4dr Hatchback (electric DD)
36 of 37 people found this review helpful
I wanted to get a second car for electric commuting to supplement my old Subaru. After looking extensively at the Volt, Soul, Focus, i3, and 500e, I felt the e-Golf was the best option to handle my twisty Highway 17 commute and it was the right decision. The design is solid, the ride is quiet and comfortable, and handling is good, although front tires will spin if the accelerator is hit hard. Range is generally 80 miles, even with mostly highway driving using the A/C. I generally charge at home on a standard outlet and recover the 60 miles used in about 15 hours (fortunately I only drive it every other day). Updated infotainment system on the 2016 models is really nice and does CarPlay, although I was disappointed to realize the base SE has no steering wheel button to activate Siri. The SE also lacks cruise control.
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Love this car - never buy gas/oil/smog check again
mrmichaelwill, 06/29/2015
updated 06/30/2017
2015 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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Love-Hate Relationship
Jay, 04/27/2020
2016 Volkswagen e-Golf SE 4dr Hatchback (electric DD)
20 of 20 people found this review helpful
I bought (leased) it new, drove it for 3 years and put about 36,000 miles on it. Pros: The car looks, feels, drives and functions amazingly. It has the pluses of the Golf, which include excellent handling, comfortable seating front and back, a great view of the road, and a surprising amount of room for people and cargo. You take for granted how well balanced this car is until you step into almost any other car. The electric charging saved serious $$. It was very reliable. Cons. Range was a little over 80 miles in the summer and under 60 miles in the winter... with heater frequently off! As this was my only car, range was an enormous, life-style altering problem. Fast chargers began popping up in Portland during my ownership, which made life a bit easier. The charge chord melted, and took several days to replace under warranty. And it was annoying having to take the car for maintenance every 10K miles and get charged dealership fees for a simple electric check. About 2 years in, I tried selling it, but the leasing agreement made the process extremely difficult and I gave up. VW Credit was a pain from beginning to end. At the end of the lease, they charged me $350 fee for returning the vehicle!! It felt like they had me by the neck from the time I signed, were going to screw me over and didn't give a damn if I would be a returning customer. I highly recommend the car IF: It is the second car in your household, you avoid VW Credit, you install a Level 2 Charger at your home, and live in an area friendly towards electric vehicles. If you meet these conditions, i think you will LOVE this car!
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Definitely 5 stars overall
Richard Zimmer, 05/20/2018
2016 Volkswagen e-Golf SEL Premium 4dr Hatchback (electric DD)
43 of 45 people found this review helpful
A comment about each of the two single-star reviews from other owners: 1. If the software to time the charging is spotty, then simply make it a pattern to check on the car once during the night to ensure it is charging. Make it a routine, just like taking the dog or cat outside. While having to drive the car without heat in 45F is chilly, it is definitely not "freezing". Have you noticed the many electric car reviews (of any make) in the winter, the driver is bundled up? 2. For the owner who moved from California to Georgia: Yes, the dealer should have mentioned that VW dealers in GA cannot service the car, but that should be a negative rating on the dealer and not on the car itself. Anyway, the maintenance on E-Golf is pretty much limited to tire rotations, 12-volt battery check, windshield wash fluid fill, and other things which you or your local mechanic can do, and don't worry about violating warranty. I really think VW dealers' service of E-Golfs are just money makers to pad their own pockets - - there's no oil to change, no spark plugs, no radiator. Brakes last twice as long. And yet they charge more than they would charge for regular Golf maintenance.
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Love This Car
Loves This Car, 02/19/2016
updated 02/22/2018
2016 Volkswagen e-Golf SE 4dr Hatchback (electric DD)
27 of 28 people found this review helpful
Using the heater will take away from the battery. I will get a good 60 miles with the heater running. When I want to see that i'm doing better on mileage, i turn off the heater. I use regeneration stage 1 and gain some mileage. When i am in traffic and is not accelerating, i use no battery power. The only other things using the high voltage battery are the AC and heater. If i think that i need more time on the battery as i drive around town, i slow down. That's why this car give more miles in the city than on the highway. My only issue at this time is the capacity of the battery. I will buy a car with better battery capacity soon.
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Fantastic solid made in Germany car.
thierry nedellec, 07/28/2017
2016 Volkswagen e-Golf SEL Premium 4dr Hatchback (electric DD)
15 of 15 people found this review helpful
Great value. Comfort, economical, feels very solid. Incredible acceleration. Great visibility. Nice sound system.
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Time Delayed Charging Feature-Forced to Use CARNET
Marc Hartranft, 11/16/2015
updated 11/17/2018
2015 Volkswagen e-Golf Limited Edition 4dr Hatchback (electric DD)
14 of 14 people found this review helpful
NOVEMBER 2018 UPDATE: I have logged just over 45,000 miles as a daily (75 miles round trip) commuter with the e-Golf. This has been a fantastic car with minimal maintenance requirements and perfect road reliability. Still fun to drive with never having to pump gas in the middle of the night or change oil every few months! The ONLY gripe with this car is VW's insistence that one must use CARNET software interface to enable time delayed charging feature@!! Talk about greedy!! Once the free use period runs out, they will begin to charge to use this web interface. Why would VW set up the car to not be able to support Level II chargers which support time delayed charge start times?? The dealer was "uninformed" or unwilling to disclose the limitation.
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Great car
M, 03/04/2016
2016 Volkswagen e-Golf SE 4dr Hatchback (electric DD)
41 of 44 people found this review helpful
I bought the 2016 SE as a commuter and being my first electric, I was surprised how fast the acceleration was. The interior has a lot of room, XM radio controlled by the wiper control, and the range has been great. I am averaging about 100 miles range. I have only been charging at night with the Level 1 charger and can recharge my 60 mile commute in about 11-12 hrs on a 110v outlet. iPhone app and carnet software has some nice features, but there are some glitches here and there. The lower rate charger on the SE has not been an issue for me as i just charge at night and have a pretty predictable commute. I also have other cars, so if this were my only car, I'd get the higher model with the higher rate charger.
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