Volkswagen Golf GTE Review & Prices

The Volkswagen Golf GTE is the plant-based vegan burger menu option of the hot-hatch world. You know it’s better for you and the planet, and it’s pretty much as tasty and filling, but you’d (not so) secretly rather be having the meat-fest beef burger that is the Golf GTI.

There is a pretty good argument that the Golf GTE is the best of all worlds, but up till now it’s been slightly too much of a compromise. The first generation version used a 13kWh battery giving it a theoretical 40 mile range on electric energy alone (and that was broadly a realistic enough figure — certainly, you’d have got 30 miles out of it). Combined with a 1.4-litre turbo petrol engine, that gave you 242hp and 0-62mph in 6.7secs. Not as fast as a GTI (blame the extra weight of the battery) but still brisk, and you could easily get it to average better than 60mpg with only a little bit of charging.

Even so, the Golf GTE always felt second best to the petrol-only GTI. The weight didn’t help — sapping the acceleration as it did — and the extra ride height needed to make enough clearance underneath the car for the battery mean that while the GTE was fine to drive, it could never be as sharp and rewarding as the GTI.

Now, though, there’s a major update for the GTE. Out goes the wheezy old 1.4 turbo and in comes a more modern, smoother, slicker 1.5-litre TSI turbo petrol engine. The electric motor has been beefed up too, so now the GTE develops 272hp, actually slightly more than the upgraded GTi manages. 

Crucially, the GTE’s battery is now much bigger than before — 19kWh — and VW claims that gives it an electric range of more than 62 miles. In fact, given that the bigger, heavier Volkswagen Tiguan e-Hybrid also squeezes 62 miles out of the same battery, the Golf GTE should go a bit further than that, and that dramatically changes its ability as a zero-emissions driving option. Fast-charging comes to the Golf GTE for the first time too, as you’ll be able to use 50kW DC public chargers to top up the battery in around 20 minutes — and cause apoplexy in every electric car driver for a 1,000 mile radius. The combo of ultra-low CO2 figures and long electric range could actually make the GTE a better choice for business user-choosers than the petrol-only GTI, even if the advantage in the tax returns is lost in the corners. 

Inside, the awkward, cheap-looking infotainment screen originally introduced in 2019 has been chucked out and replaced by a slick new free-standing unit that gets software which is far easier to find your way around. VW is even going to stick Chat GPT artificial intelligence software into the screen later in 2024, allowing the car the chat to you like a proper robot companion. The GTE also gets traditional tartan seat centres, but the colours have been changed to grey and white to make them look a little more tech-y. Just remember that the big battery costs you boot space — you can only pack 275-litres into the back of a Golf GTE.

We'll have an in-depth Volkswagen Golf GTE ready to go once we've tested it out thoroughly, but if you're already convinced the Golf GTE should be your next car, have a look through our latest Volkswagen deals and used Volkswagen cars for sale. You can even sell your current car through Carwow.

The Volkswagen Golf GTE costs around £1,000 more than the GTI, which may make it look like bad value compared to its more iconic brother. It’s not quite that simple, though. The GTI buyer will have to pay far more VED road tax — £680 plus, if you’ve spent extra on a couple of options, the £390 levy for spending more than £40,000. The GTE gets zero-rate VED road tax for now. In BIK terms, the GTI buyer will be spending three times as much per month in extra tax than the GTE driver — that’s a powerful incentive to switch to part-electric. Of course, you could go fully-electric. For around £5,000 less than the price of a Golf GTE, you could have the new MG 4 X-Power, with its 435hp, and 0-62mph in just 3.8secs. Of course, the MG’s cabin and quality aren’t anywhere near as good as the Golf’s, but never mind the quality, feel the speed. 

Standard Golf GTE equipment includes 17-inch alloy wheels, a 10.9-inch touchscreen, Matrix LED headlights, keyless entry, lane-keeping steering, and traffic jam assist, which keeps you creeping forward in heavy traffic without you having to worry about braking.