Golf gte or i3

The golf gte is supposed to be coming to the uk end of 2014 priced at £28000.

Would the golf temp you away from the i3 with its similar performance.

Personally I like that the i3 is unique.there are millions of golfs.plus I like a futuristic cabin.

Subevo said:

The golf gte is supposed to be coming to the uk end of 2014 priced at £28000.

Would the golf temp you away from the i3 with its similar performance.

Personally I like that the i3 is unique.there are millions of golfs.plus I like a futuristic cabin.

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People keep bringing this up, there is no comparison, they are not in the same class of vehicle!!! Not even close in my opinion....

Really lets get real and stop wasting space for comparisons that don't even make sense.

No chance, worst car I ever had was a Golf GT 3 major faults.

I think its a bit unfair to say there is no comparison at all. In the UK at least the Golf and i3 are about the same price.

They both have roughly equivalent range and while the Golf is longer its internal dimensions are comparable and it even has a fifth seat. BMW is much quicker though.

They are both made by quality german makers, although it could be argued that BMW are a little higher up the food chain! Although even then VW group as a whole includes some pretty elevated machinery so perhaps its not so black and white?

I think the biggest difference is the way BMW have spent the money and time to create an innovative electric car from scratch and VW have adapted their core model at modest cost. Some reviewers seem to have disregarded the i3's innovation almost entirely and been surprisingly positive about VW's very conservative alternative. Perhaps VW were right as they are now perceived to compete with the i3 with minimal investment on their part.

Despite all this i agree with Mindmachine that the BMW is a different animal to the Golf and i would not entertain the golf at all, the performance on its own would swing it for me!

The BMW is the only car to have been designed and implemented from the ground up as an electric car. Talking out the ICE and adding an electric motor and as many batteries as you can find a home for isn't doing the job properly.
And Golfs are two a penny: if I'm spending that sort of money I want my car to look different, not be lost in a sea of Euro-mediocracy.

Hi,

IMHO, a Golf is a perfectly good automobile and the electric version has some good points. Nevertheless, I guess it's an open door but I'll kick it in anyway: Extended Range by burning deceased dinosaurs. You can't get it in the Golf. Don't use it that much but is's a nice way to enable us to maximize our electrically driven miles.

Regards, Steven

PS: behind open door #2: +315 kg, + 3.3 sec + a little more electrons needed to keep it rolling (so it seems).

Maybe some of you guys are thinking I meant E golf with a 0-60 in 10.5 secs.

There's a GTE (not GTI )golf. 0-60 in 7.6 secs or according to transport evolved 6.6 secs.but only 30 miles in electric mode.

it was mainly the acceleration that swayed me towards the i3.

I understand the golf is related to the Audi A3 E-tron.

In both cases quite a compelling prospect. Heavy and complex compared to an i3 though and relatively cheap for VW to develop as they are based on an existing platform.

Impressive if range is critical but i worry about maintenance costs down the line.

I think although they are both in the roughly same market place the desicion is whether you want a standard looking Golf with the EV tech onboard or go the whole hog and drive (at the moment) the definitive EV..........the i3 is a market breaker, other manufacturers will have to follow or lower prices to counter.

I think they are both excellent cars.....its just one is very special the other is.....well.....boring

e-golf is only 450 lbs heavier, and is $8000 cheaper due to lower base price, level 3 charging+ driver assist + heated seats all included. Addtional perks are full rear doors with power windows, leatherette power seats, side bags for front, 53 cubic feet cargo vs 11.7 with seats down, Sirius radio, cruise control, LED lights, and you can see the hood

It's going to give the i3 some stiff competition. I would expect a lot of i3 discounting ahead.

Ron

cove3 said:

e-golf is only 440 lbs heavier

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Hi Ron,

shouldn't that be 695 lbs heavier ?

