thank you for converting to L/100km !

I love the reviews by Jonny Smith. Such a huge addition to the Fully Charged team. Thumbs up!

After searching "Depeche Mode Personal Jesus" I was then able to continue watching the show :-).

Thank you for the quality of yours videos. And thank you for the translation in Km.

I love this dude! Everything in his reviews is so good. Talking manners and his voice fits perfectly. I could easily watch this just to relax after a long day

To those of you dismissing PHEVs out of hand, consider this: 1. Model 3 is not out yet. The current selection of affordable, long range EVs is slim to none. 2. PHEVs can DRAMATICALLY cut gasoline consumption, because they really are EVs the vast majority of the time. Over the lifetime of my PHEV, over 95% of the miles have been driven in EV mode. Running the gasoline engine is very rare. 3. For the short term, PHEVs will have a price advantage over long range BEVs. That means people who otherwise wouldn't be able to afford one, can consider an EV. 4. Many parts of the developed world still have poorly developed fast charging infrastructure. Even for drivers who can afford a BEV, it might not take them where they need to go. I'm seeing many purists display an irrational hostility toward PHEVs. I even saw one guy below say that it's better people buy a gasoline car than a PHEV. WTF?! A 0% reduction in gasoline usage is better than a 95% reduction?! Come on guys! Stop making the perfect the enemy of the good.

While not reelevant to the review itself, i appreciate the picture of the Reliant. I saw such a car in another video a few days ago, and almost went nuts trying to remember what it was. You fixed that. Thank you :) Good review. Nice to see Jonny again :)

Thanks a lot for this amazing review and keep up the good work!

Great to see Jonny Smith in the team!! More from him please!

Have been watching this channel and been subbed for years, now we see where it is all going, the future is not to that far away...nuff said..

Nice work guys - those different power modes are very well thought!

Jonny - you made me laugh so much with the comparison of the startup notes, but it's so true! :) Thanks for great review.

Finally we got "Liter per 100Km" :D Nice review!

Great car i buy it to 3 month ago and i already post some videos and experience with it . I love your videos. Keep it up the good work.

Jonny, you've got such a charismatic personality. And you serve us the tech facts with perspective. Keep it going!

Good review, Johnny. Thank you.

Great presentation

Excellent review. Best I've seen.

Excellent review with a bit of humor thrown in :)

one of the best reviews I've seen Im sold

Brilliant review and fantastic presentation!!!!

Great review, very well thought out and produced. I personally can't wait for the all electric hot hatches because those are what I really want. An all electric Golf that does 200+ miles, 5 ish second 0-60, and is under $25000. Until that's available I'll happily drive my 2013 Leaf :)

Awesome, I love that car. Great review, really put the cat among the pigeons vs a BMW 330e now!!!

Been waiting for this :D

It does ! I love it 😍 I like your reviews. Not all the cars but you rock 👍👍

Great review. Potentially picking one of these up next week. Looks a great deal of a car!

I think I'm starting to be sold on the "plug in" hybrid concept. I was never really sold on hybrids when they first came out because they got about the same mileage as a Geo Metro I had in the 90's. The Golf GTE and the Chevy Volt, for example, are good looking cars with good performance. Either one would never leave EV mode considering how far I drive on a daily basis. It also would buy me time until a decent charging infrastructure is in place. That may be some time considering that I live in West Texas.

love this guys car reviews

Great review. How about a review of the revised edition of the e-Golf with the larger battery and increased range ...

GTE owner here. AMA. The 30 mile range is quite optimistic. Expect around 20 miles of real life range.

