Volkswagen Golf eHybrid review

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Wolfsburg gives its lesser-known Golf PHEV a bit-impact technical refresh

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The facelifted Mk8.5 Volkswagen Golf has already been the subject of a group test (1.5 eTSI 150) and a full road test (VW Golf GTI) but, since the car’s chief mission was to correct the shortcomings of the flawed Mk8, you could say we’re still waiting to appreciate where its biggest gains have been made.

But there’s a good chance that we’re about to. Because no derivative of this car has been more widely overhauled than this new Volkswagen Golf eHybrid. Powered by a second-generation version of the Volkswagen Group’s four-cylinder plug-in hybrid powertrain, this Golf has taken significant technical and functional strides. With adoption of electric cars still not widespread, it sits in a unique position, being the first plug-in hybrid hatchback that we have tested in the 5% benefit-in-kind company car tax bracket.

That special status won’t endure, with the same powertrain heading to MQB Evo platform siblings from the Seat Leon to the Cupra Formentor. For now, though, it should be an effective fleet sales lever, as VW seeks to return the Golf to the top of Europe’s sales ranks.

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DESIGN & STYLING

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Volkswagen Golf eHybrid 2024 review badge 14

This car’s hybrid system has already been rolled out on the likes of the Volkswagen Tiguan and Passat, but its potential is only now being fully realised on something as small and light as a regular hatchback.

The packaging challenges inherent to PHEVs in this class have meant only few have so far managed more than 40 miles of electric range, thereby avoiding BIK tax of 12%. But the Golf eHybrid’s official electric range of 88 miles allows it to be taxed at 5% (quite close, even, to the 2% levied on EVs).

The Golf eHybrid and GTE are the first series-production VWs in Europe with an illuminated VW badge on the grille (although the Touareg R-Line had one illuminated in red on the bootlid).
Matt Saunders
Road test editor

That’s thanks to several technical advancements. The car’s nickel-manganese-cobalt drive battery now offers 19.7kWh of usable capacity (almost double that of the pre-facelifted car), and is more energy-dense than before, even accounting for the liquid cooling that VW has added to it (which helps facilitate better efficiency, as well as DC rapid charging at up to 50kW).

Elsewhere, the old eHybrid’s 1.4-litre four-cylinder TSI engine has been replaced by a 148bhp, 184lb ft 1.5-litre ‘TSI Evo2’ unit that combines a variable-geometry turbocharger with a Miller-cycle combustion strategy. It drives the front wheels in parallel with a 107bhp, 258lb ft electric motor, and via a new six-speed dual-clutch automatic gearbox with ratios chosen for optimal petrol-electric efficiency. The combined output is 201bhp and 258lb ft, the same torque but 67bhp less than what the GTE’s closely related powertrain produces.

Unlike the GTE, the eHybrid is tuned for outright efficiency, comfort and electric range, says VW. But, being a higher-end Golf derivative, it still gets independent rear suspension. Our test car also had 18in alloy wheels (£585) and DCC adaptive dampers (£720) as optional extras.

INTERIOR

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Volkswagen Golf eHybrid 2024 review dash 27

It’s a shame, with reference to the car’s comfort-first positioning, that VW didn’t think to make its excellent 14-way Ergoactive seats standard-fit. As it is, however, the Golf eHybrid offers a good, comfortable and fairly well-supported driving position; plenty of room for taller occupants up front; and just enough second-row space for average-height adults, without making the car itself feel overgrown for the compact class.

In the boot, any underfloor storage, or split-level boot configurability, is lost to the packaging of the power electronics and relocated fuel tank, but 273 litres is left. That would be more typical of a supermini than something from the class above, but it does at least offer a flat floor with the back seats folded down.

Colour-selectable ambient lighting strips span the width of the fascia and run into the doors, as part of the eHybrid's upper-mid-level Style trim. My favourite colour was still ‘off’.
Matt Saunders
Road test editor

The car’s primary controls are intuitively positioned; the instrumentation is all-digital but clear and usefully configurable; and the new multimedia system (see our Golf GTI road test for more details) is better laid out and easier to use than in the pre-facelifted car, albeit still missing some more simple, physical controls. As in other Golfs we have tested, material cabin quality is good rather than great.

ENGINES & PERFORMANCE

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Volkswagen Golf eHybrid 2024 review rear corner 72

This Golf is a car of assured performance whose availability doesn’t seem to depend on a fully charged drive battery.

While the conditions may have been a factor in robbing the front axle of a little traction at nearly full charge (when it suffered flurries of momentary wheelspin), we actually recorded slightly faster standing-start acceleration when the battery was indicated as almost flat. This can be considered proof that the car suffers with little or no meaningful ‘charge drain’ performance deterioration.

With a GTE variant sold alongside it, of course, you might imagine eHybrid buyers to be less interested in outright performance than drivability, refinement, efficiency and EV range. In these respects, our test car hit fairly consistent high standards, its odd lapse here or there notable mostly in contrast with the prevailing maturity, smoothness and good manners that characterise the car more widely.

It almost always gets under way under hushed electric power. Selecting Sport driving mode doesn’t induce the combustion engine to run constantly, and so when you do use full power from rest, there is an instant when the car seems to have it all to do to get its pistons reciprocating, and then deliver combustion torque to the front axle. 