Regards, Steven

Steven, i3 curb weight 2634, e-golf 3090. The e-Golf press release and several reviews all confirm 3090. We'll know for sure in November

Ron

Er, I think I'd take a Gen II prius than the e-golf. It's as exciting as a Blancmange. Just seems the wrong way to go about EVs - electrify an existing model. Maybe it will sell to people who don't want to draw attention to the fact they are driving an EV. Really to me it looks like VW/Audi group got caught with their pants down when BMW announced the i3. But I suppose it will give them something to sell to Audi loyalists who want electric power.

What I don't understand - why make an i3 rival - something Audi have said they have in the pipleine - I'd go up against Telsa and bin off the A8 ICE. Or at least make the top of the range a range extended hybrid with e-tron quattro drive. A detuned 1.2 TSi petrol as the gen set. I think a luxury proper long range rex would give Tesla something to worry about. Maybe BMW will beat them to it and drop the running gear from the i8 into a aluminium bodied 7 series? An i7? Heck they may even go full whack and hit us with a carbon i7.

You know know what I would be tempted by... a Jag XE running as an EV -rex , with the 2 stroke Lotus omnivore engine as the gen set. Runs on disel, unleaded, bioethanol (probably even banana skins if you let them go sloppy enough). I'm pretty sure Jag must have built the XE to take a hybrid... but at this stage I'm not sure what type. Batteries in the transmission tunnel? More than likely though JLR will bring hybrid into the 4x4 platform first as the weight gain isn't such as problem.

But as to the original question nope - the i3 is a ground breaking car, something straight from the movie iRobot. Oops that was an Audi eTron, and irt was I Robot ;-)

Depsite the fact that I'm not sold totally on the looks - it's sort of what appeals - it's not like anything you've seen before, well unless you count the Vauxhall Meriva. Seriously did BMW steal the design or the designer, as that can't be a coincidence! I never noticed them before in the UK, but saw one in my works car park the other day and went hang on... those windows look familiar. Read the review and it even has rear hinged passenger doors (but still has a B Pillar).

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/car-manufacturers/vauxhall/7292659/Vauxhall-Meriva-review.html

<<Just seems the wrong way to go about EVs - electrify an existing model.>>

The 2015 Golf was an all new design specifically designed to accommodate ice, diesel, nat gas, electric and fuel cell. So it's not a matter of shoehorning electric into an old platform. The advantage, of course, is that the huge ice/diesel volumes allows them to undercut the i3 by $8,000 all things considered, plus some free perks on top of that.

VW also has a carbon concept car, and has as investment in a carbon fiber company, so I'm sure they're working on both a carbon Golf for all variations, as well as a longer range e-golf

I test drove the i3, and in November will test drive the e-golf. It will be one or the other, as I've eliminated all other BEV options

Ron

By the way guys, I stepped into the confusion as well, because the original poster asked if the Golf GTE (plug-in hybrid with 1.4 TFSI petrol engine + e-motor and 8.8 kWh battery), not the e-Golf, would be a viable i3 alternative.

Regards , Steven

The VW GTE is an alternative to a Volt, not the i3.

cove3, I wish you luck getting a test drive in an E-Golf. As a long time VAG driver the E-Up caught my eye as an ideal second car when it was announced at the beginning of Nov. I emailed the nearest e dealer at the beginning of Jan and was promptly told they were expecting their demos later in the month and had made a note to contact me. I followed this up two or three times and the last story was that it was going to be another 2 or 3 weeks before their techie had been trained. At that time I contacted another dealer and the sales guy promised me a weekly update, which lasted for two weeks and stopped. I'd driven an i3 a few days after contacting my i dealer, despite press reports of enormous delays just for a test drive, I ditched thoughts of an EV second car and decided to order a REx as my one and only.

I still haven't seen an E-Up anywhere but then I still haven't seen an i3 in the wild either.

The VW dealers' contempt for a warm lead really surprised me.

I agree with Boatguy. The VW and the i3 are pointed at different markets.

Giga REx, everything but 20" wheels