Yes!! Real life driving MPG! More of this! Thanks Johnny, you're awesome =) and thanks for the conversions I looked at some weight figures at the GTE when it first launched and was surprised to learn that the triple clutch gearbox's weight was 98 kg (dry weight) and the engines was about 105 kg (also dry weight). Would you rather that the GTE was a plug-in hybrid like the Opel Ampera and Bmw i3 is with the petrol unit not connected to the wheels? I think I would want it to be, but I don't know it it would spoil it's character

Awesome review. I hope VW really go hard into this market, it's about time.

excellent review, very informative, thanks

Great Great Show keep up the good work guys

I'm driving an Outlander PHEV here in Australia with 3.3L/100km (~71mpg) which is a brilliant fuel economy. I'm lucky I can do my commute in EV mode only and don't use any petrol at all. On longer journeys it has the parallel and serial mode as well as the pedals at the steering wheel to adjust the regen power. Brilliant to drive, lots of space and dual electric motors. We have only 4 EVs to choose from here in Australia thanks to total lack of government support (Model S and X, the Leaf and the BMW i3). Waiting for the Tesla Model 3 now which will come here early 2019 (hopefully).

When the lease on my Golf TSI ends in 2019, I hope and pray that the GTE will be available in the US! Thanks for this review!

Great episode... This is my next car... I have an a1 1.6tds... And a polo 1.4 tsi.... Well made episode.. Thanks

Great high quality episode Jonny! I'd be tempted to get the Golf GTE if not for the fact that in a few years we'll such a massive array of EVs to choose from. I miss my TDI - it was stinky, but chipped it went like stink ;)

Video quality is fantastic as always, I was curious as to how you do the exterior shots with the car following close behind.

Great video, I had no idea about this car and makes sense for me (eventually) as my 04 GLI gets older. She runs good yet though!

Great review thanks bud

2 way different notes than Depeche Mode's Personal Jesus. :) Keep your day job mate. (Love your videos, honestly + looking to get the GTE)

Real EV range - 16 degrees C - 23 miles - give or take a few.

I really enjoy these videos and it's wicked to see Jonny reviewing cars again, great stuff. He should do all of the in depth car reviews or have Robert in the passenger seat with him too. I don't agree with the Personal Jesus - Depeche Mode sound effect though, I love Depeche Mode and that song so it doesn't =P I think petrol hybrids can be brilliant but I'm really not interested in flappy paddles at all especially in a sporty feeling car, takes so much of the fun and involvement out of driving, that's one of the main things I'll miss when every car goes hydrogen or plug in electric, that and the noise from a lot of petrol engines, so cool. It seems very quiet when driving. I like the music that's used through this video, nice and chilled out. I can't wait until all those shitty toxic diesels are scrapped and melted down for something more useful, dog shit bins and so on, such a bloody shame there's no urgency though, 2020 is over 2 years away.

loved the DM reference!!!

Great review, could be my next car

:) I got itttttt!!! Got it today, the 7.5 Advance (18 plate) in Ruby Red, will film when picking it up on Tuesday coming.

DM personal Jesus ! 👍 I can't help but think of it in every golf GTE video since I watched this video. 😅

Just ordered this car, heard so many good things about it. Currently drive an Audi so hoping build quality is as good.

Excellent review. First time I've heard someone get the point that your mpg on your test run is not the same as the mpg you'd get if you live near work etc. I have an old style gte and have got 1000 miles on a tank. Will perhaps have to look at upgrading to the new one as I like the new lights and dash screens

The Golf does everything very well..... That sums it up..!! 👍🏻

perfect review

The GTE is the perfect mixture between sporty and ecomonical. And it solves one of the grypes I have with EVs and hybrids and that's the fact that most of the have soulless CVTs. As for the VW factory being the 2nd most visited attraction in Germany, if you are a petrolhead (like me), you would never want to leave. There is a museum of car history which goes on for 6 or 7 floors, there is a building for every brand in the VW Group, there is VW's delivery center, there is a off road course and of course the factory itself.

BMW and Hyundai hybrids also have the clever GPS technology. And if I remember correctly, the BMW also takes immediate traffic into account and saves electric range for traffic jams. I do agree, it is amazing, and relieves people who don't care about driving from constantly having to switch the modes to get good mileage.

Absolutely brilliant review. Well-explained, highly cogent content. I love Bobby dearly, but Jonny is a huge upgrade in actual automotive journalism. Perhaps Bobby gets to focus more on cleantech and new tech? Hopefully VW will do their usual great job on the upcoming, new-platform, pure EVs. If so, they may be excellent cars. For example, eGolf, while based on the fossil car, is a very good pure EV. It's still very much Golf-like, which is a good thing indeed.