And yet there’s no particular sense of it being flustered by the challenge. In electric-only running, meanwhile, there’s plenty of performance at speeds of up to 50mph. VW’s tachometer is useful in making it clear when a deeper dig of power will be likely to rouse the engine, which usually chimes in very quietly and smoothly, and only picks up any notable edge of coarseness at high revs and under load. Faster A-road and motorway running more often requires some combustive back-up – but even here extended zero-emissions cruising periods are easy to achieve.

The Golf eHybrid’s brake system showed no evidence of problems with fade on track. There was some strange pedal progression at low speed, but only on rare occasions and to a minor degree.

RIDE & HANDLING

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Volkswagen Golf eHybrid 2024 review rear corner 74

There is an unmistakable sense of middle-of-the-market dynamic versatility to the very best examples of the VW Golf – and, despite its weight and the complexity of its powertrain, that’s the sort of car that the eHybrid feels like.

It’s not as light on its feet or as naturally nimble as some smaller hatchback rivals, but a comfort-focused rather than sporting dynamic brief does appear to make room for it to impress on the road in any case. The eHybrid combines a supple, fluent ride with decent outright grip and body control. It steers precisely, predictably and with tidy alacrity, without gesturing towards an incisive handling zeal that many owners would leave untapped anyway. This car has little greater ambition than simply to drive like a Golf – with maturity, measure and a little sophistication.

The optional DCC adaptive dampers afforded our car plenty of adjustability in its ride gait, allowing a supple, flowing B-road stride only occasionally troubled by poor wheel control over the sharpest of edges. When turned up to firm, those dampers also kept close tabs on body roll during limit handling testing, and helped to maintain good stability, steering authority and handling balance.

Assisted Driving

The Golf eHybrid’s upper-middle trim level affords it plenty of assisted driving technology as standard. There is the mandatory speed limit detection and reminder system, too, which defaults to ‘on’ at every ignition cycle (because that’s what the law dictates). Like the lane keeping system, however, this is made easy to deactivate via an ADAS shortcut icon permanently displayed on the upper margin of the infotainment screen.

The driver monitoring system isn’t bothersome, and the automatic emergency braking isn’t prone to intrusive false activation.

Using the Travel Assist mode of the cruise control activates VW’s various semi-autonomous cruise functions. They work better here than on other VW models we have tested recently because the system isn’t so prescriptive about how and where you hold the steering wheel in order to keep it engaged, and so doesn’t threaten to drop out with unnecessary beeps and stabs of the brakes.

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MPG & RUNNING COSTS

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VW Golf eHybrid front cornering

A starting price just above £37,000 makes this a moderately expensive Golf – some 20% pricier than a less-powerful mild-hybrid petrol or TDI diesel – but it doesn’t appear to exist to exploit its fleet-friendly tax status for profit, or to have been made prohibitively expensive for retail buyers.

That’s about what you would expect to pay for a European electric hatchback, of course; but since the eHybrid offers much of the running appeal and cost advantages of an EV anyway, as well as combustion-engined back-up, the car justifies its price tag easily enough – not least given that 88-mile electric range.

We averaged 66 miles in mixed use during the course of our test, which is probably about double the real-world PHEV hatchback class average. It’s enough to meaningfully change how you choose to fuel the car in day-to-day use, and how often you need to buy petrol.

Over a week’s testing of a little over 500 miles, including plenty of residential charging and short-range trips but also several hours of intensive track testing, we only managed to half-empty the car’s petrol tank. The 108mpg test average looks phenomenally efficient, though it’s more reflective of how we chose to fuel it than how efficient it may be in ‘range-extended’ running (see our touring and everyday economy test results, left, for that). In electric-only running, the 3.4mpkWh average in mixed-road testing is in itself competitive with actual EVs of similar size.

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VERDICT

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Volkswagen Golf eHybrid front static 2

Volkswagen has put a new complexion on the case for the plug-in hybrid hatchback as a smart alternative to both traditional ICE and EV rivals.

With nearly 70 miles of dependable real-world EV range, DC rapid charging included, and assertive, efficient and pleasant ‘range-extended’ running thereafter, the Golf eHybrid really does represent a new and appealing ownership proposition.

This car enters a part of the market where PHEV options have struggled to produce really transformative electric range for an affordable price thus far. But this is a plug-in hybrid that genuinely is like an EV to drive a great deal of the time, and that isn't priced to take advantage of that.

The Volkswagen Golf eHybrid could genuinely deliver lasting change to your motoring habits – and all from a position of calm reassurance.

 

Matt Saunders

Matt Saunders Autocar
Title: Road test editor

As Autocar’s chief car tester and reviewer, it’s Matt’s job to ensure the quality, objectivity, relevance and rigour of the entirety of Autocar’s reviews output, as well contributing a great many detailed road tests, group tests and drive reviews himself.

Matt has been an Autocar staffer since the autumn of 2003, and has been lucky enough to work alongside some of the magazine’s best-known writers and contributors over that time. He served as staff writer, features editor, assistant editor and digital editor, before joining the road test desk in 2011.

Since then he’s driven, measured, lap-timed, figured, and reported on cars as varied as the Bugatti Veyron, Rolls-Royce Phantom, Tesla Roadster, Ariel Hipercar, Tata Nano, McLaren Senna, Renault Twizy and Toyota Mirai. Among his wider personal highlights of the job have been covering Sebastien Loeb’s record-breaking run at Pikes Peak in 2013; doing 190mph on derestricted German autobahn in a Brabus Rocket; and driving McLaren’s legendary ‘XP5’ F1 prototype. His own car is a trusty Mazda CX-5.