Volkswagen aims to renew its green credentials with new hybrid

Abar in West Cork might seem a strange place to begin a review of an interesting new hybrid from one of the world’s biggest car manufacturers, but that’s how it goes sometimes.

Sat, 16 Apr, 2016 - 01:00

Earlier this week, I wandered into O’Sullivan’s of Crookhaven and the highlights of the night’s Champions League quarter-final matches were being shown on the television.

A small but interested crowd, including a middle-aged German man, were on hand to watch to watch the best bits from the game between Real Madrid and Wolfsburg and to see if the Spanish giants could overturn a two-goal deficit from the first leg at the Volkswagen Arena the previous week and book a spot in the semi-finals.

I immediately presumed — presumption being a very dangerous thing, of course — that the German would be supporting the team from his native country. I was a little taken aback, I must confess, when, after Ronaldo’s 16th minute opener, followed just 88 seconds later by his second, that the German gentleman applauded wildly and pronounced his delight to the throng — well, the five other hardy souls present, as well as Campbell the barman, of course. Strange, I thought to myself.

When the Portuguese superstar drilled home a 77th minute free kick to notch up his hat-trick and seal the result, the visitor was almost beside himself with joy. Beside myself with curiosity, I asked him why he did not want to see a German side cause the upset of the competition by dumping Real out.

“Volfsburg,” he spat, “is ze home of Volksvagen — ze biggest liars in ze vorlt.”

The venom in his voice was palpable, and there was no mistaking the fact that here was one hardy buck who was not going to forgive the German automaker for its duplicity in the recent ‘dieselgate’ emissions scandal any time soon.

By way of further explanation he added: “You know, it was Adolf Hitler who invented ze name Volksvagen.”

It was as if this fact was proof positive that the company had always been deeply rooted in evil doings. “I take it then, you won’t be buying any of their cars in the near future,” I posited gamely. “Never. Never,” he exploded with the sort of ferocity Adolf himself would have found hard to muster.

Reflecting on the encounter after the man drove away — in his Dacia Stepway, I noted — it struck me that despite the quiet but very active PR campaign which VW is waging all across Europe right now to try and dampen down the backlash from ‘dieselgate’, there were obviously many people, and Germans too, who were going to hold a grudge against the company for a while to come.

I mention all of this by way of an introduction to the Volkswagen Golf GTE, the new hybrid version of the car which, for decades now, has been all things to all men (and women) and has sales measured in the tens of millions. This is, it has to be said, a very clever little car and one which, in normal circumstances you would have little difficulty endorsing.

But these are far from normal times chez VW; these are particularly trying times for the company and although we have not yet seen any of the oft-promised criminal convictions for what went on at the company, it remains to be seen what, if any, punishment will be meted out to those responsible for undermining the good name of the manufacturer. We are assured this will happen, but don’t hold your breath.

With all this going on in the background, it is a little difficult right now for me to ascribe any real trust in anything Volkswagen, and I am sure I am not alone in this. The unbridled faith I once had in this company has, I’m afraid, been shattered. That said, and with a concomitant admission from these quarters that I am not a hybrid fan anyway, I was still very impressed with this car.

There is actually a huge irony attached to the GTE: on the one hand, you have a machine with impeccable environmental credentials; on the other, it is made by a company whose relationship with environmental issues is questionable at best and criminal at worst.

Further incongruity is added by virtue that VW has made this thing at such a timely moment, one which is seeing European legislators focussing heavily on diesel emissions, particularly the nitrous oxide and particulate content of those discharges.

Have no doubt, in the coming years, there will be a gradual demonisation of diesel across Europe and, paradoxically, with cars such as the GTE, Volkswagen has the vehicles and technology to take advantage of that situation. How mad is that?

Anyway, the heritage of the GTE can be guessed at from the ‘GT’ element of the car’s name. With such as the GTi and the GTD already established in the Golf model firmament, the performance end of the scale for petrol and oil-burner models is adequately covered. Now, with the GTE, the electric end of the performance segment is now also in hand.

With a combined output of 204bhp from its 1.4 TSI petrol engine (150bhp) and the electric motor which has been built into the 75bhp electric motor which has been built into the same housing that accommodates the six speed DSG auto gearbox, this thing has plenty of spunk and will not disappoint press-on drivers.

This is illustrated by the 222km/h top speed of the combined motors and even the 130km/h top speed when you’re using electric only. The 7.6 second time for the 0-100kph dash isn’t bad either.

That it will also return the astonishing consumption figure of 1.8 l/100 km (186mpg in old money) and has an A1 tax rating for an annual bill of €170 is another very appealing characteristic. So too the blue pinstriping throughout (replacing the red of the other GT models), the blue brake calipers and the other sporty elements (lowered suspension, etc).

From a technical point of view, it worth noting that handling sharpness is dulled slightly by the 300 extra kilos the electric element has added to the car, but not so much as to destroy it as a fine driving companion.

A good car then — even taking in the sizeable extra cost you’ll have to burden for the joy of being green — and one which in almost any other circumstance would find Volkswagen being lauded from upon high.

Sadly for the GTE and Volkswagen, the mountain of trust which has to be re-built between the company and its customers is of Himalayan proportions. Just ask any German — even the West Cork ones.