Jonny does look at bit like Dave Gahan from Depeche Mode

11:05, is it as safe in a rear-end collision if the gas tank is behind the rear axle? Higher likelihood of it puncturing. Getting about 56MPG real world average in a 2016 Prius hybrid (not the plugin version). Could get a Chevy Bolt that's 0-60 in a tad less than 7 seconds and all electric..

Jonny is such a great addition to the show. It's not like he has four letter L's in his name or anything, but still.

Reach out and touch faith!!! Great vid...

I just played Personal Jesus...and You're so right!

And I have one on order, in white, with sat nav and the blue tartan cloth seats. Roll on January!

Love the pop out reversing camera. Saves it getting dirty like the one on my car does. For people knocking PHEVs, they have a very valid place in the company car market. It would be great if Fully Charged started showing the Benefit In Kind costs to us company drivers. My "commute" is 179 miles each way, making a full EV not yet truly viable. But hybrids and PHEVs make a lot of sense for drivers like me.

Yes Jonny! Thank you! It's something that really irks me about the Golf GTE is the use of GTE; I've owned a number of Astra GTE's and so will ever associate the badge with those. I'm surprised VW were allowed to use it but I suppose it can be argued that the "E "in this case stands for Electric/Elektrisch rather than Einspritzung, the German for injection. To disappear further up the backend of this, I would suppose, one again, Opel/Vauxhall used GTE back in the day to avoid encroaching on VW's use of GTI? Hmmmmmm...... Also: Great to see the images of the classic GTE's in the Vid! : D

Do any of the current Golf or Passat (Both normal and GTE) have adaptive cruise control with roadsign/gps assist? (So it changes to the zone your entering)

What is the 0-62 time on just electric drive? Does it pull as well as it does with the engine lit up? Or is it like running a full on EV in something like eco mode?

Such a handsome car. Johnny Smith is brill.

Does the DCC option make the ride quality better than the standard suspension? Or is it still harsh?

Great package, would be great here in Canada where we have real distance driving as part of daily life. I assume it’s too expensive though for most Golf customers and sells here as the Audi e-tron in bits and pieces.

Germany isn't boring, it's rather that the "Autostadt" (The VW main facility) is huge and it's a lot more than just a car factory. You never even get to see the actual manufacturing process during your visit. And most people who order a VW drive there by train, visit the Autostadt, sleep there and get their car handed over the next day. Consider that with the fact that VWs are the best selling cars in Germany and you realize that most tourists are just people who bought a factory new VW. :)

Shame they couldn't have increased the battery capacity.

Damn it Jonny, you are really good at this shit, who knew! ;) That GTE looks really good, I'd buy that if I did alot of driving and maybe go on longer drives, but since we are getting more 400 kms capable EV cars now like the Zoe and what not, hopefully a fully electric Golf too that does that, I dont see my self getting this. If you go 400 km's in one stretch you surely will stop for a bite to eat for 30 - 40 minutes and thats usually enough to fill it up. Chargers are put up all the time now and in 2 - 5 years it will be common place everywhere and cheap too. I hope in 10 - 15 years solarpanels will become widespread even on larger houses, and in cities! And I live in Sweden where electricity are both mostly clean and also very cheap. :) We just need abit more chargers, not sure how good it is atm, suspect its fairly good but bet it could get better.

Can the regen braking mode totally keep your battery topped up, or do u have to charge it at some point?

LOL it really sounds like it. 'Reach out and touch faith!!!'

I can see a lot more plug in hybrids appearing because manufacturers can carry on with servicing all the oily bits and the money that brings in. The salesperson can make the customer feel green and encourage the thinking that a pure EV will never be practical for someone doing longer trips (and one long trip per year is enough to convince most people). I am hoping the Tesla Model 3 will start to blow this thinking out of the water (I am less hopeful the Leaf will because it will still have a max 50kw charge rate for the foreseeable future, I have a Zoe ZE40 and it is great but not much good if I did a lot of 200 mile plus journeys - which I don't)..

What's the short bit of music at ~4 mins?

