Overall rating:

Volkswagen now offers the Golf with petrol, diesel, plug-in hybrid and electric power. We try the quietest, the electric e-Golf, on UK roads, and find it fun, if limited in its range.

Key Facts

Model tested: Volkswagen e-Golf
Pricing: £25,845 (after £5,000 government grant)
Engine: AC permanent magnet synchronous electric motor
Transmission: single-speed automatic, front-wheel drive
Body style: five-door hatchback
Rivals: BMW i3, Nissan Leaf, Renault Zoe
CO₂ emissions: 0g/km
Claimed range: 118 miles on a full charge
Top speed: 87mph
0-62mph: 10.4 seconds
Power: 115hp
Torque: 270Nm

In the Metal:

It's a Golf, so don't expect any surprises, though Volkswagen's familiar big-selling family hatch does get a few bespoke styling tweaks to denote its clever drivetrain. There are LED headlights and driving lights, the latter creating a cool C-shaped detail on the lower bumper. A blue stripe runs through the grille too, while the Volkswagen badge is shadowed by a blue background. There's no exhaust pipe either...

The blue theme continues to the interior, with blue stitching and blue detailing on the dash. The instruments are also specific to the e-Golf, though Volkswagen has resisted the temptation to go overboard, so the dials are refreshingly conventional. Otherwise it's all regular Golf, albeit a high specification one, so there's impeccable build quality, fine material quality and familiar and easy-to-use controls throughout. The boot shrinks by a small amount to accommodate the batteries, but it's very marginal, and it's not as if you're likely to be packing it to the roof for a family holiday anyway - unless you holiday within 100 miles of home.

Driving it:

Drive like a saint and you might get near the claimed 118-mile range, but realistically - if you want air conditioning on and not to hold up traffic - it'll comfortably manage around 80- to 100 miles. There are ways to eke out more, the automatic transmission lever allowing four different regenerative modes for instance, from very moderate in D1 through to arresting in D3 and enough to require the brake lights to activate in the B setting.

The level can be left in standard Drive too where it simply coasts when you lift off the accelerator. All that keeps you pretty busy if you're keen to absolutely maximise battery charge. The addition of a pair of eco modes further adds to the mix: Eco reduces the air conditioning use and reduces the maximum output from 115- to 95hp, which increases the 0-62mph time to 13.4 seconds (from 10.4) and gives a 71mph top speed - instead of an academic 87mph. Eco+ goes further still, giving ventilation only, doubling the 0-62mph time and limiting output and top speed to 75hp and 56mph respectively. Save Eco+ for the buttock clenching out-of-range trip home, then.

The e-Golf's most impressive facet is its conventionality. Sure, it's quiet (eerily so thanks to Volkswagen almost entirely eliminating drivetrain sounds), but pick a preferred driving mode and then it can be driven like a conventional automatic hatch. The steering is light and accurate, and a pleasing quirk of the battery's low positioning and weight distribution meaning the e-Golf actually corners more enthusiastically and more neutrally than its more conventionally powered relations. Nobody who buys it will drive it so eagerly, but it's amusing regardless. The suspension rides commendably well on rough UK roads, the e-Golf doing almost everything its relations do competently and conventionally, which is appealing.

Like its electric rivals though there's no slack in the response, instant torque meaning the e-Golf feels far brisker than its numbers suggest. The immediate response to inputs at the accelerator define it, whether pulling off from standstill or on the move, the briskness exaggerated by the odd silence; only the increasing rush of wind passing by and rising road noise highlight the rising speed. Driven without any real regard to economy, and with some sustained motorway speed and brisk country road driving, the range dropped from a full 118 miles to 70 miles after about 25 miles. Enough for many, but still a second-car proposition for all but the most committed of environmentalists.

What you get for your Money:

After the government stumps up its £5,000 grant the e-Golf retails at £25,845, that getting you a very nicely equipped, if range-limited Golf with a pair of charging cables in the boot. Standard equipment roughly matches SE specification, including Bluetooth, DAB radio, auto headlights and wipers, MDI music interface, though adds dual-zone climate control, LED headlights and running lights, front and rear parking sensors and Discover Pro satnav with added functionality like range display and the ability to pre-programme heating and cooling prior to driving.

Worth Noting

Two cables are in the boot, one for a conventional three-pin domestic plug, a full charge taking 13 hours from flat to 100 per cent. Add a wallbox (as you would) and that drops to eight hours, while DC charging stations can deliver an 80 per cent charge in just 30 minutes.

Summary

Accept its limitations, as buyers will, and the e-Golf is excellent. It's leagues ahead of the Nissan Leaf in prestige, quality and to drive, though BMW's i3 presents more of a challenge. That's particularly true as the BMW wears its electric-drive status more prominently, the Golf slipping quietly, metaphorically, under the radar by virtue of being based on a car that's near omnipresent on our streets.