2015 Volkswagen e-Golf review notes: Great car -- just don't go too far

Gallery: 2015 Volkswagen e-Golf SEL Premium

Driving the 2015 Volkswagen e-Golf SEL Premium is a pleasure due to the solid chassis and excellent handling. (Limited model shown)

EDITOR WES RAYNAL: The entire Golf lineup is outstanding. Is it the best small(ish) car available in the U.S.? I’d argue yes. It offers something for everyone: from the R, darn close to running with a 911, to the fuel-sipping diesel, to this zero fuel-sipping e-Golf.

The e-Golf drives like, well, a Golf, a really quiet Golf. Torque is instant, the ride and handling are outstanding, and the chassis is rock solid. The interior is the best small-car interior on the market -- comfy seats, tons of room, good materials.

Overall, the car is damn close to entertaining.

Range is within 75-100 miles, according to VW. When I left the office on a recent evening, the dash said I had 72 miles of range; when I got here the next morning, it said 60, so it’s accurate. There’s also a little dial on the dash that looks like it’s for the fuel level. That’s something that would at least look familiar to first-time EV buyers. Smart.

(Your mileage may vary, as they say in the trade. In fact the electric Golf offers normal, eco and eco-plus modes. Normal is the default mode. Eco mode cuts power to 94 hp and dials back throttle response and lessens the climate control power. Eco-plus cuts the power to 74 hp, limits top speed to 56 mph and turns off the climate control.)

Also on the e-Golf plus side: The interior is the same size as the other Golfs, so the batteries aren’t infringing. The seating is perfectly comfortable and the volume of cargo space is great.

It’s tempting to whine about the price, especially considering for another grand one could get a Golf R and have some REAL fun -- and probably lose one’s license. Think about this though: With fed credits (plus whatever your state offers) I bet the sticker gets closer to $26,000 than $36,000; also, the Kia Soul EV runs $34,650 and I’d take the e-Golf all day over that.

In my opinion this is an excellent electric car, but to me the bottom line is that the Golf lineup offers something for almost everyone -- all terrific cars.

Volkswagen

The electric only 2015 Volkswagen e-Golf SEL Premium's battery pack provides 83 miles between charges. (Limited model shown)

ASSOCIATE EDITOR GRAHAM KOZAK: I spent four days in the e-Golf and found it to be a very good seventh-generation Golf -- which is another way of saying that I found it to be a very good car … except for that whole charging thing, but I’ll get to that in a moment.

The car was happy to tackle expressway speeds, but its battery was not. At 70-75 mph, the range indicator seemed to drop by 1 mile for every three-quarters of a mile or so I travelled. I cruised with the windows cracked and the air conditioning off, with the windows closed and the AC on and, finally, with the windows up and the AC off (but not for long, as it quickly got very muggy inside).

None of this seemed to make much of a difference -- higher speeds simply seem to drain the battery at faster-than-projected rates. In gridlock-prone coastal cities, or even rush-hour Detroit, this won’t be a problem; electric cars are happy to creep along in stop-and-go traffic. But if the e-Golf is not meant for the wide-open autobahn; it has the poise, but not the powertrain.

I parked the car for the evening with around 35 miles of indicated range. I left it plugged into 120-volt outlet overnight using the portable charger (supplied with the car). The next morning, I was back up to a full charge -- just over 100 miles. So even if you’re away from a fast charger, it’s not a totally desperate situation.

Most of our lives follow a fairly regular, predictable rhythm, and I’d venture switching to an electric car would be minimally disruptive for the majority of us the majority of the time. Keep track of your mileage over the course of a typical week and see if I’m wrong.

But the electric car stumbles, and internal combustion excels, when the unexpected crops up -- whether you’re called across town for an emergency halfway through your car’s charge cycle or whether you chuck it all and take that spontaneous cross-country road trip -- your EV will leave you stranded. Or parked near a 120-volt outlet for hours and hours…

Since the ability to drive anywhere you want at any moment is what has made the car such a transformative piece of technology (even if that ability is fully exercised only rarely), I’m afraid I’m not yet on Team EV. Even when the EV in question, like this e-Golf, is a very good one.

Options: None