Plug in hybrids are a nice stepping stone to a fully electric car with 300-400 mile range sometime in the future. My daily commute is 40 miles and so I would like min 50 mile electric range. We have 2 cheap Honda Civics at the moment and I would rather keep one of them for longer journeys and buy a completely electric car such as the upcoming 200 mile Nissan Leaf for my daily commute. However, if I could only have 1 car in our household a plug in hybrid would be the best solution.

I recently ordered a new car and I collect it in a couple of day time. I only travel about 3600 miles a year now, but most of it consists of journeys of 100 - 220 mile round trips, mainly motorway. I have changed from a 2.0L diesel engine (euro IV) to a 1.2L turbo petrol 3 cylinder engine. The demonisation of diesel car owners and the relatively low mileage meant the extra cost of a 1.6L diesel auto (euro VI) was out of the question. Ideally, I would have loved to have purchased an electric vehicle, such as the Hyundai IONIQ or the Toyota Prius, but neither had the range I wanted (150 miles in the worst conditions). Additionally, such cars are priced beyond the amount I wished to pay for a vehicle which will only travel the said 3600 miles a year. I did not consider a hybrid as most of my journeys are at speeds of 40 mph or more, so the electric motor would just be extra weight. I did consider a plug in hybrid, but again, too expensive, limited boot space and no spare wheel. As a puncture magnet, I feel a full size spare is essential (70 miles on a motorway at 50 mph on a space saver does not appeal to me). Fortunately, my new car has a full size spare. One other concern I have with respect to electric and PHEV's is this. In the UK we are getting very close to critical in our National Grid capacity during the winter months. Various governments have shied away from nuclear until now. But what happens should we start getting brown outs, for instance?

4.79L/100 isn't that great considering the premium paid for having an electric motor and battery. Just drove a new petrol powered Nissan Pulsar 4 door sedan which would be similar size, with a CVT transmission and averaged 4.7L/100km mix of freeway and main roads. Been driving it around town for 2 days and has gone up to 5.2L/100km. Makes my 2010 Mazda 6 wagon look thirsty.

Will be looking at a gte thanks to this review no top gear nonsense my pug 208 diesel average is 60mpg 5000+ mls not bad but a vw fan.

The notes when the car starts up are: C, F Depeche Mode - Personal Jesus starts: C#, F#

I have the 18 plate and want to program headlights the same as this one but how do I do it or will vw do it for me let me know please

good catch for depeche mode lol

I really like putting the navigation in the instrument cluster..... which u can do with audis

holy shit the body of that opal was a beaut

please, more jonny smith.

Your facial hair is impressive. I like the precision

Do not talk about the diesel!

interesting... *predictive hybrid mode*... is there any existing android or iphone app which would show me upcoming road signs and turns avg. speeds to let me better shift gears?

this thing with the personal jesus :D i think it was a little prank inside the development department :)

I live in a very small town. A round trip to work and back is seven miles. I can drive to the biggest grocery store in my town and back home, and only drive eight and half miles.

If the fuel tank is taking up the boot floor, where does the spare tyre go? They took that away?

7:58 - Missed opportunity to disguise the backup cam as a little guy that pops out says "You're good! You're good! .. A little to the left!".

yes the gorgeous plaid seats are available, but where there's red on the gti seats it's blue on the gte

Still ice with a small battery at what price ?

great review. I really like the GTE but I think they should have made the electric range to 100 km. than they would have nailed it.

I was getting super excited and then I heard the word "hybrid" and saw all the junk under bonet.

I like the speedo (Nissan Leaf take note) , the reversing camera is kind of cool (but only really useful on commercial vehicles and motorhomes surely) but these hybrids, come on give us more than a token battery, 20-30kwh , even if it had a weedy 1.0 ICE and small petrol tank as backup.

from now till end of the year you get subsidies that sum up to a 12.000 euro discount when you buy a vw plug in or full electric

Excellent professional review Johnny, however you did not mention the 'elephant in the room' how much will it be worth for re sale in 6 years time...

The real range in everyday life is about 1000 - 1400km, depending on your daily driving and charging. That's impressive, with such a small gas tank.